All About Access

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been migrating my PCs over to Ubuntu and learning how to use Orca, an open source screen reader for Linux being developed by Sun Microsystems. For a product that’s only at version 0.2.6, Orca is quite impressive. And you sure can’t beat the price: Your operating system, office suite, and screen reader come to a grand total of—oh wait, they’re free. But that’s old news. What’s new—at least for me—is the approach to development adopted by the open source community in general, and the Orca team specifically.

As someone who has spent the last ten years working with assistive technology in the Windows environment, I’ve grown accustomed to approaching access to software as an uphill climb:

• Trying to convince the mainstream companies to design their software in such a way that lends itself to access through the keyboard and by screen readers—and often being ignored.


• Trying to convince the assistive technology manufacturers to do the necessary customizations within their product. Alas I don’t usually get very far here either, lack of demand and/or inherent inaccessibility always being cited.


• Trying to customize the assistive technology myself to provide a basic level of support so that the mainstream technology is not completely unusable. Some days are better than others in this regard.

If you use and/or teach assistive technology for Windows, then you undoubtedly know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s no fun— sometimes it’s downright maddening. And we pay thousands of dollars for the privilege…. But what can you do???

You can go open source and give Orca a try. In the open source world, it’s not a three-way fight among users, AT manufacturers, and the mainstream software companies. It’s a collaboration. Or, as Dave Winer would put it, it’s users and developers partying together.

It’s a bit strange at first: not just being listened to, but being truly heard, and knowing that your participation is valued; seeing the AT and mainstream developers work together to find solutions—and to find them quickly as a result of their collaboration. Now I know how Dorothy felt when she looked around and concluded that she and her four-legged friend were no longer in Kansas…. But unlike Dorothy, I don’t want to go back home. If I want an uphill climb, I’ll go for a hike.

Of course, transitioning from the known to the unknown can be rather daunting. Therefore, what I think we need is a local Orca users group: A place to come together, share tips and tricks, and support one another as we learn. Let’s help each other get up to speed on technology that has the potential to fundamentally change computer access as we know it. Are you interested? If so, do please get in touch! joanmarie [dot] diggs [at] carroll [dot] org.