All About Access

This past Friday, several representatives from Sun Microsystems came to the Carroll Center to demonstrate what they’ve been up to lately in the area of accessibility. I, for one, am feeling relieved, encouraged, and completely excited (they had a lot to show, each item deserving of its own emotion ).

Relief

I am relieved because one of the products demonstrated was a functioning prototype of a Microsoft Word plugin that allows the user to quickly and easily import and export ODF documents without any loss of formatting. The production of such a plugin, once thoroughly tested to ensure that no formatting ever gets lost in the translation, means that employees who are blind can access and produce ODF documents without any loss in productivity or quality of their work. To me, that’s enough for the Commonwealth to proceed with the migration as scheduled. They get their open format, and we don’t suffer any consequences as a result. At least not immediately…. Which brings me to:

Encouragement—and a Request of the Screen Access Software Manufacturers

We also were given a demonstration of OpenOffice with JAWS 7.0 and ZoomText 9.0. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either, especially not when it came to JAWS. Mind you, there weren’t any JAWS scripts written for OpenOffice so it is not surprising that it wasn’t everything it could be. As I understand it, quite a bit of information is being made available by OpenOffice via the JAVA Access Bridge—information that screen access software can take advantage of to provide the necessary details to the end user. That’s very encouraging. All we need is the screen access software manufacturers to step up to the plate.

Please, please step up to the plate.

Okay, begging is admittedly lame. But I’m not beyond doing so at this point. While the plugin solves the immediate need, I am not comfortable with the notion of blind Commonwealth employees being permanently relegated to some “special” status, exempt from using the state’s official office suite because they cannot see. Permission to use MS Office while everyone else migrates to something else is certainly appreciated, but it’s no long-term solution. Who will provide support when something goes wrong? Who will provide training when a new skill must be mastered? ALL employees should be using the same software wherever possible. And it is possible, as I understand it. Unless I am missing something fundamental, it’s not a matter of CAN something be done; it’s a matter of is it WORTH doing? Sun has reached out. The screen access software companies now need to do the same.

You see, we’re in a rather unfortunate Catch 22: The makers of screen access software won’t invest the time, money, and energy required to support StarOffice/OpenOffice because there is (supposedly) no demand. The lack of demand is not because consumers who are blind aren’t interested; it’s either because they are unaware that there are other options, or because they assume that those other options are inherently inaccessible—rather than simply not supported by the access products. In other words, they don’t demand it because they don’t know it is demandable, and the manufacturers of screen access products are doing nothing to dissuade them from this notion.

If JAWS and Window-Eyes users had full and equal support to both MS Office and StarOffice/OpenOffice, which product would they choose? MS Office, which costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars, or StarOffice ($70)/OpenOffice (free)? Given the astonishing rate of unemployment among individuals who are blind, and the high cost of everything associated with having a visual impairment—alternative transportation, accessible electronics and appliances, and assistive technology to name a mere few—my guess is that they would opt for the inexpensive or free office suite.

Freedom Scientific and GW Micro: We NEED you to support these alternative office suites. Not just in the Commonwealth because of the switch to ODF—that’s just what’s bringing the issue to the forefront, and unfortunately doing so in a rather hasty fashion. We NEED you to support these alternatives because consumers who are blind have a right to the same options as everyone else. We NEED you to support these alternatives because the majority of consumers who are blind cannot afford to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on an office suite. And we NEED you to support these alternatives because they are where things are going. Open source applications are the wave of the present; not the future. The demand is there already. It might not be expressed or fully realized—yet. But it is there. Please help individuals who are blind, your customers, exercise their freedom to choose by providing alternatives to choose from, the same alternatives the rest of us already have.

Excitement

As someone who uses Linux on her non-work-related computers, I was thrilled to learn that Sun was hard at work on a Linux screen reader. Orca is still very much under development, but for a product at the ripe old age of version 0.2.5 it is quite impressive. Are we all going to be dumping Windows for Linux? For most of us, not any time soon. The reality is that Windows is not only a mature operating system, but it’s also the one with the best access solutions for users who are blind or visually impaired. And Windows is still what most schools and places of employment use. I don’t see that changing for quite some time. That’s why we need Freedom Scientific and GW Micro to provide support for StarOffice/OpenOffice. But…

A large percentage of people who are blind/visually impaired cannot afford a computer—not because of the cost of the computer, but because of the cost of the operating system, the mainstream applications, and the assistive technology needed to access it all. For these users, the price of Linux, OpenOffice, and Orca—the grand total being $0—is right. This can make a HUGE difference when it comes to enabling consumers who are not pursuing an officially agreed-upon Vocational Rehabilitation goal to obtain the technology they need to independently manage their daily affairs. And there’s a smaller percentage of people who are blind/visually impaired who, due to job requirements or a general propensity for geekiness, want to use Linux. Orca is looking quite promising in that regard as well.

But that’s not the source of my excitement. What I find exciting is the prospect of an open source screen reader. Because it is open source, we can see the underlying code that makes it do the things it does. Because it is open source, we can contribute in a very direct fashion to its development. Because it is open source, if it doesn’t provide us the access we need, we can MAKE it provide us the access we need. Of course, we will have to educate ourselves quite a bit to do that. The open source world is not the world we’re used to. We’re used to making requests of the companies that provide us access and hoping that they will listen. And we feel we have that right as a paying customer. Sometimes we luck out; sometimes we don’t. But we have no control whatsoever. In the open source world, if we invest our time and effort in a constructive fashion, we CAN have some control and we CAN shape the access products that we use. In the open source world, access is not something bestowed upon us; access is something we design and implement to suit our unique needs and wants. That is empowering. That is exciting.

The Revolution is Being Digitized

And we are in danger of being left behind. A 70% unemployment rate among individuals who are blind means that most don’t have disposable income with which to purchase a computer, let alone the expensive, specialized products they need to access it. More and more software is being produced, yet it is inaccessible—either inherently or due to a lack of support in the assistive technology products. What Sun demonstrated to us last week shows great promise in bridging, if not closing, this digital divide. I’m psyched! But we cannot just sit back and hope that it all works out for the best. We have to participate in the revolution. Tell the maker of your screen reader that you want access to a free office suite. Get a copy of Linux and Orca and see what it does. It’s not perfect, but with our involvement and feedback it can get there. Don’t have the time? I don’t either. But I’m making the time because this matters. A lot. And it will pay off in the long run. Trust me.

I bet y’all had given up on me, hadn’t you?  I’m afraid I took another holiday from blogging, and I’m sorry.  But things have been quite busy at Carroll Tech.   You see, we decided to tackle a major project:  Figure out how to teach computer skills to people who are blind AND completely new to computers—and do so via distance education.   My initial reaction when my director proposed this was to laugh.  After all, if the student doesn’t know how to use a computer, how can you provide the instruction he or she needs through the computer that he or she doesn’t know how to use?   Ya know? Even with the support of a local instructor, that simply was not going to work.   I tossed out trite metaphors involving chickens, eggs, horses, and carriages, all to no avail.  Brian made it clear to me that this was a non-negotiable proposition:  We were going to have a distance-education based Beginner Series come Hades or high water. 

Time for me to get creative.   “DAISY files?” I proposed.  “Nope.”  He responded explaining his rationale. “Windows Media files?” I countered.  This was acceptable.   “But they have to be 100% 508 compliant,” he reminded me.  Translation:  “Sure you can create all of the audio files you want, but they must be closed captioned.”  Yikes! 

Enter tons and tons of research, writing, recording, editing, blood, sweat, and tears.  The end result?  We now have a 100% 508-compliant, 24-lesson-long Beginner Series that students can complete with a minimum amount of instructor supervision/assistance.  To be honest, I’m quite pleased with it if I do say so myself.   I’m even glad Brian didn’t budge in his requirements, because I do think the effort was well worth the resulting product.  And my doctor assures me that  the nervous tic I developed as a result of the experience will go away.  Eventually.  If I’m lucky. (grin)  Anyway….

If you are a TVI wondering how to go about teaching computer skills to that new student on your caseload, you should definitely get in touch!  Currently I’ve completed the JAWS version of the Beginner Series.  Versions for users of Window-Eyes, ZoomText, and MAGic are on the list.

So what is with this screwdriver I’m wielding?  Well, I’ve gone from the Beginner Series to an equally daunting task:  Teaching the UMass Boston Technology for Students with Visual Impairments course.   I do this every summer, and boy is it a lot of work—both for me and for the students.  The feedback I get each year is that my course was fabulous, but it darned near killed them.  Fortunately this year the university gave me twice as long to teach the course:  12 weeks instead of 6.  It’s working out nicely.   In fact, getting back to why I’m wielding a screwdriver, it means that I now have time to do the sorts of things I would like to do in that course, like teaching them how to take apart computers.

Why on earth should a TVI know how to take apart a computer?  After all, that won’t be part of their job duties.  Several reasons:  For one thing, most TVIs do not fully understand the hardware they are teaching their students how to use.   This can bite you:  If you don’t know the difference between RAM and a hard disk, how are you supposed to know if you meet the system requirements for that AT product you’re recommending for your student?  Beyond that, if you don’t really understand how computers work, and you are the primary instructor of computer skills for your student, how is your student supposed to gain this knowledge?  Answer:  He or she won’t, which means that he or she will likely not grow up to become a truly independent consumer of technology.  When I taught kids in schools, I always got a dead computer and had my student take it apart.  We went over all of the components.  And not only was it fun, but it was educational.  If you pull a hard drive out of your computer and open it up, you’ll have a much better appreciation of what a hard disk really is; it will no longer be rote information.  You’ll also probably be less afraid of / intimidated by technology, which is the third reason I wanted to do this activity.  Computers are not the scary, rocket sciency creatures that many TVIs I know make them out to be.  Nothin’ like dismantling an object to show it (and yourself) who really is boss.

So this year, at the first face-to-face session of the course, we pulled apart computers and identified all of the parts.  We also took all of the parts (along with a bunch more I got from the local computer recycling center), labeled them, and created kits of components.  That way when their blind students ask what a hard disk is, these teachers can hand one to their students and show them.   The feedback I got from the participants was quite positive.  One of the participants happens to have a daughter who is blind.  I asked her to show the kit to her daughter and let me know how it went.  Apparently it went very well and was both fun and educational.  So I’m doing this again next year. 

If you’re a TVI who teaches computer skills, talk to the IT department in your school and/or your town’s public works department.  Find out where you can get your hands on some dead computers and then try this out with one of your students.  Of course, it’s handy to know what the parts are first.  I’ll add that to my list of content to add to Carroll Tech:  Hardware for TVIs.

Well, that’s it for now, but keep checking back.  My blogging holiday is over.  Besides, I have some wonderful news about access to ODF documents and about the development of a new Linux screen reader.  Sun Microsystems stopped by last week to demonstrate what they’ve been up to.  It’s pretty exciting stuff which I’ll be blogging about very soon.