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I think compuserv making their service inaccessible is something we should
make everyone aware of.
At the same time, we need to be careful in that we send the right message.
One thing that I am afraid of is that we'll be perceived as saying
"blind users only want ascii and dos interfaces"
What I think we all want to say loud and clear is
"Online services should be accessible to blind users"
The reason why I think the former is a bad perception for us to encourage is:
a) Graphical interfaces are here to stay.
b) No one is going to maintain and upgrade the dos/ascii interface --so if we
ask/insist that we have those, we'll end up using outdated software and remain
cut off from the newest innovations
c) It's not the GUI itself that is a problem --however what is definitely the
problem is the lack of awareness among designers of GUI's about blind users
and their needs.
I think in the long term we will serve ourselves much better if we encourage
the designers of such interfaces to ensure that the interfaces they provide
work well with our access solutions.
For instance, if each of these online services were to have blind users try
out and test-drive their latest innovations just as they have sighted Q/A folks
test-drive the interfaces before they go public with them we'd be way ahead of
where we are today.
--Raman
--Best Regards, ____________________________________________________________________________ --raman
Adobe Systems Tel: 1 (415) 962 3945 (B-1 115) Advanced Technology Group Fax: 1 (415) 962 6063 1585 Charleston Road Email: raman@adobe.com Mountain View, CA 94039 -7900 raman@cs.cornell.edu http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/raman/raman.html (Cornell)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are my own and in no way should be taken as representative of my employer, Adobe Systems Inc.
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