Greetings:
Here is an exchange of correspondence you might find interesting. This is
the first time I have communicated with anybody from America On-line. I
hope the good intentions are not swamped by practicalities.
Many thanks to those of you who passed this nugget along to me. This
represents potentially a good beginning.
Regards,
Curtis Chong
chong99@cris.com
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 23:27:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: Curtis Chong <Chong99@cris.com>
To: Jeff Crowe <jkcrowe@aol.com>
Subject: Blind Access to America Online
Hello Jeff:
My name is Curtis Chong. I am the president of the National
Federation of the Blind in Computer Science. One of our members
passed me your post to the GUISPEAK LISTSERV, in which you ask
about ways to make AOL more friendly to the blind computer user.
To begin with, on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind in
Computer Science, I wish to applaud your desire to make AOL more
accessible to the blind. I suppose the reason why AOL hasn't heard
from us earlier is that alot of us are still not comfortable with
Windows, the platform that is required to access America Online.
Because we could not use your service with a traditional
telecommunications program such as Telix or Procomm Plus, many of
us ruled out any possibility of using AOL. Simply put, compared to
CompuServe, which today still has an ASCII interface, America
Online was beyond the reach of any blind person using DOS.
Today, a growing number of blind people are beginning to use the
Windows platform and the applications designed to run in that
environment. In all frankness, we are not using Windows willingly.
This is because the screen reading software we must use to access
Windows and Windows applications is not as well developed as the
screen reading systems for DOS. Also, many Windows applications,
among them the software required to access America Online, have not
adopted practices that would enable them to function compatibly
with screen reading programs for the blind. Some of the problems
with applications include:
* Icons displayed on the screen without accompanying descriptive
text that a screen reading program can interpret;
* Menus, dialog boxes, buttons, and other controls presented on
the screen visually but not placed there using standard
Windows calls;
* Little or no use of the insertion caret (to provide a pointer
for items requiring attention);
* Total reliance upon the mouse to execute program functions
with no ability to execute those functions from the keyboard;
and
* Painting text on the screen directly instead of using Windows
calls designed to write text.
Technically speaking, there are lots of other things that an
application can do to preclude its use with a screen reading system
for the blind. However, it is not my purpose to list all of the
problems in this context.
It seems to me that there are two things that the product
developers at AOL can do to help us achieve better access to the
service.
First, AOL needs to understand how blind people use the computer.
This is best accomplished by working with organizations of the
blind such as the National Federation of the Blind, headquartered
in Baltimore, Maryland. The Federation's national office is
located at:
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Phone: (410) 659-9314
Our president is Marc Maurer, who is himself blind. It would
certainly be beneficial AOL to establish a good working
relationship with the Federation. Only in this way can product
developers at AOL understand how blind people use the computer and
what access to information services really means to us.
The second thing that AOL can do is to establish relationships with
vendors of screen reading software for the blind--particularly,
those vendors marketing screen reading programs for Windows. Here
is a list of the more prominent companies in this area, listed in
no particular order:
Henter-Joyce, Inc.
Ted Henter, President
2100 62nd. Avenue North
St. Petersburg, Florida 33702
Phone: 800/336-5658
Internet: tedh@hj.com
Artic Technologies
Dale McDaniel, Vice President of Marketing
55 Park Street
Suite 2
Troy, Michigan 48083
810-588-7370
Syntha-Voice Computers, Inc.
David Kostyshyn, President
800 Queenston Rd.
Suite 304
Stoney Creek, Ontario
Canada
L8G 1A7
Phone: 800/263-4540
Berkeley Access Technologies
Peter Korn, President
2095 Rose Street
Phone: 510/883-6224
GW Micro, Inc.
Douglas H. Geoffray
725 Airport North
Office Park
Fort Wayne, IN 46825
Phone: 219/489-3671
Each of these companies develops and markets a screen reading
program designed to allow blind people to use Windows and
Windows-based applications. AOL would do well to contact these
companies to discuss technical specifications that would ensure
compatibility between its software and screen reading programs for
the blind.
I would like to thank you for this opportunity to at last be able
to communicate with someone from America Online on an issue that is
very important to us--namely, access to an on-line information
service. I urge you to give serious consideration to the points I
have raised here. I hope we can continue an active dialog on this
subject.
Regards,
Curtis Chong
President
National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science
================================================================================
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 09:44:10 -0400
From: Jeff Crowe <JKCrowe@AOL.COM>
To: Multiple recipients of list GUISPEAK <GUISPEAK@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU>
Subject: America Online
Hello!
I am an employee of America Online Incorporated in Vienna, Virginia. I have
no special knowledge in the areas that are the subject of this list. Through
an interesting series of coincidences it has become clear to me that our
service is not at all friendly to the visually impaired, and it is my
intention to compel the people here who can do something about it to do
something about it.
My efforts so far have led me to a point where I have the support of our
Product Development team, but they need from me a summary of the difficulties
faced by visually impaired members of our service, and a summary of the
issues and benefits that would surround an effort at making our service more
friendly.
I would appreciate any information or input that might assist me in this
endeavor.
Thanks!
Jeff Crowe
America Online, Inc.
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