Greetings:
The following article appeared in the Wall Street Journal. It re-hashes
some old issues, but it is nevertheless accurate and helpful.
Too bad nobody from the Federation was in it<grin>.
Regards,
Curtis Chong
Computer Icons Block Access for the Blind Via AP
By AUDREY CHOI
The Wall Street Journal
Cynthia Ice thought she had a promising career at Lotus Development Corp. With
an advanced degree in engineering, she was an adept troubleshooter at the
software company, helping users navigate Lotus 1-2-3 and other products.
Ms. Ice is blind, but she was able to do her job as well as any sighted worker,
thanks to the array of technological aids like Braille printers and screen
readers, which convert text on screen into synthesized speech.
Then came Windows.
With its extensive use of graphics, tool-bars and picture-driven instructions,
Microsoft Corp.'s operating system dealt a devastating setback to blind
computer-users. Their DOS-based screen readers were useless, often just saying
``icon'' or ``picture'' when confronted with a graphic on the screen.
``All of a sudden, it was like going back to the days when I first lost my
vision and everything was frustrating,'' says Ms. Ice, who lost her eyesight due
to complications from diabetes. She managed to avoid Windows in her job for a
while, but as it became more dominant in the work world, that became more
difficult. She left Lotus last June after nine years with the company and is
unemployed.
An estimated 120,000 people in the U.S. have no vision and about 1.1 million are
legally blind. In addition, there are roughly four million working-age
Americans who say they can't see well enough to read ordinary print even when
wearing glasses and would require screen readers and enlargers to be part of the
labor force.
Technology once opened doors for visually impaired people. But the transition to
picture-driven technology has closed some workplace opportunities again.
On-screen graphics aren't the only problem. Graphics are being used increasingly
in public information kiosks, cellular phones, cash machines, and even
microwave ovens, stereos and other common consumer electronics.
``Every time we go into Brookstones, there are fewer and fewer things my wife
and I can use,'' says Doug Wakefield, who is blind and who works at the Center
for Information Technology Accommodation. ``People who think Windows is a
problem ain't seen nothing yet,'' he says.
The Internet, for example, once gave the blind access to the world's text-based
libraries. But it has been transformed in recent years into a showplace of
snazzy video clips and pictures, where Web pages often can only be retrieved by
``drilling down'' through a number of graphics, a task that's nearly impossible
for blind users.
``When I first lost my sight, one of the best things about the computer was that
I could go onto the Internet and get access to information -- to newspapers,
stock quotes, anything,'' Ms. Ice says. ``Now I have to spend half my time
finding a Web site that is actually accessible,'' she adds.
Other visually impaired workers have faced similar setbacks. Joseph Lazarro had
a thriving career as a free-lance writer, reviewing computer software for Byte
Magazine. ``With my DOS screen readers it was so easy to use and test all the
new software products that many of my editors didn't even know I was blind,''
Mr. Lazarro says. But he had to stop when the advent of Windows meant he was
barely able to run new software, let alone review it. Now he works at the
Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, trying to make more workplaces suitable
for the disabled.
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