I forwarded this article to the list earlier, but I don't think all of
the text was there, so here goes again.
David Andrews
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 20:47:08 -0400
From: vipace@trfn.clpgh.org
Subject: WSJ article on GUI&blind
I'm forwarding an electronic version of this article for personal reading by
individuals with print disabilities.
----------
The Wall Street Journal
Copyright (c) 1996, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Wednesday, August 14, 1996
Technology
Computer Icons Block Access for the Blind
By Audrey Choi
Staff Reporter of 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.
Advocates for the blind say that making technology accessibile
need not be prohibitively costly or difficult -- if developers
include the features as part of the original design. While
equipping a television with closed-captioning used to cost
hundreds of dollars when it was added later by deaf viewers, it
costs just a few dollars now that the capability is built in to
all new televisions. Similarly, making software programs
accessible to the blind requires a few simple modifications,
such as remembering to include a line or two of text description
whenever there is an icon.
Microsoft officials acknowledge that they did not originally
include such text descriptions with Windows. They say they
wanted to leave opportunities open for independent software
developers to build the tools. But Microsoft compounded the
problem by not establishing clear programming standards for all
software developers. As a result, a screen reader might work with
one Windows application, but not another.
"With every evolution of software, the adaptive things out
there broke," concedes Gary Moulton, a product manager for
disability solutions at Microsoft. "Folks with disability really
began to fall behind," he says.
Apple Computer Inc. initially encountered similiar problems
when it introduced the graphics-based Macintosh, but because it
never dominated the workplace as much as Microsoft, it was
easier for blind users to find alternatives. Apple later helped
a software developer produce a screen reader that works well
with Mac computers.
In recent months, Microsoft has taken steps to improve the
accessibility of Windows products, Mr. Moulton says. Six people
now work on accessibility issues -- instead of just one. And a
package of software tools to enable accessibility features --
codenamed ActiveX Accessibility -- is now being tested by blind
users. But there is no timetable as to when those aids will be
included in commercially available versions of Microsoft
products.
"Microsoft has done a great deal of work and there should be a
breakthrough in the next year or so," says Charlie Crawford,
director of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. "But for
people trying to keep their jobs, it's like telling a cancer
patient, 'just hang on for a few more months, and maybe a cure
will come along,"' Mr. Crawford says.
Advocates for the blind also are eagerly monitoring the
development of the programming language, Java, and software
"applets," in the hope these new tools will make the Internet
more accessible to the disabled. "Things are changing so fast,
you can't just keep patching them," says Gregg Vanderheiden,
director of the Trace Center, a research center that encourages
technology developers to build in accessibility features from
the beginning, rather than as an afterthought.
Several federal statutes now require government agencies to
buy accessible technology. The Social Security Administration,
for example, is awarding a contract for computer hardware and
software systems that must accommodate disabled employees. For
Peter Read, who is blind, it's about time. Once one of the
agency's most technologically adept, Mr. Read says he has been
lagging behind his coworkers as he clings to his old DOS
applications.
"It's like being in a footrace with someone faster than you,"
he frets. "They keep going, and you're falling behind faster all
the time."
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