Hello,
Janice Hertz of Microsoft asked I redirect my message to mswish@microsoft.com.
I am a blind electrical engineering employee and researcher at UCSD.
The inaccessability of Microsoft Office files containing mathematics and
the inaccessability
of the equation editor within Microsoft Office itself are serious
impediments to me.
In fact, the lack of access to mathematics in Microsoft Office is an
impediment to the blind across the board.
With this letter I have asked other blind scientists and engineers using
Microsoft Office in the workplace
to tell how the lack of access affects them.
>Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 10:40:07 +0100
>To: mshelp@microsoft.com
>From: John Miller <jmiller@ucsd.edu>
>Subject: Microsoft Office support for the blind with math
>
>Hello,
>My name is John Miller.
>I have spoken with Janice Hertz at Microsoft who has responsability for
>disability access
>of Microsoft products. She has asked that I file a customer complaint
>through your formal process
>at support.microsoft.com/directory. After 15 minutes with sighted assistence,
>I could not find an e-mail address or a link to a specific support form
>for Microsoft Office.
>I am employed by Center for Magnetic Recording, UC San Diego.
>I am the president of the science and engineering division of the National
>Federation of the Blind,
>the largest organization of the blind in America with some 50 thousand
>members.
>
>
>I have two concerns: I wish to export powerpoint and microsoft word
>documents containing mathematic notation into latex 2E and mathML.
>Only in this way can I access the content of the Microsoft document that
>contains mathematics as a blind person.
>
>Second, I would like Microsoft Office to offer a way that the blind can
>author mathematic notation as part of the standard commercial product.
>Microsoft Office is the most popular product for authoring papers.
>Its nonexistent access to the blind offer significant barriers to the blind.
>Janice Hertz promised to help me find a qualified Microsoft Office
>representative to have a dialog
>with concerning these matters. She asked I take the first step and file a
>support request with Microsoft.
>To whom should I address my support request and what information do you
>need for it to be effective?
>You can contact me at jmiller@ucsd.edu or
>(daytime) 858-822-2326
>(home) 858-587-3975
>8720 Villa La Jolla Dr. 118
>La Jolla CA 92037
>
>John Miller
*******************************************************************
* John Miller *
* CMRR-0401 *
* University of California, San Diego *
* 9500 Gilman Drive *
* La Jolla, CA 92093-0401 *
* *
* phone: (858) 822-2326 *
* fax (858) 534-2720 *
* email: jmiller@ucsd.edu *
*******************************************************************
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