Hi Ken,
Quote
I don't understand why the blind haven't caught on yet--holdouts from
using the mouse who
still think the keyboard is all that, I guess.
End quote
It is probably explainable by human nature. We all have a tendancy to
stick with the things we know, that are familiar to us, rather than
venturing out looking for new things we might not understand or too
afraid to try on our own. Sometimes it is a matter of being taught to do
things a certain way, raised to think in a certain way, live a certain
way, or whatever. Point is we build up habits over our lifetime that are
hhard to break. Often times we continue avoiding something even if it is
illogical to do so just because of some preconception we got from
somewhere along the way.
When it comes to blind gamers and the mouse it is pretty obvious where
the hesitation comes from. When a blind user starts using a computer
he/she is told that they can not use the mouse, it is too difficult to
use without sight, whatever. For this reason I know of some blind users
that took the mouse off their computer and stashed it in a drawer
somewhere to be forgotten. It is to them a rather pointless and useless
device.
Well, developers like Che come along, out of the wild blue yonder,
saying look at this cool game. It supports the mouse. I well remember
the initial reaction to that news that boiled down to, "I am blind and I
can't use the mouse." They had never been taught that the way the mouse
works in games is completely different from the way it works in Word,
Excel, Windows Media Player, whatever. They had years of the "I can't
use the mouse" thinking to relearn and update to "it can be used in games."
The same question could be asked why aren't more blind computer users
switching to Mac or Linux where the screen reader is included with the
OS? Where the OS can be installed with speech? Simple, they are use to
Windows, set in their ways, and are probably comfortable with the
current status of things. The why try something else if I like what I
have mentality. It is similar to that why fix it if it ain't broke
mentality. Some people can't roll with the change.
To guys like you and I who try something new that kind of thinking seams
too narrow, too sheltered, too set in their ways. As they say different
strokes for different folks, and we can't force the mouse, Linux, or any
other new concept on people. They have to want that something else for
themselves before they take that first step into a larger world.
Smile.
---
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