Hi Jeremy, Yes, you definitely raise some very good points in your message. As you pointed out the biggest problem in communicating with sighted developers and the public at large is ignorance on their part. Most sighted people have never met a blind person before, and even if they have there is no way of knowing what their experience was if any. Its our job to correct their impressions through by educating them a step at a time, and to do it in a way that makes us look like intelligent, competent, and mature individuals who have something worthwhile to say about their products and services.
Its for that reason every time I see a poorly written message on Audyssey or some other access list I inwardly cringe. I can't tell you how many blind individuals just shoot off a message filled with poor grammar, lack of proper punctuation, and spelling errors. Like it or not if a sighted person reads those messages we will be judged one and all as not very intelligent, as lacking communication skills, etc. Bottom line, if we want the mainstream public's respect we have to work for it, and not forgo proper language and writing skills for convenience sake. Here at Audyssey we considered adding proofreading to the list guidelines to improve the quality and clarity of the posts. Unfortunately, there were some individuals that took serious offense to that, and felt that the moderators were going too far. All I can draw from their reaction is they don't care about being taken seriously and want the rest of the sighted world to view us negatively, because that's exactly what will happen if they send a poorly written message to a person or company who has no experience with the blind. In short, good communication skills will go a long ways to bridging the gap between the blind and sighted communities. Cheers! --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
