Hi everyone,
I am responsible for a project we call F123 (pronounced F 1 2 3), which
seeks to improve access to education and employment for the blind in
developing countries through high performance low cost software such as
the Orca screen reader and Compiz Fusion eZoom screen magnification.
I consider TeX and LaTeX, a potentially extremely useful technology for
the blind, because it can allow wonderful formatting even for someone
who is blind. LYX, or the idea of accessing the power of LaTeX without
having to learn all the tags, is especially promising for the blind,
since just like with those who can see, the majority of the blind are
not technically inclined and would rather enjoy the benefits of Latex
without learning all its complexities.
A problem we face however, is that LYX is not accessible to the blind.
Specifically, as I try to use it, I cannot interact with it using the
Orca screen reader.
I am not a developer, so please forgive potential mistakes, but I am
assuming this happens because LYX is not following whatever
accessibility guidelines exist for WebKitGTK or whatever library it
uses. I am trying it out with a system based on Ubuntu 10.04 using the
Gnome interface.
If someone were to fix this situation, using the Google summer of code,
or maybe even a proposal to a foundation written with my help, or even
as a volunteer, the number of potential blind beneficiaries of this
improvement would be enormous.
An estimate made of the number of blind and visually impaired persons
that benefited from improvements made to the eZoom plugin of Compiz
Fusion, by the F123 Project, puts the potential total of beneficiaries
around 504,000 around the world. Based on this estimate, I believe the
number of beneficiaries of making LYX fully accessible to the blind
would be at least just as large.
As I mentioned earlier, I am not a developer, but other than suggesting
that those intrested contact me regarding non-technical issues, and
checkout WebKitGTK guidelines regarding more technical matters on
accessibility for the blind, I can also recommend an application called
Accerciser, which apparently can be used to check if an application is
sharing the information assistive technologies, such as screen readers
or magnifiers, need to work.
http://live.gnome.org/Accerciser
AT-SPI is part of the accessibility infrastructure used in Gnome and
many other places, including GUI interfaces such as LXDE, which are
designed to work with older less-powerful computers. Which is precisely
the type of computers we find most often in NGOs that offer training to
the blind in developing countries. So making LYX work well with AT-SPI
and WebKitGTK, would help not just Gnome blind users with nice machines,
but many more.
As I am not a developer, I will leave this list, but if anyone is
interested in the above, please contact me off-line.
Thank you,
Fernando
_____________________________________
Fernando H. F. Botelho, Ashoka Fellow
http://F123.org/en/
2013 Innovative Practice - Zero Project
2012 Social Entrepreneur of the Future - Folha de São Paulo
2012 Make More Health Fellow - Boehringer Ingelheim
2010 Winner "A World of Solutions" - Inter-American Development Bank
GoogleTalk: fhfbotelho | Skype: Fernando.Botelho
Facebook.com/F123.org | Linkedin.com/in/f123org
Google+: Plus.Google.com/s/F123 | Twitter: @F123org
