David, don't worry about it, there are radicals in every crowd. Some folks feel that being blind is like being part of some sort of race and view vision or people who use vision as inferior. People of the same ilk who would with hold medical treatment from their children so they would be blind and thus of the "same race" that they are. It's dangerous radicalism that colors advise. I think everyone's response though with out exception had good intentions and your interests at heart it's just some viewpoints are farther on the edge than others.
Personally you need to make the call for the best tool for the job. I'd love to see you become a Mac user simply because for me it's been a great switch and the accessibility features are super. That's for me though, I'm a totally blind user and my needs differ from yours. If you can get away with screen mag or high contrast then I say go for it. The least accessibility tools you'll need to use the better and more mainstream your experience and the least number of compatability / accessibility issues you'll run in to. Keep it simple and if your vision changes deal with it then. We'll be glad to help no matter what stage you're in. Good luck and please do ask questions. This is a wonderful list with a lot of really sharp folks on it and all sorts of viewpoints so you'll find the answer that fits your needs. Take care Scott On Oct 8, 2010, at 3:59 AM, David Goodwin wrote: > Hi Ricardo and Nic, > > Thank you both for your recent posts. I had been considering how best to > respond to some of the comments made elsewhere in this thread, but I think > you guys have just about covered things for me <smile>. > > All that I am trying to do is determine the combination of tools that will > make using a desktop computer as easy and efficient as possible. At the > moment my residual vision is such that it should be regarded as one of the > 'tools' available to me (and will continue to be so for some time). And no, > this is not me in some kind of denial about the state of my vision (as some > others have hinted at). It is simply the way that things are for me. > > On something as small as an iPhone my residual sight has little to offer, so > VoiceOver is my only real choice. However, things are less clear-cut on a > desktop. A screen reader on its own would not be the most efficient option > for me at this time. So, I need to decide whether having VoiceOver available > as an option, along with the more important (to me) screen magnification and > colour inversion, offers any advantages over my current set-up on a PC. > Having now seen the colour inversion feature in operation, the decision is > not as clear as I had anticipated. Looking at my screen right now, everything > is displayed in colours that are optimized for my sight problems. This would > not be the case if I were typing this on a Mac. > > David > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
