Hello fellow list members, I am writing this post to you, because this is something that I thought you'd like to know. I have quite a fiew of AOL-XM satellite radio stations bookmarked in Winamp. I know the cut off date is suppose to be today, but all of the radio stations still play for me in Winamp. So at this point, I am wondering if the CBS player will have any affect on these AOL-XM streams at all? My best regards. John. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darrell Shandrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <[email protected]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Wlodkowski, Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2008 8:20 PM Subject: Accessibility Evangelism and Unfortunate News From America Online(AOL) Radio
> Hello Everyone, > > As an accessibility evangelist, of course, I disagree with any and all > those > who frequently make statements emphasizing our "smallness" and > insignificance in the world at large as a means to justify doing little or > nothing about accessibility challenges. Yes. We are very tiny in number > in > comparison with the rest of the population who is not blind, but that > really > has nothing to do with how well we can make our voices heard in order to > achieve positive changes for the better. One possible metaphore might be > to > compare us with those who profess their faith in the Jewish religion here > in > the United States, which is an incredibly small minority in number as > compared with catholics and evangelical Christians. Despite their small > numbers, the Jewish seem to experience little or no difficulty making > their > needs known and they tend to enjoy great success and wealth in all walks > of > life. > > I'd like to see something similar happen for those of us who are blind. > We > can't look to others to make this happen, but only to ourselves. It must > start with us! We must decide that we are valuable human beings deserving > of our human rights, of the accessibility and equal treatment with our > sighted peers we must enjoy in order to be able to fully participate in > society on a par with the sighted. Though it starts with us, a > technological world dictates that we have equal access to information in > the > information and knowledge age. Accessibility must ultimately be available > if we are to actively and productively participate in such critical areas > of > life as education, employment and leisure. > > We must achieve equality of opportunity through making our own > accessibility > solutions where practical and advocating for reasonable accomodations when > accessibility is required in order for us to participate. The issues boil > down to one of these two needs in all cases. There is no third option of > taking the path of least resistance; not if we want to count ourselves as > fully living and breathing human beings and citizens, possessing the same > inalienable rights and responsibilities already enjoyed by the sighted. > > One excellent example of a project where we are making our own > accessibility > is Benetech's Bookshare project available at http://www.bookshare.org. > Blind people and others with print reading disabilities subscribe to a web > based service where they may download and read from a selection of tens of > thousands of books available in an accessible, electronic format for use > on > their computers and portable assistive technology. This is all made > possible by a team of blind and sighted volunteers who scan books into > electronic format and validators who correct scanning errors and reformat > the books for final entry into the collection. > > Another example of making our own accessibility is the existence of the > blindness access technology industry. We spend tens of thousands of > dollars > on screen readers, Braille displays, scanners with optical character > recognition software, specialized personal digital assistants (PDAs) and a > myriad of other high and low technology items on which we have grown to > depend in order to adapt ourselves to the world. In many cases, > government > agencies purchase some or all of this technology under specific > circumstances, but this is, by no means, guaranteed. > > Despite our own efforts, there often remains a wide gap between that which > we are able to make accessible on our own and that technology which we > must > use in the classroom, on the job, etc. When we are not able to close > these > gaps through our own efforts and assistive technology, reasonable > accomodations on the part of the developer of that technology are required > if we are to be permitted full and equal participation. Failures to > reasonably accomodate our needs often result in the curtailment of > educational opportunities and even the needless loss of jobs! > > As a blind community, we can take actions such as the following to improve > our accessibility to the world of technology around us: > * Understand that we need equal accessibility in order to participate in > society on a par with our sighted peers. > * Believe and live the concept that accessibility through reasonable > accomodations is a human right and the right thing to do in all cases. > * Check with other individuals and organizations in the blind community to > see if the technology has already been made accessible. > * Write letters to technology developers asking that they reasonably > accomodate our need for accessibility. > * When available, provide suggestions and technical consulting necessary > to > improve accessibility. > * Work to have existing legislation covering accessibility enforced more > consistently and frequently. > * Encourage the passage of new legislation to clarify our needs and > mandate > increased accessibility in areas not already covered. > > Achieving equal participation in the knowledge age is currently a hard > fought struggle, where we often seem to take a step forward followed by > one > or two steps backward. The latest case with AOL Radio represents a good > example. While imperfect, blind people relying on screen readers have > enjoyed access to the company's many radio offerings. We are talking > about > listening to the radio, which should most certainly represent an activity > that ought to be inherently accessible to the blind. > > We have now learned that, as of Monday, June 9, 2008, AOL and CBS are > going > to take away from the blind the ability to listen to their Internet radio > streams through the implementation of a player that is known to be > inaccessible to screen reading software. Many blind people have been > enjoying this content for several years. Simply yanking it out of our > hands > is a thoughtless act at best. The director of AOL's accessibility team > has > informed us that the inaccessibility of the new player results from > technology used by CBS and tells us that solutions are being investigated > for implementation sometime in the undetermined future. We believe this > answer is not quite sufficient and that temporary alternative listening > options should be made available to the blind until such time as the > accessibility problems with the embedded web based player have been > solved. > If you agree that AOL Radio should continue to allow blind and visually > impaired people to listen to their Internet radio channels, we urge all of > you, including those sighted people who care about what happens to us, to > send a note to [EMAIL PROTECTED] asking that they continue working > to > restore accessibility to the AOL Radio player and, in the meantime, make > direct links available to the blind for listening on other devices and > media > player software. We also ask you to visit CBS at > http://www.cbsradio.com/contact/streaming.html, select your radio station > of > interest and request the implementation of a more accessible player to > accomodate the accessibility needs of blind and visually impaired > listeners. > > As a community, it is both our collective and individual responsibilities > to > evangelize accessibility. Simply leaving the work to others is not going > to > be effective, especially given our small numbers. This AOL Radio issue is > just one small one among many much more significant challenges. All the > same, let us all take this moment to remind ourselves that we can and must > make a difference! Now, everyone, let's all go forth and make our voices > heard often and loudly! > > > > Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
