RE: Advocating for VO Accessibility
Hi Michelle, I am in Canada and just typed in NFB Newsline into the search field of the app store app. I typed it exactly as I put it here but of course without the quotation marks. I had 1 single search result for the NFB Newsline app. Of course I did double tap on Search at the bottom right of the keyboard because very often if you just type something and then check the results which are starting to populate based on what you type you don't find things as easily. You should always tap on Search after you enter your search term. Regards, Sieghard -Original Message- From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Michelle Bernstein Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 2:45 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility The bard mobile app is easy to locate I agree. The nfb Newsline was not, for me, when I searched nfb or national federation of the blind in the iTunes Store and the App Store. What was surprising to me was that these apps were not familiar to the people who answered the apple accessibility phone line. Apparently I misunderstood the point of the original poster in that he is looking for advice regarding speaking with developers, not individual stories of frustration with dealing with customer service for the accessibility device providers. So please disregard my earlier post. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Advocating for VO Accessibility
Hello, everyone. What resources do you use to explain Voiceover to application developers? When contacting people to ask for accessibility, how much explaining is typically required to get the ball rolling? Do you find that this process takes a lot of explaining, or does simply mentioning VO get the job done? Brice -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Advocating for VO Accessibility
It in interesting to me that even when I contact the apple accessibility telephone number, I have to explain the apps that I am asking for help with accessing. Two recent examples are the Bard mobile app and the nfb Newsline app. In the case of the nfb Newsline app, the only way that I could locate this app to download to my iPad was to use the link from the nfb Newsline website. Searching both iTunes Store and the App Store brought up other results from nfb beside Newsline. In my opinion, the more you write or call anyone associated with the technology you need will be beneficial. It may not help as I found repeatedly calling customer service from audible, but at least the more voices that are heard, the better. My assumption, and I hope that I am wrong, as someone who became visually impaired as an adult, is that you need to advocate and explain everything you need from technology at a very basic level to be understood by the sighted community, even from places which make technology which is supposed to be accessible. Also remember that not everyone is a wiz at technology and not everyone picks up these skills quickly, especially if they are unfamiliar with navigating the world without much or any sight. Michelle -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
RE: Advocating for VO Accessibility
Jonathan Mosen has a site devoted to explaining accessibility for apps and you might want to check it out here and bookmark it: http://www.appcessible.net/ Alan Lemly -Original Message- From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Brice Smith Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 3:00 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Advocating for VO Accessibility Hello, everyone. What resources do you use to explain Voiceover to application developers? When contacting people to ask for accessibility, how much explaining is typically required to get the ball rolling? Do you find that this process takes a lot of explaining, or does simply mentioning VO get the job done? Brice -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility
hmmm, maybe these got changed. I just went to the app store on my iPhone and NFB Newsline was the third choice when I typed nfb and bard mobile was the second choice when I typed bard. I then tried the same searches on my iPad with the same results. So maybe something has been changed since you tried these. -- Cheryl I tried and tried to turn over a new leaf. I got crumpled wads of tear-stained paper thrown in the trash! Then God gave me a new heart and life: His joy for my despairing tears! And now, every day: This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV) On Aug 11, 2014, at 3:35 PM, Michelle Bernstein michellebbbernst...@gmail.com wrote: It in interesting to me that even when I contact the apple accessibility telephone number, I have to explain the apps that I am asking for help with accessing. Two recent examples are the Bard mobile app and the nfb Newsline app. In the case of the nfb Newsline app, the only way that I could locate this app to download to my iPad was to use the link from the nfb Newsline website. Searching both iTunes Store and the App Store brought up other results from nfb beside Newsline. In my opinion, the more you write or call anyone associated with the technology you need will be beneficial. It may not help as I found repeatedly calling customer service from audible, but at least the more voices that are heard, the better. My assumption, and I hope that I am wrong, as someone who became visually impaired as an adult, is that you need to advocate and explain everything you need from technology at a very basic level to be understood by the sighted community, even from places which make technology which is supposed to be accessible. Also remember that not everyone is a wiz at technology and not everyone picks up these skills quickly, especially if they are unfamiliar with navigating the world without much or any sight. Michelle -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility
The bard mobile app is easy to locate I agree. The nfb Newsline was not, for me, when I searched nfb or national federation of the blind in the iTunes Store and the App Store. What was surprising to me was that these apps were not familiar to the people who answered the apple accessibility phone line. Apparently I misunderstood the point of the original poster in that he is looking for advice regarding speaking with developers, not individual stories of frustration with dealing with customer service for the accessibility device providers. So please disregard my earlier post. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility
To my way of thinking, Apple *facilitates accessibility in third-party apps, and not all of the reps at the accessibility service number will necessarily know all of the specific blindness-related apps. this is not to say that they shouldn't be familiarized with them to some extent. However, making accessibility available in a mainstream product is somewhat new territory. I would fully expect the folks at apple accessibility to be familiar with the apps built into iO s, such as Mail, Calendar, and Safari. There are many, many third-party apps, and I'm afraid the specific blindness-related ones like Seeing Assistant, Bard, and NFB Newsreader will be lost in the shuffle for the most part. I look at it this way: how many average blind folks know about switching devices for iOS, to be used by quadruplegics using mouth controls? Accessibility is always an education process. For example, i have experienced some hearing loss, but not to the extent that hearing aids are required. When hearing aids become necessary for me, I will definitely need to learn a lot about the use of them with iOS. Icould be learning now, as well. I know for a fact as a former access tech trainer that some trainers specialized in certain types of accessibility. I used Braille, and a colleague was much better than I was at teaching low-vision solutions, since I had never been sighted. I think we're at a frontier, and we need to be aware of this, even though, in all possible worlds, anyone getting paid to advise on accessibility issues should have some breadth and depth of knowledge on this very broad subjet. Just my two, Teresa We can see with the eyes, but we see with the brain as well, and seeing with the brain is often called imagination.--Oliver Sacks On Aug 11, 2014, at 2:45 PM, Michelle Bernstein michellebbbernst...@gmail.com wrote: The bard mobile app is easy to locate I agree. The nfb Newsline was not, for me, when I searched nfb or national federation of the blind in the iTunes Store and the App Store. What was surprising to me was that these apps were not familiar to the people who answered the apple accessibility phone line. Apparently I misunderstood the point of the original poster in that he is looking for advice regarding speaking with developers, not individual stories of frustration with dealing with customer service for the accessibility device providers. So please disregard my earlier post. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
RE: Advocating for VO Accessibility
I recently called Apple Accessibility line for help with an encrypted backup. I was told that I’d been referred to a “Senior advisor”, or some such. Later, I was shunted to someone else. Both of these Apple Accessibility geniuses kept telling me to “Go Down” or “Just below that”, even though I told them I was blind, a VoiceOver user, and using “the screenreader JAWS on my PC”. They were very patient and, ultimately, helpful, but I was very surprised they didn’t seem to have a working concept of screenreader fundamentals, including TAB navigation. I’ve had better experiences in the past. I guess a lot depends upon with whom you get on the other end of the line. From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Teresa Cochran Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 7:24 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility To my way of thinking, Apple *facilitates accessibility in third-party apps, and not all of the reps at the accessibility service number will necessarily know all of the specific blindness-related apps. this is not to say that they shouldn't be familiarized with them to some extent. However, making accessibility available in a mainstream product is somewhat new territory. I would fully expect the folks at apple accessibility to be familiar with the apps built into iO s, such as Mail, Calendar, and Safari. There are many, many third-party apps, and I'm afraid the specific blindness-related ones like Seeing Assistant, Bard, and NFB Newsreader will be lost in the shuffle for the most part. I look at it this way: how many average blind folks know about switching devices for iOS, to be used by quadruplegics using mouth controls? Accessibility is always an education process. For example, i have experienced some hearing loss, but not to the extent that hearing aids are required. When hearing aids become necessary for me, I will definitely need to learn a lot about the use of them with iOS. Icould be learning now, as well. I know for a fact as a former access tech trainer that some trainers specialized in certain types of accessibility. I used Braille, and a colleague was much better than I was at teaching low-vision solutions, since I had never been sighted. I think we're at a frontier, and we need to be aware of this, even though, in all possible worlds, anyone getting paid to advise on accessibility issues should have some breadth and depth of knowledge on this very broad subjet. Just my two, Teresa We can see with the eyes, but we see with the brain as well, and seeing with the brain is often called imagination.--Oliver Sacks On Aug 11, 2014, at 2:45 PM, Michelle Bernstein michellebbbernst...@gmail.commailto:michellebbbernst...@gmail.com wrote: The bard mobile app is easy to locate I agree. The nfb Newsline was not, for me, when I searched nfb or national federation of the blind in the iTunes Store and the App Store. What was surprising to me was that these apps were not familiar to the people who answered the apple accessibility phone line. Apparently I misunderstood the point of the original poster in that he is looking for advice regarding speaking with developers, not individual stories of frustration with dealing with customer service for the accessibility device providers. So please disregard my earlier post. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.commailto:viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.commailto:viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.commailto:viphone
Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility
One key, that people forget, is to always press search in the lower right corner of the keyboard, or enter on the bluetooth keyboard, when searching for an app in the App Store. David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: dchitten...@gmail.com Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone On 12 Aug 2014, at 9:08, Cheryl Homiak cah4...@icloud.com wrote: hmmm, maybe these got changed. I just went to the app store on my iPhone and NFB Newsline was the third choice when I typed nfb and bard mobile was the second choice when I typed bard. I then tried the same searches on my iPad with the same results. So maybe something has been changed since you tried these. -- Cheryl I tried and tried to turn over a new leaf. I got crumpled wads of tear-stained paper thrown in the trash! Then God gave me a new heart and life: His joy for my despairing tears! And now, every day: This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV) On Aug 11, 2014, at 3:35 PM, Michelle Bernstein michellebbbernst...@gmail.com wrote: It in interesting to me that even when I contact the apple accessibility telephone number, I have to explain the apps that I am asking for help with accessing. Two recent examples are the Bard mobile app and the nfb Newsline app. In the case of the nfb Newsline app, the only way that I could locate this app to download to my iPad was to use the link from the nfb Newsline website. Searching both iTunes Store and the App Store brought up other results from nfb beside Newsline. In my opinion, the more you write or call anyone associated with the technology you need will be beneficial. It may not help as I found repeatedly calling customer service from audible, but at least the more voices that are heard, the better. My assumption, and I hope that I am wrong, as someone who became visually impaired as an adult, is that you need to advocate and explain everything you need from technology at a very basic level to be understood by the sighted community, even from places which make technology which is supposed to be accessible. Also remember that not everyone is a wiz at technology and not everyone picks up these skills quickly, especially if they are unfamiliar with navigating the world without much or any sight. Michelle -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at
Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility
Both apps you mention are third-party apps, so are not Apple's responsibility. I would not expect Apple Accessibility to know third-party apps any more than I would expect you to know how to program my washing machine. For assistance with third-party apps, one must always contact the app developer, not Apple. For assistance with using one's Apple device, contact Apple. David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: dchitten...@gmail.com Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone On 12 Aug 2014, at 8:35, Michelle Bernstein michellebbbernst...@gmail.com wrote: It in interesting to me that even when I contact the apple accessibility telephone number, I have to explain the apps that I am asking for help with accessing. Two recent examples are the Bard mobile app and the nfb Newsline app. In the case of the nfb Newsline app, the only way that I could locate this app to download to my iPad was to use the link from the nfb Newsline website. Searching both iTunes Store and the App Store brought up other results from nfb beside Newsline. In my opinion, the more you write or call anyone associated with the technology you need will be beneficial. It may not help as I found repeatedly calling customer service from audible, but at least the more voices that are heard, the better. My assumption, and I hope that I am wrong, as someone who became visually impaired as an adult, is that you need to advocate and explain everything you need from technology at a very basic level to be understood by the sighted community, even from places which make technology which is supposed to be accessible. Also remember that not everyone is a wiz at technology and not everyone picks up these skills quickly, especially if they are unfamiliar with navigating the world without much or any sight. Michelle -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility
I have been advocating for increased technology access for 25 years now. In the process, I have piled up a number of advocacy successes from talking ATMs by the biggest banks to accessible audio interfaces of voting machines to audio description at movie theaters. I have been a moving force that has aided in securing this access on scores of projects for hundreds of thousands of blind and disabled people. Starting last year, I began advocating for accessible apps. In the world of apps, most apps are not produced in a way that would fall under the jurisdiction of the Americans with disabilities Act or other disability policies put in place in the past 50 years. Therefore, I found that personal appeal and persuasion are necessary and most successful. I always e-mail. I describe who I am, my station in life and how the app is useful or would be potentially useful to me. I describe the barriers with VoiceOver in clear and detailed language. I also explain how VO is built into every iPhone so validating the problem and replicating it is simple. I conclude my message by stating specifically the problems I want corrected. I refer folks to the Apple Usability guidelines and the section that spells out the issue in question if the problem is not obvious. The communication to the developer is clear and complete and not like a series of 140 character one-liners like those seen on Twitter. Kelly On 8/11/14, Teresa Cochran batsfly...@me.com wrote: To my way of thinking, Apple *facilitates accessibility in third-party apps, and not all of the reps at the accessibility service number will necessarily know all of the specific blindness-related apps. this is not to say that they shouldn't be familiarized with them to some extent. However, making accessibility available in a mainstream product is somewhat new territory. I would fully expect the folks at apple accessibility to be familiar with the apps built into iO s, such as Mail, Calendar, and Safari. There are many, many third-party apps, and I'm afraid the specific blindness-related ones like Seeing Assistant, Bard, and NFB Newsreader will be lost in the shuffle for the most part. I look at it this way: how many average blind folks know about switching devices for iOS, to be used by quadruplegics using mouth controls? Accessibility is always an education process. For example, i have experienced some hearing loss, but not to the extent that hearing aids are required. When hearing aids become necessary for me, I will definitely need to learn a lot about the use of them with iOS. Icould be learning now, as well. I know for a fact as a former access tech trainer that some trainers specialized in certain types of accessibility. I used Braille, and a colleague was much better than I was at teaching low-vision solutions, since I had never been sighted. I think we're at a frontier, and we need to be aware of this, even though, in all possible worlds, anyone getting paid to advise on accessibility issues should have some breadth and depth of knowledge on this very broad subjet. Just my two, Teresa We can see with the eyes, but we see with the brain as well, and seeing with the brain is often called imagination.--Oliver Sacks On Aug 11, 2014, at 2:45 PM, Michelle Bernstein michellebbbernst...@gmail.com wrote: The bard mobile app is easy to locate I agree. The nfb Newsline was not, for me, when I searched nfb or national federation of the blind in the iTunes Store and the App Store. What was surprising to me was that these apps were not familiar to the people who answered the apple accessibility phone line. Apparently I misunderstood the point of the original poster in that he is looking for advice regarding speaking with developers, not individual stories of frustration with dealing with customer service for the accessibility device providers. So please disregard my earlier post. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the
Re: Advocating for VO Accessibility
I didn't have to do that in order to find the bard mobile app or the nfb newsline app. Usually I start out by not tapping search; then if I don't see my choice I tap it just to be sure. -- Cheryl I tried and tried to turn over a new leaf. I got crumpled wads of tear-stained paper thrown in the trash! Then God gave me a new heart and life: His joy for my despairing tears! And now, every day: This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV) On Aug 11, 2014, at 8:22 PM, David Chittenden dchitten...@gmail.com wrote: One key, that people forget, is to always press search in the lower right corner of the keyboard, or enter on the bluetooth keyboard, when searching for an app in the App Store. David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: dchitten...@gmail.com Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone On 12 Aug 2014, at 9:08, Cheryl Homiak cah4...@icloud.com wrote: hmmm, maybe these got changed. I just went to the app store on my iPhone and NFB Newsline was the third choice when I typed nfb and bard mobile was the second choice when I typed bard. I then tried the same searches on my iPad with the same results. So maybe something has been changed since you tried these. -- Cheryl I tried and tried to turn over a new leaf. I got crumpled wads of tear-stained paper thrown in the trash! Then God gave me a new heart and life: His joy for my despairing tears! And now, every day: This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:21-23 ESV) On Aug 11, 2014, at 3:35 PM, Michelle Bernstein michellebbbernst...@gmail.com wrote: It in interesting to me that even when I contact the apple accessibility telephone number, I have to explain the apps that I am asking for help with accessing. Two recent examples are the Bard mobile app and the nfb Newsline app. In the case of the nfb Newsline app, the only way that I could locate this app to download to my iPad was to use the link from the nfb Newsline website. Searching both iTunes Store and the App Store brought up other results from nfb beside Newsline. In my opinion, the more you write or call anyone associated with the technology you need will be beneficial. It may not help as I found repeatedly calling customer service from audible, but at least the more voices that are heard, the better. My assumption, and I hope that I am wrong, as someone who became visually impaired as an adult, is that you need to advocate and explain everything you need from technology at a very basic level to be understood by the sighted community, even from places which make technology which is supposed to be accessible. Also remember that not everyone is a wiz at technology and not everyone picks up these skills quickly, especially if they are unfamiliar with navigating the world without much or any sight. Michelle -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the viphone list. All new members to the this list are moderated by default. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. The archives for this list can be searched at http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups VIPhone group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members
