The fact is, before apple came out with their revolutionary touch-based screen reader, it was not believed blind people could work with touch screens in such a way. The closest thing was Mobile Speak who turned the touch-screen in to 4 large buttons, and created an invisible talking keyboard that covered the entire display. The professional research questions were all focused around how to ad tactile feedback in a way that would be meaningful to blind people. The basic premise has been that blind people could not effectively adapt to an ever-changing visual interface. As I read through the professional research and literature, this theme remains constant.
David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA Email: dchitten...@gmail.com Mobile: +64 21 2288 288 Sent from my iPhone On 18/09/2012, at 3:28, Scott Howell <scottn3...@gmail.com> wrote: > You know I've not been much a fan of Chrome or the ChromVox, but you know I > understand it is still early in its development. WHat I am pleased by is the > fact that GOogle also is investing in accessibility and I hope other > companies will see the benefits and jump on the wagon as well. Do I want to > see vendors such as FS or GW Micro go out of business? No, but at the same > time if that were to happen it means that finally accessibility has reached a > "mainstream" status and that can be a good (as well as a bad ) thing. All > this means is if you looked back just five or so years ago, who ever thought > we would have access to these touch-screen devices to the level we do today. > Actually when you consider the entire 20 plus years of screen reading > technology and look just in the last five or six years at what has been > accomplished, well it is pretty amazing. > > On Sep 17, 2012, at 10:48 AM, Christopher Chaltain <chalt...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Just two other points here. Accessibility like any other project may >> have it's priority rise and fall as other projects priorities change or >> as Apple perceives it's lead in the accessibility area growing or >> shrinking. this is no different than any other project. >> >> I agree that Apple has done a lot as a main stream company with respect >> to accessibility, but I'm not positive that their investment is light >> years ahead of other main stream companies. I know for example, Google >> has quite a bit invested in accessibility right now between ChromeVox, >> Android and their on line services, such as Google Docs. IBM also came >> out with their own screen reader for OS/2, which I know is ancient >> history, but their investment to accessibility has continued with >> contributions to FireFox and the accessibility of products such as Lotus >> Notes, Sametime and Symphony. >> >> I also don't see Apple changing on a dime just because Steve Jobs is no >> longer with them. Who knows how this will effect Apple in the long run, >> but I'm sure he delegated some things before his death, and I'm sure >> there are others at Apple who shared and understood his vision. >> >> On 17/09/12 09:36, Marc Rocheleau wrote: >>> Hey Scott, >>> >>> I totally understand what you mean. Like I said, I'm trying not to >>> jump the gun or anything -- it's more a paranoia of mine than a valid >>> fear. I fully acknowledge that Apple has too much money to lose if >>> they drop accessibility from their products, especially with the >>> communities that have been created online (such as this one) because >>> of it. >>> >>> I think it's more a case of it feeling too good to be true still. No >>> other mainstream companies provide this level of support for the >>> blind/visually-impaired, imo, and sometimes it feels like the other >>> shoe should be dropping at any second. I know Apple does it for money >>> but I don't really care as long as I am getting value for my money. >>> >>> There's a reason I'm switching to an iMac in the coming months, after all. >>> :) >>> >>> -Marc >>> >>> On 9/17/12, Scott Howell <scottn3...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> Marc, >>>> >>>> Before folks go running off on a tangent about accessibility, Steve Jobs, >>>> and so forth I think it is important to point out: >>>> 1. Steve Jobs, although a great man, was not the exclusive determining >>>> factor for Voiceover in Apple's products. >>>> 2. Just because Steve has passed on does not mean Apple will abandon >>>> accessibility. >>>> 3. There has been articles posted by the U.S. Department of Treasury (a >>>> year >>>> or two ago) that indicates there are over 100,000 blind/visually impaired >>>> users of iPhones. Note iPhones and the article did not mention iPads etc. >>>> 4. Apple has to balance accessibility against all the other projects that >>>> are ongoing. There are resources dedicated to many projects and some >>>> projects get more resources than others. Fact is accessibility may not get >>>> the same level of resources as other projects; however, you have to >>>> understand it is always a challenge trying to be sure resources are managed >>>> in such a way to ensure overall mission/goals/objectives are addressed >>>> without impacting the largest user community. I may not be explaining that >>>> as well as I could, but the idea is you put the resources on whatever will >>>> maximize profits and make no mistake that Apple is about making money. Oh >>>> and I'm all for Apple making money and buckets of it. MOre money means more >>>> resources and more resources means more likelihood accessibility gets >>>> attention. >>>> 5. Apple is the only "mainstream" company to my knowledge that has invested >>>> so heavily into accessibility. >>>> 6. A lot of developers have committed to making their apps accessible, so >>>> accessibility has really gained such a considerable amount of attention >>>> that >>>> there is support beyond even this community. You can bet if Apple ever >>>> decided to drop accessibility, we would have a good deal of support. >>>> >>>> I'm not lecturing you here Marc, but merely pointing out (because this >>>> comes >>>> up on the list from time to time) that APple has committed to accessibility >>>> and like any other aspect of software things get broken and hopefully >>>> fixed. >>>> I think a lot of the issues we all have experienced from time to time and >>>> still do in some cases is not being ignored. When you consider the size and >>>> scope of a project such as iOS itself, you can imagine the number of people >>>> working on such a project. Add to that the layers of management and >>>> development protocols etc… I'm not surprised that it takes a while to >>>> address problems. >>>> >>>> On Sep 16, 2012, at 10:34 PM, Marc Rocheleau <marcrochelea...@gmail.com> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Wow, I sincerely hope that app developers who use VoiceOver have been >>>>> reporting these problems to Apple's accessibility team. This is >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" >>>> Google >>>> Group. >>>> To search the VIPhone public archive, visit >>>> http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. >>>> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >> >> -- >> Christopher (CJ) >> chaltain at Gmail >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google >> Group. >> To search the VIPhone public archive, visit >> http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. >> To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. >> >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > To search the VIPhone public archive, visit > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en.
