Hello Jonathan, I agree with your position in this matter. I learned Braille as a teenager and use it every day in my profession. I do not know what I would do without it, and I am not the fastest Braille reader in the world. I just wonder if APPle has not devoted the resources to Braille support because of the message that only a small percentage of blind people know it. Additionally, school districts and teachers sometimes teach it as a last resort, i.e. after the child has lost all vision. I have heard some teachers believe it is not necessary because of speech access. So maybe Apple has this message when it is deciding where to devote its attention. I also know that several blind users have been beta testers for Apple. Assuming some are expert Braille users I wonder if the problems with Braille are being communicated to Apple early enough in the process of the beta testing so Apple can make adjustments.
On Sep 20, 2013, at 3:10 AM, Jonathan Mosen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi everyone, since I believe this is such a vital issue, and given that it is > 100% on-topic for this list, I would like to paste below an entry I just > posted to my blog. I hope you enjoy it and that you'll give it some thought. > > People from all walks of life, not just blind people, can get extremely > partisan about their technology preferences. Anything their team does is > unquestionably wonderful, while anything another company does is rubbish, > simply by virtue of the fact that it’s the other guys who did it. If you > criticise the company such people support, you’ve committed heresy. > As blind people, I don’t believe we have the luxury of being so childish. > Unemployment is high. Misconceptions abound regarding how capable we can be > in the workplace, and in society as a whole. We need to be open to all > solutions, and where possible, use the best mix of technology we can to be as > productive, functional and self-reliant as we can. > To be clear, I have enormous admiration for the way Apple has changed the > game in assistive technology. When they released VoiceOver in 2009, I was > concerned that Apple might do just enough to get people off its back > regarding the inaccessibility of the iPhone. But that has not been the case. > With every release, Apple has added tangible enhancements such as alternative > forms of input, innovative ways for us to use the camera, and so much more. > So Apple’s commitment to accessibility is real, its ongoing, and it has > earned enormous praise and respect. > Is there a “but” coming? Yes, there is, actually., because being grateful for > a product doesn’t mean we don’t have rights as paying consumers to point out > where a product falls short. But more than that, if Apple’s innovations risk > killing off a category of product, and the literacy of our kids is > threatened, we have a moral obligation to speak up constructively and ask > Apple to engage with us as a community about fixing the issue. > The Internet is buzzing with reports of bugs in iOS 7. I’m not unduly > concerned about most of these, because I believe the majority of them will > come out in the wash. iOS 7 was a massive refactoring of the OS. I hope that > there’ll be fixes released steadily across the coming year. > However, I am deeply troubled by Apple’s ongoing apparent failure to > understand what constitutes Braille support of an appropriate quality. We’re > not talking bugs in this case, we’re talking a fundamental user interface > failure – a feature not fully fit for purpose. > Since Braille was introduced in iOS, it has supported contracted Braille in > English markets. This is a means by which space is saved, and speed > increased, by using a series of symbols and abbreviations. When one reads > contracted Braille in iOS, it works quite well. When one rights it, it is the > worst implementation of contracted input I’ve ever used on any device. > Since its inception, if you input a letter in contracted Braille which would > be the abbreviation for a word if surrounded by spaces, iOS expands the word > it represents if you pause for a short time before inputting the next > character. For example, write “p” and it will quickly be expanded to the word > “people”. If you are proofing a document you’ve brailled and wish to insert a > letter in the middle of a word, you must preface the letter with a letter > sign, dots 5-6, to prevent it from being expanded. This is not in accordance > with the Braille code and is simply wrong. > Apple must surely know about this poor implementation. It’s been talked about > in many forums, including an excellent presentation by Judy Dixon at the CSUN > Technology Conference on Persons with Disabilities. I, and I’m sure others, > have also raised it. > It’s also evident that Apple knows about the issues, because to its credit, > it appears to at least have made an effort to try and fix the problem in iOS > 7. It now offers an “Automatic Braille Translation” toggle. This feature is > so below par compared with most of the design of all other VoiceOver > features, that it must surely be the case that Apple is getting no advice, or > poor advice, from anyone actually using Braille in their daily life. > When you toggle “Automatic Braille Translation” off, you can take as long as > you wish when inputting characters, and they’re not back-translated. Isn’t > that what we want? Well yes, it would appear to be a step in the right > direction. Except when you use it, you find that Braille is not readable on > the display until you either press the space bar, or dots 4-5-cord. Why Apple > believes this is acceptable, I have no idea. Can you imagine a sighted person > finding it acceptable in any other scenario other than password entry, to not > be able to look at what they’re entering until they press “Space”? > But it’s worse than that. If you backspace over what you’ve typed, you run > into back-translation issues similar to those experienced when automatic > translation is set to on. > Additionally, having to press dots 4-5-cord after inserting a letter in the > middle of a word is counterintuitive, and again, an implementation far more > primitive than anything else that offers contracted input. Apple seems to > have implemented a pretty crude buffer, that is simply dumped when you type > one of two commands to empty it. That is not a solution. > The Braille implementation in iOS does not meet the “it’s intuitive and it > just works” test that has been the hallmark of Apple products including > VoiceOver. > Now if it were just about us as Braille reading adults, I wouldn’t bother > writing this post. It would get on my nerves, but I’d continue to work around > it and just put it down to a bizarre, less than optimal implementation. I’m > not writing this for me. I’m not asking blind people, and the world’s > consumer organisations, to come together on this for me or people like me. > I’m writing this for the kids. It’s the kids who matter. > If you’re a Braille user, you’ll have seen the implementation of Nemeth in > iOS 7. It’s there because Apple’s going after the education market, > particularly in the US. Good for Apple. I can see enormous benefit in a kid > being given an iPad and a Braille display for use at home and in school. > Don’t underestimate how mainstream tech can be a great way to help blind kids > blend in with sighted kids. Parents feel more empowered, because the iPad is > technology they know and understand, so when the child gets in trouble at > home, they can help out. Classroom teachers in mainstream schools know what > an iPad is as well and feel similarly empowered. > But all of these benefits have to be secondary considerations to the one that > matters above all else, – equipping our kids with good Braille literacy > skills. Braille is their ticket to higher education. Braille offers a greater > chance of gainful employment. Braille is absolutely critical, and Braille is > not to be trifled with. Half-baked Braille solutions are not appropriate for > our kids when there’s a crisis in getting Braille instruction to them already. > We should not expect our kids to have to learn to work-around Apple’s poor > implementation, we should expect Apple to fix its Braille. > For the last 20 years or so, blind kids have increasingly used proprietary > notetaker technology. I’ve no problem whatsoever with technology moving on, > and a category of product becoming obsolete. I love the idea of investing in > a good Braille display that will last you for years, and upgrading the > technology that drives the display on a more regular basis. But that > technology has to do the Braille properly. > There are cost savings to be made by cash-strapped agencies who purchase > equipment for blind children, and that’s also why I’m writing this post. I > can see bean-counters concluding that the combination of an iPad and a > Braille display is a good solution for kids now. Many of these purchasers are > not Braille users themselves, and I believe we have a duty of care to our > kids to spread the word that Apple is not there yet. It is trying, and should > be applauded for doing so, but still, it’s not there. > You will remember the huge backlash caused by the initial release of Apple > Maps in iOS 6. In terms of fitness for purpose, Apple Maps was far superior > at release than Braille is now. The only difference is that Braille affects a > tiny fraction of Apple’s user-base, not hundreds of millions of people. > Lest anyone think I’m whining without a solution, I actually know a lot about > this subject, having worked as a product manager with a range of products > that use contracted Braille. I have a good feel for where Apple has got it > wrong and what it might do to fix it, while not of course being familiar with > the VoiceOver code. But I am absolutely confident that it’s fixable. Let’s > not forget, Apple invented a way for blind people to make effective use of > touch screens. Apple gave us unimagined access to taking photos. It is > certainly not beyond Apple to look at best practice and figure this one out, > because unlike some of the other things it’s done, the solutions already > exist. > If this poor-quality support had been offered to us by an assistive > technology company, we’d have jumped all over it long before now. But given > that Apple develops screen readers, that makes it both a mainstream > technology company, and an assistive technology company. We should hold it to > no less a standard. > Having outlined the problem, here’s what I think needs to happen. > Typically, I’d suggest that Apple needs to engage with the community with a > view to fixing these issues for the sake of our kids, but that’s not really > been its style. It is secretive by nature. In that case then, it needs to buy > the expertise to make Braille truly viable in the education market. > As Braille readers, we need to politely articulate the problems to Apple, and > let Apple know we consider it important that they are fixed. > Consumer organisations should do what they’ve done so many times before, and > focus on their unity when it comes to Braille issues. A broad-coalition of > consumers, educators and parents needs to ensure this issue is not allowed to > drop. > And finally, no one in charge of any purse strings should consider it an > appropriate solution to give a kid an iPad in the classroom if they’re a > Braille user. If purchasers want to move away from the blindness notetaker, > and I get that, a laptop and Braille display is a far better solution in > terms of Braille reliability and consistency. > I’ll be the first to cheer loudly, and sing Apple’s praises, if it fixes its > Braille. And I’ll continue to praise all it has done right, which I often do > in media interviews and blindness tech forums. But please, for the sake of > the kids, lets do what we need to do to advocate for good quality Braille on > Apple devices. We have a duty to the next generation to do no less. > I’ve done what I can as an individual to make Apple aware of these failings, > but clearly, we need to do more to help it gain an appreciation of why this > is so important. > Jonathan Mosen > Mosen Consulting > Blindness technology eBooks, tutorials and training > http://Mosen.org > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google > Group. > > Post a new message to VIPhone by emailing [email protected]. > > Search and view the VIPhone archives by visiting > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/. > > Reach the VIPhone owner and moderators by emailing > [email protected]. > > Unsubscribe and leave VIPhone by emailing > [email protected]. > > More VIPhone group options can be found by visiting > http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. > --- > 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 [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. 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