[GTALUG] "Accessibility in Fedora Workstation"

[Karen Lewellen]

Hi there,
Sighs.
first and foremost that article link did not work in the one browser most 
common in command line Linux...at least not without turning off sending a 
user agent header.  Which I did to read the article.
Speaking personally?
While I respect that Red hat believes they are aiming  for inclusion, 
there are some aspects of what I read that, again speaking personally and 
objectively makes this person unqualified for the job   they are being 
advertised to do.
lets start  with one glaring point.
Fedora is aiming to be accessible. however accessibility is not, and has 
never  been  entirely about blindness, which is before  You even consider 
the absolutely disturbing idea that a single person with a single sight 
loss experience is qualified to develop anything for other users. he  may 
share a label with  these millions, but he does not share an experience 
with  them.
That he states he has not educated himself on other  tools created for 
populations other than his own, makes him unqualified to create 
accessibility solutions.  what is redhat planning a token  insert 
condition person  to manage the rest of access?
After all, even one of the comments outlined a desire, but since they are 
not blind, they are not included at the fedora table..why?
then there is his limited, outdated, and frankly concerning awareness of 
even screen reader options in Linux.
Speakup for example not only works with hardware speech...ever heard of a 
sound card? no idea those were obsolete, but it can work with embedded 
speech  synthesis as well, is incorporated in Debian, and has an active 
development base.
Finel <spelling> is another  active screen reader project for Linux, this 
expert 
has not even heard of it.
  Something to consider though is that I am a media professional..catching 
factual errors in the first paragraph.  Linux had the best accessibility, 
for whom? by what definition? to perform what tasks?  and the first 
effort came from sun Micro..says who?
Where  did this  new staff-member go to university?  His software 
engineering degree is at what level?
did they also say minor in disability studies at least?
   Sorry!
This individual is only qualified to create, from his personal understanding 
access for himself, perhaps a handful of his friends.  However actual 
inclusion, say use the human rights code as a basis generally means that an 
individual, where they are, can use the tools defined as best by them, to 
access your services, including our website.
I can personally name three red hat users who have  been involved in, and 
working regularly with fedora years before this  person had even heard of 
Linux...and one of them is a computer scientist if memory serves.
One interesting discussion on a Linux list focused on accessibility is how 
important  it is that all aspects of Linux, console and gui  work  so that 
the individual can choose how they are going to use the system.
managing a learning disability? Perhaps paraplegic?  want to use your 
voice?  and so forth.
gGui is clunky time consuming and sounds reprehensible generally out of 
the box.  then, the programs associated  with said system themselves are 
not  fully  functional either.
one thing, speaking personally, working against Linux is  likely a strong 
point for seasoned users...Linux is clay.  You can mold a system into what
  You desire, at least if you are knowledgeable enough.
why is that a problem from an accessibility standpoint?
Because by in large adaptive technology works as extensions of, if not 
substitutions for  physical body processes.  hands, ears, eyes, brains, a 
combination of these even if only a single diagnosis is on the table. 
Factor in that humans learn and interact WITH technology differently, and 
a  clay structure is challenging.
generally though you do not say remove your hands for a different set when 
banking, and again when shopping etc., or your eyes for that matter.
To claim that Linux ever had the best accessibility of any operating 
system is frankly hysterical, not only because of the number of 
populations involved, none of whom are fully  represented by this 
individual, but because sometimes it can take more than one Linux program 
to manage a task.
Say to clap, you seem to need one for the right hand, on for just the left, 
and  a third to bring them together.
To be Honest, and I say this  as a former Xerox adaptive technology 
staffer,  the best operating  system for accessibility, i. e. 
incorporated tools for multiple populations who read, write, and interact 
with  technology differently is likely Apple..for several reasons.
Still, what is profoundly concerning here is that the redhat team actually 
believes that accessibility applies to a single population, and is 
staffing someone who, by their definition is only qualified because he is a 
member of that single population.  and hands down  projected stereotyping 
contributes more to a lack of accessibility than anything else.
could Linux become actually inclusive?  certainly,
would the process be easy?  It depends, mainly on how much they are 
willing  to toss out this accessibility only means blindness, and all 
blind people are the   same dictionary they are using.
Do look forward to sharing this article on a few lists, and watching the 
explosion.  It is unfortunate comments are closed, Redhat could use an 
education.
Just my thoughts though,
Karen



On Tue, 9 Aug 2022, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

> An article in Fedora Magazine talks about increased efforts to make the
> Fedora distribution more accessible.
>
> <https://fedoramagazine.org/accessibility-in-fedora-workstation/>
>
> This seems like a Good Thing.  Karen Lewellen has been navigating these
> problems and posted some software problems here.
>
> It would be good to have more attention to these problems.
>
> Karen:
>
> Do you have any reactions to this article for us?
>
> Are there easy improvements that could be made?
> ---
> Post to this mailing list talk at gtalug.org
> Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
>