by Wade Hemmelrick
(Editor’s Note: “From Your Perspective” is a column that appears occasionally. Its contents vary from technology to religion, from internal goings-on to items of concern in the blindness field in general. The opinions expressed are those of the authors, not those of the American Council of the Blind, its staff or elected officials. “The Braille Forum” cannot be held responsible for the opinions expressed herein.)
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:
As an average PC computer consumer, who happens to be blind, I do keep tabs on the development of new operating systems, and how these platforms would honestly fare in terms of equal user friendliness among blind and disabled consumers alike. Windows XP has certainly come a long way towards this important goal, especially in how compatible it really is with JAWS, Window-Eyes, and other screen reader software. Compared to the built-in Narrator text-to-speech program in Windows XP, JAWS allows us, for the most part, full use of the present operating system on terms of equality with our sighted peers.
As a responsible consumer, and average citizen, I have no doubt of such issues (as thought out in this commentary) as not originally coming from me. However, I hope that this message does echo the sentiments of every other average consumer who depends on screen readers and other assistive technology products available out there. Therefore, the purpose of this set of remarks is to urge the developers of the forthcoming Longhorn platform to give their technical workspace the same considerations for completely accessible features, to make improvements where there is room for them, and to have an open mind toward the needs of the average blind and disabled consumer base in general — from top-notch blind programmers, assistive technology educators, and related developers, to the average computer user, who would rather own a new operating system which would place him or her on equal, competitive parameters with every other average working or capable citizen and enable that person to achieve his/her place in the technical, service, or business oriented sectors of the workforce.
In closing, this model message will serve as a strong reminder to Microsoft (in a most timely and responsible fashion) to let its words and deeds match the concerns of relevant consumer categories in order that this “bull” of an operating system is assured to work for us, not against us. Thank you.