[u-a-dev] What can we do to drastically improve ubuntu accessibility?

[Alicia Brown]

Read and contact these people. This is your calling Darren. It really is. I
know its in India, but you COULD do it. Look into it.
Love me xxx

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 8:07 PM, David Sexton <david at iiseconnect.org> wrote:

> Good morning
>
> I am looking for information on what is most needed to improve ubuntu
> accessibility. More programmers? More funds? More user feedback? Etc.
> I am blind and currently using orca and mac. I guess I would describe
> myself as someone who writes small scripts to get jobs done, but certainly
> not a software engineer. I generally prefer the command line over GUI, but
> GUI is really necessary for internet and word processing. Of course, I'd
> love it more if orca/gnome/ubuntu were as rock-solid as the command line.
>
> I am the IT manager at the International Institute for Social
> Entrepreneurs in Kerala, South India. www.bwb-iise.org
> We take motivated and talented individuals from all over the world, mainly
> developing countries, who become active to create positive social change in
> their communities.
> About half of our participants are blind or have other disabilities. We
> use mainly Ubuntu.
> We have a few things we can offer ubuntu accessibility:
>
> - User feedback. We could install latest builds and provide regular
> feedback.
> - Fund raising. We are connected to quite a few donors who are generally
> interested in making a considerate impact in the developing world.
> Completely accessible ubuntu would enable many people to have access to
> computers.
> - Since the next IISE course will only start in July 2012, our campus
> could be used during the period from mid december to mid June.
> We are planning on hosting a few hackfests to improve accessibility of
> software and create new software.
> We would love to work on anything ubuntu accessibility has for us.
> I can definitely get several college hackers together.
> Maybe some programmers from the company "UST global" as well.
> I guess what I need to know, is how to get them up to speed on Ubuntu,
> gnome and ubuntu/gnome accessibility itself.
> Myself, I know a bit of python, but nothing at all about how accessibility
> is structured… What does Ubuntu accessibility do differently/in addition to
> gnome accessibility.
>
> If there's not currently a way to employ people directly through ubuntu
> then It could be that we hire some programmers specifically to work on
> gnome and ubuntu accessibility… So if you're experienced in this area and
> want to work in India, let us know.
> From our viewpoint, we are annoyed that accessibility is almost there, but
> not quite good enough to prevent our participants from returning home and
> most likely be forced to use illegal copies of windows and accessibility
> software. So our thought is: what can we do to get gnome and gnome-orca to
> work as well as windows and mac solutions.
> On behalf of all of our visually impaired participants as well as all of
> them around the world I want to say THanks very much for your interest,
> ideas, suggestions and feedback!
>
> With best wishes,
>
> David Sexton
> +919400332251
>
>
> --
> Ubuntu-accessibility-devel mailing list
> Ubuntu-accessibility-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-accessibility-devel
>
>
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