Accessibility Team

[Henrik Nilsen Omma]

First, sorry for the long email to the list. Despite what it looks like, 
the following is not a rant :) It's just that these issues do often 
require some background.

I don't want to advocate any major changes for Warty, not even changing 
default options. I'm developing more detailed description of my ideas in 
the wiki under 'Ideas for Hoary'. I absolutely agree that these features 
should not be a nuisance for the general public, as that would only make 
the whole feature set generally unpopular. So, I certainly would not 
want them to be turned on by default either. Personally, I use only the 
sticky-keys, and would also be annoyed if other features were started by 
default.

I'm not even suggesting that it be installed by default. Most people 
prefer a slim system, with just the bits they need, using less HD space 
and causing less menu-clutter. What I am suggesting is that these 
features be very easy to install and activate. What we might consider a 
reasonable obstacle for the average newbie can be an insurmountable 
problem for someone who finds it difficult to operate their computer 
without certain features.

For example: The accessibility panel in ubuntu-gnome now informs you 
that no access features are installed, and tells you the names of the 
packages you need (gok and gnopernicus), but nothing about how to 
install them. There should probably be a button on that very screen that 
says 'Install now'. The average newbie user would be able to install it 
with Synaptic, or at least launch Firefox and find their way to the 
Ubuntu forum/mailing list/FAQ to read or ask about it. But, imagine 
trying to do those things while sitting on your hands. OK, that's a 
contrived and funny suggestion, but it illustrates the point. If you had 
to sit on your hands until you had gok up and running (but could hold a 
pen in your mouth, say), you might have a tough time (try opening a 
terminal, synaptic, or firefox; try using your mouse with that pen, be 
it a table-mouse or a touch pad) . What you'd really prefer is to be 
able to press F5 at the GDM prompt, whereupon gok would start or you 
would be prompted to install it. You can contrive similar experiments 
for poor vision. In either case, you'd prefer to be able to launch the 
features as early as possible with minimum fuss.

So, what would be useful, is for the accessibility features to be 
included in the group of apps that are not installed by default, but 
which live on the install CD and get copied to the HD. True, these 
utilities may only be needed by 1% of the population, and normally that 
would place it in the supported seed (but not on the CD) or even in 
universe, but there are special reasons why these things should go on 
the HD. Dial-up problems are common. They can sometimes be trivial to 
fix, but trivial can become insurmountable given certain restrictions. 
The person may have an unsupported Win-modem, or may not intend to use 
the internet, etc.  Likewise, re-inserting the CD used during 
installation may be difficult for some to do independently.

"A truly accessible installer, startup process and default desktop would
very likely drive users who don't need those features bonkers, and it's
hard to provide an accessible way to turn a11y features if they're not
there already."

It's not hard, it just takes a bit of work :)  I've written a 
description in the wiki of how one can make a truly accessible 
installer, that does not get in any one else's way. 
(http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility_20Aware_20Installer). The idea is 
that you have a choice available at the very beginning of the installer, 
that lets you turn on access features. For example, on the language 
selection screen, you put a notice at the bottom of the screen that says 
'F5 = enable accessibility features'. This would also be mouse 
clickable. The information about that option would be available on the 
web page and in the general documentation, so even someone who could see 
that notice, they would know to press F5 after the install CD had 
booted. This would take the user into a cleverly designed sub-area that 
would enable various access features in the installer and beyond. The 
point is that the user would have _access to the access features_ from 
that point onwards. Most other people would simply ignore the F5 notice, 
and would never encounter these features again. There would be no 
further questions in the installer and nothing would be installed by 
default.

All that said, I think accessibility is actually quite good in Warty 
(once we fix some broken stuff). So, again I'm not suggesting we make 
any major changes this time, but we have a chance to take it to a new 
level for Hoary :)  I've been to talks by Microsoft, where they make a 
point of saying (to a general audience) that accessibility is better in 
Windows than in Linux. So far that's been true, but there's no reason it 
needs to be. All the tools are available in the FOSS word, but we just 
need to bring them together in a sensible way. (I think the fact that 
they mention that point shows that they are running out of arguments on 
the technical front, but there is no reason to give them that point for 
free :) ).

I also want to briefly comment on your idea of creating an 'Accessible 
Ubuntu Derivative'. I don't think that is necessary or even desirable. 
We can create a distro that is highly accessible in its standard 
edition, without being in anyone else's way. Derivative versions are 
extra work to maintain, and also sends out the wrong message. With the 
stated goals for Ubuntu of being highly accessible, this should clearly 
be a part of the standard version. Derivative version would tend to be 
delayed or inferior in other ways compared with the standard one. 
'Separate but equal' will never really be equal, as history has shown. 
This is a common theme regarding disability issues generally, such as 
physical accessibility. It is always better to make public transport and 
buildings generally accessible that to provide custom solutions, because 
they never work as well. A custom wheelchair lift will never be as 
reliable as one made for general use, and will take much longer to fix 
when it breaks, etc. With software, adhering to this principle is 
relatively easy in comparison with providing public transport in London, 
say.

Thanks, for reading this far. I plan to do a solid job with the Ubuntu 
Accessibility Team, but I also intend not to be a pain to others, be 
they users or developers. Some years ago I myself had no knowledge of or 
interest in these issues, so I can appreciate that point of view as 
well. If any of the suggestions I make cause problems or annoyance for 
other user groups, newbies, power-users or developers, I'd like to hear 
about it, because a solution suitable for everyone can usually be found.

- Henrik