Accessibility Team

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Fri, Oct 08, 2004 at 11:43:07AM +0100, Henrik Nilsen Omma wrote:

> 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.

Think of it as a branch which would be merged into the mainline distribution
when it is ready.  It would be a place to experiment with getting
accessibility into shape, where we would be free to break things, etc. to
try out ideas, without causing problems for existing Ubuntu users.  Don't
misunderstand; our goal is to have Ubuntu itself be accessible.

-- 
 - mdz