[laptop-accessibility] Advocacy for Elevated Disability Inclusion: Next Steps?

[David K Parker]

I thought that this was the forum for voicing our concerns to the OLPC. Are
they purposely insulating themselves from opinions on how to improve their
product? I was set to buy a couple of these laptops to donate at Christmas,
but can no longer bring myself to support an organization that is so
negligent towards supporting children with disabilities. It's almost as if
they went through pains to purposely exclude simple features that would make
their devices more accessible, such as sticky keys and mouse keys. At the
very least, they are negligent for giving so little consideration to kids
with disabilities.
David

On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 7:07 AM, Andrea Shettle <ashettle at patriot.net>wrote:

> Given the recent discussions on this list criticizing OLPC for not
> putting higher priority on the needs of children with disabilities FROM
> THE BEGINNING, I'd like to make a few comments and ask some questions,
> either for the list at wide or for any individual who is in the
> strongest position to answer:
>
> 1. If OLPC's excuse for not putting disability access at higher
> priority from an earlier stage is, "the customers haven't asked for it
> yet" then I think that is a weak excuse.  Any time one discusses
> disability inclusion, one must be sensitive to the fact that people
> with disabilities are already so profoundly marginalized and excluded
> that they very rarely have chances to really make themselves heard in
> society EVEN IN societies like the US where we have laws that help
> empower us (like the Americans with Disabilities Act ... or the
> equivalent Disability Discrimination Act for people in the UK etc).
> The NEED can be there and can be very extreme and still simply not be
> heard at the highest levels because the people with decision making
> power don't even SEE or HEAR people with disabilities, must less seek
> out their input.  And the people with disabilities are denied the
> opportunities they need to MAKE high-level personnel listen to them.
>
> If we wait for the country governments buying the computers to *ask*
> for disability access before this becomes a priority, then this is
> putting disabled children in the very unfair position of waiting for a
> very long time before their needs are put on an equal footing with
> everyone else.  I think OLPC should be taking more responsibility for
> considering the needs not only of those who can speak for themselves in
> an articulate and coordinated fashion (and thus be heard by the
> high-level decision makers in developing countries who actually pay for
> the XOs) but also the needs of those who are too isolated from each
> other to be able to put forth a unified, strong voice at this time.
>
>
> 2. Those of us who are making complaints like this one are currently
> preaching to the choir: we wouldn't be on this list if we didn't
> already support the idea of accessibility features for ALL children
> using the XO laptops.  What we really need is for people with key
> decision making power within OLPC (I don't necessarily mean Negroponte
> himself, but people who at least are in a position to shape and
> implement the stated vision and mission of OLPC).
>
> Is there anyone meeting this description already in this list?  If not,
> then all this complaining among ourselves about the low priority OLPC
> has put on disability access will accomplish little.  Indeed, the work
> that some members are trying to do to figure out how to make the XO
> more accessible, design new software, etc., will itself accomplish
> little if the OLPC as a whole does not put high enough priority on
> actually USING the innovations created by our more skilled, hard
> working participants (not me, alas, because I barely even *understand*
> some of the more technical discussions on this list!).
>
>
> All the above leads to this point:
>
> 3. Perhaps rather than simply complaining among ourselves, or working
> in isolation from the overarching OLPC project on accessibility
> concerns, we should discuss how we can work together to ADVOCATE within
> OLPC to put higher priority on accessibility concerns.
>
> If there is anyone on this list who has been in some way in close
> contact with decision-making personnel within OLPC, or who simply have
> more knowledge how things work from the inside, then your input would
> be greatly welcomed.
>
> If we on this list who share an interest in influencing OLPC's
> disability inclusion policy can pull together and work out a strategy,
> then I would be happy to post a Call To Action at my blog
> (http://wecando.wordpress.com) for whatever small help that would
> provide in bringing attention to the cause.  (My blog is targeted at
> people with disabilities in developing countries and their allies
> around the world, including international development professionals.)
>
> If there is enough interest in coordinating some kind of advocacy
> campaign targeted at OLPC, then we could consider creating a spin-off
> mailing list devoted to that purpose, in order to allow this list to
> retain its focus on the more technical aspects of accessibility.
>
> Andrea Shettle, MSW
> ashettle at patriot.net
> wecando.wordpress.com
>
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> accessibility at lists.laptop.org
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
>
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