[laptop-accessibility] Advocacy for Elevated Disability Inclusion: Next Steps?
Jim Gettys
jg at laptop.org
Fri Nov 28 17:12:58 EST 2008
Boy, today isn't my day to remember everything at once.
The other sugar issue some of the new widgets (in addition to the
standard GTK+ ones that already have full at-spi supprt) may still be
lacking at-spi support.
Check with Marco or Tomeo on the Sugar list to see.
Help gratefully accepted, if you are a programmer.
- Jim
On Fri, 2008-11-28 at 13:12 -0600, David K Parker wrote:
> 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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--
Jim Gettys <jg at laptop.org>
One Laptop Per Child
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