[laptop-accessibility] Advocacy for Elevated Disability Inclusion: Next Steps?
Jim Gettys
jg at laptop.org
Sun Nov 30 14:50:01 EST 2008
On Sun, 2008-11-30 at 12:20 -0500, gabey8 at aol.com wrote:
> Sorry. I should have clarified that I installed AccessX on my XO,
> using the instructions on the OLPC Wiki page, when I was still running
> the previous build of Sugar. But when I upgraded, all the things I
> installed manually on the XO got wiped out. This thread reminds me
> that I'll have to reinstall AccessX.
>
Yes, sorry about that; we plan to fix that in a future release...
- Jim
>
> ----
> Visit Gabey's Place today. :-)
>
> My blog for the final year of the Spectrum: The Final Countdown
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David K Parker <davparker at gmail.com>
> To: Discussion of accessibility on the OLPC
> <accessibility at lists.laptop.org>
> Sent: Sun, 30 Nov 2008 1:46 am
> Subject: Re: [laptop-accessibility] Advocacy for Elevated Disability
> Inclusion: Next Steps?
>
> So now I'm really getting mixed messages. Does the XO come with
> AccessX preloaded or not? If it does, does it get lost after upgrading
> the OS?
>
> On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 2:23 PM, <gabey8 at aol.com> wrote:
> TheOLPC Wiki has a page on AccessX.
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/AccessX
>
> I had AccessX installed on my XO, prior to upgrading to the
> current build ot Sugar. This discussion thread has reminded me
> that I need to reinstall it.
>
>
> Donna M.
>
> ----
> Visit Gabey's Place today. :-)
>
> My blog for the final year of the Spectrum: The Final
> Countdown
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David K Parker <davparker at gmail.com>
> To: jg at laptop.org; Discussion of accessibility on the OLPC
> <accessibility at lists.laptop.org>
> Sent: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 9:11 pm
> Subject: Re: [laptop-accessibility] Advocacy for Elevated
> Disability Inclusion: Next Steps?
>
> Well its refreshing to hear that their are such good people
> working to build accessibility features into the XO laptop.
> All I can say is thank god for open source software and open
> source programmers. I still find it hard to accept that
> designing accessibility features into the laptop from the
> outset met with opposition from the leadership. Especially
> basic, simple, tried and true software like AccessX. The motto
> truly should be "One Laptop per Child" and not "One Laptop per
> Child except those with disabilities". I may donate this year
> because of efforts by the good people here.
>
>
> I'm still a little upset, as I've been in computing all my
> adult life, in spite of having lost my hands as a child.
> AccessX has been available since the DOS days. Every version
> of Linux and Windows I've ever use had this feature available.
> It sure has made it easier for me to get ahead. I'm now a
> network administrator. I was pretty incensed when I learned
> that this project excluded any software that would allow kids
> to overcome simple keyboarding issues.
>
>
> I still say some wording about accessibility needs to be added
> to this projects mission statement.
>
>
> Thanks,
> David
>
> On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 4:12 PM, Jim Gettys <jg at laptop.org>
> wrote:
> 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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> >
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
> >
> >
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> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
>
> --
> Jim Gettys <jg at laptop.org>
> One Laptop Per Child
>
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--
Jim Gettys <jg at laptop.org>
One Laptop Per Child
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