Re: [g-a-devel]Re: "Helen Keller Achievement Award" credits GNOME Accessibility

[Bill Haneman <bill haneman sun com>]

On Thu, 2002-09-12 at 11:54, Rodrigo Moya wrote:

> btw, I've just been told 2003 is the international year of
> accessibility, so maybe there's room there for GNOME accessibility to
> get more known (along with gnome and free software).

I hope so; I don't know what the International Year of Accessibility
will entail yet, but I have read some EU-related references to this
also.

The truth is, despite some really great efforts from AT vendors over the
years, the support at the application level on other platforms leaves a
lot to be desired; so I believe that it's within our reach to be real
leaders in "desktop accessibility".

I've mentioned advantages of free software from an accessibility
perspective elsewhere, but among them are cost-of-service, quick
development/bugfix cycles, and the ability for individuals and advocates
to examine code and provide accessibility fixes, both applying them
directly and giving them back to the community.  This puts users with
disabilities much more in control of their destinies with regard to
information technology, services, and the tools of the modern
workplace.  The openness of implementation code also lowers the barriers
that face assistive technology developers as they seek to interoperate
with application and system software.

-Bill

> cheers
>