Re: KDE Accessibility - sorry, off topic.

[Joanmarie Diggs <j-diggs comcast net>]

Hi All!

> I appreciate that kttsd can have many useful applications.  I differ
> with your statement below, however:
> 
> > But screen readers do not help partially sighted users, users with learning 
> > difficulties, or people who simply love to have system notifications or IRC 
> > messages spoken.

I, too, have to differ with this statement.

As someone who teaches users with visual impairments and who also
happens to have been diagnosed with some sort of visual processing
problem, I often find myself using the AT I teach even though I am not
visually impaired.  It just makes things easier for me.  A lot easier.  

I don't think that the existing technologies for users with visual
impairments are "too special purpose."    Instead I would argue that
they provide more information and features than are needed by the
average (sighted) user who has a learning disability.  For instance, I
find that the color and tinting options available in one of the Windows
screen magnifiers works wonders for me, as does the onscreen
highlighting from another product, but I don't need the magnification.
Similarly, I find the speech output from screen readers to be very
beneficial, but I don't need to hear things like the type of control I
just landed on or the line I arrowed to in my document because I can see
these things.  That's where verbosity options come in handy! :)

Were it not for the fact that I already owned these products due to my
career, I probably wouldn't purchase them and would instead look for
other alternatives -- not because these products are too specialized but
because of the price tag:  You're paying quite a bit for all of those
nifty features that users with visual impairments need that you yourself
don't need.  Plus, because these products assume that you are visually
impaired, you have to jump through a few hoops to configure them to suit
your needs.  But that's in the Windows world. 

While I know nothing about GOK and very little about Gnopernicus, I do
see the potential for Orca's capabilities to be expanded -- down the
road, Will; not now! ;-)  -- in such a way that it addresses the visual
and non-visual access needs of users with learning disabilities, the
growing population of seniors who want to use a computer, and folks who
just think speech output is cool (or handy at the end of a long day!).
My only concern would be: Could this be accomplished while maintaining
ease of use and avoiding a bloated application?

Just my $0.02....

Take care.
Joanie