[orca-list] An Open Letter to Oracle on the Topic Of Accessibility

[Joanmarie Diggs <joanmarie diggs gmail com>]

Hey guys.

For what it's worth, I just wrote a blog entry on Oracle's decision. "An
Open Letter to Oracle on the Topic Of Accessibility" can be found at:
http://bit.ly/oracle-a11y

For the sake of convenience, here is the text of that entry:

Dear Oracle:

You don't know me, so please permit me a brief introduction: I'm Joanie.
By day, I'm an assistive technology specialist working with individuals
who are blind or visually impaired. By night, weekend, and holiday for
almost four years now, I've been a GNOME community contributor working
primarily on the Orca screen reader, a project led by Sun's
Accessibility Program Office.

Working with the engineers at Sun, both inside and outside of the APO,
has been an honor for a variety of reasons, not least of which is our
shared common belief: Access isn't a privilege; it's a right. Towards
that end, Sun Microsystems strived to ensure that ALL users have access
to software and information. 

Does Oracle plan to do the same?

Sun Microsystems believed that these things shouldn't be denied to those
who aren't employed, or who don't live in the "right" country, or who
don't speak the "right" language, or who cannot afford to purchase
thousands of dollars' worth of access technology. 

What does Oracle believe?

Through its significant, ongoing contributions to the GNOME desktop, Sun
Microsystems has made computer access possible for many individuals with
disabilities, from all walks of life, all over the world.

Will Oracle embrace the opportunity to continue this important work?

My assumption was yes. In fact, I was feeling quite hopeful. After all,
the past few years have been hard on Sun. But with Larry Ellison's
promise of increased investment in the Sun brand, and Oracle's strong
commitment to accessibility, things would finally be turning around: If
one under-funded APO could accomplish everything that it has, what could
the two combined and properly-funded APOs achieve? At the very least
we'd be able to finally get a handle on all of the accessibility
challenges facing GNOME 3.

I was wrong. :-(

Last week, Oracle laid off two more members of Sun's already-decimated
APO. One of those let go happened to be both the Orca project lead and
the GNOME Accessibility project lead, Willie Walker. I truly hope this
was an oversight on Oracle's part, and one that will be rectified very
soon. Because if it is not, and if no other company steps forward to
continue this work, the accessibility of the GNOME desktop will become
the open source equivalent of an unfunded mandate, doomed ultimately to
fail.

Oracle's decision threatens to leave many individuals with disabilities
around the world without access to a modern desktop environment. I find
that tragic.