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

[Steve Holmes <steve holmes88 gmail com>]

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This is an excellent open letter.  I could have never written anything
as elegant as this.  I've been away from my system since last night so
have a bit of catching up to do.  I have a blog that has been pretty
much dormant til now so this will give me some ideas to post about:).

On Sun, Feb 07, 2010 at 03:05:25PM -0500, Joanmarie Diggs wrote:
> Hey again.
>
> I wanted to thank those of you who left comments on my blog on this
> topic, and I'd encourage those of you who have not but who care about
> the future of GNOME accessibility in general, and Orca in particular, do
> the same. After all, I guarantee you that Oracle could care less about
> me; it is my sincerest hope that they care about you, the user.
>
> Also, for those of you with your own blogs who have written similar
> entries on this topic, please do not be shy about "shameless self
> promotion" in the form of adding a link to your entry in the comments of
> my blog. Alternatively, send me a link to what you've written so that I
> can point to it within my entry.
>
> My hope is that what remains of this weekend continues to see voices of
> concern, in writing, in blogs and in comments. The next step would be to
> ensure that our collective voices get noticed by those who need to
> notice them. :-)
>
> Thanks again guys. Hopefully soon we'll be able to get back to the
> business of actually working on accessibility, rather than trying to
> prevent its demise.
>
> --joanie
>
> On Sun, 2010-02-07 at 11:14 -0500, Joanmarie Diggs wrote:
> > 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.
>
>
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