Re: [orca-list] GUI Redesign or clearup and modernization

[Christopher Chaltain <chaltain gmail com>]

I agree with Al here. I appreciate braille, and I've had access to 
several braille devices over the years. I currently have one now that I 
don't use as much as I'd like since I don't have a modern system with a 
serial port any more, which is why I got my hands on this display for as 
little as I did. I never felt entitled to a braille display, and I never 
had a government agency purchase one for me. The displays I've had have 
either come from my employer, loaners from manufacturers or ones I 
acquired myself. Braille displays may cost more than monitors but you 
can get some for less than you can a high end ultra book. It comes down 
to what you want to spend your money on, and you don't have to be an 
entitled baby to afford a braille display.

I know the focus here is on technology, but you don't need a refreshable 
braille display to use braille. Slate and styluses are only a few dollars.

I will agree though that problems in the area of braille support are not 
inhibitors to greater adoption of Linux by the blind. The numbers just 
don't bear that out. There aren't enough braille users with refreshable 
braille displays to statistically justify that statement.


On 09/02/2015 11:03 AM, Al Sten-Clanton wrote:
> The rant below is needless and off-target.  My wife and I are not
> "tntitlement babies," having bought our own BrailleNote in the old days
> when I had a decent job and having bought a used PACMate last year
> because the BrailleNote finally crashed like an airplane.  Recently, we
> borrowed two Focus 40s from a technology lending program, partly so I
> could play with one on my Linux machine and partly to see if it would
> help my wife with a paying job she's doing for a small publisher.  If we
> get lucky, family help might enable up to buy the Braille2Go from
> National Braille Press, but it's nothing we claim an entitlement to.
>
> In short, we are heavy-duty Braille users.  Sometimes, there's just
> nothing like it.  We are not simply guzzling at the government fauct,
> however.  I'd use Braille a lot more if I could afford a display to use
> it on, and would certainly bring attention to problems--and would try to
> fix those I could.
>
> I close by noting that, whatever legitimate frustration there may be
> with some posts, and I doubt there's much), I was surprised by the broad
> swipe of the comments below, especially from one of the most helpful
> people I know.
>
> Al
>
> On 09/02/2015 11:08 AM, Kyle wrote:
> > Sorry for the upcoming rant, but some of this nonsense I'm seeing drove
> > me to it.
> >
> > I can still build an 8-core x86_64 computer for less money than it
> > currently costs to purchase even the least expensive open source
> > braille displays, which are still costly prototypes. Once braille
> > becomes as affordable as say for instance a computer monitor, then
> > maybe more people will have the means to code for them, and braille
> > won't be just for lucky blind government entitlement babies anymore.
> > Until then, braille is always going to be too expensive to get enough
> > people working on to improve it. Sorry, that's just the way it is. And
> > no, I didn't use braille back in the days when I had access to Windows
> > either, because I'm not a blind government baby who expected all the
> > expensive stuff to be handed to me like I'm entitled to it or
> > something, which is also why I use Linux now and help where I can to
> > raise awareness and to contribute where I can to its development and
> > wider usage by *all* people, not just entitlement blinks. No, Linux
> > isn't "catching up" as you Microsoft and Apple lovers so eloquently put
> > it. It's here, and it's far ahead of anything else you could be using.
> > So get used to it.
> > Sent from my Cancerian beast
> > _______________________________________________
> > orca-list mailing list
> > orca-list gnome org
> > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
> > Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
> > Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
> > GNOME Universal Access guide:
> > https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
> > Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
> _______________________________________________
> orca-list mailing list
> orca-list gnome org
> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
> Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
> Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
> GNOME Universal Access guide:
> https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org

--
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at Gmail