Support for braille and speech devices under Linux

["T. V. Raman" <raman@Adobe.COM>]

Hi Jaysen--

The issues you raise are valid.

In order for these to get resolved in the world of free software,
blind users need to take the lead in solving these problems --we
cannot expect some good guy to come along and write things for us.

There are several examples of individuals stepping up to the challenge
of writing their own tools; braille tty (brltty) is developped by a
blind user; I know another blind user who in his spare time is working
on a DectalkPC driver for Linux (dont ask me when this will be done
--he'll speak up when it is ready).

Another way to get more accessibility aids in the world of free
software  is to get Linux developpers enthused about access
technology; but we first need to answer the reasonable question such a
developper would ask --namely-- "so what's in it for me?"

One plausible answer is that access technology of today is often
mainstream technology of tomorrow e.g. speech.

Next, for individuals who step up to offer solutions and help in their
spare time for free, there is the question of support.

To be honest I hesitated for a couple of months about making Emacspeak
freely available purely because I was nervous about being able to
provide support and  having novice users turn it into a time sink for
me.

After releasing emacspeak, my experience has been mixed it has not
proven as big a support nightmare-- but primarily because the users
who have taken the leap in using the system
to date have been aggressively independent
--there have been the odd case of individuals trying to expect support
at the level of commercial software that one pays for.

If accessible tools are to increase in the world of free software
--note that the average screenreader on the Win95 costs of the order
of $800.00-- attitudes amongst the larger community of potential users
will have to change significantly.

-- 
Best Regards,
--raman

      Adobe Systems                 Tel: 1 (408) 536 3945   (W14-129)
      Advanced Technology Group     Fax: 1 (408) 537 4042 
      (W14 129) 345 Park Avenue     Email: raman@adobe.com 
      San Jose , CA 95110 -2704     Email:  raman@cs.cornell.edu
      http://labrador.corp.adobe.com/~raman/raman.html (Adobe  Internal)
      http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/raman/raman.html  (Cornell)
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    Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are my own and in no way should be taken
as representative of my employer, Adobe Systems Inc.
____________________________________________________________

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