Crip Talk: As Crips Slide By

Last week at the CSUN International Conference on Technology and People With Disabilities, I participated in a presentation that was supposed to test my skills at the utmost. Being a more than experienced Mac user, I’d agreed to participate in the "Dueling Operating System" presentation that pitted Mac OSX Leopard, Windows, and Linux against one another with their respective accessibility tools.  Prior to the presentation, all the presenters had agreed to a certain set of rules that would make the playing field equal among one another.

The presenters would use no commercial tool other than that accompanying the OS.  Two major exceptions were on Windows: The presenter using Microsoft Windows would use a commercial screen reader–namely, JAWS for Windows–as the screen reader bundled with Microsoft Windows was determined to be woefully inadequate in its ability to provide useful feedback.  Additionally, the Windows presenter would also have the ability to use Microsoft Office as a tool.  IT was agreed that the presenter would have to point out the costs associated with these two products.  All of us also agreed to be recorded. Prior to the presentation, the presenters had also agreed to conduct a set of tasks, which may be used during the presentation.  It was also agreed that the audience would be given the opportunity to request certain tasks.  Here are the set of tasks previously agreed to.

Miscellaneous

• Describe the computer hardware, including performance specs and software installed. State the cost of hardware and software. Provide an overview of the screen reader interface, including its cursors, modes, and events.
• Schedule a meeting appointment with an advance reminder.
• Present something that one thinks is particularly easier to do on that system.
• Install a program, e.g., the latest version of Adobe reader.
• Argue advantages of one’s operating system over others.

System Maintenance

• Do a hard bootup of the computer, and let the audience hear what speech events occur before the system stabilizes and the screen reader becomes available for full use.
• Run a malware check and eliminate suspects.

Web browsing

• Find a particular file on a web site (e.g., the 2008 State of the Union address) and download it to the local computer.
• Copy to the clipboard the information in a table cell, specified by its row and column headings.
• Send a greeting card via amazon.com
• Label graphics on the front page of  http://www.outpost.com

Email

• Scan a 5 page document. Save it in both a common image format and text after OCR. Send it as an email attachment. Include a blind copy back to oneself.
• Check new mail via the GMail web site.

Word processing

• Input a small document that includes a centered title and bold phrase.
• Spell check a document, including verifying the context of a suspect  word.

Multimedia

• Download and play a podcast. Navigate forward and backward through  it.
• Record an MP3 file and upload it to a web site.

File management

• Determine the size and time stamp of a file.
• Copy to the clipboard a list of file names in a directory.
• Find a file based on a phrase it contains.
• Format a removable media device such as a card for the BookPort, Victor Stream, or equivalent. Copy a media file onto it.

Reading

• Open a PDF, read its first couple paragraphs continuously with full punctuation, and then the next couple with no punctuation.

Spreadsheet

• Create a check register with columns for check number, date, amount, payee, and memo. Enter three rows. Show how the screen reader can say column headings as one navigates among cells. Show how the sum can be automatically calculated.

Having had the opportunity to use all three operating systems–I currently have all three installed on my machines, I agreed to participate on this panel, not knowing what was about to happen.

As the CSUN Presentation audio clearly demonstrates, The presentation was unquestionably a dismal failure and an unmitigated disaster.

At times during the presentation, I found that my "option" key refused to work; sometimes it would stick, sometimes not.  Since Voiceover, the built-in Mac Screen reader, uses the combination of the control+option key combination to control the Voiceover cursor, the intermittent availability of the option key put me at a great disadvantage.  I could not predict when the option key would work or not.  It also meant that other key combinations such as command+o or command+b, etc were also  affected, leaving me using menus whenever the key combination would not work.  Fortunately, the local Apple store was able to help me replace the keyboard when I got home.

That being said, I certainly could have dealt with the situation a little better.  I often pride myself on staying calm and collected in circumstances that throw off many people.  This was certainly an exception.  That for me,  is a matter for personal reflection and introspection.  Never having had the experience of failing with such disastrous consequences, I find myself asking whether there was something I could have done better.  I know that My sense of pride certainly got in the way.  I am certain that I could have suggested that another person, who is better known in the community of blind Mac users, would be a better presenter .  While I am confident that I could have done these tasks very easily if not for the trouble with the keyboard, being someone who is relatively unknown in the community makes a tremendous difference.

Without meaning to, I managed to throw the Mac’s reputation as a potential platform out the Window. With someone well-known in the community presenting instead of me, at least the community would have had the confidence to believe that the keyboard failure was just that.  The presentation will not affect the people who are already Mac users.  I fear it may make users potentially seeking a new OS think twice.  And, therefore, my sincere apology goes to those people who have listened as potential switchers or new computer users. 

As I said in my ending remarks, my failure should not be viewed as a failure of the operating system and the built-in screen reader.  While the screen reader has much further to go, many people are using it successfully including myself.  I urge you to visit the Mac and accessibility links on this page to consider your options carefully.

In some ways, the hype about amazon.com’s Kindle reading device appears to carry the same "revolutionary" tone as did the much-anticipated Apple iPhone.  having received glowing reviews from Newsweek in its seven-page feature, the Kindle has gone through multiple reviewers with a very small skeptical tone to all reviews.  With a price point of $399.00, the device certainly remains one of the most expensive products on the market for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

But, more important than its price, the Kindle leaves a significant population out when it comes to access to its features–the millions of people with disabilities who might actually be inclined to use digital text as a method of accessing printed material.  In fact, as a matter of benefit, people with disabilities are the largest group of individuals who can gain by having access to a device such as the Kindle.  Specifically, the group of individuals with a large interest in purchasing a device such as this one includes those who are typically categorized as having some form of "print" disability–e.g., blindness or partial sight, those with some form of reading disability that prevents her from reading the typical printed page, etc.  The first iteration of this device leaves much to be desired when it comes to access.

No thought appears to have been given to making the interface of the Kindle accessible.  How, for example, does a blind person read books available through this device?  Is there any Text-to-speech capability built-in that would allow e-books, magazines, newspapers, and rss feeds to be read out loud?  Evidently not!  The simple capability of enlarging the text–only included due to the small size of the screen on this device and not by considering the needs of partially sighted potential consumers–is lacking, judging from all evidence. 

Here are some additional points to consider:

• For a device designed for the consumer market, the shape and the feel does not make it conducive for use by someone who may have fine motor dexterity difficulties.
• The buttons appear to be a bit difficult to control and are misplaced.
• the e-ink technology may not provide the best results for background color changes, font variations, flickerless experience, or a good visual contrast.
• Other than page turns, no other methods of navigation appear to be implemented in the Kindle.  In other words, the Kindle appears to lack any type of content awareness with the sole exception of page boundaries.  This is especially poignant for e-books.

The inclusion of audio capabilities make the possibility of having some type of auditory interface entire possible for the future.  As the audio player included in the device appears to support MP3 playback capability, the plans for this device are quite ambitious.  However that evidence is no conclusion that Amazon is committed to making this device any more accessible than it currently is.  The Ipod line of devices have sported audio capabilities since the beginning.  After years of successful marketing campaigns by Apple, native accessibility to Ipods remains as elusive and as  unlikely as a group of talking ducks.

I can imagine several vivid scenarios for the Kindle.  First, it succeeds beyond our wildest imaginations and begins to start the process of becoming a large reason for the death of the printed book.  That, in turn, leaves millions of people with disabilities to fend for themselves to gain access to the plethora of e-books and other e-content supported by this device.  The second scenario would be to allow users to be more accustomed to e-book content and more competitive devices come on the market–all, of course, with no accessibility features, relegating accessibility to handful of small companies with highly expensive products.  This process might then lead to a wider digital divide among the global population of disabled people.  The third possibility is that the Kindle is a failure.  The e-book format, at least for now, is a failure.  In any event, people with disabilities continue to suffer due to copyright restrictions and a general lack of access to printed material.

I would hope that my cynicism is proven completely unjustified and that the almost dire scenarios are somewhat mitigated by some global conversations occurring in the publishing arena.  The wider acceptance of XML as a base for future e-text distribution leaves some possibilities open.  Yet, Amazon will play an important role in the next few years .  Its success with the Kindle will shape a large part of the market for e-books.  I certainly hope that it can use its influence to push for some accessibility features in its own devices or others as they become available.