Re: Blind user complaining on Adobe web site

[Greg Knittl]

Hi Arthur,

I'm not blind or disabled myself. I do note that the Canada Revenue 
Agency (similar to US IRS) makes tax forms available in etext. e.g. 
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/5006-r/5006-r-20e.txt 
I think their theory is that these forms are more likely to be supported 
by screen readers since they are just plain text.

Is it possible that the command line and fundamental focus on text files 
in Linux could be the standard interface you are looking for?

In the case of tax forms what's good for the blind is also good for me. 
The forms for the blind are laid out more sequentially and are easier to 
program against as well as having no PDF issues. I did actually submit 
my taxes on etext forms for the blind one year. Then I spent the rest of 
the year submitting adjustments to correct all the input errors, which 
makes me wonder if anyone else has ever filed on these forms...

thanks,
Greg

On 2021-04-28 10:20 p.m., Arthur Torrey wrote:
> (yeah! something other than flagellating RMS's deceased equine....)
>
> I sort of agree, but at the same time, it appears to me that the FLOSS software 
> world is far less 'disability friendly' than the fruit company or the other big 
> name OS....  My S.O has just become legally blind due to medical issues, and 
> while I've been looking at what might be available in the way of low-vision 
> setups, I've been rather underwhelmed...
>
> It seems every resource person she has heard from is pointing at the fruit 
> company products as being most 'low vision friendly'.  As a paraplegic I have 
> minimal (no) need for accessibility stuff on my computers, but when I look at 
> what the quads I know who need more adaptive setups are also using fruit 
> machines almost entirely.
>
> I'm not a programmer of anything more complex than an Arduino, so not a lot I 
> can do to fix things personally.
>
> It seems like a lot of the lower level of accessibility in GNU/Linux seems to be a 
> combination of a (somewhat understandable) lack of 'itch that needs scratching' among 
> mostly able bodied developers, and the wide range of interfaces / API's / not sure what 
> to call them that exist in the FLOSS world.  While usually this diversity is a strength, 
> IMHO it is a problem when trying to come up w/ a consistent UI that works w/ every 
> application.  OTOH the fruit co's "One Way to Do Things" seems to make it 
> easier to design an accessible UI that works w/ everything, and then focus on making it 
> better....  I don't know what the solution is, I just wish there was one.
>
> ex-Gooserider
>
> ------------------
> Arthur Torrey - <arthur_torrey@comcast.net>
> -------------------
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2021 14:34:30 -0400
> > From: Greg Knittl <gknittl@sympatico.ca>
> > To: Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>
> > Cc: libreplanet-discuss@libreplanet.org
> > Subject: Blind user complaining on Adobe web site
> > Message-ID: <f5c4681f-a63b-cefd-2e53-017f78b7a121@sympatico.ca>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
> >
> > fyi. pdf accessibility issues may be bigger than just XFA...
> >
> > https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/anyone-know-how-a-blind-person-is-supposed-to-create-or-edit-a-pdf-when-acrobat-isn-t-screen-reader/m-p/10186392?search-action-id=167355598977&search-result-uid=10186392
> >
> > I see enormous convergence of interest between Linux and the disabled as
> > we are both 2 small and often overlooked minorities. The disabled may
> > have more formal legal rights than regular Linux users that we can
> > piggyback on...
> >
> > Greg
>
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