Thread Subject: Re: "closed software"

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From: Randy Marsden (Home)
Date: Fri, Dec 22 2006 9:55 AM

>>
>>
>> Jim Tobias wrote:
>>
>> What does "... works with AT" mean -- only current AT? We should not be
>> constrained by the current crop of AT. The goal of the regs is to stimulate
>> native accessibility in products that don't have it right now, and to
>> stimulate AT where native accessibility is not feasible or reasonable.
>>
>> I find this language disturbing. My impression was the goal of the regs was
>> to make mainstream technology more accessible to people with disabilities ­
>> not necessarily to explicitly drive built-in accessibility. Many people with
>> disabilities prefer to use their own AT, even when a product has its own
>> built-in accessibility. The two are not mutually exclusive, nor should be.
>> (Although the current wording of 508 tends to separate them by using the word
>> ³or² in the functional performance criteria ­ perhaps something we should
>> look at). I think the best situation is when both exist.
>>
>> ³constrained by the current crop of AT². AT is evolving even as IT is. I
>> think what has been suggested for wording is something along the lines of
>> ³works with readily available AT². That doesn¹t constrain the regs to the
>> current crop of AT ­ it leaves room for whatever AT is developed in the
>> future that becomes readily available.
>>
>> -Randy Marsden
>> ATIA
>>
>>
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