Thread Subject: Re: GeneralIssues: Speechinterfacesandequivalent facilitation

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From: David Poehlman
Date: Sat, Jan 20 2007 3:55 AM

I'd personally love a self braillin app.

On Jan 10, 2007, at 7:38 PM, Peter Korn wrote:

Hi Debbie,

As I noted before, self-Brailling apps aren't here yet and may not be
for some time. But not only does AT support Braille, but built-in AT to
operating systems supports Braille. Solaris 10 ships with a screen
reader that supports a handful of Braille display. OpenSolaris and
Ubuntu 6.10 ship with a different screen reader that support nearly
every Braille display ever made - and do auto-detection of displays
connected via USB.

So a self-contained UNIX system like OpenSolaris could certainly support
Braille directly.


Regards,

Peter Korn
Accessibility Architect,
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
> "Is refreshable braille support something we feel is a requirement?
> I can waffle on this--but if I were deaf/blind I'd not waffle one
> bit."
>
> The issue is that in a PC type application both speech and Braille
> support
> come from the screen reader. If Braille isn't supported well in that
> context, it's frankly the problem of the screen reader. If we're
> talking
> about something that is self-contained and therefore provides its
> own AT,
> it's not possible for it to support Braille other than to provide the
> interface and even that's tricky since there are so many varieties
> each with
> their own protocol. I think Braille has to come through interface
> with a PC
> or directly with a Braille device supplied by the user. Unlike
> enlargement
> and speech output which can easily be native to the application.
>
>

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