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Number of posts in this thread: 10 (In chronological order)

From: Jennison Mark Asuncion
Date: Thu, Jul 30 2015 3:09PM
Subject: Windows 10 screen reader info
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Thought folks here might find this info of interest - Windows 10
screen reader support:
NVDA http://www.nvaccess.org/win10 and
JAWS (and Magic)
http://www.freedomscientific.com/Support/TechnicalSupport/Windows10Upgrade.

The headline from both vendors is that the Edge browser is not yet
ready for use with either screen reader. This is known and being
worked on.

Jennison

--
Jennison Mark Asuncion
LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
Follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/jennison
Organizer, Bay Area Accessibility and Inclusive Design www.meetup.com/a11ybay
Organizer, Accessibility Camp Bay Area www.accessibilitycampbay.org
Co-Founder, Global Accessibility Awareness Day
www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org

From: Lucy Greco
Date: Fri, Jul 31 2015 11:18AM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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reading this makes me wonder why i am even still trying to work in access
tech when we can't even expect to use primary functions i am asking my
self why i am not leaving this industry for the more rewarding one of
cooking.

On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Jennison Mark Asuncion <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> Thought folks here might find this info of interest - Windows 10
> screen reader support:
> NVDA http://www.nvaccess.org/win10 and
> JAWS (and Magic)
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/Support/TechnicalSupport/Windows10Upgrade
> .
>
> The headline from both vendors is that the Edge browser is not yet
> ready for use with either screen reader. This is known and being
> worked on.
>
> Jennison
>
> --
> Jennison Mark Asuncion
> LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
> Follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/jennison
> Organizer, Bay Area Accessibility and Inclusive Design
> www.meetup.com/a11ybay
> Organizer, Accessibility Camp Bay Area www.accessibilitycampbay.org
> Co-Founder, Global Accessibility Awareness Day
> www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org
> > > > >



--
Lucia Greco
Web Accessibility Evangelist
IST - Architecture, Platforms, and Integration
University of California, Berkeley
(510) 289-6008 skype: lucia1-greco
http://webaccess.berkeley.edu
Follow me on twitter @accessaces

From: Dale Cruse
Date: Fri, Jul 31 2015 11:28AM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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We all work in the accessibility field just for the money, right? That was
sarcasm, by the way.

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 1:18 PM, Lucy Greco < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> reading this makes me wonder why i am even still trying to work in access
> tech when we can't even expect to use primary functions i am asking my
> self why i am not leaving this industry for the more rewarding one of
> cooking.
>
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Jennison Mark Asuncion <
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> > Thought folks here might find this info of interest - Windows 10
> > screen reader support:
> > NVDA http://www.nvaccess.org/win10 and
> > JAWS (and Magic)
> >
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/Support/TechnicalSupport/Windows10Upgrade
> > .
> >
> > The headline from both vendors is that the Edge browser is not yet
> > ready for use with either screen reader. This is known and being
> > worked on.
> >
> > Jennison
> >
> > --
> > Jennison Mark Asuncion
> > LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
> > Follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/jennison
> > Organizer, Bay Area Accessibility and Inclusive Design
> > www.meetup.com/a11ybay
> > Organizer, Accessibility Camp Bay Area www.accessibilitycampbay.org
> > Co-Founder, Global Accessibility Awareness Day
> > www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org
> > > > > > > > > >
>
>
>
> --
> Lucia Greco
> Web Accessibility Evangelist
> IST - Architecture, Platforms, and Integration
> University of California, Berkeley
> (510) 289-6008 skype: lucia1-greco
> http://webaccess.berkeley.edu
> Follow me on twitter @accessaces
> > > > >

From: deborah.kaplan
Date: Fri, Jul 31 2015 11:32AM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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Lucy,

Agreed completely. (The reports about Windows 10 and NaturallySpeaking are also pretty uneven.)

Let's open a restaurant together, and give discounts to all the accessibility folks. And unlike 90% of restaurants in existence, we'll have an accessible website.

Deborah Kaplan


On Fri, 31 Jul 2015, Lucy Greco wrote:

> reading this makes me wonder why i am even still trying to work in access
> tech when we can't even expect to use primary functions i am asking my
> self why i am not leaving this industry for the more rewarding one of
> cooking.
>
> On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 2:09 PM, Jennison Mark Asuncion <
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
>> Thought folks here might find this info of interest - Windows 10
>> screen reader support:
>> NVDA http://www.nvaccess.org/win10 and
>> JAWS (and Magic)
>> http://www.freedomscientific.com/Support/TechnicalSupport/Windows10Upgrade
>> .
>>
>> The headline from both vendors is that the Edge browser is not yet
>> ready for use with either screen reader. This is known and being
>> worked on.
>>
>> Jennison
>>
>> --
>> Jennison Mark Asuncion
>> LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jennison
>> Follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/jennison
>> Organizer, Bay Area Accessibility and Inclusive Design
>> www.meetup.com/a11ybay
>> Organizer, Accessibility Camp Bay Area www.accessibilitycampbay.org
>> Co-Founder, Global Accessibility Awareness Day
>> www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org
>> >> >> >> >>
>
>
>
> --
> Lucia Greco
> Web Accessibility Evangelist
> IST - Architecture, Platforms, and Integration
> University of California, Berkeley
> (510) 289-6008 skype: lucia1-greco
> http://webaccess.berkeley.edu
> Follow me on twitter @accessaces
> > > > --

From: Andrews, David B (DEED)
Date: Fri, Jul 31 2015 11:44AM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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At the risk of seeming like a Pollyanna, in the greater scheme of things, we have made some progress. In the distant past, when a new OS came out, we would have to wait for months before we had any semblance of access. There is of course much left to do, but I think we are moving in the right direction.

Dave

From: Greg Wocher
Date: Fri, Jul 31 2015 12:08PM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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Hello,
From what I have read on the NVDA mailing list, NVDA 2015.3 will have
support for the EDGE browser.

Regards,
Greg Wocher

Visit my online portfolio at:
http://www.gtwebdesign.us
Follow me on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/GWocher

On 7/31/2015 1:44 PM, Andrews, David B (DEED) wrote:
> At the risk of seeming like a Pollyanna, in the greater scheme of things, we have made some progress. In the distant past, when a new OS came out, we would have to wait for months before we had any semblance of access. There is of course much left to do, but I think we are moving in the right direction.
>
> Dave
>
>
>
>

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Fri, Jul 31 2015 1:57PM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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As a professional beta tester for countless companies for the past 35 years, there are many reasons why our software isn't as accessible as it should be. Here are some reasons that might have come into play for Windows 10.

1. Most programming teams are now centered overseas with only programming oversight and management possibly still in the US or a developed country. Possibly. Some major software companies have moved everything overseas.

The concept of accessibility isn't even known in those overseas countries—there are no curb cuts, wheelchair ramps or other basic accessible features in their built environment, let alone in their software. And their western corporate bosses haven't told the programming teams that accessibility is required.

So accessibility isn't on the programming teams' radar screens, or, at best, it's an afterthought.

2. In most companies, the Marketing Department makes the decision of what features to build into the software. I haven't found one marketing director at any of the companies I've tested for know anything about accessibility. So again, accessibility isn't on the programmers' to-do list.

3. When I've had the chance to talk directly with a programmer, a director of programming, or a director of marketing, none have known about the accessibility laws passed by our countries (I'm in the US with Sec. 508, but they don't know about the national accessibility laws of Canada, Australia, United Kingdom and other countries that mandate accessibility). They have no idea that one of their largest customer bases — national governments worldwide — are mandated to make their government information accessible.

4. Developers who create 3rd-party plug-ins for major software are allowed to join the beta testing groups. But so far I've seen only 1 or 2 on the beta teams and they haven't been strong advocates for accessibility.

And FYI, I've never seen NVDA nor Freedom Scientific on any of the major software beta teams. They might be there lurking and keeping quiet, but if so, that's not what they should be doing.

So how do we turn around this problem?

—Bevi Chagnon

From: deborah.kaplan
Date: Fri, Jul 31 2015 2:40PM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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Bevi Chagnon wrote:

> The concept of accessibility isn't even known in those overseas countries—there are no curb cuts, wheelchair ramps or other basic accessible features in their built environment, let alone in their software. And their western corporate bosses haven't told the programming teams that accessibility is required.

To be fair, the only country-specific accessibility community groups affiliated with the W3C are for India and China.

https://www.w3.org/community/accessibilityinindia/
https://www.w3.org/community/cnwa/

From the Indian site's blog, I learned that

* the government websites are supposed to become accessible,
* the government has launched ""Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)" as a nation-wide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility for PwDs"
* The theme of Techshare India 2016 is "Towards Digital Inclusion"
* There's a monthly Inclusive Design & Accessibility Meetup in Hyderabad

Which is not the same thing as the concept not even being known.

My company currently explictly outsources a fair amount of accessibility testing to a huge Indian shop which does accesibility testing, as well as web development and QA, for small-to-huge companies around the world.

Sure, accessibility is more integrated in the richer nations; that's only logical. But outsourced devs and designers who are thoroughly ignorant or apathetic about accessibility are exactly the same in richer as in poorer nations; hold them and their managers acountable, not their countries or cultures.


Deborah Kaplan

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Sun, Aug 02 2015 12:14PM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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Access tech is less fattening than restaurant work, or so I am told ..
and it is probably true if you let Lucy loose in the kitchen.
Also most access tech shops allow guide dogs .. not all restaurants do
(to be fair, I have been able to take my cane into any restaurant I
have gone to so far and no one has tried to pet it.
Ok, off-topic bantering aside, we face a lot of frustrations in our
every-day lives, not only at the developer or OS level, our assistive
technology vendors are often slow to catch up with accessibility
standards and techniques (ARIA has been a struggle, at least until
around the beginning of last year). Accessibility support for basic
html techniques, such as tables and fieldsets is still woefully
inadequate on some mobile screen readers.

Accesibility to books and mathematics is still far from where we need
it to be. The reason I got into accessibility was because I was not
able to get accessible materials for my Certified Financial Analyst
(CFA) certification, and that held me back in my former life as an
investment banking analyst .. (also it did not help that two of my
finance industry employers filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy).
I still do not think I can get the accessible materials I need for
this certification, but I am having too much fun in the accessibility
business to care at the moment.

In the short time (it has really only been 4 or 5 years) I have been
in this field I feel we have made a lot of progress, especially in the
attitude of U.S.companies towards accessibility (just look at all the
job postings), we are also making progress (albeit painfully slow) on
the legal front (evidenced by mostly helpful DOJ decisions, the
Section 508 update will take place only 3 days after the end of the
world).

On the a.t. front,NVDA has revolutionized screen reader availability,
not only in terms of pricing (free), but also allowing users to review
and file issues, responding to those issues and often including fixes
with a very quick turn-around.

Apple made touch-screen device screen readers not only accessible but
also highly usable (certain grumbles about support for some html
features aside), it seems that Android is headed down the same path.

I think 8 years ago we would have said something like that was a mad
blind scientist's dream.

What makes it rewarding for me personally is the elite group of
awesome and super smart people who have dedicated themselves to this
field, both my co-workers as well as my industry colleagues. I would
know nothing about accessibility if I had not joined this list years
ago and snatched up knowledge from the regulars.

With this amount of collective talent I feel confident we will
continue to make progress happen, though our every-day frustration
level is bound to stay high for years to come.
Cheers
-B



On 7/31/15, = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Bevi Chagnon wrote:
>
>> The concept of accessibility isn't even known in those overseas
>> countries—there are no curb cuts, wheelchair ramps or other basic
>> accessible features in their built environment, let alone in their
>> software. And their western corporate bosses haven't told the programming
>> teams that accessibility is required.
>
> To be fair, the only country-specific accessibility community groups
> affiliated with the W3C are for India and China.
>
> https://www.w3.org/community/accessibilityinindia/
> https://www.w3.org/community/cnwa/
>
> From the Indian site's blog, I learned that
>
> * the government websites are supposed to become accessible,
> * the government has launched ""Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat
> Abhiyan)" as a nation-wide flagship campaign for achieving universal
> accessibility for PwDs"
> * The theme of Techshare India 2016 is "Towards Digital Inclusion"
> * There's a monthly Inclusive Design & Accessibility Meetup in Hyderabad
>
> Which is not the same thing as the concept not even being known.
>
> My company currently explictly outsources a fair amount of accessibility
> testing to a huge Indian shop which does accesibility testing, as well as
> web development and QA, for small-to-huge companies around the world.
>
> Sure, accessibility is more integrated in the richer nations; that's only
> logical. But outsourced devs and designers who are thoroughly ignorant or
> apathetic about accessibility are exactly the same in richer as in poorer
> nations; hold them and their managers acountable, not their countries or
> cultures.
>
>
> Deborah Kaplan
> > > > >


--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Sun, Aug 02 2015 2:42PM
Subject: Re: Windows 10 screen reader info
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Birkir wrote:
" the Section 508 update will take place only 3 days after the end of the world "

Ha! I betcha it'll be more like 9 additional months of review, post apocalypse, because they'll have to re-assess the need, given that we all will be disabled at that point!

--Bevi