[JDEV] Accessability for the Impaired

[Adam Theo]

This is a subject I have become interested in after it was pointed out 
to me by someone who works with the physically impaired. There is very 
little, if any, support for the physically impaired in the major IM 
systems. The blind, the deaf, the paralyzed, and those with other 
difficulties typing cannot really IM.

If Jabber was to have a couple of clients that helped the impaired, then 
Jabber would likely be widely endorsed by associations for the 
physically impaired.

How would Jabber and Jabber clients become helpful for such people? I 
believe little change has to be done on the protocol side. Everything 
could be done in a client implimentation. Here are some ideas:

For the blind, some sort of voice command and dictation software should 
be built in, or at least allow third-party voice software to use the 
Jabber client. I am unaware of what voice systems are common on 
computers for the blind, anyone know? I would assume they would be 
designed to work with any application built for that voice system. Not 
only is it important to be voice dictation friendly by allowing the user 
to "speak" the IM messages and have them read off to them from the text, 
but also for the client to have "voice bindings" for commands such as 
creating messages, editing prefernces, and other typically GUI-based 
actions.

For the deaf it is easier. But the client developer still needs to find 
ways to notify the user of new messages without using sound. A flashing 
tray icon in Windows would solve this. Can anyone think of other 
sound-based actions which would need to be accounted for?

For the paralyzed it is similar to the blind, I imagine. The client 
would need to be programmed to be able to be used by third-party voice 
and alternative input systems. Is anyone familiar with the softwares for 
alternative input devices such as joysticks or others?

The goal would be to make the client as easy as possible to install, 
troubleshoot, and use. When there is even just one such Jabber client on 
the market, Jabber will have an area in which it clearly is the leader 
over the other IM systems. And it will be an area that is large, 
important, and gets attention from the mainstream media, not to mention 
an area that is in great need of a good IM system.

-- 
     /\  Adam Theo, Age 22, Tallahassee FL USA
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