[JDEV] Accessability for the Impaired

[Chris McDonald]

MyJabber works with two of the screen readers that the visually impaired
have been using here...Jaws and WindowEyes...you can download evaluation
copies of both of them on the web.  The reason that myJabber works and
WinJab/JabberIM don't' work is that Jaws/WindowEyes are written in VB as is
myJabber.  Jabber IM and WinJab are written in Delphi and they don't get
along with the screen readers.

Chris McDonald
mcdonc at corp.earthlink.net
MIS-Intranet Development
EarthLink Phoenix Call Center

-----Original Message-----
From: jdev-admin at jabber.org [mailto:jdev-admin at jabber.org]On Behalf Of Adam
Theo
Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 10:46 AM
To: jdev at jabber.org
Subject: [JDEV] Accessability for the Impaired

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
    //\\   Email & Jabber: theo at theoretic.com
   //  \\  (Boycotting AOL, therefore no AIM or ICQ)
=//====\\=  Theoretic Solutions: http://www.theoretic.com
//  ||  \\     "Bringing Ideas Together"
     ||      Jabber Protocol: http://www.jabber.org
     ||         "The Coolest IM on the Planet"
     ||  "A Free-Market Socialist Patriotic American
     ||      Buddhist Political Philosopher."

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