| Thank you for your fair, calm message. Yes, Linux accessibility is at a crisis point, but we do have four years to change this, even make things better than they have ever been. Now, that doesn’t mean we should just wait until three years have passed, then jump to action, but we don’t have to worry that Linux won’t stop working in a month or so unless we find each GTK developer and personally go all “how dare you!” On them and demand things. While I do still think that Linux developers, like all large companies, need accountability, we can at least leave a “paper trail” as it were, on Github. Some one correct me if I’m wrong, but all states of an issue are logged, all comments kept, and these cannot be deleted from a Github project, unless that project is deleted. So, we can ask, in a calm, informative way, that, for example, the Gnome Dash be fixed, so that it reports more than just “window” when entered, or that the Mate menu, I assume that’s what’s being used on F123 for graphical menus, be fixed so that Orca will report when one has entered into that menu. Give developers links to ATK documentation, Orca documentation, then, importantly, post the link to that issue to a list, like the Orca list, or the Linux-accessibility list if there is one, or the IRC #accessibility channel for those who have those bounce things that let them stay online all the time. Developers then can work on that issue, giving comments, dialoging with the community, following and commenting on the thread themselves, letting the developer know that this is something that will help. Or, they can close the thread, letting us know that accessibility isn’t important to that area of Linux if another developer doesn’t open it again. Then, we go on Twitter, Facebook, Mastodon, IRC, Email, contact the FSF and such, pound the message into stone if that makes a difference, that accessibility matters, and volunteers must be held accountable in order to make Linux free for all, not just free for those who have eyes that are operational, with all their circuits functioning perfectly. I think we’ll have to change the Linux accessibility landscape one Github or Gitlab issue at a time. And yes, there will be failings. There will be times when we’ll all have to shout “Shame! Shame! Shame!” At a developer for failing our community. But, as the failing of Linux, Antergos Sonar, and Coconut Linux has shown, we can’t do this on our own, and we cannot let developers expect that we can just make our own distributions. I’d love it if we could, really. Sonar was amazing. But it failed, so we have to try to raise awareness however we can, not just on Forums for distress, but on Github issues, where developers cannot ignore it. And, if GTK4 folks say it’s Orca’s fault, put an issue on Orca, and loop them all in, grab some popcorn, and watch them point fingers. Then, if it’s not resolved, post it to the world, paint the picture of how there just isn’t any resolution in free software. Also, there is the “bug bounty” system that some open source projects do, like Libretro, of Retroarch. If people cannot do Accessibility because of the inherent value of humans with disabilities, offer them money. Yes, it’s not the best for the free software facade of being “above all that”, but it works sometimes, and it is needed sometimes.
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