Re: To all candidates: Debian and people with disabilities
Hi Devin,
On Sun, Mar 20, 2022 at 10:09 AM Devin Prater <r.d.t.prater@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'd like to ask a few questions of all candidates for Debian leadership.
> As a person who is blind, these are of significant importance to me.
> I hope that, in asking these questions and maybe sparking a
> discussion on these topics, attention can be focused on Debian's
> role in the lives of people with disabilities, and the companies and
> organizations that use it.
>
> * Have you heard of the Debian Accessibility group?
> * If so, have you worked with them in the past, or are you currently
> working with them?
> * Currently, Debian backports is how people with disabilities can
> get the most up-to-date accessibility fixes and improvements
> while remaining on a stable base system. For example, the
> newest version of the Orca screen reader, with all of its fixes, and
> newest version of ATSPI, the thing that makes Orca able to talk to
> applications. Would you be willing to entertain the idea of moving
> those updates directly to Debian stable?
> * How would you present Debian to a group of people with
> disabilities? What reasons would you give them for why they
> should consider Debian?
> * In many desktop environments, a user cannot use their assistive
> technologies effectively unless they find and check a box
> enabling the use of assistive technologies. Do you think that
> this is good and fair to users?
I have some modest vision challenges myself with thirteen diopters on
both sides since my youth, but my risk is the detachment of both
retinas due to the shape of my eyeballs. Fortunately, a correction
via glasses has worked well so far.
My condition is one reason why I live in Fremont, which is also home
to California's School for the Blind. The entire city is equipped for
the visually impaired (and also for the deaf). If I go blind one day,
I will still be able to go shopping.
I have heard of the Debian Accessibility group, but I do not recall
having worked with you or your team on accessibility items.
As a fellow user of the 'stable' base system (which I believe is
somewhat uncommon inside Debian) I backport nearly all of my packages
to bullseye. I would generally like to find a workflow to make
backports more common overall. As project leader, I would support the
Accessibility Group in any need, with high priority. You fall under a
specially protected class.
I would furthermore not hesitate to push for the use of project funds
on your behalf, if that's not happening already.
When asked to present to a group of people with disabilities, I would
prefer to do so by your side. In advance, I would try to find a
suitable position in our organization for any person agreeable to the
Accessibility team (but subject to a confirmation by the appointments
committee). I do not believe any delegation for better accessibility
currently exists. I would then point to that "Accessibility Czar" as a
reason why people with disabilities should use Debian.
As for finding a box, it seems a terrible way to enable assistive
technologies. How do you find it when you are blind? Maybe some
desktop environments try to enable a few of those tools by default,
but that calls for a technical solution. I pledge to work with you to
improve the availability of accessibility tools in Debian.
Thank you for bringing Debian to people in whose lives it can make a
real difference!
Kind regards,
Felix Lechner
P.S. Hi everyone, please join #meetfelix on OFTC. I hope to get to
know you better!
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