Re: Sighted help

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On 8/20/2015 1:54 PM, Sam Hartman wrote:
"Anders" == Anders Holmberg <anders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
     >> screen so I need speech, but I should not need to ask someone to
     >> literally look over my shoulder to install an operating system on
     >> my computer.  That, to me, is a dignity issue.  How many sighted
     >> people do you know who would ask someone to do the same?  Not
     >> many.  They would either give up or complain.

I'm all for making OSes easier to install for the blind.
However, after the number of hours I've spent helping sighted folks
install Windows, Mac, Linux, you name it, if I need to go ask someone
for a bit of help on a OS install, well, I've earned it.


Yes, but the issue I have is why are you asking for help? Or, in your case, why are they asking you for help? Are they asking you for help with the install because they are unable to do it themselves due to the lack of accessibility? As I already stated, if you don't understand a question the installer is asking you, it's reasonable to ask for help. If you must click a mouse to continue as in John's case or if you can't see an image, although I don't like it and I think it's up to us to complain to the developers to address the lack of accessibility, it's understandable to ask for help. I don't even have a problem with asking for someone to take a quick look at the screen.

Where I have the problem, as mentioned, is not being able to do most of the install yourself due to the lack of accessibility. If you have speech and the computer locks up, again, it's understandable to ask for help, but that is not an installer or accessibility issue in many cases. Part of why I have taken this attitude is because I usually don't have the luxury of getting sighted help when I want it. Even when I do get it, they usually only want to read the screen for about a minute or two; certainly not long enough to do a full operating system install. I can either wait for hours or days until someone feels like reading the screen for an extended period of time, install to a virtual machine and hope I can get reliable speech or move onto an accessible operating system such as Debian or Ubuntu. I have chosen the last option. If you have sighted help available and that works for you, that's great. I wish I had the same availability of such help, but I don't. Besides, I can't tell you how many times they don't read everything on the screen, so I end up having to redo some part of the install after the fact even with help.

With at least one sighted person, John's example of "just letting the sighted guy do it" fits perfectly. I'm specifically referring to Windows here. He would rather install Windows for me and not read the screen while I try to do it. He almost always tells me to move out of the way so he can click the mouse and do the install for me. Yes, I have told him that I want to do the install and asked him to just read the screen, but one has to be careful lest one loses the sighted help, thus leaving one on their own and defeating the purpose of asking in the first place.

Perhaps dignity is the wrong word to use. My point is simply that I should have the same rights and opportunities to install the same software and use the same apps as the sighted world. That is obviously not yet a reality, but it should be the ultimate goal.

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