I recently downloaded a leaked copy of Windows 7 release candidate and it’s pretty awesome. However, I was going through some stuff and noticed that Microsoft have implemented an accessibility suggestion feature that basically makes accessibility changes based on the criteria you select. Simple, right? Wrong.
Microsoft it would appear seem to think that blind people can see. One of the options on the accessibility wizard is “I am blind”, if this is the first time a blind person was setting up a computer without previously having any other guidance software on, how are they supposed to see this option to select it? I mean they are blind and all..
Take a look at the screenshot below.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Mmmm… Maybe a blind person would have one of those devices that read the screen content for you?
If not, how would a blind person get to that screen in the first place? Some hardware device, some friend/technician giving a hand.
Maybe they should have written that option as “The person who I am installing Windows for is blind”.
I’m not a huge fan of MS, but don’t think this is too terrible.
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@DrakeMallard,
If they had a device that reads the screen for you, why would they need an option to further configure windows for their blindness if their device already does it?
Wow, that is seriously ridiculous. I wonder what genius came up with that one.
Blind can be defined in several ways. Legally blind is quite different than being completely blind. I have a friend who is legally blind and cannot drive but can read close up things and actually works on computers as his job. Just think of blind as very very bad vision, not lack of it.
Tom is completely correct about the varied definitions of blindness. For example, I have a friend in prison who is illegally blind and he can read just fine. He can’t crack safes any more though.
As someone who is currently building a website administration tool that need to be accessible by the blind, I can say the I hate blind people.
Go Microsoft.
But in all seriousness, there are many explanations for this, including the aforementioned screen readers and “less than blind” people. Just because Microsoft is big and does idiotic things from time to time doesn’t mean we have to nitpick every little thing that they do.
Not seeing why this is so absurd. I’m sure that either microsoft’s narrator or a friend could guide a blind person to this page, and there are probably all sorts of options that are turned on by selecting that.
I know a few blind people and I can say that not all blind people are completely blind. Sometimes they are only partly blind.
I am aware that blindness can be categorised by seriousness and doesn’t mean that you are completely blind. I was merely referring to completely blind people using Windows 7, not partially blind.
Thanks for stopping by.
Microsoft’s narrator only works after the install is complete, not during installation.It clearly states “Are you blind”, not “partially blind”. Microsoft is just trying to seem caring after they wasted everyone’s money with Vista.
Even if it read the options for you, many PCs would not have sound in the pre-install process due to lack of drivers.
Then again, maybe it was meant to be funny. I like to code funny crap into my software from time to time. Somewhere, a nerd is cracking up.
lol.
Maybe the geeks from Microsoft were thinking that someone else (who probably can see better than a blind person =P) is programming the computer for the blind. They should have just written “The user of the PC is visually impaired”- or something like that.
It still cracked me up, though. XD
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