Comments on: Microsoft Thinks Blind People Can See

By: James Brophy

James Brophy — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:17:26 +0000

Hello. This is kind of an “unconventional” question , but have other visitors asked you how get the menu bar to look like you’ve got it? I also have a blog and am really looking to alter around the theme, however am scared to death to mess with it for fear of the search engines punishing me. I am very new to all of this …so i am just not positive exactly how to try to to it all yet. I’ll just keep working on it one day at a time Thanks for any help you can offer here.

By: Color Printing

Color Printing — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:12:38 +0000

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

By: Halycon.Prime

Halycon.Prime — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:03:03 +0000

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.

By: Probably Sucks

Probably Sucks — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:20:47 +0000

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.

By: Hello there

Hello there — Sun, 31 May 2009 00:31:41 +0000

I know a few blind people and I can say that not all blind people are completely blind. Sometimes they are only partly blind.

By: Goron40

Goron40 — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:33:13 +0000

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.

By: Brad

Brad — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:26:44 +0000

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.

By: pariah

pariah — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:12:29 +0000

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.

By: Tom Reed

Tom Reed — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:10:30 +0000

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.

By: Wisconsin Lincoln

Wisconsin Lincoln — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:07:58 +0000

Wow, that is seriously ridiculous. I wonder what genius came up with that one.