I'm not entirely disagreeing with you, Darragh, but just to be clear, in the
United States, accessibility is considered a right. I'm not necessarily
saying this is the correct way to look at it but one could argue that a
blind person has the right to access the systems like any other worker. You
wouldn't make a sighted employee buy his own computer monitor so why should
a blind employee have to buy his own braille display? The blind person
simply has a different way of doing things. He is "differently abled" as
they say. Imagine a sighted person starting out a job and they sit him down
at a desk with a PC, a keyboard, and a set of speakers. He says, "Hey,
where's the monitor?" They say, "We don't usually supply our employees with
monitors. A screen reader and a set of speakers is a lot cheaper. If you're
going to insist on using your sight, you'll have to buy your own monitor."
Likewise, if sighted people needed some extra piece of software to use a
remote access tool, like a video driveror, the company would just buy it.
It would be absurd to tell all the sighted employees that they had to buy
their own video drivers to do their job. So why should a blind employee
have to buy the extra software he needs to do his job?
Now, I'll admit that on a practical basis, demanding that an employer
purchase accessibility tools can be a deterrent to hiring the disabled. The
employer is going to ask himself how much extra is it going to cost me if I
hire this guy. But I don't think a blind employee has an ethical obligation
to buy his own accessibility tools.
In high-paying jobs like programming and systems administration, investing
in your own accessibility tools is easy. But for lower paying jobs, its a
lot harder. So saying blind people have an obligation to buy their own
accessibility tools can be a big problem. Furthermore, putting the
responsibility for access on the disabled is a step backward culturally. We
are never going to fix problems with access for the disabled in general if
we continue to think of it as every man for himself.
Of course, we can get into a philosophical discussion as to whether a
society has an obligation to address the needs of the disabled. Ayn Rand
would say the only fair system is one where it is every man for himself. I
don't happen to agree with that. But that philosophical question should
probably be discussed on another list.
-----Original Message-----
From: Blind-sysadmins
[mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of
Darragh OHeiligh
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2012 8:46 AM
To: Blind sysadmins list
Cc: Blind-sysadmins
Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] remote vpn software, screen readers, and a
hlp desk support position
Stephen,
I think you need to read over my mail again. I did not take exception to
Seroteks products. What I said was that it is irrisponsible to ask a company
to purchase these products in addition to a remote access solution that they
already have in place that has it's own licensing costs. This is in the
context of applying for the job on equal merits compared to sighted
applicants. I would argue that if RIM or any other package is required to
enable a blind person to do their job efficiently then that person should
take the responsibility of paying for this application. The responsibility
should not be taken by the employer.
Again, in case there is any confusion, I am not discrediting any product
here. If RIM or any other application suits the employer and no alternative
product is already installed then brilliant! Start from the ground up with
accessible solutions. I know of one person on this list doing that very
thing and I think his company are just fantastic! However, if you take a job
and you find that their environment isn't completely accessible then in my
opinion it is your responsibility to find and implement solutions that do
not place a burden on your employer.
I laughed at your suggestion that i write a guide to using Dameware. I have
recorded tutorials for SCCM with Jaws, configuring administrative
environments to be more accessible and general tips for administration with
a screen reader. I have asked for contributions from other people both on
this list, on twitter, facebook and my own websites. Not once has someone
from here actually submitted anything. That's fine of course. I know that
everyone is busy and document writing isn't exactly the most fun thing in
the world to do.
Regards
Darragh Ó Héiligh
Fujitsu
Offices of the Houses of the Oireachtas, Fredrick Building, South Fredrick
Street,
Dublin2
Telephone: +353 (1) 618 3559
Email: darragh.oheiligh@oireachtas.ie
Internet: http://www.oireachtas.ie
From: "Stephen Guerra"
Daimeware is not accessible but you should look into Remote AccessManager by Serotek http://ram.serotek.com
/This is screen reader friendly
Stephen Guerra Assistive Technology Specialist and Technical Operations independent living aids, LLC | SOUNDBYTES 200 Robbins Lane Jericho, New York 11753-2341 Phone: 800.537.2118 Direct: 516.450.3817 Fax: 516.450.3842 E-mail: stephen@independentliving.com Web sites: www.independentliving.com www.soundbytes.com
-----Original Message----- From: Blind-sysadmins [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of David Mehler Sent: Monday, November 05, 2012 9:06 AM To: blind-sysadmins Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] remote vpn software, screen readers, and a hlp desk support position
Hello,
I've got the possibility of getting a Help Desk support position. They use a vpn software package called I think daymeware I doubt that's spelled right, and apparently the machines are tagged so all a tech has to do is enter that tag and get on to the box. This is for any call that requires remote work, simple stuff I can troubleshoot or use group policy or active directory if enabled. I was wondering if this vpn package was known and how well I could do the remote job with a screen reader?
Thanks. Dave.
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