"John W. Kennedy"  wrote in message 
news:e7580527-9c08-4243-8b2c-383ada2e8c2c@l12g2000vbj.googlegroups.com...
On Nov 23, 2:41 pm, deneb...@deepthot.org (Jay Denebeim) wrote:
> In article 
> <1535d503-dfce-4694-94c5-846c8c16c...@b12g2000vbg.googlegroups.com>,
>
> StarFuryG7  wrote:
> >On Nov 8, 9:14 pm, "Nicole Massey"  wrote:
> >One of the things that's
> >always bothered me about "Covert Affairs" is that one of the main
> >characters is supposed to be something of a computer whiz even though
> >he's blind, which I've found to be incredibly unrealistic.
>
> She's not the first person. Software engineering/computer
> administration is one of the traditional things a non-sited person can
> do really well. Of course in these days of GUIs its a bit harder.
> Plain text helps I would imagine.

Back in the old days, IBM mainframe provisions for blind users were
off-the-shelf options, such as braille adaptors for standard printers.

But modern GUI frameworks do a pretty good job; text-to-speech is
standard on Mac OS X (and iOS, too), and if Windows doesn't have it,
well, shame on them. Of course, an individual app developer can screw
it up, but most government departments would never pass software that
did that.
---
Yes, screen readers are add-ons for Windows, save for the almost 
non-functional Nararator, but it's not Microsoft's fault for that.
Back in Windows 2000 days they wanted to include a screen reader in Windows. 
(This was during the time Apple was leaving blind folks high and dry, 
because they eliminated Outspoken with OSX, and didn't add Voiceover until 
OSX.5 much later) They wre working with Freedom Scientific and GW Micro to 
get this done right, and then the National Federation for the Blind stepped 
in and said that if Microsoft continued on this cours they were going to 
file suit for some crazy reason and Microsoft backed away from the project, 
providing only the rudimentary Nararator. I've heard Nararator has been 
beefed up in Windows 8, but I'm still waiting for word on that -- I know of 
no blind folks who are using 8 yet.
The NFB is a problem sometimes for blind folks. They contend that blindness 
isn't a handicap, society's approach to it is what gives blind folks 
trouble. They're anti-guide dog, instead preferring blind folks to use a 
long "glide" cane that doesn't contact the ground, and they're also against 
talking elevators and chirp signals on traffic lights.
--- SBBSecho 2.20-Win32
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