Re: meeting today

aloha, charles!

it is becoming increasingly apparent that there is no way that i am going to be
able to join this afternoon's telecon, as i have yet to pack for my impending
trip to austin...

i did, however, want to thank my fellow working group members for their
patience, forbearance, and willingness to listen to my point of view, and that
of the persons whom i (at least titularly) represent....  if frustration has
crept into my posts and comments, it is a reflection of the frustration of the
average user with a disability...  i receive at least 10 to 15 emessages every
week, in which i am asked by a complete stranger quote my counselor told me
that web design and web-based careers are hot right now, and recommended that i
get into that field -- what is the best authoring tool for me to use?  are
there any resources that a totally blind person can use to learn web design?  i
asked at the local college, but they told me that a blind person can't build
web pages because the web is an intrinsically visual medium.  is that true? 
please help unquote or quote i'm currently taking a course in web design at
college (or the local community college or via an extension program) and the
authoring tool that i am required to use in order to take the course won't work
with my adaptive equipment -- what should i slash can i do?  the professor told
me that i would have to drop the course if i can't use the tool -- please help
unquote

these are real people, facing real life situations, and their frustration,
fear, and anger is very real and very palpable...  as more and more courses
that profess to teach web design turn into glorified (and expensive)
introductions to a particular tool's interface, persons with disabilities are
feeling increasingly isolated and left behind...  there are a considerable
number of them who are tracking our work with great interest and hope, and
there are countless others who have never heard of the W3C, let alone the WAI
or ATAG, whose quality of life would be immeasurably improved by fully
equivalent read/write access to the web...

so, while i regret that i will miss this afternoon's meeting, i have every
confidence that the right decisions will be made by what can only be described
as a truly incredible collection of individuals which has truly earned the
title quote working group unquote

gregory.


At 08:49 AM 12/8/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Please note the meeting today is at the usual meeting time of 3:30 pm (US
>eastern time) on the normal bridge. The agenda (at
>http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/telecon-08dec99 and linked from the home page) is
>basically to check that other issues are resolved (see proposed resolutions
>at http://www.w3.org/WAI/AU/ATAG1-PR-issues and my previous email about the
>new draft and what has changed from the PR draft), and where we go from here.
>
>Talk to you all then (please send regrets to the list if you can't make it)
>
>Cheers
>
>Charles McCN
>
>--Charles McCathieNevile    mailto:charles@w3.org phone: +61 409 134 136
>W3C Web Accessibility Initiative                    http://www.w3.org/WAI
>21 Mitchell Street, Footscray, VIC 3011,  Australia (I've moved!)
>

--------------------------------------------------------
He that lives on Hope, dies farting
     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1763
--------------------------------------------------------
Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
   WebMaster and Minister of Propaganda, VICUG NYC
        <http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/index.html>
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Received on Wednesday, 8 December 1999 14:48:53 UTC