Re: Kynn's Analysis of CD Web Accessibility

aloha, love!

your observations, as  usual, are on-target and cut to the heart of the 
matter...

as i have repeatedly stated, what we as a working group need to do is work 
directly with the persons in whose name, and for whose ostensive benefit, 
we are re-examining the web content guidelines...

i'm searching for bridges to that community that will allow us to bypass 
the rancorous debates that rage over the quote proper unquote methods for 
classifying, teaching, and communicating with the cognitively disabled, 
both in academia and in the oft-ossified world of organizations for, and 
not of, those with whom we are attempting to establish a dialog...

anyone who doubts the veracity of love's rhetoric as regards agencies and 
the tradition of warehousing the quote cognitively disabled unquote and 
isolating them from direct dialog with the world in general, would do well 
to read Stephen Jay Gould's book, "The Mismeasure of Man", which was last 
revised in 1996...  the publisher is W W Norton & Co and the ISBN numbers 
for the book are: 0393039722 (hardcover) and 0393314251 (paperback)

an audio recording of an earlier edition (the original, published by Norton 
in 1981) is available from the National Library Service for the Blind & 
Physically Handicapped (NLS) here in the states -- a brief citation follows:

Main Entry: Gould, Stephen Jay.
Title: The mismeasure of man [sound recording]
Book Number: RC 17413
Holding Agency: DLC-B NLS/BPH
Format: Audio Cassette Book

the full citation for the NLS audio book can be found at:
<http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?bphp:14:./temp/~bphp_MfDo::>
note the two terminal colons at the end of the URI -- it won't work without 
them!

i apologize for the U.S.-centric nature of the above citation, but the book 
is probably pretty widely available in alternative formats from libraries 
for the blind and physically handicapped around the world -- not to mention 
local libraries, as well -- for stephen jay gould's work tends to be quite 
popular, as well as best-selling, despite the oft-complex nature of the 
subjects about which he writes...

he's also a very readable, and, more often than not, quite an entertaining, 
author...

gregory.

At 12:22 PM 4/5/00 -0700, you wrote:
>JC:: "The issue of graphical rather than textual browsing has yet to be
>addressed, and it is only once this issue of graphical pages is
>developed, that it can be successfully achieved."
>
>WL: I think it has been (perhaps at too great a length?) "addressed"
>with the apparency of there being essentially NOTHING "developed" other
>than a bit of "wouldn't it be nice if..." in the successful achievement
>department. Perhaps one reason that the 100k's of years of attempted
>pre-text permanent communication gave way to words as text is that the
>latter system works better, or at all. In theory it may be that a truly
>universal system of sign language has failed in the past because of
>bandwidth problems, but we don't seem to be talking about that, but
>about pictograms whose shortcomings are painfully obvious. The part I
>hate most is that we are ALL meta-CD folks - nobody from the actual
>"community" of people with these "disabilities" is taking part (although
>I'm beginning to notice some "creeping senility" in myself) - unlike the
>case with more "popular" PWDs. I am very suspicious of any information
>from "authorities" in these matters except the Down Syndrome kid on TV
>who said to someone phoning for information "I'm an authority on Down
>Syndrome". No dissing of those who teach/write/theorize in the field,
>just that often the "agency" type folks are traditionally the enemy of
>their supposed clients. We have the danger of getting to be like the
>waiter who asks me what Gregory wants to eat.
>
>--
>Love.
>             ACCESSIBILITY IS RIGHT - NOT PRIVILEGE
>http://dicomp.pair.com

I am principled, you are stubborn, he is pigheaded.
                                -- Bertrand Russell
---
Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
<http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/>
WebMonster & Minister of Propaganda
The Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group
of New York City (VICUG NYC)
<http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/vicug/>

Received on Wednesday, 5 April 2000 16:39:30 UTC