Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Bill Holton's March 2018 article, New Accessibility Support Options Courtesy of Google, Microsoft, and Be My Eyes.
This is a great article. My only disappointment is the almost non-existent support BrailleBack offers in the Android environment. Grade Two Braille is not supported, and navigation and screen review commands are very limited. To make matters worse, the application doesn't even use a standard command set used by other operating systems like Windows and iOS. I am an accessibility tester. I review websites and mobile apps every day. I have never gotten BrailleBack to work for more than a minute or so before it crashes. I am using a fairly new phone, and a variety of braille displays. I tried installing a new beta version of BrailleBack, but keep getting errors from the Google Play Store despite the fact that I have a Google account, and am a member of several Google groups. I finally gave up on BrailleBack. I am using a standard Bluetooth keyboard to enter text and navigate the screen.
When I raise issues about braille support on computer mailing lists for the blind, I get a typical response that if I don't like braille support in the Android environment, then I should use iOS. I don't have a choice in the matter as Android is one of our officially supported platforms I am required to use. I have noticed that many blind Android users who post to computer mailing lists and Google groups have a cavalier attitude toward braille. Last week someone posted a question to a computer list where I have a subscription. The person was asking for advice about whether they should use iOS or Android. I responded by pointing out what I considered valid reservations about Android accessibility. People then accused me of spreading rumors and claimed that learning the Android environment wasn't that difficult.
I appreciate it that AFB supports braille by having many great articles about braille displays. I hope someone can get Google's attention and encourage them to improve the situation. It's unacceptable that Google solely relies on an open source application to do what Google should be doing in the first place.
Dan
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Bill Holton's March 2018 article, New Accessibility Support Options Courtesy of Google, Microsoft, and Be My Eyes.
Well, I tried to get some relief using BrailleBack with a supported braille display for input. I did get a response quickly from Google. However, it only told me that the question was being passed on to someone else for investigation. I explained the issue fully, but a response like the one I received simply wasn't helpful.
David Allen
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in response to Deborah Gessler's letter in the March Letters to the Editor section related to the Amazon Echo. You asked about getting a second Echo and whether or not you would be hearing what is going on in both the living room and your son's room. You can chose from several different names for the device so you are only activating the one you want. We have two: one is Alexa and the other is Echo. If you use the name of the one you want, it only wakes up that one and then functions independently. If they have the same name they can function together depending on the set-up. We put one in the bedroom to use as an alarm and before we changed the name, the one in the living room, which has very big ears, was responding. We have an Echo and a Dot. The sound quality and volume is much better on the Echo if you want to use it for music. I was talking to someone recently who said you can also set it up with your BARD account from the National Library Service.
BJ LeJeune
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
I fully agree with Mike from Berkeley. His recent letter to the editor In the March 2018 issue of AccessWorld explained how all this technology is very useful but takes hours of time to learn and to keep up with. I'm slipping behind, I can tell. This is partly because of lack of training where I live. We have no Lighthouse that offers classes and support groups. I feel I'm slipping into the Dark Ages.
David in Louisiana
