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I thought it might be nice to have a "disability linden" who could act as liason.
Perhaps they might look over new things and run them past folks with an eye to disability (such as the blurred fonts in the rc) Maybe be able to refer people to inworld resources - things like VAI, dreams. I didnt flesh out the proposal because t would be nice if people added their own thoughts. Fleshing out possible functions a liason might be able to do.
According to the World Health Organization, every 5 minutes, a child goes blind. That is a child who is going to grow up needing special access to education, employment, entertainment, and social engagement. People who are disabled represent at least 20% of the users of SL (5% higher than their representation in physical world) and spend much more time in SL than avatars who do not identify themselves as disabled in RL. Our group, Virtual Helping Hands, is dedicated to having SL be inclusive for all. Linden was so generous in recognizing BOTH Virtual Ability and Wikitechure as Linden Prize winners - an extra $10,000 commitment on their part. I know they saw this platform originally as a game - but it has a wonderful potential to make a significant difference. I have talked to Pathfinder Linden about this - Jolie1 Magic who is blind and a programmer, has even volunteered for the post.
 ) I think this is a fantastic idea! I am constantly amazed when I go about SL to find the number of people who are users who suffer a disability or major health problem of one sort or another. I have found that a substantial number of people prefer not to mention it on their profiles - but when they realise that they are talking to a disabled person they volunteer their own situation and feel more comfortable to be open.
SL has many different types of user, but for those who have a disability it can be such a life changing experience - I am so grateful to have found it as it is a truly liberating experience. I hope that Linden Lab will see the benefit of providing a liason who can dedicate their time to this large group of users - and to their special needs - whether they be HCI or tailored inworld guidance / referral. I'm going to attach an image that is highly significant to me - because it describes my relationship with SL. I called it 'Out of Body Experience'. Out of Body Experience image attached
I have been watching this proposal all day, and sending this link around to those who may be interested, and my thoughts after much discussion with many different people is this:
we have in the US a Disabilities Act (I believe it is named) and that law makes sure that new structures are built so that they are accessible to the disabled. While I of course do not feel that the 'physical' buildings within SL need changing, the basic structure does need to be made accessible to those with viable handicaps. A position is needed, preferably for someone familiar with coding, to double check this basic structure as well as act as a go-between for the residents and LL Ciebird, very good point - we have a similar law here in the UK, and furthermore it is now legally necessary to ensure that the content of websites can be reached by disabled people. There are many ways of achieving this (some have a text only version of the content - others have re-designed their entire websites to be accessible to text readers etc).
There is a whole branch of computer science called HCI (Human Computer Interactions) and this concerns itself with making sure that user interfaces are as intuitive and easy to use as possible for the end user. One aspect of HCI is accessibility - so although the person for the job needs to have a realistic understanding of what can be achieved (ie some background or knowledge of programming), the key skill is HCI. I used to run an IT business and it was notable that programmers were not always that good at design / useability issues (big generalisation of course - those who are capable of both are like gold dust Of course SL is not a website - but it would be interesting to know how it stands vis-a-vis the rules on accessibility (and also what UI features have already been incorporated with this in mind). Maybe a Linden would be able to comment on this? *brief update, the (UK) DDA (Disabilities Discrimination Act 1995) says you should take 'reasonable steps' to supply your business services or products to disabled persons. (i.e. A disabled person must not be treated less favourably than anyone else). There have already been out of court settlements where providers have failed to comply with the requirements. The law includes 'online services'. This issue crosses several areas including but not limited to potential viewer changes as well as personnel (i.e., the liason). The viewer changes run from fairly simple to implement (i.e. fonts) to substantial (text to voice), where the latter would likely require some form of plug-in feature. The liason solution would likely involve a team of people who are acquainted with the type of challenges disabled people face and would therefore be more prepared to assist those individuals in a meaningful way. These are but a few reasons this issue needs to remain under the meta-issue classification.
Ellla I am with Angela on this - the issue is much more than a new feature if it covers such a diverse range of actions. Staffing / Analysis / Expert consultation finally leading to possible multiple modifications in several iterations to the client.
If you are going to change it back to a 'New feature' would you be able to give an idea of why you think that is a more appropriate classification please? Many thanks Thank you for your comments.
On Second Life pJIRA Meta Issues are usually used to link related and duplicate issues for easy reference. The individual Meta Issues are then linked to MISC-398 Meta-Issue: Meta-Issue Organization. Comments are posted on the individual Bug/New Feature issues for greater clarity for both residents and LL Developers. As stated in the JIRA - Local help This issue appears to have evolved from the original Summary/Title "Proposal for the creation of a Disability Liasion" to "cover .. a diverse range of actions ... leading to possible multiple modifications" It has been stated that pJIRA is a tool used primarily by the developers and engineers of Linden Lab. It does not deal with policy issues. However, New Feature requests with detailed descriptions of "the desired implementation and functionality" and comments and votes from residents are very much encouraged. |
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Meta Issue
Reopened
Major
Proposal for the creation of a Disability Liasion 
All of our interface design and analysis was done on paper / screen and passed on to a team of highly skilled programmers to implement.
Anyway, just wanted to add my kudos for starting this issue. I hope others will join in this discussion, as technical decisions can impact disability issues.