Slashdot Mirror
Skipper Accessibility Suite 1.6.0 Released
Semi-Anonymous Reader writes "Skipper 1.6.0 is a GPLed Linux accessibility suite for the severely physically disabled - cerebral palsy, road traffic accidents, motor neuron disease, Parkinsons etc. It takes input from multiple devices like graphics tablets and microswitches connected directly to the printer port, does input switching and processing (configured graphically like modular synthesisers), and provides clever genetically annealed menu systems for application and desktop control. With just one detectable click, people can have full Web and email access - in fact the whole Linux desktop - in complete privacy. Now the problem's getting it to people who need it. Charities and institutions think physical, Windows and money, so it's down to the geeks. Set up a kid near you this Fall - they might not be the next Einstein or Mozart, but you'll be giving them a lifetime of education, activity, self-expression and self-determination."
I lost most of the use of my fingers and 40 percent of my vision in a chemical accident 15 years ago. I am so glad to see linux taking steps to make things more usable for people like me. I truly feel linux will soon take the lead in accessibility (not to mention stability and performance) from Microsoft very soon. Thank you linux hackers! --Berry
The linux hacker
Their talking about the AI algorithm used to determine the order in which the menus appear. Anealing is a technique to randomly jump to another location in the search space when a local maximum is found. Genetically anealed (I guess, I've never heard the term before) means a genetic algorithm which periodically resets some of the population to keep searches from finding a local maximum.
I read it as :
"Charities and institutions think they need [expensive] special hardware and Windows based software. It's up to geeks to show what can be done with a bit of intelligence and applied engineering"
Due to the relatively small market and high support costs, products made for disabled people are usually pretty expensive. This doesn't only apply to hospital-grade wheelchairs etc., but also to software like screenreaders.
In technology, accessibility means designing (or modifying) a program or device so that people with disabilities can use it the same as everyone else. In architecture, it means designing (or modifying) buildings so that people with disabilities can easily get into and out. For more info, check out the Americans with Disabilities Act
GNOME has been doing a lot of work for blind or partially sighted users, and that stuff is getting really good. There are some features for physically disabled users in there, but they are about the same level as the Windows Accessibility Wizard, offering sticky keys, a simple onscreen keyboard you can work with a mouse and so on. Such people are nearly able bodied. Skipper fills in the huge hole between them and people at the Stephen Hawking or Christopher Reeve level of minimal movement, or with extreme involuntary movements as in cerebral palsy. It runs as a user mode process, so you can use it with any window manager, although its mainly intended for ctwm. It's best to use a very simple window manager and let the Skipper menu system do what the window manager would do for an able bodied user.