Linux Accessibility Solutions
=============================
Copyright � 2002 by Red Hat, Inc.


Abstract
========

There are approximately 500 million people worldwide
with some kind of visual, hearing, or mobility impairment. There are
currently over 54 million people with disabilities in the US alone and
that number is significantly increasing as the baby boomer generation
continues to age. People with disabilities often find it extremely
difficult to effectively use existing and emerging technologies
designed without regard to their needs. Websites with inaccessible
content can also be problematic for screen readers and other
specialized devices used by the disabled community.

Accessible features have been voluntarily integrated into operating
systems, Web interfaces and other technologies because of marketing
potential or because it was "the right thing to do." Equal access to
educational, professional and recreational technologies is rapidly
becoming a legal requirement. Federal agencies in numerous countries
are formulating accessibility standards. Federal requirements in the
United States went into effect in June 2001.

There are specialized hardware devices, applications and utilities
available that considerably increase the usability of Linux for
individuals with special needs.


This document will cover the following topics:
==============================================

* Why should people choose Red Hat Linux as an accessibility solution?
* The Section 508 Mandate
* The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)
* Available open source tools, utilities and drivers
* Using Speakup with Red Hat Linux
* Using Emacspeak and Festival with Red Hat Linux
* Reading news using Red Hat Linux and Emacspeak
* Sending and reading email using Red Hat Linux and Emacspeak
* Browsing the Web using Red Hat Linux and Emacspeak
* Using Emacspeak to execute Red Hat Linux shell commands
* Using BRLTTY with Red Hat Linux
* Finding more information on Linux accessibility


Why should people choose Red Hat Linux as an accessibility solution?
====================================================================

Linux offers an inexpensive and efficient solution for the disabled
community. Open source software costs far less compared to tools that
run on other operating systems and Linux tools are often freely
download-able.

While the Graphic User Interface (GUI) is convenient for sighted
users, it is often inhibiting to those with visual impairments because
of the difficulty speech synthesizers have interpreting
graphics. Linux is a great OS for users with visual limitations
because the GUI is not required by the kernel. Most modern tools
including email, news, Web browsers, calendars, calculators and much
more can run on Linux without the GUI. The working environment can
also be customized to meet the hardware or software needs of the
user. The Red Hat Linux command line interface is also 100% compliant
with the Section 508 Mandate.

Red Hat, Inc. is the distribution of choice for people with special
needs because of the outstanding support that is offered with the
purchase of any official boxed set. Many Linux distributions provide
limited or nonexistent support to customers. Red Hat Installation
Support is deliverable via email or telephone, and special
circumstances will be considered and addressed for users with physical
limitations. The customer should inform the support technician if
he/she requires specialized support.

Red Hat is the leading Linux distribution. Most industry professionals
are familiar with the Red Hat environment. It will not be difficult to
find assistance if necessary.

Red Hat provides the up2date client and Red Hat Network. These
services simplify file management and make it easier for customers to
effortlessly keep their computers secure and up to date.


The Section 508 Mandate
=======================

The Section 508 Mandate is an addendum to the Rehabilitation Act of
1998 that requires federal agencies to use accessible electronic and
information technologies so that people with special needs have the
same opportunities as everyone else.

For detailed information about the requirements of the Section 508
Mandate, please see this link:

http://www.section508.gov/


The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)
===================================================

The VPAT template details how a particular product or service conforms
to Section 508 criteria.The VPAT will help federal personnel adhere to
Section 508 by helping them determine whether they are buying the most
accessible IT products and services available. The VPAT template
participation by private vendors is voluntary. These templates are
hosted on the individual vendor websites. The vendors maintain their
own information and the government does not endorse this information
in any way. Red Hat Inc. has posted voluntary VPATs for several
products. For more information on these templates, please contact the
legal department at Red Hat Inc.


Available open source tools, utilities and drivers
==================================================

Current development is focusing on visual and mobility
impairments. There are both software and hardware based solutions
available. There are also both console and graphic solutions
available, however, the graphic solutions are limited at this
time. The GNOME Accessibility Project
(http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gap/) is making great progress
bringing the Gnome desktop up to speed. The KDE Accessibility Project
(http://accessibility.kde.org/) is simultaneously working to make sure
the KDE desktop is accessible as well.

* Hardware
==========

The biggest advantage of the hardware speech solutions is that speech
is available before the OS loads (makes it easier to
install). Hardware solutions include speech synthesizers, braille
terminals, braille printers, sip and puff systems, eye gaze pointing
devices, etc. These devices are usually very expensive and it is
difficult to find drivers for them. Drivers are being written (mostly
for speech synthesizers) for Linux but they need to be tested and
certified before they can be added to Red Hat's Hardware Compatibility
List (http://www.redhat.com/support/hardware/). Jim Van Zandt has also
written several servers that work with Emacspeak. These servers can be
found in a package called Emacspeak-ss on Jim Van Zandt's website or
linked within the Emacspeak HOWTO
(http://www.mv.com/ipusers/vanzandt/Emacspeak-HOWTO.html).

For more information on Emacspeak, please see http://emacspeak.sf.net.

* Software
==========

This document will focus mostly on software tools and utilities that
will work with Linux. Most of these tools have been developed by the
Open Source community and many have not yet been tested by Red Hat
Inc. Speakup, Emacspeak, Festival and BRLTTY have been tested by Red
Hat. Festival and Emacspeak ships with Red Hat Linux 7.3 and later
releases. Speakup began shipping with Red Hat Linux 8.0. BRLTTY will
be shipped in future releases. The following list of tools provide
various functions:

* Software Speech Synthesizers:
       IBM ViaVoice Outloud
       Festival
       MBROLA

Emacspeak

* Magnification Tools:
       xzoom
       SVGATextMode

* Speech Recognition Software:
       IBM ViaVoice
       cvoicecontrol
       Xvoice

* Screen Readers:
       Screader
       Speakup

BRLTTY
Visual Bells
Keyboard Tools
AccessX
StickyKeys
GTKeyboard


Using Speakup with Red Hat Linux
================================

Speakup is a GPL screen review package written by Kirk Reiser and Andy
Berdan. Speakup gives users with visual or mobility impairments the
ability to have audible console feedback using a speech
synthesizer. Red Hat recommends Speakup for blind users because it
provides an audible installation and is fully supported by the blind
open source community. Red Hat has integrated this tool the latest
release.

William F. Acker currently maintains the Speakup packages for the Red
Hat distribution. His contributions to the open source community and
to blind Linux users have been outstanding.

Speakup works with the following hardware synthesizers:

 DoubleTalk PC/LT
 LiteTalk
 Accent PC/SA
 Speakout
 Artic Transport
 Audapter
 Braille 'N Speak / Type 'N Speak
 Dectalk External and Express
 Apollo2

For instructions on how to use Speakup with Red Hat Linux, please see this link:
http://www.linux-speakup.org/ftp/disks/redhat/HOWTO_INSTALL.html

Speakup has been included with Red Hat Linux Milan. If you are using
Milan, you should begin with Section 4 in the above HOW TO as you do
not have to prepare the media. For prior versions of Red Hat Linux,
you should follow the instructions from the beginning of the document.

For more information about Speakup, or to contribute to the Speakup
project please see this link:

http://www.linux-speakup.org


Using Emacspeak with Red Hat Linux
==================================

Before using Emacspeak, you should familiarize yourself with some
documentation. Start with A Gentle Introduction to Emacspeak
(http://emacspeak-guide.sourceforge.net/) by Gary Lawrence Murphy. The
Emacspeak HOW TO Emacspeak HOWTO
(http://www.mv.com/ipusers/vanzandt/Emacspeak-HOWTO.html) written by
Jim Van Zandt is also a very good resource although the document is
limited to the Slackware distribution.


Reading news using Red Hat Linux and Emacspeak
===============================================

Gnus is the news reader included with Emacspeak. Gnus gets the
appropriate data from the .newsrc file in the user's home
directory. If you wish to post and read news through Emacspeak, please
see my.news.org or www.gnus.org for manuals, tutorials, HOWTOs,
etc. To start Gnus, type the following:

M-x, gnus

This command will display all the newsgroups you are subscribed to. To
select a newsgroup, highlight your selection and press the space
bar. You will next have to specify how many articles you would like to
open. Type the number you desire and press [Enter]. This will split
the screen into two buffers. The top section is the summary buffer,
the bottom section is the article buffer. You should now be able to
read your news. For a detailed overview of this tool, please see the
following link:

http://www.mv.com/ipusers/vanzandt/Emacspeak-HOWTO.html


Sending and reading email using Red Hat Linux and Emacspeak
===========================================================

There are several email clients available in Emacspeak. The Gnus
utility can actually be used for both email and news. Type

M-x, gnus

to start Gnus, then type

M

to use the mail client.

The easiest tool to use is RMAIL. To send a message using RMAIL, just type

C-x, m

within Emacspeak. Fill in the To: and Subject: fields. Put the body of
the message below the line that reads -text follows this line-. You
can send the message when you are finished by typing:

C-c, C-c

To read a message using RMAIL type:


M-x, rmail

For more information on using RMAIL please see:

http://www.gnu.org/manual/emacs-20.3/html_chapter/emacs_31.html


Browsing the Web using Red Hat Linux and Emacspeak
==================================================

You will need to download William Perry's w3 browser from
ftp://people.redhat.com/jlamb. You can install the package from the
FTP site after you log in as root and type:

rpm -ivh ftp://people.redhat.com/jlamb/w3-4.0pre.44-1.i386.rpm

Once the package is installed, restart Emacspeak and type

M-x, w3

to start the browser. This will open the default homepage. For more
information on w3 including a tutorial and command explanation, please
read through the information on the default home
page, http://www.cs.indiana.edu/elisp/w3/docs.html.


Using Emacspeak to execute Linux shell commands
===============================================

You will not have to leave Emacspeak to execute a Linux command. To
execute a command within Emacspeak, type

ESC !

then enter the name of the command you would like to run when
Emacspeak prompts you. To exit the command output window type:

C-x, 1

This functionality is extremely useful. You can even print and compile
files you are working on within Emacspeak. For more information on
Linux shell commands please see Josh's Linux Guide
(http://jgo.local.net/LinuxGuide/linux-commands.html) or any other
comparable command resource.


Using BRLTTY with Red Hat Linux
===============================

BRLTTY provides access to the Linux command-line mode for blind people
using refreshable braille displays. The tool provides complete screen
review functionality and minimal speech capability. BRLTTY has been
tested by Red Hat Inc. and is available in rpm format. For information
and documentation on BRLTTY, please see the following link:

http://mielke.cc/brltty/


Finding more information on Linux accessibility
===============================================

The following documents offer helpful suggestions for making Linux
more accessible:

Linux Accessibility HOWTO
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Access-HOWTO.html

Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html


These links may also be helpful:

Speakup Homepage
http://www.braille.uwo.ca/speakup/

Project Ocularis
http://ocularis.sourceforge.net/events.php

Trace Center
http://trace.wisc.edu/

Blinux
http://leb.net/blinux/

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