Dear Steve: If you read my letter again, I was not only writing on my behalf, but on behalf of others too. You, for instance, might know this work around, but someone who is new to sky might not know this. I do not call this kind of thing a proper solution in the current setup. Key clicks would give positive feedback to the Elderly, blind or vi user, letting them know they'd pressed up, down, left or right, and had selected something. At the moment in the planner for instance, it is not a positive experience. I am arguing for positive feedback from the box so we know where we are. -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve Nutt Sent: 16 November 2008 17:34 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: FW: A letter I wrote to sky. Hi Martin, I disagree on one point, that there is no indication of menu selections etc. For example, when you go into the menus, you get the overlay music. When you select a programme, the music stops, so you know you have selected it. When you press select again, the programme plays. How much more indication do you need? All the best Steve -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of martin wilsher Sent: Sunday 16 November 2008 16:04 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] FW: A letter I wrote to sky. -----Original Message----- From: martin wilsher [mailto:m.wilsher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: 16 November 2008 12:45 To: 'access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' Subject: A letter I wrote to sky. HI all. Having just got sky plus installed, I have had no end of issues with the remote record service, so this, along with other issues I found, prompted me to write the following letter to sky which I enclose for your discussion. "Dear Sir/Madam: My Name is Martin Wilsher. Having recently upgraded to sky plus in an attempt to enhance my sky experience, I am generally impressed with the operation of the sky plus system. Though, as one of your disabled customers, I am totally blind, meaning I cannot see the sky EPG to operate the system properly, I need to find alternative methods of programming the box to my liking. Now, to this end I use accessible sky TV listings, and would use remote record, but this is broken, so I cannot use the service, even though I am subscribed to use it. the only way I can control the box is to send texts at twenty five pence per time from my mobile phone, this is excluding network charges, so in the two days I’ve been using this system I have unbilled usage of £10 excluding VAT on my mobile bill due to controlling the sky box. I have spoken to accessible customer services regarding this matter, and that of the remote record, so I will not continue the discussion of my current problems here. My main concern is the lack of accessibility for totally blind people when using sky plus. There are no indications when moving up and down the menus for example, so pressing up, down, select, or left or right arrows does not cause a beep or any audible tone for the blind user. This means blind users cannot adequately use the menus. I feel that key clicks to tell a user when they have pressed an arrow key, or the select key would be a small enhancement to the sky plus menu system which, in the interim between today, and the day when we finally get a talking EPG, which I believe is in the pipeline, would be of great help to blind customers, as would accessibility services set to on by default. At present, a blind customer has to get assistance with setting up audio description and the beep to tell when AD is available on a channel. I believe this is a sorry state of affairs. Accessibility should be a right straight out of the box, not a privilege, as it is at the moment. If a blind user cannot get sighted assistance, and is not competent with use of the remote control while someone on the end of a phone line talks them through key presses where little feedback from the box, Is given, the blind user is stuck with a box they cannot use, as there is no talking EPG at the present time. While sky provides AD for its blind customers, I believe with the revenue streams sky gets from loyal customers, that access for blind users should be, and could be much improved. At the moment I am finding my use of sky plus a very expensive experience, but I hope this, with the rectifying of the remote record problem, should come down to the normal costs experienced by sighted users of the sky plus system. I must say that I am very technically minded, and will work through technical issues, but with an aging population, and possible growing numbers of people with moderate to total sight loss, coupled with the imminent switch to digital television for all, sky need to urgently address all access issues to a greater degree than they already are. I like my sky plus box, but am not totally uncritical as my letter to you shows. I am young, technically minded, and have a fair knowledge of computers and of the menu systems sky employ, if explained to me. Some older people might not have this advantage. So this letter is a plea for accessibility for elder folk as well as me as a blind sky user. I feel key clicks could be implemented quickly and should be accelerated to the top of your to do list. I understand the talking EPG is in development, but Key clicks could be implemented quickly and put into a software upgrade to the current sky plus boxes. I currently use the box by remembering the key presses I make on various keys, but am not totally sure if the box has accepted all presses, so it’s still pot luck. I believe the implementation of key clicks is as important as the highlighter bar on the menus. If sighted users of sky plus suddenly found the highlighter gone from their menus, they would not be able to find their way around the sky planner and other services. This is how it is for blind users. Yes we have the sky music which plays when in menus, but that is all. There are no other cues as to where we are in the menus. I believe, in the days of the disability discrimination act, and the so called right of disabled people to be treated equally when accessing services, blind people deserve a better deal from sky, as sky continue to innervate. Please, please do not leave blind people out of the digital revolution. I believe blind people are given very little consideration when new services are implemented, and feel this is morally as well as legally wrong. I also wish to express my disappointment in the sign up process for my sky. This implements a visual graphical test for registrants which entail the completion of a form by entering text into the box. This is not accessible to screen reading software. An alternative audio system should be provided for blind and visually impaired customers so they can sign up independently. Registration for remote record via sky plus box is not accessible either, which I feel could be improved by the use of the website to tell the box what to do. Access to sky services needs to be drastically improved for blind users. Thank you for reading." Hope this provokes discussion. Hope to hear from you soon. From Martin. 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