[nvda] Re: NVDA and video intercept VS display hooks.

Jim Grimsby JR. wrote:

Well the bottom line here is we do not live in a perfect world and the
bottom line here is the job of the screen readr to provide access not the
job of the programmer.
I disagree. It is always better to have an application accessible out of the box than have to implement all sorts of dirty hacks to make it accessible in a screen reader. Doing the latter frequently results in accessibility which is flawed and unreliable at best. I agree that a screen reader should try to implement other methods where the developers absolutely refuse to change anything to fix their inaccessible applications, but where there is hope of a fix, this should always be tried. It is precisely this ideal of placing the onus on the screen reader that has led to so much poor accessibility in the Windows world. Aside from all of this, accessibility can have other less obvious benefits. For example, there is no need to use non-standard widgets if the standard ones can achieve the same task; why reinvent the wheel? Similarly, if accessibility is so hard to implement, there is a problem with the separation of user interface from core logic, which is a sign of very bad application design, something which is becoming all too common in today's "release first, reliability later" world.
I'm not the type to say "if an application isn't made accessible, tough luck; we can't support it". You're quite right - we do not live in a perfect world and having this attitude is just biting off one's nose to spite one's face. However, nor do I believe in the opposite idea of "we shouldn't have to request that applications be made accessible; we should just deal with the best we can and suffer poor accessibility". 

Jamie

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