red hat

[Tony Baechler]

On 11/21/2012 3:02 PM, Rob Hudson wrote:
> I was considering doing that with a bunch of people. After all, afaik, red
> hat is a for-pay linux and should be usable by everyone, and most of the
> access tools are free so including them in a distribution shouldn't be that
> hard. Anybody interested in signing a petition with me?

I would be interested, but I don't think there is much point.  I don't know 
what country you live in, but I know that the US and the UK have laws in 
place which require companies to make their products accessible.  I'm not in 
the UK so I don't know any details of their laws, but in the US, there are 
various organizations you can contact.  However, before getting to that 
point, try to talk to someone in charge of the certifications and explain 
your situation.  Since Speakup is in staging, there is no reason why they 
can't allow you to use a standard kernel.  Fedora should have Orca, but I 
don't use it so I don't know.  I know Bookshare has some of the Linux prep 
books which you can study and get an idea of what kind of skills are involved.

However, if talking to people doesn't do any good and there seems to be no 
obvious way to have an accessible exam, I'm afraid a petition won't do a lot 
of good.  You'll probably have to get an advocacy organization involved and 
be prepared for a long legal battle.  I don't believe in law suits unless 
there is no other choice and it's hopeful that Red Hat would listen to 
structured negotiations (lflegal.com for more information) but I've found 
that most corporations are unwilling to adapt unless they're forced to do 
so.  That's really sad and unfortunate, but that's life.  I would suggest 
joining a blindness advocacy organization in your country and explaining 
your problem through them.  There is always strength in numbers.  Both the 
ACB and NFB in the US have technology groups just for this kind of issue, 
but I'm not sure how aware of Linux they are.