Issue 70567

Added keyword 'accessibility'

remove 'accessibility'

cc md

*** Issue 82858 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 101859 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

It is sad to see accessibility, functionality and accommodations are so low on 
the priority list, that this would be ignored for over 4 years. This needs to 
be addressed ASAP. Original posting was in 2006! Many builds have been put out 
since then, and this issue (P3) has not been addressed. If I had programing 
knowledge, I would do it. :P I use speech recognition for all of my computer 
operations, and this would be a great relief to have to no longer depend on 
Microsoft's software, as the costs keep going up every year!  

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.  :)

@alicein1derland: It's not up to OOo to provide speech recognition, but the API
that developers of speech recognition programs can support OOo.

This is already possible via UNO API (all platforms), but will be easier for
Windows AT when we get MSAA (in progress).

But you can already use the latest version of Dragon Natural Speaking for OOo
Writer.

Please keep in mind the it's up to the speech recognition software vendors to
decide which products they support and which they don't support.

*** Issue 116253 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 120009 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

To expect Microsoft to support open office stretches the imagination.This is the problem you encounter when an application is distributed as part of the operating system.
I have found that wordpad works reasonably well with windows speech recognition such as it is. It is unlikely Microsoft will ever support open office except for migration purposes.

I would like Windows Speech Recognition program to work in OpenOffice.  I have a Windows 10 OS and found the Speech Recognition program.  I don't think my computer would like it much if I have one for my computer (Windows) and another for OpenOffice.  In fact, when running the Windows Speech Recognition program my OpenOffice programs don't work at all.  And if I'm in OpenOffice then the Windows Speech Recognition program doesn't work.  This makes productivity quite difficult.  (I suppose, but haven't tried it yet, that Windows Speech Recognition program won't work in QuickBooks either.)

*** Issue 108910 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

*** Issue 127926 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

So because a user wrote to the dev list, I did some experiment on my machine. I repeat my Experiment here:

For me it was a disappointing experience, but it did work. So first thing to know the screen reader virtually reads the screen, without having any Idea of context.

When you Open a new text document, then you get an empty page. May screen reader identifies this as empty frame, since OpenOffice draws a optical frame for the border of the printable space.

I simply started to type, and the screen reader read every letter. In order to get the screen reader to read the the text I had to mark it. Press Control button and Key A at the same time.

Applying an headline, has been more challenging task. Since everything works by shortcuts a blind person using a screen reader has to image the GUI in his head.

So pressing F11, for the styles window, will be then read to the user. However you have no Idea where you are, or what this nid of a menue is. So you must know that after it stopped reading the last thing it is mentioning is a style. Navigate with the down button to the header. Pressing enter will select the header, but you will not get any information that you are again on the page and can now type your header. And you do not get any information, that the style changes when you press enter. So yea. You get some information, but not enough so you can really use it.I can confirm, that using Linux, with Gnome Orca screen reader works. If you know what you are doing it is usable. If you have no Idea, it is not usable or learn able. The screen reader just misses to many information when writing text.


On further research I have found out that there is an accessODF Extension. It aims at closing the gap. I have not tried it yet, and the last information it states is it works with Apache OpenOffice 3.4.0. With 4.0.1 we added a sidebar which is not recognized. The development seems to have stopped in 2013. The extension can be found at [1] for openOffice, and at [2] is the project page. It isd reported not to work. But maybe users with impairment face issues from above and cannot utilize the application.


So next steps. I think further research is needed. And more detailed experience stories. The one given in the bug are more pleads then something I can use.

I do not know when I have time to experiment with AccessODF. I will note it to the Issue we have for Visual Accessibility, which can be found at [3].

I need more detailed input and experience.


[1] https://extensions.openoffice.org/en/project/accessodf

[2] https://sourceforge.net/p/accessodf/home/Home/

[3] https://bz.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=70567

Addition:
May Setup Linux Ubuntu 16.04 with KDE Desktop and Screen Reader from Gnome Orca installed. No special adjustements made. AOO 4.1.7

I tested today Mac OS X. It has definitely real issues compared to the Linux build.
The OS does not identify the page right, and reads only parts of a written text. I have not tested in depth, but it seems Most Menüs work.
As reported elsewhere the site Panel makes some issues, plus the Edit Feld of the Page is not working as Expected, since the Voice Over App identifies only one Line as Edit window. Therefor does not react properly on input.

I will check Windows next and then try to dive lower, what the Issue could be.