Open Source and the Disabilities Community

I like Open Source. I think almost any non-profit social services IT professional probably should too. At the same time, I think it's noteworthy that the disabilities community has not really embraced Open Source.

If you think that this is kind of odd, I would agree with you. After all, so much of what many open source advocates pride themselves on - sharing, people helping and supporting each other, low cost of acquisition, should really appeal. So, what's going on?

Now, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that there are two reasons for this attitude. One is something that was recently pointed out to me, and I really think it's based on a mis-perception. The fear is that Open Source will cut job / income generating opportunities for people whose disabilities have already limited their options. It's based on the assumption that you can't make money with Open Source. Although that's not really true - Red Hat is doing quite well, and IBM is not contributing to the OS community just because they are sweet guys - it is quite easy to see where that idea comes from. To hear some OS advocates go on, making money is evil. And, some of them are pretty high profile.

This is a situation that can be remedied. There are OS licenses that leave the possibility of making money with or around OS Software the same way people make money with and around proprietary software. So, the answer to this fear is education.

However, there is a more serious problem, and that is the lack of accessibility. There are proprietary soutions for a variety of screen reading, text to speech and speech text problems, for instance. They cost a pretty penny, but they are an option, and hopefully with time costs will drop. MS has done some good work around these issues, and has even built some of the technology into their software.

Where are the OS analogs? Mostly, they just do not exist. Yes, the flexibility of Linux makes it easier to configure it around some disabilities, and Firefox does a great job enlarging text. On the other hand, if you need a screen reader, Windows is your only bet. If you need dictation for any reason, or hands-free control of your computer, it's Windows or Mac, with Windows the only choice if yo need low cost.

In other words, the proprietary systems have most of the existing solutions. What will it take to change that?