Blind vs. mainstream distros

[Linux for blind general discussion]

My first comment regarding this thread is, separate is never equal.
Secondly, which actually goes with the vinus discussion...what community?
There is as much individuality among hose who experience sight loss as the 
rest of humanity.  some like windows, others a mac, others Linux or 
another open source platform, some will swore by jaws, others would not 
touch it with a ten foot speaker.  Some never learned to type...at all 
before using a computer, others type at 85 words a minute, a few use 
braille, most do not.  In fact I doubt you can find one consistent factor 
in your so called community.  the higher experience of sight is not perfect 
either.

In fact, if you wonder in general why there are so few tools, with the 
options  getting smaller, it is in part because a handful insist that 
they can create tools for the so called nonexistent blind community.  all 
interchangeable for each other.

Amusingly enough, there was a thread on the main Debian list all 
about 
choice or the lack of it in Linux.  Mostly focused around the presence or 
absences of systems the ability to use whatever hardware you desire etc.
so uniqueness within the distros matters, but as said below the more 
options in the larger distributions the better for all concerned.
Back to the so called community factor.  I am amazed at the idea someone 
else can tell me how I desire to use a computer, just because we share a 
label.  I would not expect every women to speak for my lifestyle, and we 
share a label too.
So, while I respect your desire to work with your smaller distribution, 
keep your "of your own," ideas to yourself.
Kare


On Sun, 23 Apr 2017, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:

> Regarding my experiences with my clients, my business motto has always been 
> "Linux is for everyone," and I don't discriminate. This means that I will 
> never make it a policy to serve only blind or visually impaired people, and I 
> prefer what are commonly called "mainstream" distros over all else. In fact, 
> I have worked more with users with eyeballs, installing and supporting 
> traditional distros, than I have with blind or visually impaired people, 
> except maybe the support work I've done pro bono on various e-mail lists and 
> IRC channels. But after much discussion between the Vinux and Sonar 
> developers, it was felt that something specialized is still needed *for now*, 
> but that working as close as possible to upstream is equally important, as 
> the closer we are to upstream, the easier it will be to get bugs fixed and 
> features added that will help everyone no matter which distro they choose, 
> and eventually, no matter how old the packages are in the distro they choose. 
> Also, working as closely as possible with upstream will mean less work that 
> needs to be done to finally get to the point where only things like 
> TalkingArch, which require very little time or effort, will be needed in the 
> not-too-distant future, and hopefully there will come a day when none of this 
> is needed at all, as everything will come up speaking, brailling and whatever 
> else out of the box, with a vare minimum of user intervention.
> ~ Kyle
>
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