Accessible Software
I saw this movie the other day - "Black". It is the story of a girl who becomes deaf and blind as an infant after a sickness - much like Hellen Keller - and her relationship with her teacher who makes her discover the world around her, when everyone, including her parents, had given up hope of her living like a civilized person. After putting his student on the road to graduation, the teacher disappears, only to return 10 years later in an advanced state of Alzheimer's, having forgotten everything. The girl takes it on herself to make him re-discover the world which he had once revealed to her.
It was a powerful film and may well go on to win most of the Indian film industry awards and may even get nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category - at least I was deeply moved. It made me think of the role software can play for those who have special needs. A lot of work has already been done to make software more accessible, but there is a long way to go. Unfortunately, we often ignore this key aspect of software design.
Over the next few months, I will try and communicate the value and techniques of writing accessible software thru my blog. There is already one out on this topic from the VS Accessibility team - http://blogs.msdn.com/vsaccessibility/, with a bunch of excellent articles. I would try and keep things simpler and broader.
