Well people,
There is an excellent example to follow. Thank you so much Aaron.
Solomon.
At 11:16 AM 7/30/2010, you wrote:
We've done our part; I just sent the following:
-----
Attention Mark/Office of the President
Greetings!
My name is Aaron Smith, and I work for GW Micro, Inc
(<http://www.gwmicro.com>www.gwmicro.com), makers of Window-Eyes: a
screen reading application for the blind and visually impaired. We
would like to volunteer our resources to assist you in making your
applications (Quicken, QuickBooks, TurboTax) more accessible for
people with vision impairments. Currently, blind individuals have
little access to financial software due to accessibility issues. We
would like to see that change for our potential mutual customers.
I look forward to hearing from you.
-----
I would encourage all of you to do the same. They won't do anything
if 10 people write them. They will if 100 do.
Aaron
On 7/30/2010 11:05 AM, Solomon Mekonnen wrote:
Attention all,
Several weeks ago I posted a message on this listserv regarding
TurboTax's inaccessibility for blind and visually impaired users
who wish to do their own taxes independently. I received only one
response from Bernie Perella who shared a valuable information on
his own experience with the continued inaccessibility of the
TurboTax software. According to his e-mail TurboTax became
progressively inaccessible starting with the 1997 version. The 1996
version of the TurboTax software was the most accessible to
date. He also indicated that some users feel that the online
version is somewhat more accessible than the version produced on
disc but not practical enough.
I shared Bernie's information with Intuit and requested that the
office of the president of Intuit invest a serious and meaningful
effort to make TurboTax accessible as early as next year. They
informed me that they would like to see the level of interest or
the size of the service target to warrant a focused effort. Ergo,
the reason for this e-mail.
I am asking each and every blind or visually impaired person who
would like to do his or her own taxes for the cost of the software
to send feedback to Intuit at the following
e-mail: <mailto:[email protected]>"[email protected]" attention
Mark or the Office of the president. Or, you may also access the
feedback link on the intuit website, "<http://www.intuit.com>www.intuit.com.
Please make your e-mail informative and friendly. The purpose is
to make Intuit see the legitimacy of our request. There is much
greater strength and persuasive power in amiable communication than
an emotionally charged outburst of potent expression.
I would also like to solicit the help of GWMicro's Executive Office
to communicate with Intuit on a corporate level regarding the same
issue. You may also communicate with other blind and visually
impaired individuals who do not receive messages from this
listserv. I think it might be helpful to contact advocacy agencies
or such organizations as NCB or NFB to influence Intuit's efforts
on the same issue.
I am just trying to involve every one interested to show Intuit
that the request is worthwhile. Please join me if you feel Paying
H&R Block exhorbitant fees should not be the only option we have
especially at the time when technology has made incredible advances
in software accessibility facilities. Last year I had to pay H&R
Bloc $175.00 besides the check I wrote to Uncle Sam. I could have
put those same funds to some other use if I had the ability to do
my own taxes.
I thoroughly understand that there are free services available for
filing taxes. I also realize that some of us have spouses,
children, or friends who might lend us a hand in filing our
taxes. But won't you be interested in engaging your good offices
in the effort to convince industry to take our needs seriously? If
Intuit responds to our request in one area, it should not be
difficult to see what it might be able to do for us in the
remaining software packages such as QuickBooks and webstore
merchendising services. The idea is, let us come together and form
a critical mass that cannot be ignored.
Best regards
Solomon.
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Product Support Specialist * Web Development
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