Linux accessibility

Projects on the Move

Article from Issue 128/2011

Author(s): Carla Schroder

Accessibility for computer users with disabilities is one of the noblest goals for Linux and open source software. Vinux, Orca, and Gnome lead the way in Linux accessibility.

Accessibility of any kind for people with disabilities has a long history of neglect and opposition. The US Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibited federal agencies from discriminating on the basis of disability (Sections 501, 503, 504, 508). Passing a law is one thing; enforcing it is another, and it took years of activism to make any progress. In the 1980s, the Reagan Administration targeted Section 504 (addressing civil rights for people with disabilities) for deregulation because it was too “burdensome.”

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