Kenneth G. Franqueiro and Robert M. Siegfried

1
Designing a Scripting Language to Help the Blind
Program Visually
Kenneth G. Franqueiro and Robert M. Siegfried
College of Arts and Sciences, Adelphi
University, Garden City, NY 11530 Department of
Mathematics and Computer Science
Abstract The vast proliferation of GUI-based
applications, including graphical interactive
development environments (IDEs), has placed blind
programmers at a severe disadvantage in a
profession that had previously been relatively
accessible. Visual Basic is one such programming
language and IDE, in which most programmers
point and click to design the forms on which
their applications rely. It is the goal of this
project to introduce a scripting language that
eliminates this barrier by providing a scripting
language that makes it possible to define Visual
Basic GUI forms and their components verbally,
while remaining easy to write
Form InToCm Location Top Left Caption "Metric
Converter" Sections Columns Section TextBox
txtInches Height 2 ' expressed in lines Width
Medium Label "Inches" END TextBox txtCm Height
2 Width Medium Label "Cm" END CommandButton
cmdConvert Caption "Convert" END END '
Section END ' Form
Object Type Syntax Example
CommandButton CommandButton cmdButtonName? Caption CommandButtonCaption ? End? CommandButton cmdConvert Caption "Convert to Metric" End
TextBox TextBox txtTextboxName? Height NumberOfLines(1..5)? Width Small or Medium or Large? Label Text Box Label ? End? TextBox txtName Height 1 Width Large 2415 twips wide Label Enter Last Name End
ComboBox ComboBox cboComboBoxName? Sorted True or False ? Style Number ? Width Small or Medium or Large ? End? ComboBox cboSample Sorted true Style 1 Width Small 1215 twips wide END
Frame Frame fraFrameName? Caption Frame Caption ? OptionButtonDeclarations? End? Frame fraQuantity Caption ? of Tickets? OptionButton optNone Caption ?? Visibility False End OptionButton optOne Caption ?1? Visibility True End OptionButton optTwo Caption ?2? Visibility True End End
OptionButton OptionButton optOptionButtonName? Caption Opt. Button Cap ? Visibility True or False ? End? Frame fraQuantity Caption ? of Tickets? OptionButton optNone Caption ?? Visibility False End OptionButton optOne Caption ?1? Visibility True End OptionButton optTwo Caption ?2? Visibility True End End
CheckBox CheckBox chkCheckBoxName? Caption CheckBox Caption ? Height NumberOfLines(1..5)? Width Small or Medium or Large ? End? CheckBox chkSample Caption CheckBox Sample Height 3 Width Medium 1815 twips wide End
ListBox ListBox lstListBoxName? Sorted True or False ? Style 1 or 2 ? Height 1 or 2 ? Width Small or Medium or Large ? End? ListBox lstNames Sorted True Style 0 Standard not checkbox Height 3 Width Medium End
Timer Timer tmrName? Interval NumberOfSeconds? End? Timer tmr1 Interval 2 End
DriveListBox DriveListBox drvDrivelistboxName? End? DriveListBox drvName End
FileListBox FileListBox filFileListBoxName? Height NumberOfLines (1..5)? Width Small or Medium or Large? End? FileListBox flbName Height 4 Width Medium End
DirListBox DirListBox dirListBoxName? Height NumberOfLines (1..5)? Width Small or Medium or Large? End? DirListBox dirName Height 3 Width Large End
ScrollBar ScrollBar scrScrollBarName ? Orientation Horizontal or Vertical ? Length Small or Medium or Large? Min ConstantValue? Max ConstantValue? Smallchange ConstantValue? Largechange ConstantValue? End ? ScrollBar hsbMyScrollBarName Orientation Horizontal Length Large Min 0 Max 60 Smallchange 1 Largechange 5 End
Begin VB.Form frmInToCm Caption
"Metric Converter" ClientHeight 3750
ClientLeft 60 clients 345
ClientWidth 5265 LinkTopic
"Form1" ScaleHeight 3750 ScaleWidth
5265 StartUpPosition 3 'Windows
Default Begin VB.CommandButton cmdConvert
Caption "Convert" Height
495 Left 2040
TabIndex 4 Top
2400 Width 1215 End
Begin VB.TextBox txtCm Height
495 Left 2040 TabIndex
2 Top 1560
Width 1215 End Begin
VB.TextBox txtInches Height
495 Left 2040 TabIndex
0 Top 360
Width 1215 End Begin VB.Label
lblCm AutoSize -1 'True
Caption "Cm" Height
195 Left 1560
TabIndex 3 Top
1560 Width 225 End
Begin VB.Label lblInches AutoSize
-1 'True Caption "Inches"
Height 195 Left
1440 TabIndex 1 Top
360 Width 480
End End
The Blind and Computers The blind have worked as
programmers as far back as the 1960s. The
University of Manitoba had a pilot project that
trained blind programs both the graduation and
placement rates were high (gt 90). There were
hundreds of professional programmers who are
blind. (This number may include college students
who are majoring in computer science.) Computers
are one of several assistive technologies upon
the blind depend.
Figure 2. A sample form script.
Opportunities For The Blind That Are
Disappearing Despite the high unemployment rate,
computer programming has been a relatively
accessible profession. GUIs have made computing
less accessible to the blind. Most blind
programmers ( 90) still work in a mainframe
environment.
Hurdles for Blind Programmers Despite the high
unemployment rate, computer programming has been
a relatively accessible profession. GUIs have
made computing less accessible to the
blind. Most blind programmers ( 90) still work
in a mainframe environment.
Figure 3 The .frm file created by the compiler
Creating The Form A file (with the extension
.fms) can be created using any standard
editor.The file is compiled at the command
linemolly sample.fmsThe file (e.g.,
sample.frm) is included in a Visual Basic project.
Table 1 - the objects that can appear in a form
script
References 1 Alexander, Steve, Blind
Programmers Face An Uncertain Future,
ComputerWorld (November 6, 1998), p. 1. 2
Cohen, Robert F., Arthur Meacham and Joelle
Skaff, Teaching Graphs to Visually Impaired
Students Using an Active Auditory Interface,
Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Technical
Symposium on Computer Science Education (Houston,
TX), March 1-5, 2006, p. 279-282. 3 Harper,
S. and S. Bechhofer, Semantic Triage For
Increased Web Accessibility, IBM Systems Journal
44(3), 2005, p. 637-648. 4 Hodson, Bernard,
Sixties Ushers in Program To Train Blind
Programmers, ComputerWorld Canada, June
2004. 5 Lohr, Steve, Microsoft Is Putting
Its Muscle Behind Web Programming Tools, The New
York Times, February 13, 2002, p. C1. 6
Riccibono, Mark A., A Brighter Future for Blind
Children, Braille Monitor, February 2004. 7
Rosmaita, Brian J., Accessibility First! A New
Approach to Web Design, Proceedings of the
Thirty-Seventh Technical Symposium on Computer
Science Education (Houston, TX), March 1-5, 2006,
p. 270-274. 8 Sanchez, Jaime and Fernando
Aguayo, Listen what I do Blind Learners
Programming Through Audio, Memorias TISE 2004,
p. 120-124. 9 Siegfried, Robert M., Visual
Programming and The Blind The Challenge and The
Opportunity, Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh
Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education
(Houston, TX), March 1-5, 2006, p. 275-278. 10
Smith, Ann C., Joan M. Francioni and Sam D.
Matzek, A Java Programming Tool for Students
with Visual Disabilities, Proceedings of the
Fourth ACM Conference on Assistive Technologies
(Arlington, VA, November 13-15), p. 142-148.
Figure 1 The nine sectors into which the screen
was divided the forms upper left corner would
be located in the sector specified by the
Location statement of the script.
Presenting Author siegfrir_at_panther.adelphi.edu
To whom correspondence should be addressed
Professor Robert M. Siegfried, Department of
Mathematics and Computer Science, Adelphi
University, Garden City, NY, USA, 11530
Figure 4 The form specified by the script in
Figure 2.