Unity Desktop Not Really Accessible

[startgame412]

Hello, as a person with a visual disability, I find that the desktop that Ubuntu now uses by default is not very disabled friendly. As least not when it comes to people with a visual disability. How many of you here with a visual disability use Unity and also find it a bit difficult? I am trying out Unity and am using the Enhanced Desktop Zoom plugin from compiz but it does not zoom in on the entire screen. The side and top panels don't get zoomed in and it seems that I cannot get compiz working on gnome. When I try and start compiz on gnome, it switches my desktop to unity. I am using ubuntu 12.04. Thanks.

[neoliv]

I do agree with you. Same context (visualy impaired) and same conclusion "why is the zoom not fullscreen anymore?".
Some components (panel, menus, launcher, hud ...) are not zoomed by the "extended zoom" plugin in Unity and this is causing a lot of trouble for a lot of users that are using the zoom a the main accessibility tool.
If you feel this behavior is desirable on esthetic grounds, at least put an option to revert to the full screen zoom mode for the sake of accessibility. I tried to fallback to the gnome shell but it has some rough edges (less test/support I guess) and had to stick with Unity.
Please fix this point as soon as possible because it is probably causing a lot of (silent?) grief in a population that loves Ubuntu for its dedication to accessibility.

[exploder]

I am recovering from eye surgery, only have the one eye. My vision is rather poor for the moment. At any rate, the zoom feature in Fedora 17 Gnome edition is the best solution I have found.

I currently have no lens in my eye. My implant dislodged and had to be surgically removed. You can imagine the trouble I am having reading normal sized text... At any rate, I am able to use my laptop with Fedora 17.

I am not saying to switch to Fedora but before installing it on my laptop I could not use it at all. It might be worth a look.

[Sef]

Check out Vinux.

From the site:

What is Vinux?

Vinux is a remastered version of the Ubuntu Linux Distribution optimised for visually impaired users. It provides a screen-reader, full-screen magnification and support for Braille displays out of the box! It can be run from a Live CD without making any changes to your hard drive.

[exploder]

Thanks Sef! I will be checking that out today. I have never given a lot of thought to accessibility before but this last eye surgery has given me a lot to think about. I now know that it is important to have these options more easily available. My eye will heal eventually but I want to pass this type information along to the eye care professionals I see to help others to be able to enjoy using their computers more. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

exploder

[freecodey]

Startgame, Neoliv and Exploder....you can also try Trisquel...its new release is based on ubuntu 12.04 and you can download a special DVD which has accessibility improved for visually impaired users. Heres the download link

http://trisquel.info/en/download

This DistroWatch article should also be quite helpful.

http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20120521

Hope this helps...