Mike,

           As you note, there are two sides to this coin.  The only thing I'll say is that I'm one of the very, very few sighted people I know who can use screen readers with any basic proficiency.  My central point, I guess, is that you who are screen reader users need to push, push, push and report, report, report, if you want to have any chance of moving the needle on accessibility for programs that aren't already there.

            It's not that you can't count on me to do what I can, but what I can do is a lot less than can be achieved by screen reader users becoming their own advocates on a consistent basis.  

            And I commend you on instructing the folks you were working with to install a screen reader and, I'd imagine, direct them on using same to get a direct feel for what you are presented with.  That's part and parcel of the necessary advocacy, too.  Blind folks can teach the sighted a lot more about screen readers, their purpose, and how they work than they will ever, ever be inclined to learn on their own, because they don't need them.  It cannot be helped, and it's pretty standard operating procedure, in technical support situations for the subject matter experts in a given thing to have to teach those who aren't.  And screen reader users must take on that role in regard to screen readers.

             Accessibility is not the battle of the sighted, and it never will be.  It's the battle of those that need it.  Part of that is cultivating sighted allies and increasing awareness of exactly how your world works (or doesn't, as the case may be) in interactions with technology.

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Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it.
       ~ Lawrence Krauss