Just wanted to bring this to the #blind community's attention: Giving two massive thumbs down to the #Vivaldi browser as the experience for those of us using a #screenreader is #atrocious There's no seperation between the toolbar at the top, the main part of the window & the status bar at the bottom. Trying to use a shortcut to access the toolbar or even the address bar won't work as there's no keyboard shortcuts to do that with. Even accessing the menu is a hit or miss proposition for a screen reader user. Also, don't get me started on the focus jumping that goes on when you're navigating between pages, it's frustrating to say the least. Very #disappointed that accessibility seems to be an afterthought for this browser. #Avoid using this hot mess of a web browser until they bother to fix it, assuming they actually give a shit in the first place. Boost if possible, as I'd like to save others in the blind community from a poor #accessibility experience.
I ordered a device called a BT Speak about a week ago. It is a PDA-like device, with an 8-dot Perkins style Braille keyboard and speech output for the visually impaired.
When I got the device, it did not boot, and I contacted the company about it.
I was able to get the device working again by myself rather quickly, however here in lies the reason for my post.
The company were so quick to respond that a replacement unit is already on the way.
After some discussion, what has been decided is that I will be donating the replacement device, brand new, to a visually impaired child who may not be able to procure assistive technology via other means.
1/
I do not actually know many parents of visually impaired children in the UK. So, I would be very appreciative if one of you kind souls would point me in the right direction to find someone who could make use of it.
The device usually retails for £1400, not including VAT and import fees, all of which shall be paid for.
If you do not know anyone, then boosts for reach would also be appreciated.
Thank you all for your assistance with keeping our young visually impaired children learning Braille. #blind#fedi#mastodon#UK#disabled#donation#AT
2/
the ask envision on the @letsenvision app is cool, I loaded a 50 page pdf and it just do a RAG on it and answers my questions comprehensively, people should use it more, I hope in future I can load entire folders of document on desktop to do rag #machineLearning#AI#blind#disability
New software enables #blind people to do a thing they couldn't do before. Here's a link to an inaccessible PDF about it, a research paper, and an image without alt text. Oh, you wanted to use the software? We didn't link to that because this page is designed to inspire sighted people hahaha
My mom started a local, non-English blind/VI whatsapp group, sharing cooking tips, kitchen hacks and recipes.
It's occured to me that people might really find something like this useful, but I want something you can just browse through. So...
If I set up a folder, or a site, or literally anything, who would be interested? Who'd want to contribute? Can we get a feel for the potential value of this?
Completely bewildered by the #VoiceDream subscription announcement. The blog post links to #Stripe for making a subscription payment, but that's not how subscriptions to #iOS apps are usually managed. Meanwhile, I can't see anything in the app itself about an account, #AppStore purchases, or subscriptions. If I pay through Stripe today, am I supposed to assume that at some point, the iOS app will be updated to respect that new subscription?
"You can also subscribe by opening the app, going to the Settings menu in the top left corner, and tapping the blue banner on the bottom of the menu."
They do realise many users of this app are #blind, right? I need an accessible name of a control, not visual directions to a coloured banner. Either way, there is nothing in my app's Settings menu relating to this, and I honestly find the incompetence more annoying than the price changes themselves.
to my #Blind friends, do you know of any site or app that can create a slide show of images? i would like to create like a video of photos i took from a trip and i'm looking for an accessible way of doing that. thanks! #Blindness#Accessibility
I uploaded the VOD of me playing Spider-Man 2 for the first time with the new #accessibility mod that adds TTS and #AudioDescription! This is without a doubt the most #blind accessible Spider-Man game yet!
The third edition of David Kingsbury’s popular free digital book, “The Windows Screen Reader Primer: All the Basics and More,” is coming soon! Author David Kingsbury, an Assistive Technology Instructor here at the Carroll Center, wrote this comprehensive resource to help JAWS, NVDA, and Windows Narrator users work more effectively with the most important PC applications—like Microsoft Office, email clients, and web browsers.
Join author David Kingsbury via Zoom on Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 pm ET to find out what’s new in this edition, hear a few tips and tricks, and ask your questions. Save your seat here: https://lnkd.in/e7ct_C8B
I'm not saying its a bad thing. As a #Blind#College student, I'll be joining the 7% of blind people who graduate College with a 4 year Batchlor's degree. This isn't a small deal at all and yet when I think about it, I can't help but to feel nervous because I didn't exactly have a plan after, and that sucks because I'm afraid that I'm going to have problems not killing my mom's Credit because of student loan payments that I'm going to have to make, and you know those loan companies won't be nice about it. I just wish there was someone out there who could tell me what its going to be like so that I can not feel the overwhelming fear that I do now, but there is no magic faerie to help me through this, nobody in my family who can really fully understand except my Dad who's excited about this and can't really understand that I'm just absolutely scared out of my mind even though I'm trying not to be scared damn it. I love my Dad though, and I'll not hear anything bad about him. Without him, I would have never been able to go to College much less graduate high school. Still, it doesn't mean I'm not afraid. I wish there was something I could do about this.
Ok so here’s what I want, I want #BrailleDisplay brands to start offering realistic payment plans for their products, when your payment plan expects a #blind person to be able to pay ~$300/mo for a year to buy a product that I would really hope should last a hell of a lot longer than that it feels sorta slimey. I mean my phone that is less than a third of the price is on a 3 year payment plan. Also, I’m guessing a whole lot more blind people would buy #braille tech if it could be paid for over 3 or 5 years. @mastoblind
Ok so here’s what I want, I want #BrailleDisplay brands to start offering realistic payment plans for their products, when your payment plan expects a #blind person to be able to pay ~$300/mo for a year to buy a product that I would really hope should last a hell of a lot longer than that it feels sorta slimey. I mean my phone that is less than a third of the price is on a 3 year payment plan. Also, I’m guessing a whole lot more blind people would buy #braille tech if it could be paid for over 3 or 5 years. @mastoblind
What is the sound of an eclipse? For Atlas Obscura, Sara Mellas writes about the LightSound Project, which was started by astronomers and engineers in 2017 and uses a sonification device to sense light changes and translate them into flute, clarinet and bassoon tones, as well as percussive clicks. The original objective was to serve the blind and low-vision community. Listen to their "Symphony of Light" here, and learn more about how you can build your own LightSound sonification device.
For any #blind#HamRadio operators needing some more detailed steps for assembling the standard Alpha loop, here's my attempt to provide more useful instructions than what are available from Alpha Antenna's website.
Using (x) has been in the company's DNA should be banned forever. We all know how flippantly company's use that.
> Those of us who’ve been assistive technology users for a while will know that Microsoft’s approach to accessibility has evolved over the years. First, it took a supportive interest in the hackery necessary to give screen readers access to Microsoft’s operating systems. Eventually, Microsoft created official ways for third-party developers to obtain the access they needed. And while it continues to do all those things, today, Microsoft offers powerful accessibility tools of its own in Windows and accessibility is in the company’s DNA.
At the weekend I attended a brilliant event at the British Library in central London for blind and partially sighted people themed around portraits. I was excited to go because unusually there was the opportunity to get creative in response to the audio described works.
The workshop was run by artist Karly Allen who obviously had years of experience because her description of the 2 artworks we were introduced to was comprehensive and very natural.
We talked about a portrait of novelist Hilary Mantel by Nick Lord and a marble bust of King George III by Peter turnereli from the British Libry’s collection and were given a tactile drawing of them both which were printed using a Zychem machine which I desperately want to get my hands on now! I found them really pleasant to feel and although I did need the description to make full sense of the diagrams I felt they were very useful.
After the descriptions we were given a small circular frame and some clay along with some tools and Karly talked us through ideas of how we could get creative. I decided to use the various tools to draw into the clay which I’d filled the frame with and smoothed down. It was hard to get started and I experimented a bit and smoothed it out and started again several times. I kept in mind that the frame would be filled with plaster of paris and the clay discarded to make a tactile relief sculpture so whatever I drew would come out backwards. I cheated a bit and didn’t attempt a portrait as working in this way was new to me and my first attempts were awfully confusing! I decided to do an illustration of a flower instead because as I’m totally blind I couldn’t go back and add to the marks I’d made, I just had to go for it in one go, imagining the drawing as I went. I did ask my PA to tell me where there were some gaps so I could ad a couple of details which was helpful. I wasn’t the only person to take this approach.
We had a break for lunch and then went up to see the 2 artworks in the galleries and discuss them further while our sculptures set.
It was so exciting to feel the end result when we returned and we passed our creations around which got us talking to new people. Before the workshop I’d felt nervous about trying to do something creative again after 10 years of being blind and although it was frustrating at first I was relieved to find that we were encouraged to just get stuck in and have a go in any way we felt comfortable. I’ll definitely be returning to the library for future events of this kind! #blind#PartiallySighted#Deafblind#audiodescription#TactileArt#art#creativity#inclusion#libraries#Disability
The more I learn about Glidance, a system that purports to replace the cane, the more it seems to have taken all the criticisms of "smart canes" into account. It might be the first genuine high-tech navigation aid that could be beneficial, replacing the cane in most circumstances. I'm usually highly skeptical about these things because people just havent thought through the implications including ergonomics, weather conditions, etc
Continuing the Glidance thread. Turns out I forgot to add a bit of detail from the Doubletap interview.
In the current iteration, the the product is about 2.5 KG. So far people have described it as resembling an upright vacuum cleaner that can be collapsed. So it's not the lightest product. But, not bad.
It will have the capability of contacting someone for remote assistance.
I'm speculating here. Perhaps a partnership with Aira?