Reddit has now sufficiently broken their own site that moderators of the blind community's subreddit who are themselves blind can no longer access the moderator tools.
This statement by the mod team is worth a read to understand the full extent of the failure.
This is a weird request, but I figure the worst I can get for it is silence. I'm totally #blind and have very bad hearing. To set up a device through its inaccessible software, I'm in need of a sighted person for about an hour and a half to two hours who can access a computer remotely, speaks and reads English, and can describe images and graphs. The person needs to be quite patient with follow-up questions, needs to be willing to repeat if needed, as well as be able to click on items and describe what happens on the screen. The person needs to be fairly detail oriented because some of the images appear to have arrows and other ways to expand them, according to the manual. Though I'm happy to be reasonable, I have no clue how much to offer as payment, this is my first request of this kind. I'm posting it because I know we have some blind people here who may be able to point me towards someone who has done this before and may be willing to do it for such a short period. Boosts welcome, indeed, they're appreciated. #hearingimpaired#software#A11Y#accessibility#remote
Je tiens à rappeler qu'il y a une communauté de personnes déficientes visuelles sur le fediverse. Et nous avons besoin de texte alternatif sur les images. Malheureusement, j'en vois passer de moins en moins sur mon fil francophone. Je sais que la situation est tendue depuis quelques jours. Mais je me sens de plus en plus exclu par ici.
Je ne sais pas lire les pavés de texte dans les screenshots et autres images. Je ne sais pas faire un effort qui peut être très difficile pour chaque image qui passe, c'est à vous de décrire vos images. Je ne sais pas interagir avec vous si vous me cachez des informations en ne décrivant pas vos images. Je ne sais pas accorder ma confiance et ma sympathie si vous ne décrivez pas vos images. Par conséquent, je ne vous aiderais pas, je ne vous appuierais pas dans vos combats, je ne vous soutiendrais pas si vous refusez de me respecter en ne décrivant pas vos images. Décrivez vos images, parce que les boutons "Ne plus suivre" et "Bloquer" sont accessibles, eux.
Et si vous trouvez ce texte trop agressif, imaginez comment vous réagiriez si tout le monde parlait d'évènements incompréhensibles, uniquement parce que vos messages étaient transformés en des hiéroglyphes inconnus.
So, this morning, after years and years of using the GUI in Linux, I gave up. The state of the GUI does nothing but deteriorate over time for accessibility, and it's exhausting. It's only getting worse. We're far, far away from what it used to be, years ago. Certainly, the QT framework has improved since 5 and now 6 came out, but GTK? Oh dear, oh dear... So, let's dive into it. #linux#xorg#wayland#a11y#accessibility#blind
I'm hosting a meetup of frontend webdevelopers in my company (8 teams, 20-25 ppl). We've been working with #WCAG & accessibility this year. Very old & new applications, so the challenges are diverse.
i'm hoping to find a blind / visually impaired person who could talk (30min?) about what it's like to use the web.
No complicated tech, just how it works, & how you experience it.
Hey Blind mastodon users. I have a totally blind friend looking to join here. I've recommended them disabled.social, but wondering if anyone has any mastodon tips for totally blind newbies. They use IOS.
In 2020 the #LEGO Foundation released a set of #braille bricks. These sets are donated to schools and accompanied with a website* to both "learn braille" (well, get more used to it) and have fun.
Now these bricks will also be for sale in a set to the general public. The set comes with a manual and a lot of exercises.
So for blind Windows users, what mail client do you use? I'm kinda getting tired of Gmail, having to hear lots of stuff before each message, and having to turn on browse mode and arrow through all that to get to the message, all that. And Thunderbird is messy in 115. I might have to just get used to Outlook.
Just opened my #Mastodon home timeline only to find 3 consecutive posts with no #AltText. One of my favorite things about Mastodon and the #Fediverse is the culture of #inclusion for everyone, and a huge part of ensuring inclusion for #Blind and #VisuallyImpaired users simply requires that sighted posters describe images they post. So, please don't skip the alt text. Thanks. #Accessibility#a11y#BlindMastodon
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/
Gotta love how #OpenAI deems that I'm not allowed to know what an image from a TV show looks like because it depicts violence and death. Imagine if I were sighted, but a company had the right to block me and the rest of the world from being able to see certain things because it contained graphic content. That should be my choice, not theirs. This is one reason we shouldn't support game-changing technology being controlled and maintained by corporations like this IMO. #Blind#Accessibility
American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is conducting a study, documenting the #accessibility challenges that #blind, low vision, and #deafblind people experience while using mobile web sites and apps.
You'll fill out 5-10 minute daily diaries for ten days with your experiences. you'll receive $40 gift cert for completing the diary entries. you must be: 18; living in the U.S.; and use assistive tech with apps and/or mobile sites.
Why is it that when we, the blind community, give honest feedback on tech, it's often seen as ingratitude? We're not just users; we're experts by experience. Our voices matter in shaping truly useful tech. #FeedbackMatters#Accessibility#Blind#Disability
Looking for people, especially those who are #blind or #VisuallyImpaired, who live or have lived in the #Portland, Oregon area. I find myself in the exciting but stressful position of needing a place to live in a few months, and I'm exploring my options. I'd love to connect with someone who can answer some questions!
I had given up on pleading for more alt-text but I'll try again!
Please add alt-text to your photos/pictures it only takes a minute and does not have to be fancy. My policy is not to boost images without alt-text and I am not the only one.
This is one of the cultural things I like about Mastodon, the inclusiveness. Please don't ruin it.
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
A note for #mastodon#admins. Apparently, a beta of mastodon is introducing #HCaptcha. If you aren't aware, this can present #accessibility issues for some #blind users. If their accessibility cookie works, it's fine. However it breaks on a pretty regular basis. I encourage you to either not activate this, or be prepared to disable it temporarily if a blind user tries to sign up and has problems.
A friend of mine with significant visual impairment pointed out that the lack of description on images is a cultural problem on Fedi, not an individual failure.
So, let me do a thing to help build that culture.
How I Do Image Description
I close my eyes. I look at the image first, and close my eyes. Then I try to describe it without looking. I find this focuses me on the important things to get the image across, without getting distracted by unnecessary detail.
It's okay to peek. I have a strong visual memory, so I'm good with one look, but not everyone is. But do try and see the picture in your mind, if you're not aphantasic.
If you are, I'm not sure if I know a way to help. I apologise; I don't know enough about it to know yet. I did want to acknowledge that not everyone can do this approach.
Anyway, that's my contribution today to creating a culture of image description.
Hi everyone. I am looking for some advice. I am blind and am currently studying a degree in Inclusive education. I would like to do part of my placement abroad, preferably in Canada or the UK. Are there any disability or student groups that I could get in touch with or are there any tips or advice people would have? If this could be boosted I would really appreciate it. Thank you. #Disability#DisabledStudent#StudyAbroad#Erasmus#Blind#Canada#UK