I saw these unusual multicolor images posted on walls that look sort of like qr codes all over the Barcelona subway system, and learned that they are NaviLens codes that provide accessibility for folks with vision impairments.
They're getting a lot of uptake on public transport in the U.S., Europe and UK. They're also used on product packaging in grocery stores. The MTA in New York City is starting to roll them out.
If you notice them in your neighborhood, download the app and give it a try. It's amazingly cool.
I can't believe we had to go to trial to have a jury confirm that, yes, under the #ADA (aka the Americans with Disabilities Act), if a #blind business owner comes to a government office to file her paper form, staff do need to read and write on official forms under her direction instead of sending her away to figure it out for herself. And it isn't illegal to help like that either! (I can't believe they argued that.) #litigation#law#disability (1/6)
Does anyone know how can I Increase/decrease playback speed of audio messages in iMessage with using VoiceOver on iPhone? I'm trying to do it and I can't. Thank you in advance for help. #Accessibility#Blind#Technology#Apple
4 days left, £0.00 of £9.49 raised, and I'm getting desperate. I need to be able to call someone in an emergency as well as stay in contact with those I know and love, and I won't be able to do that without a phone number. So, please, every little helps!
So y'all may or may not have noticed I haven’t been around on here as much, especially since Sunday. That's because I am now officially a paid app tester! I’m working on an app to make the #DnD5e character sheet accessible for blind players. It's amazing how fast a work-day goes when you're working in your #ActuallyAutistic#SpecialInterest! @actuallyautistic
@Tarrenvane@actuallyautistic Yea! thank you so much! I'm a #Blind person and so making something like this accessible for the DND and blind community will bring in more people for sure. I've played DND and love it.
Hey,
Sorry to bother everyone with a #MutualAid request again, but I'm dangerously low on funds once again and I need to cough up £9.49 by April 26th or I'll lose my phone number. #blind#disabled#neurodivergent@mutualaid
My wife’s friend has difficulty seeing. I know many unsighted/partially sighted folk use Mastodon. What open source tools are available for turning text into speech & for rendering text on screen in extra large font? Where do I start to learn about this?
Some of you know that I refurbish old donated Windows machines with Linux for kids & adults that need them. I thought I could build one specifically for her use.
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. (EDIT: there is a tip that might be helpful below in the replies).
Anyway, that's my contribution today to creating a culture of image description.
Touchscreens have conditioned me to the point that I handle every device with a screen very carefully so not to accidentally cause random inputs, even devices with no touch interface at all, and I hate it.
Touchscreens even make devices worse that don't have them.
As a legally blind person touchscreens or touch buttons on every device are the bane of my existence.
The iPhone is very accessible, Android phones are reasonably accessible to the blind. But hardly anyone makes the touch screen on an appliance screen reader accessible.(apart from very expensive products made especially for the blind).
Why does the espresso machine at work need touch sensitive buttons? I've learned that I need the second button from the top. But since I can't touch the top of the machine to feel where the buttons are without instantly activating any other button on the way I find it very difficult to make a cup of coffee .
Touch screens are worse. and when some company does make them accessible for legal reasons (ATMs for example), they do such a shitty job you may as well ask for sighted assistance anyway.
Blind people can hear and feel April’s total solar eclipse with new technology.
AP reports: "The LightSound device is the result of a collaboration between Wanda Díaz-Merced, an astronomer who is blind, and Harvard astronomer Allyson Bieryla. Díaz-Merced regularly translates her data into audio to analyze patterns for her research."
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.
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Has the recent development of machine-learning based synthetic voices such as Piper, Coqui, Mimic3 and Amazon Polly had any useful impact for you, or do you still use e-speak style voices?
Do the tools you regularly use support "Neural Voices" of the kind mentioned above?
I've noticed that integration is limited - for example, I can get transcription and reading tool Speech Note (https://flathub.org/apps/net.mkiol.SpeechNote) to read me anything I like in a range of up-to-date voices, but Gnome Orca - my OS-wide screen reader - remains intensely hard to customise.
But I'm a Linux user, and thus aware that accessibility remains an embarrassingly low priority in practical open source development, even where the component parts exist.
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.
…and here’s Charmaine and the RNIB in the news talking about many London local authorities failing to offer rehabilitation services within the 28 day deadline for support #blind#Ddeafblind#PartiallySighted#London@disability | “she had to wait five months for "vision rehabilitation", a service provided by local authorities to help people rebuild their lives after sight loss.
Ms Ashpole said that following the programme she was able to go out with a white cane, navigate public transport and utilise braille, which was "an absolute game changer".
"If I'd had to wait longer I think then you're wondering who is supporting you, who cares?
"So then you've got a whole host of mental health ramifications coming on top of the grief of having lost your eyesight which is just a terrible place for any person to be in,"” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68621922
Shoutout to an excellent new video account which features blind gaming and blind flying videos. The videos do have visuals, but the person making them is blind and relies upon the audio cues for control.
Over the past few years, mail-in voting has been at the center of controversy, largely due to skepticism fueled by Donald Trump. Now, in 2024, the GOP is attempting to rebuild trust in mail-in ballots among their base. But as Trump raises even more doubts, is it too little, too late? Head over to The Big Picture for a deep dive into this critical topic. https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trump-mailin-vote-republican-party
@kevinrj@georgetakei Weirdly this is one of the very few areas where I agreed with Trump, but for different reasons. Voting by mail is a disaster for #blind and other #disabled citizens. Its long past time for an accessible online election infrastructure with reasonable security measures in place. #accessibility
Hi all. How's everyone doing today? I have a question for those with #chronicIllness who use natural remedies, particularly #herbalism, to help with your illness, instead of or along with western medicine. My mom got me some stuff to start a #garden since she thinks I'll love growing my own food and #herbs, and we also think it would be good to see if we can find any herbs that might help with my health issues. She seems to think it's enough to just look up herbs and what they do, but from what I'm reading, there's a lot more to it than that, since they might need to be prepared in a certain way, or there might be a certain tradition or way of use behind them, so I'm trying to find resources to teach me about herbs and how to use them, and maybe just natural and alternative medicine in general. There seems to be a lot of stuff on YouTube, but it's hard to know what's reliable or might be too visual since I'm #blind. I've looked at online courses, but I don't know about #accessibility and most cost a lot of money, which we don't have. Does anyone have any suggestions for where I can learn about herbalism, #alternativeMedicine, and things like that in an affordable, #accessible way? #chronicallyIll#NEISVoid@chronicillness
And now we have one of those few annoying moments in Trek, where no one says anything...and the #Blind viewers among us have to wait til someone does say something to figure out what happened... @allstartrek#AllStarTrek#StVoy#Voyager#Bliss
I find myself reaching out for #MutualAid once again. I thought I had 11 days to renew my phone number for the month, but I only have 9. I have to pay £9.49 by January 26th. Please support me with whatever you can!
Update on that weird text Hcaptcha from yesterday. I left the page alone for a while, came back to discover the whole thing had reset and I had to click the checkbox again to load the challenge, and then it just kinda... went straight through. I guess the answers I gave it were right? I honestly have no idea what happened. I wish I had a better answer than "fixed, bai" but that's all I've got. My guess to the presence of typos is that they're meant to throw off transformer models, but that's a UX choice worthy of an r/asshole design post IMO, especially if you're blind. That's extra brainpower you have to dedicate to fixing the typos in your head as you process the rest of the statement at the same time. It's one of those things where it makes you feel the insanity slowly creeping in from the edges. Not fun. In conclusion: fuck captchaas