I am working on creating a handbook that describes the assistive technologies available in the FreeBSD operating system, which will be freely available online for anyone to consult. Currently, the effort is focused on gathering and documenting accessibility features for visual impairments, and it is sponsored by the @FreeBSDFoundation

If you are interested in the topic, a public repository is available for suggestions and corrections: https://gitlab.com/alfix/freebsd-accessibility

https://www.europesays.com/1943530/ Report shows alarming measles resurgence in Europe and US #Antibodies #autism #blindness #brain #children #deafness #disability #europe #healthcare #hospital #hygiene #ImmuneSystem #InfectiousDiseases #Measles #medicine #Meningitis #MMR #Mumps #pathogen #Pneumonia #polio #PublicHealth #research #Respiratory #Rubella #Vaccine #virus

I'm visiting the #USA for the #CSUNATC25 conference. Buying coffee, I got the perfect #coin in change for a #blindness / #accessibility related conference: a 2003 Alabama quarter featuring Helen Keller.

This was the first US circulating coin to feature a representation of Braille (there was a non-circulating 1996 Paralympics coin).

A little on Helen Keller from Wikipedia: "American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, she lost her sight and her hearing after a bout of illness when she was 19 months old.

Keller attended Radcliffe College of Harvard University and became the first deafblind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller

#numismatics #CoinCollecting #Braille #deafblind @numismatics @accessibility

(I am posting this from my Friendica as well as my Akkoma accounts, since some instances and groups don't federate with Blob.cat.)Please forgive the negative post, but this must be said. I'm sick of what I'm calling the switching crew. They constantly say things such as "switch from Facebook or Twitter to the Fediverse", "switch from Amazon to local shops), "switch from Windows or Mac to Linux", etc. They sometimes imply and sometimes outwardly state how easy it is. So let me explain something. Note that I can't speak for other disabilities, since I'm only blind, but I'm sure they have their own problems with these as well. I am also very good with computers, so I have the technical skills to do these things. Not everyone does.

1. It takes research to join the Fediverse. Not everyone wants to join Mastodon, and even for those who do, [people still must find instances that align with their goals. Not all platforms here are accessible, either. I left Facebook precisely because they shut down their basic mobile site, and their main site and apps are terrible to use with a screen reader. I joined Friendica, but had more accessibility problems. Now, I'm on Akkoma and am finally happy. But it's taken over four months for me to find my place!
2. Amazon offers free shipping, large discounts, and in some cases, Amazon Fresh to Prime members. They also have a wide variety of products, all at one place. All of this contributes to the independence, not only of the blind, but also of those who are house-bound. No one has yet to give me an alternative that has all of these features. It's great to go to local farmer's markets and little shops, but not everyone can easily get there, and even those places that do ship often require monthly payments, charge a lot, or charge shipping with every order. Are there blind people who do shop locally? Yes. Is everyone like that, or does everyone have such places near him? No.
3. Prior to joining the Fediverse, this one annoyed me the most. Most sighted people can just turn on a computer or a phone and start using a new operating system relatively quickly, as long as it's graphical. It's not the same for those of us who are blind. First, the system has to have a screen reader installed. If not, we must find someone sighted to install it for us. Many Linux distributions don't have Orca installed by default. Secondly, even if said system is installed, there needs to be an easy way to activate it via a hottkey or during setup. Many Linux distributions have Orca but don't have an easy way to start it. Then, once all of that is done, we must learn how to use said screen reader, not to mention the layout and commands of the operating system itself, and withLinux, often, one must learn how to use the terminal in order to accomplish certain tasks. Even as a DOS lover, I found it to be frustrating. . Finally, after accomplishing all of that, if there aren't many programs that work with this operating system and screen reader, or if they don't work well, why should we switch from a system that we already know, where things are accessible, to one that we don't where they aren't? Linux is great for the sighted, but not for the majority of the blind. Again, are there blind people who use it? Yes. Is it as easy as simply turning on a computer and switching? No.

#accessibility #Akkoma #Amazon #blind #blindness #Facebook Fediverse fediverse #Linux #NVDA #Orca #technology ##Twitter #Windows

I hear Codecademy is doing a thing. Let's check out the #accessibility of said thing. in half an hour, I will hop on #twitch and #youtube in order to give their so-called Öperation Codebreaker" a look from a #screenReader perspective. We'll be talking #WCAG, #blindness, #accessible interface design, the works.
See you then over at:

- https://twitch.tv/IC_Null
- https://youtube.com/@blindlyCoding
- I'm sure there's a tiktok stream as well but don't go there :P #selfPromo #stream #coding #tech #a11y

Accompanied by braille descriptions, Martin Kunz’s educational aids for blind students depict a wide range of plants, animals, and maps.

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/01/martin-kunz-tactile-graphics/

Leaves, fish, herons, crocodiles, crustaceans, and more comprise a wide array of embossed educational aids for people who are blind. Read more about the hand-carved graphics from the turn-of-the-century:

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/01/martin-kunz-tactile-graphics/

As someone who is totally blind, the Fediverse is the only place where I have ever been able to follow people such as photographers, artists, or even those who post pictures of their cats or the food they ate. The reason is that most of them use alt text. They take the time to describe the images that my screen reader can't recognise. Some write the descriptions themselves, and others use tools such as altbot. Some worry that their descriptions aren't good enough, especially when they are new at this. Let me assure you, not only are they good enough, they are extremely appreciated! If the rest of the world thought as you did, it would be a much better place. Don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure of something, but never think that we don't notice your effort.

Are you in Brisbane this week? NV Access are at the SPEVI conference at 293 Queen Street. We're talking all things NVDA & Mick is on a panel this afternoon on "The New Frontier of Braille" about multiline displays, chaired by Ben Clare.

Life Without Limits: A Blind Maker’s Take on 3D Printing - In the world of creation, few stories inspire as much as [Mrblindguardian], a 33-y... - https://hackaday.com/2025/01/10/life-without-limits-a-blind-makers-take-on-3d-printing/ #text-basedmodeling #visualimpairment #visuallyimpaired #3dprinterhacks #3dprinting #text-based #blindness #openscad #blind #cad

#Barclays bank paying mystery shoppers to pretend to be suffering from some level of #Deafness or #Blindness does exactly what to help improve their services for people who genuinely have these conditions?

Do they just pat themselves on the back when they get a report from a mystery shopping putting on a disability that all is well at that branch in terms of equality of access to services???

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/05/barclays-mystery-shoppers-banks-pretend-blind-deaf

Can anyone recommend an accessible course to learn html? It must work with NVDA. I've heard of Code Camp and W3Schools, but how accessible are they and how do they differ in content and style? I like courses with a structured approach, where things are explained i.e. a deductive and not an inductive approach. I usually don't need a tutorial, but I am fine with general instructions. In this case, though, exercises would be very beneficial. I am using this prior to beginning Part 2 of the Web Developer's course at Deque. I am not a developer, but they don't have one for accessibility testers.

"An award-winning disability advocate is leaving New Zealand saying it is the worst country in the Western world in which to be blind."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/534303/new-zealand-a-very-difficult-place-to-be-blind-advocate

Sorry to hear that @JonathanMosen : (

Note: Despite this negative post, the people at Newsmast do take accessibility seriously and have said they would fix the issues that I mentioned earlier. So please don't let this reflect on them. I only told them about these a few days ago. Today, I found the new ones. Maybe, their site is simply not working properly for anyone at the moment.
I found yet more inaccessibility with newsmast. I went there using Supermium, and hit all the "button" links until I found the one that was for communities. I tried to follow one by entering my Friendica.world information, and told it to authorise the interaction, which is all normal and is how I joined the others when I found myself tagged in them. Then, I was sent to a page that asked me about my birthday, location, etc. I had never seen this when joining a Newsmast page, but I began doing it. There was an edit box for country, but regardless of what I typed, it kept telling me that I needed to select a country. But there was no combobox to do so, just an edit box for typing. I closed the window and tried to return to the communities page, but it kept returning me to the form where I had to enter my location, even when I specifically removed that part of the url. I'm going to try it with Firefox, which is a bit more accessible with the site (it shows some links not all unlabelled buttons), but this shouldn't be happening. I also need to figure out how to delete the cookie from Supermium so that I can visit the site without the prompt.

Update. I just went there with Firefox. I was able to find and follow a community. Again, it sent me to the location page, even when I closed the initial one that opened. Now, whenever I go there, it does the same. I guess I have to use a different browser or virtual machine every time I want to join a community, or just type a large number of tags into one post, hoping that some are communities, so that they will boost my meaningless post, just so that I might be lucky enough to land on their follow page and not the location one again. Yes, that was sarcasm. In reality, I'll just go back to my other pages that list various tags and communities to join because they work.
#accessibility #blind #blindness #Newsmast #firefox #NVDA #Supermium #Windows @newsmast.org @newsmast

Audio description — the narration track that describes visual elements of videos for blind and low-vision folks — is leveling up, and "The Penguin" is a perfect example of how. Most of the team members narrating the audio descriptions for the "Batman" spinoff are blind, and were consulted on how to make the descriptions richer and more meaningful, such as adding details about characters' micro-expressions and visual elements with symbolic meaning. Their vocal performances add further layers. Here's more on the process from @Variety.

https://flip.it/388oZa

#Introduction. Transferred to a new instance.
Hello, I’m Aaron! I’m proudly blind, having lost my sight to retinoblastoma as a child. I have an amazing wife, who is also blind named Joyce and an adorable 2-and-a-half-year-old son, Liam. Originally from the Philippines, I’m now based in Milan, Italy.
I’m passionate about blindness-related topics and accessibility. My interests also include ham radio, aviation, and space exploration. Oh, and I love new gadgets! Even though I can’t always afford them, I’m always excited to explore new tech!

In case anyone is interested, here are my other socials:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aaronjohn0412
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/aaronjohn0412
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aaronjohn0412