Decided to sign up for #Codeberg, the #GitHub alternative that the Fediverse at large is insisting is worth a try and, in some cases, claiming will improve project contributions by avoiding some of the GH antipatterns. I expected to find some #accessibility issues; this is the modern web, after all.

I did not expect a fully inaccessible visual CAPTCHA with no workarounds. I'm unable to solve it, so I cannot create an account.

In short: If you want people who are #blind or #lowVision to contribute to your projects (you do, right?), Codeberg is currently not an #accessible platform.

Dang. I just got my first hate mail since I was, like, in high school. I've also gotten a lot of (rather more polite) questions about it so I figured I'd make a post about it so I can pin it to my profile.

I am a #blind slash #lowVision #VisualArtist. I have been doing art for as long as I have been very slowly going blind, which is over half my life. As for my abilities (or disability): I wear increasingly thick glasses that don't do much for me beyond the very close up (I use my phone's camera to look for things, for example), and have numerous blind spots on top of it. This isn't like what you might expect; it's not black or grey spots. My brain fills it in with what it thinks ought to be there (as does yours), and it does a really terrible job of it. I am incapable of seeing straight lines. I stopped driving a few years ago when I noticed I had a blind spot the size of a car in the other lane - cars would literally just blink out of existence, then back again half a second later. It was a scary realization. My spouse has recently convinced me I need a cane if for no other reason than so I stop running into people in public.

As an artist, I mostly do #watercolor now because I can see my subject (a picture on my phone) and my canvas up close. Mostly I paint bugs because I studied #entomology so I understand the anatomy that I am working with. I started out as a photographer, which I don't do much of anymore because I can't see through a view finder. What I have is degenerative, so I will continue losing pieces of my vision for the rest of my life. I will probably get more into linocuts and sculpture in a few years as watercolor becomes less an option.

I also write, quite often about blind characters! I am 100% self-published, which means they're not perfect, which I think just adds to their charm.

#Accessibility question for people who use #screenreaders:

I have a website with a gallery of pixel art images. Each image features alt text describing it.

However, I would also like to show additional information, namely the theme prompt the image was made for, upon hovering over the image.

Can I have both alt text and hover text or does it end up messing up something?

I looked it up on the web and found contradictory information.

I recently bought an LG TV and was happy to discover that it had a screen reader that even automatically began at startup! This video goes over the different accessibility features and my experience setting it up.

https://buff.ly/4h6m8UW

Come join us on the #OurBlind Discord for our 2nd annual New Year's Eve function. Open to all #Blind, #DeafBlind, #LowVision, and #VisuallyImpaired persons, as well as friends, family, and those who work in #blindness services. @mastoblind

This year's theme is the same as last year, party like it's a late 90s mandatory office function held in the break room after hours because of course it's not like people have better things to do. It starts at 12:00 US Eastern on the 31st and runs until some point on the 1st, people are welcome to come and go throughout, honestly this is very informal.
https://ourblind.com/

Low vision friendly IOS keyboard that supports Danish.

I'm looking for a large print, high contrast keyboard, primarily for use on the iPad 12.9" that supports the Danish Language as well as English.

(For this particular student, it dose not have to be VoiceOver accessible).

Google is very unhelpful these days and is mainly giving me physical keyboard results and none of the results supported Danish.

Are you #blind or #LowVision and live in the United States?
Participate in a 90-minute study about #CloudComputing platforms.
$275 for completing the session.

Follow this link to apply and please specify Chris Smart, SmartWebTester@gmail.com as the person who referred you.
http://link.utest.com/cloud-accessibility-refchris

A fabulous tool for all Mastodonners who post pictures: Be My AI.

The software, available for Windows, Android and iPhone takes a picture or image and provides a very detailed description that you can copy into your Alt text (see examples below).

The interface is extremely simple and the program works for art, nature and graphs.

Adding a good Alt text has never been so easy.

Download it here:
https://www.bemyeyes.com/download

The #Braille200 event on Tues evening at the British Library was brilliant - to have so many Braille enthusiasts together is very rare, and there was a relaxed atmosphere of celebration; with wine, canapes and lovely background music. Braille doesn’t get this type of VIP treatment very often! The message that I took away from the engaging panel event was very much that Braille is part of the toolkit for a blind person, no one is expecting you to use it exclusively - when your hands are tired, use audio and when audio gets overwhelming, use your hands. The fact is that some tasks lend themselves better to one or the other. It’s all personal choice.

I also enjoyed looking at some items from the library archive, including a handmade Braille book by Stevie Ronnie with beautiful binding and a children’s Braille book, by Polly Edman, that had tactile thread winding across the pages to make it interactive.
I also had fun trying out the Dot Pad again and got my hands on the Monarch too (they both display graphics as well as being multi line Braille displays) - way too expensive, but hey, a girl can dream! Tech like this represents the future so fabulously, showing that Braille is both a reading and writing medium, but now also has the potential to help blind people understand graphics and charts more easily and allow them to be creative themselves.
I bumped into several people I know which was lovely and I’m sure there were plenty of others there that I didn’t find, the joys of trying to socialise when totally blind!
There were about 230 guests and it felt so special to be able to attend this event, one of the many events being organised to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Braille.
I’m sure there’ll be many podcasts coming out from the RNIB about the event but the link below gives a taster, with many interviews recorded on the night:

https://embeds.audioboom.com/playlists/4635637/embed?link_color=55ACEE&source=twitter_card&utm_content=card&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&v=202301

So questions for #Blind #Edgucaters, #teachers, #school staff and anyone in the #education field as a whole.

I am a university student who originally planned to double major in computer science and elementary education, but I’ve recently faced some concerns that I’d like to address.

I’ve been told that pursuing a teaching certification might not be advisable because schools may be reluctant to hire a teacher with low vision, who is mostly blind, to manage a classroom of thirty or more students. This has been quite upsetting.

My dream was to work with elementary students, focusing on #STEM subjects and teaching technology-related topics like understanding tech, its role in the world, and the basics of programming. Now, I find myself uncertain about what path to take.

Working with kids, especially those in elementary school, is my biggest passion, even more than tech or music. It’s something that would truly fulfill me. Since I can’t have kids myself, guiding and teaching young learners is the next best thing. It’s a career I’m committed to and want to excel in.

Being advised not to pursue a teaching certification and to focus solely on computer science has been quite discouraging. I’ve been told to study elementary education as a secondary focus and combine it with my computer science studies. This might involve developing educational systems for kids, but it would likely mean limited direct interaction, possibly just during product testing, which isn’t enough for me.

So, I have a few questions:

1. Are there any educators with #Blindness or #LowVision challenges working with elementary students? If so, in what capacity do you work with them?
2. How has your disability affected your effectiveness in the field?
3. What challenges did you face in getting certified and qualified, and how did you overcome them?
4. What obstacles have you encountered in the classroom and with colleagues, and how have you addressed them?

If these questions don’t apply, what advice can you offer me in pursuing my goal of working with children? While tech is a focus, I’m open to being flexible, as long as it’s an area I’m confident in.

Finally, if teaching isn’t possible for me, what other career paths would you suggest that align with my goals?

I’d really appreciate any support
and engagement in this discussion.

Boosts welcomed and appreciated.

How not using pascal case or camel case can ruin your brand.

Because Bluesky is not written with a capital S, my screen reader pronounces it as Blueski. So it sounds like some Russian website.

Remember to capitalize combined words in cases where spaces are not allowed, like in HashTags, so screen reader users won't get confused.

Join us for our Virtual Career Fair taking place on October 22 where you can connect with employers who are committed to empowering blind and low-vision professionals to achieve your full potential. Register by October 4 for your chance to launch your dream career: https://buff.ly/3vM3gSH

Low vision problems:

You know how they say you see what you expect to be there..

Well it happens with hearing too.

Listening to my screen reader read out a cuple of book titles led me to have the wrong expectation from the novels.

It turns out that in the book: The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, there are no Rebels (As in revolutionaries). There are Revels there, (As in extravagant parties).

In the book: The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Baru who is an accountant, doesn't use her skills to become a Trader (As in dealer in goods). She becomes a Traitor, (As in a revolutionary).

It's not that Baru's revolution doesn't have a strong financial component, it's just that I kept expecting trade to become a major part of the plot.

FYI. I saw this today when someone shared it in my Facebook feed, and it looks legitimate, as it also has a quote from OrCam. It is not entirely surprising, although I believe they were just exhibiting at the blindness conventions earlier this month. What a whirlwind the last few days have been in the blindness assistive technology world with the AppleVis closure and now this as well. OrCam to halt developing visual aid devices - Globes https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-orcam-to-halt-developing-visual-aid-devices-1001485309 #blind #lowvision #visuallyimpaired