Uncover the untold story of Apple VoiceOver! Join us as we reveal fascinating insights and genius ideas behind this groundbreaking technology. Despite valid criticisms, we acknowledge Apple's transformative impact on the industry. Discover the real story today! youtube.com/watch?v=5tLSycbey6…

#AppleVoiceOver #Accessibility #TechHistory #Innovation #BehindTheScenes #TechInterview #Apple #Technology #Inspiration #DesignThinking

🤔 Why is it acceptable to some that #WCAG can be used to test PDF's, but not native iOS or Android apps?

#accessibility

Note: I think its legit to use WCAG to test native iOS or Android apps

tetralogical.com/blog/2024/07/…

Does WCAG 2.2 apply to native apps - TetraLogical

A big question for many organisations is if WCAG 2.2 applies to native apps. In this post we explore what does and doesn't apply.

^TetraLogical

The 2025 edition of Inclusive Design 24 (#id24) will take place on the 25 September 2025.

Got an idea for a talk? Our call for presentations is still open until the end of the month (31 May 2025).

inclusivedesign24.org/2025/

#a11y #accessibility #inclusion #inclusiveDesign

Inclusive Design 24 (#id24)

A free 24-hour online community event on accessibility and inclusion

^{Inclusive Design 24 (#id24)}

As part of our volunteer-driven accessibility initiative in GNOME Calendar, and for the first time in the 10+ years of Calendar's existence, we finally completed and merged the first step needed to have a working calendar app for people who rely on keyboard navigation. This merge request in particular makes the event widgets focusable with navigation keys (arrow left/up/right/down) and activatable with space/enter. This will be available in GNOME 49.

Most of GNOME Calendar's layout and widgets consist of custom widgets and complex calculations, both independently and according to other factors (window size, height and width of each cell, number of events, positioning, etc.), so these widgets need to be minimal to have as little overhead as possible. This means that these widgets also need to have the necessary accessibility features reimplemented or even rethought, including and starting with the event widgets.

We also hope to get other parts of GNOME Calendar accessible before GNOME 49, but I can't promise anything at the moment. We did start working with making the month view accessible: gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-c…

#GNOME #Calendar #GNOMECalendar #GTK4 #GTK #Libadwaita #Accessibility #a11y #Linux

Make the event widget accessible (!559) · Merge requests · GNOME / gnome-calendar · GitLab

This implements button functionality to make it able to focus and activate it. This also sets the appropriate accessibility role and labels/descriptions. Related:

^GitLab

Die !@metalab Big Blue Button (BBB) Instanz ist dank @datacop auf der neusten Version.
Ich habe letztens Freeswitch konfiguriert. Ab jetzt können auch bis zu zwei Personen via Telefonanruf zu Konferenzen beitreten.

#inklusion #accessibility #bbb #infrastruktur

When you’re scripting for a screen reader, then you’re scripting for the browser, with exactly the same level of JavaScript support.

However complications can arise with event handling, because screen readers intercept events and don't always pass them on to the browser, and even then, keyboard actions might fire mouse events.

tpgi.com/event-handling-in-jaw…

#accessibility #a11y #javascript

Event handling in JAWS and NVDA - TPGi

Complications can arise with JavaScript event handling in screen readers, because the virtual cursor intercepts or modifies page events.

^{James Edwards (TPGi)}

Our latest In-Process blog is out: nvaccess.org/post/in-process-3…

Featuring
- The NVDA 2025.1 Beta
- What’s New in 2025.1
- Updated NVDA Expert Certification 2025
- Gene Empowers New Zealand
- Changes for Developers
- NVDA Add-ons and API Breaking Changes

#NVDA #NVDAsr #Blog #News #Newsletter #ScreenReader #Blind #Accessibility #Update #Changes

📢 Introducing the #UnseenImageChallenge! 📢
What if everyone experienced social media the way screen reader users do? Let's find out together!

Visit our challenge website for more information and examples: micr0.dev/unseenChallenge

What Is It?

Post a solid black square image with detailed alt text describing what would have been there. Everyone will "see" the same way screen reader users see the post! This powerful exercise demonstrates why accessible content matters.

How To Participate:

1. Choose a meaningful image based on the daily theme
2. Replace it with a plain black square in your post
3. Write a vivid, detailed description as the alt text
4. Use the hashtag #UnseenImageChallenge
5. Nominate 3 friends to join the challenge

Need Help With Alt Text?

Not sure how to write good descriptions? We've created a comprehensive alt text guide at micr0.dev/alttext with examples, tips, and even an interactive quality checker!

You can also DM me the original image, and I'll help generate alt text you can use! (Make sure you are following me first! Mastodon blocks 'unsolicited' DMs!)

Example: Instead of "My cat" try "My orange tabby cat Whiskers lounging in a sunbeam on the windowsill, looking sleepy with half-closed eyes"

Daily Themes:

• Monday: Nature & Outdoors
• Tuesday: Pets & Animal Friends
• Wednesday: Art & Creativity
• Thursday: Food & Cuisine
• Friday: Places & Spaces
• Saturday: People & Portraits
• Sunday: Wild Card (anything you choose!)

Duration

The challenge runs for one full week! Join in on any or all of the daily themes.

Community Showcase

I'll be boosting exceptional examples throughout the week and featuring creative descriptions. Your participation helps inspire others!

Supporting the Mission

If you find value in this challenge and want to support Altbot's continued development and accessibility work, you can contribute to the project at ko-fi.com/micr0byte. All funds go directly toward server costs, development, and expanding our accessibility initiatives. However, awareness and participation are the most important contributions!

Why This Matters

Every day, blind and low-vision people experience the Fediverse entirely through alt text. This challenge helps everyone understand why detailed image descriptions are so important first hand. Awareness is important!

Resources

• Challenge information and examples: micr0.dev/unseenChallenge
• The Art of Alt Text guide: micr0.dev/alttext

The challenge begins today! Who's ready to make the Fediverse more accessible while trying something new? Make sure to tag three friends who you think should join in!

#Accessibility #AltText #DigitalInclusion

Buy Micr0byte a Coffee. ko-fi.com/micr0byte

Become a supporter of Micr0byte today! ❤️ Ko-fi lets you support the creators you love.

^Ko-fi

Able to Play, a game repository that helps you find games that match your accessibility needs, just launched!

abletoplay.com

For gamedevs/game requests: Here's some info on how to make a game available on there:
help.abletoplay.com/docs/how-c…

It's still a young platform, so please give them lots of feedback to help improve it!

@games

#Games #Gaming #GameDev #AbleToPlay #Accessibility #A11Y

How can I request a game be available on AbleToPlay?

We prioritize games based on both the volume of requests for a particular game, and the order we receive the request in. If you'd like to request a game be made available on AbleToPlay, please let us know on Discord!

^{Arman (AbleToPlay)}

Wow, Orca can't keep focus right in Fedora 42. I'm not even sure how to describe this well enough. On Enafore, Mastodon client, arrow through your timeline. You'll get stuck in a loop of going down a few posts, then you'll be brought back to a previous one, and you'll be stuck around that post unless you arrow down fast enough or something. Wow I might just move back to Windows now on this computer at least.

#accessibility #orca #linux #foss #blind

Yesterday at the #PlayStation concert, a young, blind man sat next to me.

We got talking and it turns out he is an accessibility consultant for companies, including video game developers and has worked with Sony on God of War and other products!

He goes by his handle: Sightless Kombat.

He is entirely #blind from birth, but loves video games so is passionate about accessibility in the sector.

I told him to come join Mastodon as I think it’s the friendliest social network for visual impairments, he said he was thinking of joining but wasn’t sure which instance was good. I’m not sure if there is one that’s dedicated to visual impairment? I just told him to join mstdn.games 😅

Anyway, here’s his YouTube & Twitch channels, and website if you’re interested in seeing what he has to offer. The dude has platinumed God of War Ragnarok on its hardest difficulty, what a legend!

YouTube: youtube.com/@sightlesskombat?s…

Twitch: twitch.tv/sightlesskombat

Website: sightlesskombat.com/

#disability #disabled #Accessibility

SightlessKombat - Twitch

I'm an award-winning, multi-credited accessibility consultant and gamer without sight from the UK. If you ever thought "how can someone with no sight play a videogame?", you've come to the right place for answers! Relax, say hi and see just how I enj…

^Twitch

I mean really. This is some sample NVDA #screenReader speech for reading a single checklist item in a GitHub issue. Unique accessible names on controls are important, but could they not have found an alternative like task numbers instead of making me hear the entire task four times?

"
button Move @jscholes will generate initial list of topics from 4 most recent design reviews and share the output for further review and refinement: April 25
check box not checked @jscholes will generate initial list of topics from 4 most recent design reviews and share the output for further review and refinement: April 25 checklist item
link @jscholes will generate initial list of topics from 4 most recent design reviews and share the output for further review and refinement: April 25
menu button collapsed subMenu Open @jscholes will generate initial list of topics from 4 most recent design reviews and share the output for further review and refinement: April 25 task options
"

#accessibility

Any accessibility additions is a win for everyone!

Valve announces accessibility tags for Steam - Can I Play That?

caniplaythat.com/2025/04/23/va…

#Valve #Accessibility #Steam #PC #Gaming

I have an #accessibility question for #screenReader users.

If I use hashtags within flowing text, like #this, does that annoyingly interrupt the narration flow and should I rather list them all at the end?

Or is in-text tagging the preferable alternative to a large wall of hashtags at the end, like this:

#blind #AskFedi #screenReaders

Does anyone know where the Monthly key is on my keyboard?

`<div accesskey="monthly" role="radiogroup" aria-label="segmented control" tabindex="0">`

#accessibility

It bothers me quite a lot that in the `ariaNotify` explainer, relating to a more robust mechanism for web apps to fire #screenReader messages, #braille is demoted to a "future consideration". Even there, it's listed under a heading of "Braille and speech markup", as though it doesn't even warrant a devoted section of its own.

Braille being treated with the same priority of speech is long overdue. We're clearly not there yet.

github.com/MicrosoftEdge/MSEdg…
#accessibility

MSEdgeExplainers/Accessibility/AriaNotify/explainer.md at main · MicrosoftEdge/MSEdgeExplainers

Home for explainer documents originated by the Microsoft Edge team - MicrosoftEdge/MSEdgeExplainers

^GitHub

Be part of the #accessibility resistance. Make your digital shit #accessible

etsy.com/uk/listing/1890790262…

If you open @smashingmag, you might (or might not) recognize the name on the latest article. 😁

Apologies in advance, it’s a long read, and there’s not a single line of code. But I’m a little bit proud of this one! ☺️

What you think?! #accessibility

smashingmagazine.com/2025/04/f…

Fostering An Accessibility Culture — Smashing Magazine

While there’s no definitive playbook for building an accessibility culture, Dani shares lessons from his experience in shaping it through habits rather than mandates.

^{Smashing Magazine}

For anyone who reads scholarly texts frequently, as I do, footnotes are commonplace. Given a document received in Microsoft Word format, I sought to access the footnotes using several word processors and screen readers. Findings:

Microsoft Word for Windows (Print layout) - the footnotes appear at the bottom of each page and can be reached using ordinary cursor navigation. An option to move from the footnote text to the footnote mark in the body of the document is available in a context menu. However, I couldn't find a command to move from the footnote mark directly to the footnote text.

Microsoft Word for Mac - VoiceOver didn't read the footnote text at all - not good, obviously.

Apple Pages - each footnote mark was treated as a link, so I could navigate directly to the footnote text. However, there was no obvious way to move back from the footnote text to the footnote mark.

Google Docs - I haven't tested recently, but when I last tried it with multiple screen readers under different operating systems, the screen readers ignored the footnote marks in the document entirely, unless the cursor was placed directly on the footnote mark, which is unlikely to happen by accident.

LibreOffice Writer (Linux) - when last I tested, there wasn't a keyboard binding for the command to move to the footnote area. I reported this as a bug. It may have been fixed since then.

#accessibility #ScreenReaders #WordProcessors

“Hacking Accessible Pedestrian Signals is Not a Joke: It’s a Civil Rights Violation” from @LFLegal lflegal.com/2025/04/aps-hack/

Yeah, not only is this bad form it’s also potentially deadly. Lainey does a good job of laying out the history and what went into originally getting these in place. These jerks undermined it all.

#accessibility #a11y

Hacking Accessible Pedestrian Signals is Not a Joke: It's a Civil Rights Violation

On April 12, 2025 the top story on the Palo Alto (California) online news site was "Silicon Valley Crosswalk Buttons Apparently Hacked to Imitate Musk, Zuckerberg Voices" It told the story, covered by other media too, of how someone hacked into audi…

^{Law Office of Lainey Feingold}

Anyone who is blind, or who has worked with the blind, knows how expensive our technology can be. This couldn't be more true with relation to braille displays. Even the cheapest costs at least $799, and it's already behind the newest in that line, at $899. This is the Orbit Reader 20 and 20+. Now, a student in India wants to change that by creating a display that is truly affordable (under $50)! Please pass this on, so that we can give him greater recognition within the blind community. Even if it costs a bit more than he initially suspected it would, there is no excuse for the $2,000 to $5,000 average price of such technology when cheaper alternatives can be designed! He is determined to bring this to market, so let's help him do it and show our appreciation for his hard work on this life-changing project!

forbes.com/sites/kevinanderton…

#access #ACB #accessibility #affordability #blind #braille #BrailleDisplays #children #education #employment #independence #India #learning #NFB #ocr #parent #reading #science #school #students #teachers #technology #work #writing

#COSMIC is not even out of alpha and there's lots of #accessibility features already available!

There's more work to be done, for sure, but this is a very nice to see!

In-Process is out, featuring a hint on 2025.1 beta timing, details on the updated Basic Training for NVDA training module, our recent server updates, AND what you need to know about reading info in a command prompt. Read now: nvaccess.org/post/in-process-1…

And don't forget to subscribe to get the next edition (AND notification when the beta comes out) via email: eepurl.com/iuVyjo

#NVDA #NVDAsr #ScreenReader #Accessibility #News #Newsletter #Blog

In-Process 11th April 2025

We are getting close to a beta for NVDA 2025.1. We are on track for 2025.1 Beta 1 to be released early next week. Please do subscribe to be notified by email as soon as it is available! In the mean…

^{NV Access}

I made that thread from yesterday into a brief post.

“Automated WCAG Testing Is Grrreat!”
adrianroselli.com/2025/04/auto…

#accessibility #a11y

Automated WCAG Testing Is Grrreat!

I’m a big fan of using automation in WCAG testing. I use bookmarklets, dev tools, browser features & reporting, and a pile of third-party products from assorted vendors. These save me time and effort, letting me focus on more tricky cases.

^{Adrian Roselli}

REMINDER: Your resistance goes faster, harder, and further without the use of ableist language. Fascists won't give a fuck, but a whole lot of folk who have been called 'crazy’, ‘insane’, 'stupid’, ‘idiot’, ‘moron’, and so forth hear you every time you do this, and make themselves a little smaller.

The same goes for body-shaming of any kind. It hurts your allies, not your enemies.

Update your vocabulary.

And check for alt text before you post, or boost.

#Accessibility #AltText

I'm super excited to have Ben Ritner from KadenceWP joining me live on YouTube tomorrow to talk about building accessible websites with Kadence. Tune in at 3 PM central. #WordPress #a11y #accessibility

youtube.com/live/mHqL02OF7u8

Live Accessibility Tips for Kadence with Special Guest Ben Ritner

Join Amber Hinds and special guest Ben Ritner, Sr. Director of Product at StellarWP and the founder of Kadence WP, for a conversation about how to build acce...

^YouTube

Naive accessibility question: How does your screen reader render emojis? Are they accessible?

Are mastodon extended emojis like rendered differently from unicode emojis like 😀?

#accessibility #a11y #ScreenReaders