The big news this time around is the release of NVDA 2023.3 NVDA 2023.3 NVDA 2023.3 is now available. This release includes improvements to performance, responsiveness and stability of audio output…
I'm sure everyone who wants to know about this already does but, just in case anyone has, particularly if #blind or #DeafBlind, been looking for a local method of converting speech to text ... Whisper is an ML model from OpenAI which allows doing that. It can be used accessibly with all screen readers on Windows. Obviously, this is great for those of us with impaired hearing, it is certainly far more accurate than any of the speech to text programs I've seen, needs no training, and can handle background noise quite well. The audio duration limits are set by your hard drive space and the amount of time you're willing to put into transcription, I've transcribed several hours of audio without difficulty, it just takes time. It's available on Windows using github.com/Softcatala/whisper-… which just seems to need python. A GPU makes it faster, but it's usable on an I5 CPU. The model is also available online at freesubtitles.ai though that requires payment or waiting for long periods to transcribe limited amounts of audio. Thanks to @Bryn@mindly.social for the pointer at whisper-ctranslate2. #whisper #SpeechToText
In this video I will show you how to load a third party plugin in Logic Pro as a blind user.This new mini-series aims to help a blind/visually impaired Voice...
This is an article about a lawsuit filed by AudioEye, a multi-million dollar accessibility company, against Adrian Roselli, a long-time leader in the global digital accessibility community.
My understanding is that GUIs are usually worse than TUIs for #blind users. Sadly, I don't know of any #TUI for #OpenWRT (well, there's the command line, obviously, and there's a class-project over at github.com/mattacwilson/OpenWR…, but that's no replacement for LuCI 😞)
OpenWRT Text User Interface for my last project in Scripting for Security for my HNC in Cyber Security. - GitHub - mattacwilson/OpenWRT-TUI: OpenWRT Text User Interface for my last project in Scri...
A question on behalf of a friend: which appearance theme for the LuCI GUI for #OpenWRT is the most #accessible with screen readers? Any other tips on how to make this experience more accessible? #OpenSource #Blind #Router
The nine months of waiting have paid off. We now have a fully accessible Hacker News client, complete with one flick per post/comment, rotor actions and somewhere down the line, three-finger swipes planned or already implemented. The app also offers the ability to compose posts, comment on threads, search for old stories and browse all of the HN's categories. So far, Octal is the best experience I've had accessing Hacker News. apps.apple.com/pl/app/octal-fo… #Accessibility #Blind #iOS #OpenSource
#Yaga #mod for the #Gothic #game status update. Recently the Open Gothic reimplementation of the ZenGin engine became quiet stable which let me to wonder whether it wouldn’t be easier to port YAGA to this engine, instead of relying on the Union SDK which is basically a set of reverse-engineered classes of the original ZenGin engine. This way, we get macOS compatibility, future-proof support for future Windows releases, ETC. That means a lot of Yaga’s code base would have to be rewritten from scratch, but that’s with the benefit. Tell me what you guys think, and let’s comment on this issue if you have some valuable insights
Introduction Hello everyone. My name is Nuno and I have been working on the YAGA project which aims to make Gothic I, Gothic II/Gothic II NotR accessible and playable for blind players. The current...
I’ve finally found the time to listen to the episode of @podcast I was graciously invited to speak on.
(I’m very excited about some of the #wwdc stuff, including #VisionPro.)
I want to say I’m touched by the way Jonathan explained the impact of r/blind on people dealing with vision loss, as well as the rest of the community. That’s one of the things that made it so hard to make the decision to go dark for two days.
Since we spoke, we’ve also come out of a meeting with Reddit with mixed feelings, and Transcribers of Reddit have announced the upcoming API changes are forcing them to shut down permanently.
I’m growing sadder and more and more disappointed. Whatever happens next, #Reddit will be less welcoming to #blind people.
For what it’s worth, we’ve been testing a Lemmy instance at rblind.com. As discussed with Jonathan, federation and FOSS allow us to be in charge of our own destiny, while staying connected to other communities.
These are hard times, but communities are made up of people, not platforms.
Writing my post about Vienna yesterday, I have completely forgotten that the #Warsaw underground have also made all of their announcements publicly available. Those are read by the late Tomasz Knapik, one of the most famous voice-over voices of the Polish movie scene. Explanation: before 1989, the available movies of the West were sparse in Poland and so it was cheaper to employ a voice-over i.e. one person reading all of the dialogue in Polish dubbed over the original audio track in whatever language a given movie came in. The tradition has stuck and now most of us wouldn't imagine it any other way. metro.waw.pl/strefa-pasazera/k… #Accessibility #Blind #PublicTransport
The city of Vienna is doing this right! On their official website, under the section dedicated to audible traffic lights and other accessibility features for blind and partially sighted pedestrians, not only are the implemented solutions described in a great detail, but you can also listen to samples of how the lights will sound when they're red and green. An mp3 download of the samples is offered as well. It's cool that somebody thought it a good idea to include the sounds that an #Accessibility solution makes. I feel prepared now! wien.gv.at/verkehr/ampeln/sign… ##Austria #Wien #Blind
Hello! I would like to invite everyone to join the #Accessible #Apple community on Discord. This server is dedicated to current and future #blind and/or #VisuallyImpaired users of #iPhone, #Mac, #Apple Watch and other #Apple products who would like to get the most out of their devices. If that's something you are interested in, give us a shot!! discord.gg/vfKyEBmXNb Now to some FAQ that I guess will be asked over and over. Q: There's only one administrator and that's you. A: Yeah, but there's no point as there's literally noone else there, yet. Q: Where are the rules? A: They are not existent yet. Just please be a human. Q: What's the point if there's AppleVis? A: AppleVis was, and still is a great resource if it comes to stuff like APp directories, curated list of resources, podcasts ETC, however the forum features are suboptimal, especially for mobile usage. I have spoken to many people who are newcomers to the #Apple ecosystem and using the AppleVis website turned out to be harder than using their shiny new device itself.
Please keep in mind that the server is in a test stage, many things can happen, including channel deletions/additions, moderation appointments or server deletion in case there's no real interest. If you have any suggestions how could I improve it or if you would like to help me moderate, please reach out. I kindly ask everyone to boost it to gauge interest. #accessibility #a11y #blind
I just launched a new site devoted to teaching how to create #TactileArt and #TactileGraphics using #SVG code. The focus is on #accessibility and opening up creativity to #blind and #low-vision folks who want to participate in building graphics, iterate on ideas, and use SVG for projects ready for embosser, swell-form, 3D print, and CriCut output. Come check it out! blindSVG.com
Just watched this documentary about Mick Curran and Jamie Teh the creators of NVDA, which is the free and open source Windows screen reader I use daily. NVDA has been truly life-changing for so many people. I think the documentary was well put together and I've learnt a thing or 2. @NVAccess @jcsteh #NVDA #blind #foss youtube.com/watch?v=3i7gkN-1sA…
Mick Curran and Jamie Teh are lifelong friends who share a love of music and technology. They're also blind.Both computer programmers, the pair saw an injust...
⌨️ Nielsen Norman Group research on how screen-reader users type on and control mobile devices
“Summary: Users who are blind or have low vision prefer dictation over typing with a keyboard whenever possible. Screen readers on touchscreen devices are restricted to a well-defined set of gestures which makes interaction more challenging than on computers.”
Screen-reader users prefer dictation over typing with a keyboard. Screen readers on touchscreen devices are restricted to certain gestures which makes interaction more challenging than on computers.
We want your help! While there is an official Calckey client in the works, we'd love to see more third party clients for Calckey start to be worked on! That's why we're putting out a $200 bounty for either an original Calckey app on your mobile platform of choice, or a $150 bounty adding Calckey support to your existing app.
There are some guidelines though:
- Uses the Calckey/Misskey API (calckey.social/api-doc), and implements basic features (including all timelines, quotes, reacts, explore, notifications, chats, bookmarks, channels, antennas/lists).
- Written in a language that compiles for your platform of choice (Kotlin/Java for Android, Swift for iOS. No React Native/Capacitor. Flutter is a maybe).
- Follows modern design guidelines for your platform of choice.
- Submitted to an App Store (Play Store or App Store. F-Droid is a bonus!) If you don't have a developer license, we'll also cover the cost of that.
- If you're adding support for an existing app, it must have at least 10,000 downloads.
Please, please do not do this under any circumstance, if you care about your instance being accessible to the #blind and visually impaired (hint, you should).
#HCaptcha is a horrible example of how not to implement a #captcha solution, forcing people to register their email address and store a cookie, as well as disable cross origin restrictions on their devices in order to pass validation.
There are much better alternatives, such as the no-hassle github.com/mCaptcha/mCaptcha, which does not need any user input other than checking a checkbox. Alternatively, use captchas that provide text versions, e.g. via solving a math question or at the very minimum, provide an audio version, knowing that it is not ideal for the hearing impaired.
A no-nonsense CAPTCHA system with seamless UX | Backend component - GitHub - mCaptcha/mCaptcha: A no-nonsense CAPTCHA system with seamless UX | Backend component
“I can get my bank statement or a gas bill in accessible formats, but yet I still receive health information that I can’t read. What could be more personal than your health status?” So true! #accessibility #communication #blind #deafblind #disability @disability | Blind people at risk due to ‘inaccessible’ health information from NHS, charity warns | The Independent independent.co.uk/news/health/…
I somehow like the idea of sharing the recordings in my "Random Recordings" folder here on Mastodon. Maybe that way they'll still be somewhere long after I'm gone! Probably none of these would exist if it weren't for @FreakyFwoof, so go after him if you don't like them! #blind #binaural
As the transformative membership and advocacy organization of #blind people across the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, we prioritize #accessibility, inclusion, and the preferences of blind people as we adapt our social media strategy. Our move away from Twitter and toward Mastodon reflects these commitments. Read our press release: nfb.org/about-us/press-room/na…
Baltimore, Maryland (May 4, 2023): In light of recent events, including the laying off of Twitter’s entire accessibility team and changes to its API that have broken accessible Twitter clients used by our community, the National Federation of the Bli…
Well, after finding out that #WhaleBird github.com/h3poteto/whalebird-…is a decent enough accessible MacOS client for use with #Misskey, you'll see me post on here from time to time now as well! Most of the time I'll still be posting on my Mastodon account, though watch this space! Three-Thousand characters is more than i ever would need myself, but I'll take it!
For users of #VoiceOver, the 'J' & 'k' keys currently do not speak under the curssor what the post is, thus nornal VO commands for now are necessary. Definitely a client for #Blind users to check out though!
NB. As noted among the GitHub page, WhaleBird is also available for #Windows and #Linux, though I'll leave those builds to you guys!
An Electron based Mastodon, Pleroma, and Misskey client for Windows, Mac, and Linux - GitHub - h3poteto/whalebird-desktop: An Electron based Mastodon, Pleroma, and Misskey client for Windows, Mac, ...
This is a brilliant release from the National Federation of the Blind about why they are scaling back #Twitter and how they have embraced the #Fediverse by coming to #Mastodon. They truly understand the benefits and the culture here which promotes the engagement of #blind people. nfb.org/about-us/press-room/na… @nationsblind #feditips
Baltimore, Maryland (May 4, 2023): In light of recent events, including the laying off of Twitter’s entire accessibility team and changes to its API that have broken accessible Twitter clients used by our community, the National Federation of the Bli…
Are #apple #macos users here who would want to test one of the submissions to the #game jam for #blind gamers?
It’s the only one that didn’t get any ratings yet, and that’s just sad to see. It looks like a pretty nice blind-friendly 3D stealth system: itch.io/jam/games-for-blind-ga…
Aiko iOS app, totally free, Hi quality transcription, all performed on your device for privacy. This app was mentioned in the latest AppleVis Newsletter, so it is totally accessible. Just know that the app is kind of large, it is 2 GB in size. Probably because it does everything on the device, and all of the languages it supports.
Description from the app store followed by the link. High-quality on-device transcription. Easily convert speech to text from meetings, lectures, and more. The transcription is powered by OpenAI's Whisper running locally on your device. The audio never leaves your device. You can export the transcription as subtitles too. Aiko favors accuracy over speed. Supports 100 different languages. The app was made possible thanks to Whisper by OpenAI and whisper.cpp by Georgi Gerganov. ■ FAQ ‣ Can I edit the text in the app? I don't plan to support any editing. Export the transcription and edit it in a proper text editor. ‣ Why is the app so large? The app delivers the highest quality transcription on the market for 100 different languages. Rather than asking why it's so large, the real question is how is it so small. ‣ Why is the transcription so slow? The favors accuracy over speed. However, performance is expected to improve in the coming months. ‣ Can I delete some of the languages to save space? This is unfortunately not possible. The model has all the languages stored together in a way that makes it impossible to remove just some languages. More FAQs on the website. ■ Technical details The app uses the Whisper medium or small model depending on available memory. ■ Support You can contact me through the feedback button in the app or at sindresorhus@gmail.com
High-quality on-device transcription. Easily convert speech to text from meetings, lectures, and more.
The transcription is powered by OpenAI's Whisper running locally on your device. The audio never leaves your device.
