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Items tagged with: accessibility

For almost one year and a half I had the pleasure of living in Innsbruck, the charming Austrian city which is the capital of the Alpine region of Tirol which is very popular with tourists. While my stay there was heavily marked by the Covid situation, lockdowns and a really difficult start to building a stable social life, it presented me with some highlights of interest to us so here are they:
- A tiny version of the Czech remotes system, at that time capable of triggering the audible traffic lights, currently also the talking public transport info boards;
- an exceptional training of the public transport drivers who always stopped the bus right in front of you as long as you stood at the designated, tactile spot; opened the door and told you the bus/tram line they were driving;
- a tactile line going across what seemed to be all of the city's market square which made for a nice walk through the city center;
- the general feeling of safety that encouraged me to take long walks and explore the city by myself;
- the amazing community around my former workplace, Freirad, the social, community-driven radio station that focused on giving voice to those who wouldn't find it in the mainstream media. This meant tons of content from marginalized groups, a wealth of diverse cultural, music and linguistic spectrum and plenty of social initiatives on air. Of course, blind and partially sighted radio hosts were more than welcome and I was happy to be a part of this journey, organizing workshops for prospective hosts with visual impairments, including a really fun group of kids and spreading the word about the importance of accessibility which was always well-received. My former show on Freirad aired for the last time today so it's a bit of a chapter closing.
#Accessibility #Blind #Austria #BuildEnvironment #PublicTransport #Radio #AdventCalendar
#Accessibility #blind #radio #publictransport #adventcalendar #BuildEnvironment #austria

People who use the #accessibility stack on Linux, do you use anything other than Orca?

I'm trying to map out unused code paths in at-spi2-core, and so far I'm considering orca/dogtail, but I'm sure I'm missing something.

#Accessibility

A lot of countries employ voting templates to allow blind votees to cast a ballot in local or state elections. It's the same in Poland and in my experience it has been pretty much prone to mistakes such as the ballot paper slipping a fraction underneath the template. This is why I was happy to learn that Australia and New Zealand employed the "voting by phone" system. Blind citizens of these countries are one of the groups elligible to vote by phone. In order to do that, one calls the central voting committee to register, is assigned unique credentials that allow the person taking the vote to identify the elligibility in an anonymous way. On the day of voting, the elligible person calls another number where only the previously agreed credentials are taken from them, the ballot paper is read and the vote is cast by telling the committee representative. Sounds simple and flawless but perhaps there are some security flaws I am not aware of that made it not a more globally adopted solution. Thoughts?
ecq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/p…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Australia #NewZealand #Voting #Phone
#Accessibility #blind #voting #australia #phone #newzealand #adventcalendar

#Accessibility

One of the great things about coming over to Mastodon has been raising my awareness of alt text for images.

Including this by default when uploading files is a great move. Not only is it better for accessibility on this platform, but it upskills people on how to do this creating content elsewhere online.

One of the best resources I have found and can highly recommend is this webpage from Harvard: accessibility.huit.harvard.edu…

#mastodon #accessibility #website #AltText


Write good Alt Text to describe images

Alternative (Alt) Text is meant to convey the “why” of the image as it relates to the content of a document or webpage. It is read aloud to users by screen reader software, and it is indexed by search engines.
accessibility.huit.harvard.edu
#Accessibility #Mastodon #AltText #website

⏩ I'm available again in January!

⏹️ My contract with Nomensa will end. I'm looking forward to support new people with topics like accessibility, inclusive design and improve all things organisational

▶️ Let me know what I can do for you!

(picture may or may not be related)
#accessibility #inclusiveDesign

A picture outdoor with a pipe going over and around a boulder in an awkward way. The boulder was clearly in the way, but not removed.
#Accessibility #inclusivedesign

Folks, I want to boost your lovely posts, I really do but I won’t if you don’t write image descriptions (alt text) so people who use screen readers can also experience them.

It doesn’t take long to write one.

And if you’re posting an image of text and you have an iPhone, you can select the text from the image with a long press and copy/paste it.

Even Linux has apps that do this (like Frog: tenderowl.com/work/frog/)

#accessibility #a11y #fediverse #altText #images #screenReader #mastodon

TenderOwl

Extract texte from anywhere with Frog for elementary OS
tenderowl.com
#a11y #Accessibility #fediverse #Mastodon #screenreader #images #AltText

Super post from @SaraSoueidan on how to set up a screen reader testing environment.

sarasoueidan.com/blog/testing-…

Sara, do you or anyone else know of a way test VoiceOver on Mac if we don't have access to a Mac? One of the perennial frustrations in the web industry is the assumption we're all on Macs. For many, Macs are well out of our budget ranges, but we still want to do the best we can with the tools at hand. Any advice?

#accessibility #a11y #inclusion #mac #macos #windows #testing


Setting up a screen reader testing environment on your computer

www.sarasoueidan.com
#a11y #Accessibility #Windows #testing #MACOS #mac #inclusion @Sara Soueidan

#OpenAccess journals, please take heed.

New study: "Using a random sample of 300 English language open access journals, we assessed author guidelines to understand image requirements for submissions…We found that most open access journals do not include disability accessibility elements in their guidelines…While over half the journals had required parameters for image submission, none of them required alt text."
osf.io/preprints/metaarxiv/zsj…

#accessibility #a11y #images #alt

#a11y #Accessibility #openaccess #images #alt

Please include alt text with your images. Especially when your image is nothing but text. It's dead easy to do in #mastodon.

#Accessibility

#Accessibility #Mastodon

This seems to be becoming a habit of mine now as I begin to use Mastodon more and continue to learn more about it each day.

This one covers the options available to you when posting content such as Alt Text and Content Warnings but also talks about language settings and using filters to tidy up your timelines.

Any boosts will be greatly appreciated so we can help everyone get the most out of Mastodon.
#twittermigration #MastodonTips #accessibility #language #feditips

youtu.be/Pg0rtrUOoJY


How to Compose a Post on Mastodon (all the options)

Whilst Mastodon is similar to other social media services, there are some really cool features available as part of Mastodon that can help you make your post...
YouTube
#Accessibility #FediTips #language #mastodontips #twittermigration

#Accessibility #matrix #Windows #screenreader

The 6th of December is traditionally the day when Santa comes and brings small gifts to children in Poland and several other countries (not to be confused with the 24th of December which is also when gifts, bigger ones, are distributed). Obviously somebody's got to pay for all these nice things so how to do it in an accessible way?
I thought of including Handsome, a French fintech dedicated to serving customers with visual impairments, as a part of this calendar, as it offers an accessible voice payment card; a dedicated concierge service, insurance in case of damage to assistive devices or stranding with no immediate mobility options. They can be found at:
howtobehandsome.fr/
Imagine my shock this morning when I discovered that through cooperation with the Tales Group, Handsome's voice card has become global so it's a matter of time before banks start introducing it.
The card is equipped with a Bluetooth LE chip, connects to the customer's smartphone either through their banking app or a specially designed one; then, once its inserted into the terminal, it delivers all of the status messages to the app E.G. the amount to be paid or the current state of the payment process. This way it is possible to avoid being scammed on the amount and we can make sure all is well with our transaction.
I'm curious if any banks are going to introduce this any time soon.
thalesgroup.com/en/markets/dig…
#Accessibility #Blind #France #Banking #AdventCalendar

Thales Gemalto Voice Payment Card

Discover how visually impaired people can make each payment transaction more secured and trusted.
Thales Group
#Accessibility #blind #france #adventcalendar #banking

I know that the below post might sound random but here goes.
The Unicode braille block starts from U+2800. The U+2800 character himself is a so called “blank braille pattern” which translates to a space sign in most cases. Stuff get more interesting if you want to make a braille pattern. In computer braille (8 dots) there are 256 possible patterns, it sounds like a byte, right? Right! Cause if you want to make a braille pattern, you just at a byte to the base character U+2800 as we already discussed. The bits in this byte are encoded in column order, so that 11100000 is the letter L, and 1101000 is letter F. The exception to this rule are of course dots 7 and 8. They have been added later and so putting them between dot 3 would break the compatibility with existing software. So, to reassume the encoding order is as follows (from bit 0 of the byte)
Dot 1
Dot 2
Dot 3
Dot 4
Dot 5
Dot 6
Dot 7
Dot 8
Tell me guys if you like such #programming and/or #accessibility posts from me.
#Accessibility #programming

Something that has worked really well for librsvg - and now I'm happy to have for at-spi2-core as well - is a development guide for the internals. Not a library manual, but an internals guide.

It's available at gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/a…

I want to make it a good reference for the implementation details of #accessibility - for how the system is built, the roadmap and the cleanups we're doing, how to make toolkits accessible, that sort of thing.

Development guide for the accessibility infrastructure — Development guide for the accessibility infrastructure documentation

gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org
#Accessibility

Whether you are disabled or not, accessibility is really useful for everyone. Accessibility makes social media easier to use and lets your posts reach a wider audience.

You can find out how to make your posts more accessible at:

➡️ fedi.tips/mastodon-and-fediver…

Special shout out to @norrumar who has just created a Spanish language article about Mastodon for users of the free open source NVDA screen reader:

➡️ nvdaes.github.io/mastodon (in Spanish)

#Fediverse #Mastodon #Accessibility #Disability


Mastodon and Fediverse Accessibility Tips | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse
fedi.tips
#Accessibility #fediverse #Mastodon #Disability @norrumar

@Paweł Masarczyk Oh btw almost 20 years later some cities e.g. Prešov or areas (Banskobystrický samosprávny kraj) are trying to pursue these remote controls for their public transport services too. Majority of our country coverage is still ahead of us.
#Accessibility #blind @Paweł Masarczyk

Is it possible to have audiodescription on TV if the broadcasting mode is analogue and the ability to employ several language audio tracks does not exist yet? Italy has had the solution, at least a decade ago still, where audiodescription for the movies aired by RAI, the Italian national broadcaster, would have the descriptive track delivered on a designated FM radio frequency. A blind person wishing to watch such a movie would turn on their TV to the right channel and then tune a radio receiver to the right frequency to enjoy both the original movie track and the audiodescription in sync. As it turns out from the paper below, keeping both in sync is difficult.
By the device of anecdotal evidence I know that a similar system existed in Slovenia.
Another thing that was available in Italy, and I haven't heard of it anywhere else before, are accessible audio menus on DVD's.
openstarts.units.it/bitstream/…
#Accessibility #Blind #Audiodescription #Italy #Slovenia #Radio #AdventCalendar
#Accessibility #blind #radio #AudioDescription #Italy #adventcalendar #slovenia

Today's window comes a little later than usual but as there's still the 4th of December somewhere in the world, I hope it's forgiven.
Inspired by a conversation I had with @adela, I decided to dedicate this one to the central purchase receipts storage system in Slovakia.
The Slovak government runs a central point where all of the receipts issued by merchands and service providers are registered. Upon issuing, a receipt is assigned a unique number in that system which then is printed onto the slip of paper given to the customer. What you can then do is, using a dedicated app for this purpose, load that receipt onto your phone by entering that number or scanning the QR code printed onto your receipt in order to have all the details of your purchase presented on your smartphone. This is a great way for blind individuals to check whether their transaction has been dutyfully conducted or to help in obtaining the necessary data to maintain your spending tracking record, so even though this solution was not conceived with blind people in mind, it is a valuable enhancement towards a more independent life.
technologiebezzraku.sk/2022/07…
#Accessibility #Blind #AdventCalendar #Slovakia #Shopping

Over doklad – prístupná aplikácia na čítanie príjmových dokladov - Technológie bez zraku

Over doklad je aplikácia vyvinutá Finančnou správou pôvodne určená na overovanie príjmových dokladov, ktoré prešli cez eKasu.
Michaela Dlhá (Technológie bez zraku)
#Accessibility #blind #slovakia #adventcalendar #shopping @adela

Google Maps is expanding its “Accessible Places” feature, which helps people know when a place is wheelchair accessible and/or stair-free. The feature was originally launched in 2020, but it was limited to just Australia, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. Now, the feature is available worldwide on Android and iOS.

#Accessibility #Mobility #Travel #Disability #axschat

chromeunboxed.com/google-maps-…

Google maps in a mobile app showing the accessibility options at a venue. Entrance, restroom, parking and seating.

Google Maps rolls out more AR and accessibility-focused features

Google has announced that beginning next week, it will start rolling out the "search in Live View" feature that it teased back in September, which uses the existing Live View technology found in Google Maps but makes it more interactive.
Johanna Romero (Chrome Unboxed - The Latest Chrome OS News)
#Accessibility #travel #Disability #axschat #mobility

In France, TIER Mobility is piloting wheelchair-accessible electric scooters in partnership with Omni, a French startup that has developed an electric scooter attachment compatible with most wheelchairs.

#Mobility #Accessibility #wheelchair #Disability #Axschat #France

inkl.com/a/jzkprjCbwYz

Women in a wheelchair attached to a scooter, wearing a safety helmet
Women in a wheelchair attaching the wheelchair to a scooter, wearing a safety helmet

TIER And Omni Push For Inclusivity With Wheelchair-Compatible E-Scooters

TIER has joined forces with Omni, a French startup, to provide wheelchair-compatible e-scooter rentals in France, with plans to expand to other countries soon.
inkl
#Accessibility #france #Disability #wheelchair #axschat #mobility

To all #blind #ScreenReader users on various platforms who use #Firefox: The project to speed up web page and screen reader interaction, code-named Cache-The-World, is now at a phase where in Nightly 109, it has been enabled for all users. So if you spot anything that is unusual or not working as before, please let the #accessibility team know. Next step is an experiment for 50% roll-out on Windows in the 111 beta.

The page where you can track the progress is here: wiki.mozilla.org/Accessibility…

Accessibility/CacheTheWorld - MozillaWiki

wiki.mozilla.org
#Accessibility #firefox #blind #screenreader

#Accessibility #linkedin #AudioDescription

#Accessibility #racism #AltText #race #antiwhiteness

#AudioDescription delivered by a synth is equivalent to casting a robot in place of a human actor because it's less expensive & more films can be produced. That's not how art works, and it shouldn't be how #accessibility operates in the arts. Join this #LinkedIn Audio discussion.
#Accessibility #linkedin #AudioDescription

To mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, today's window opens up to one of my favourite treasure troves of good practices regarding accessibility for the blind - the Czech Republic which I am currently only one hour of a car drive away from.
Did you know that by 2004 Czech Republic was the second European country right behind Sweden with the widest network of audible traffic lights? Not only that but they already started installing tactile floor markings and my favourite invention, the remote controls for the build environment.
The Czech remote control is a tiny box with six buttons that each blind individual can purchase. Using this aid, a blind person navigating through a Czech city can check any public transport schedule available at any stop, confirm the line of the bus or tram that just came, alert the driver to their presence so that they can let them in or out of the vehicle, navigate around the Prague underground, trigger audible traffic lights to be switched on and locate some of the key buildings such as the Blind Union's HQ's.
Although many cities of Europe have meanwhile tried to implement a similar system, the Czech Republic is the only country I know of that offers such a wide range of services in the entire country this way. I was very impressed the first time I tested this and I love coming back to our southern neighbours. Ahoj a zdravim vas s Polska!
Below, an article of the Czech radio broadcaster back from 2004 explaining the accommodations along with audio samples in Real Audio, if you can still play that.
english.radio.cz/czech-blind-u…
#Accessibility #Blind #UrbanEnvironment #BuildEnvironment #CzechRepublic #AdventCalendar

"Czech Blind United" - making Czech towns and cities friendlier to the blind and visually impaired

Many foreign visitors to Prague or elsewhere in the Czech Republic are often puzzled by the ticking sound of traffic lights at pedestrian crossings. It is the acoustic…
Radio Prague International
#Accessibility #blind #czechrepublic #adventcalendar #urbanenvironment #BuildEnvironment

I asked ChatGPT to write a song from a techbro's perspective, about accessibility. You'll love the result 😆 #accessibility #ChatGPT
Me: Write a song from the techbro's perspective about accessibility. ChatGPT: Verse 1: I'm a tech bro, | code all day Making apps and games, it's my way But sometimes people say to me "Hey bro, your app's not accessible" Chorus: Accessibility, accessibility It's important, | know, but not to me | like to code and have my fun Accessibility can wait, it's not number one Verse 2: | don't need to worry about keyboard controls Or screen readers, or different roles | just want to make my app cool And if it's not accessible, that's not my rule Chorus: Accessibility, accessibility It's important, | know, but not to me | like to code and have my fun Accessibility can wait, it's not number one (continued in next screenshot)
(continued from previous screenshot) Bridge: But maybe | should think about it more And make sure my app is accessible for sure Because everyone deserves a chance to play And accessibility is the way Chorus: Accessibility, accessibility It's important, | know, and now to me I'll make my app accessible, it can be done Accessibility is number one.
#Accessibility #chatgpt

As an extra creative exercise, a question: how would you imagine the services you enjoy every day thanks to the Internet if our ultimate mode of accessing data was audio over the telephone? How would Mastodon sound like? What about internet shopping, spam, viruses, all that lovely stuff? Sound effect examples are welcome as are vague descriptions. #AdventCalendar #Accessibility #Blind #Sound #SoundDesign
#Accessibility #blind #sound #sounddesign #adventcalendar

When I was 9 or so, I discovered that one of the cineplex complexes in Poland operated a phone line with an IVR system that would let you explore the entire schedule of currently running movies. This was my first means of accessing information independently and on-demand. I was the movies expert in our house at that time and with movies like "Shrek", "Matrix", "Starwars" and "Harry Potter" coming out this was the time to be alive. I dreamt then that we will be able to access all of the info we want through a telephone. Turns out that's what #Switzerland is doing right now.
Voicenet is the service of the Swiss Union of the Blind, where you can call in and receive all the information you need to access culture, shopping, receive advice, benefit from the organization's services etc.
Some things you can find there:
- the current supermarket prospects with all of the weekly discounts and special offers read by volunteers;
- TV and radio schedule, including information on movies with audiodescription aired throughout the week;
- traffic and construction works;
- rail schedules;
- signing up for the Union's events;
- a voice forum where users can ask for advice and exchange information;
All of that provided by volunteers and an editorial team in three languages: German, French and Italian with the ability to navigate through content E.G. jumping from beverages to dairy products with the phone's keypad.
I realize that things like the NFB Newsline exist but it seems that, as Switzerland is a much smaller country, it is easier to offer much more local information.
sbv-bvas.ch/voicenet-2/
#Accessibility #Blind #Phone #languages #Switzerland #German #French #Italian #AdventCalendar

Voicenet des Schweizerischer Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Sektion Aargau-Solothurn

VoiceNet ein interaktives Hörmedium +41(0)31 390 88 88 und bietet umfassende Informationen des Schweizer Blinden und Sehbehindertenverband
Bith (sbv-bvas)
#Accessibility #blind #languages #german #french #italian #phone #switzerland #adventcalendar

Hey @yatil - I came across your #accessibility in the #fediverse post: yatil.net/blog/accessibility-i…

I'm currently working on a #chess game that can be played over Mastodon, and I'm keen for it to be as good an experience as it can be for everyone. I've done some research, have a prototype, and now I feel like I can start talking to users...

Would you be willing to offer your thoughts, and could you recommend a few people I could email or chat to?


Accessibility in the Fediverse (and Mastodon) · Eric Eggert

Many people think about moving or at least establishing a presence in the so-called Fediverse. The Fediverse is (and this is probably a very shortened and incorrect) a collection of distributed web applications that can talk to each other.
Eric Eggert
#Accessibility #fediverse #chess @Eric Eggert

My boyfriend (@crispy) says that he wishes there's a way to use Mastodon when he can't type much because of #OCD. He says that's why he prefers Twitter Spaces, because he can use his voice.

Perhaps #Mastodon would do well to add a voice post option?

He doesn't like dictation because it's slow and doesn't work properly. The built-in dictation at least.

Related GitHub Issue: github.com/mastodon/mastodon/i…

#accessibility #TypingImpaired


[Accessibility] voice record support in toots · Issue #9878 · mastodon/mastodon

Audio support is asked many times (although odd enough I didn't find an issue about it), but not voice support. A blind person on Todon.nl (a new user) asked the question if it would be possibl...
GitHub
#Accessibility #Mastodon #OCD #typingimpaired @crispy

In #Japan, the concept of accessible phones has been known since the early 00's and has its own term, "Raku Raku Phones" and means simplified phones. Those are adapted for the needs of elderly users and those who don't feel as familiar with modern technology so a lot of concepts are, well, simplified. This is especially important given that the 00's saw the emergence of Japanese mobile phones with capacities comparable to today's smartphones. Sending emails, taking photos, mobile payments, music recognition and downloads; even TV watched on a phone were all there by 2005 and formed an important part of how the Japanese society accessed information. This is why the Raku Raku phones manufactured jointly by Fujitsu and NTT Docomo, the leading Japanese mobile carrier, were so important. Fujitsu called to the corporate social responsibility of other companies to follow suit and also formed the basis for accessibility guidelines for I-Mode, the gateway to all of Japan's mobile internet services. Apparently, 80% of Japan's blind population used these phones as they were equipped with a screen reader and allowed accessing I-Mode this way. fujitsu.com/global/documents/a…
#accessibility #blind #Japan #adventcalendar #mobile #phones
#Accessibility #mobile #blind #japan #phones #adventcalendar

#Dev recommendations 6. #RegEx can be a hard topic for every new person starting with #programming. However don’t be scared of them because they are useful and fun! If you struggle to learn #RegularExpressions here are my favorite resources.
1. regex101.com. This website is your all in one toolbox for regular expressions, with tutorials, reference and a very advanced debugger which can visualise the expression’s output. All for free, and with #accessibility for the #blind out of the box.
2. youtube.com/watch?v=r6I-Ahc0HB…
A little course on regular expressions. The teaching is cler and the guy explains everything on the way.
As always, if you have any questions about #RegEx, #csharp #dotnet, #swift or anything else, feel free to ask me!

regex101: build, test, and debug regex

Regular expression tester with syntax highlighting, explanation, cheat sheet for PHP/PCRE, Python, GO, JavaScript, Java, C#/.NET.
regex101
#Accessibility #blind #programming #dev #swift #dotnet #RegEx #RegularExpressions #csharp

#a11y #Accessibility #data #svg

#Accessibility #opensource #Mastodon #FediTips #metatext @Metabolist

#a11y #Accessibility

I've collected some #Mastodon 🦣 #instances to help with the #TwitterMigration focused in #inclusion, #accesibility and #minorities. They look like safe spaces for most of us. I'd appreciate the boost and new recommendations to add to the list:

🔗🇬🇧 ableism.rip/about - space to fight ableism
🔗🇬🇧 disabled.social/about - for disabled people
🔗🇬🇧 neurodifferent.me/about - neurodiversity and neurominorities
🔗🇬🇧 iaccessibility.social/about - interest in assistive technology
🔗🇬🇧 blacktwitter.io/about - history and voices for black people
🔗🇬🇧 lgbt.io/about - for LGBT+ and allies
🔗🇬🇧 queer.party/about - queer-oriented instance
🔗🇬🇧 tech.lgbt/about - for tech workers, academics, students, and others interested in tech who are LGBTQIA+ or Allies

Please boost to reach more people!


Disability Rights Mastodon

Where Ableism Goes to Die
Mastodon hosted on ableism.rip
#Accessibility #Mastodon #instances #twittermigration #inclusion #minorities

I need some help with #nvda & #wikipedia.
I'm assisting a blind student in learning how to navigate the web using a laptop.
NVDA reads out the title first, then properties about the document, then the summary box on the side.
I can't find any way to skip that whole box and move straight to the main content. There is no main content landmark, nor is there a heading, not is it in the Contents section.
Take en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood… as an example. How can I navigate to the first sentence of the main article?
Thanks for any help.
#blind #accessibility

US Supreme Court justice from 1967 to 1991

Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)
#Accessibility #blind #wikipedia #nvda

So, it's the server (instance) that converts it? Do you know if that's the same on all masto instances, or is it a setting the admin can change?

Letter case makes a HUGE difference to hashtags for screen readers, people with dyslexia, the visually impaired, etc. That is the reason I'm asking.
#accessibility

#Accessibility

⇧