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Items tagged with: Accessibility

Do you love the idea of Free & Open Source Software, and Linux in particular? I certainly do. But until recently, I didn't think too much about what "freedom" means beyond licensing. If you're like me, this blog post by @fireborn could border on heartbreaking. But it may also be a call to action, not only for developers, but for the entire F/OSS community. I hope it is.

Excerpt: »Freedom is also not telling disabled users to go fuck themselves because they asked for a working login prompt. It’s not freedom if it requires you to be perfect, sighted, fluent in C, and emotionally bulletproof.«

fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/you…

found via @Natanox at chaos.social/@Natanox/11474988…

#Linux #Accessibility #FOSS #Gatekeeping

Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸

2025-06-26 13:24:00

mastodon - Link to source

THIS.
I gonna save this to just post it every time one of those entitled FOSS-bros crosses my path.

If the only way for people to use a computer is to either become a developer yourself or suffer through exploitation by big corporations it isn't an individual failure of those people, it's an absolute failure of the FOSS / Linux community to build good software.
fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/you…
#Linux #Accessibility


You Don’t Own the Word “Freedom”: A Full-Burn Response to the GNU/Linux Comment That Tried to Gatekeep Me Off My Own Machine — fireborn

fireborn.mataroa.blog

#Accessibility #linux #foss #gatekeeping @Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸 @aaron

@NVAccess
Hi everyone, hope all is well! Quick question for those using NVDA on Windows. I’m trying to help someone by remotely controlling their computer using the built-in NVDA Remote feature. But when I press F11, I can’t seem to control the other computer. Any ideas or tips? Appreciate the help! We are on the latest update of NVDA.

\#NVDA #Accessibility #ScreenReader #BlindTech #Windows #TechHelp

#Accessibility #Windows #screenreader #nvda #blindtech #techhelp @NV Access

Listen, oh listen, o you great city of #Lyon! Or even better: écoute, ô écoute, ô toi la grande ville de Lyon ! Cet article est en anglais, mais tu peux le traduire si tu veux, y a des moyens. chacun de ceux et celles qui repostent le grand hourra de » À Lyon on abandonne #Windows et #Microsoft #Office pour #Linux » doit lire ceci. Chacun qui prône la soit-disante liberté de Linux et de l'open-source doit clairement avouer : on ne veut pas de gens handicapés, aveugles, âgés, «pas assez smart ». Nous sommes exclus de votre fête de la vie. Si une solution est libre, open-source mais pas accessible, c'est une mauvaise solution. fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/you… #Accessibility #Accessibilité #EAA

You Don’t Own the Word “Freedom”: A Full-Burn Response to the GNU/Linux Comment That Tried to Gatekeep Me Off My Own Machine — fireborn

fireborn.mataroa.blog
#Accessibility #linux #Windows #microsoft #office #accessibilité #eaa #lyon

THIS.
I gonna save this to just post it every time one of those entitled FOSS-bros crosses my path.

If the only way for people to use a computer is to either become a developer yourself or suffer through exploitation by big corporations it isn't an individual failure of those people, it's an absolute failure of the FOSS / Linux community to build good software.
fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/you…
#Linux #Accessibility

You Don’t Own the Word “Freedom”: A Full-Burn Response to the GNU/Linux Comment That Tried to Gatekeep Me Off My Own Machine — fireborn

fireborn.mataroa.blog
#Accessibility #linux

And quite honestly I feel there's a lot of victims to this kind of mentality that aren't necessarily disabled end users, take @danirabbit and others who do a huge amount of work to make #linux #accessibility be better than the wonky house of cards it's been for decades. They've essentially inherited the user frustration, righteous anger and powerlessness that systematic neglect has created while ALSO having to defend the fact to actually include hoomans that aren't "the norm" when deciding if a button should be a button or a superFancyNewRustUICompositeWidgetLookHowCoolMyInheritanceSKillzAreTemplateFoundationUIClassAlsoFuckYouKeyboardUsersButton. Peeps who want a simple OS for, say, an old computer that's losing Windows access a shot, seriously go give @elementary a look and provide feedback, these folks actually WANT to fix stuff
#Accessibility #linux @elementary @Danielle Foré

This is one of the reasons why IC_Null exists. Why I stream at all even though I know many of the products and services I call out do not give a single f*ck.
While #accessibility anything-at-all has a huge preaching-to-the-choir problem inside and outside of companies, this is the other extreme. Accessibility issues are just challenges to overcome, and this is a bit of a hot take, is NOT entirely inaccurate; a lot of accessibility issues can be mittigated by user knowledge, and a lot of folks don't know how to best use the assistive tech they have access to. HOWEVER, there comes a point where the user is absolutely within their rights to decide a so-called challenge does not need to be as challenging as it is, see also: pick your battles.
To me, if a product meant to make me more productive instead slows me down because of a poorly coded UI, I don't see the point, freedom, GNU or not. Today, my choice is between an operating system that compromises my privacy and tosses upsells at me in every way it can, or a set of operating systems that, through "freedom fighters" like Gary No-like Users over here, I can never trust to stay accessible enough to get anything done from one day to the next. Welp ... phone home all you like computer, I need to eat.
#Accessibility

I woke up to a comment so smug, so perfectly soaked in gatekeeping and faux-righteous posturing, it earned its own blog post.
You want freedom? You want GNU/Linux to mean something?
Then maybe start by not telling disabled users to go fuck themselves with a smile.
This commenter thought they were defending "software freedom." What they were really doing was kicking people out of the room. Dismissing accessibility. Mocking effort. Pretending that cruelty is some kind of rite of passage. They quoted Stallman like it was scripture, ignored real-world experience like it was noise, and wrapped it all in condescension dressed as virtue.
I’ve spent over a decade in this ecosystem. Writing patches. Rebuilding broken stacks. Helping blind users boot systems upstream doesn’t even test. I didn’t "just install Arch and whine about the terminal." I lived in it. I survived it. I held it together when maintainers disappeared and no one else gave a damn.
But apparently, because I didn’t call it GNU/Linux™ and because I dared to talk about how this OS chews people up and spits them out, I’m lazy. I’m weak. I should "get a dog."
So I wrote a response. Line by line. No mercy. No euphemisms.
This isn’t just about one comment. This is about every time someone’s been told they don’t belong because they couldn’t learn fast enough, code well enough, or survive long enough. It’s about everyone who was pushed out while the gatekeepers patted themselves on the back for "preserving the spirit of free software."
You want a free system? Start by making it livable. Because freedom that demands you crawl bleeding through a broken bootloader isn’t freedom. It’s abandonment dressed in ideology.
And if this kind of gatekeeping is your idea of community?
You can keep it.
fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/you…
#Linux #GNU #FOSS #Accessibility #BlindTech #FreeSoftware #Gatekeeping #DisabilityInTech #OpenSource #Orca #ScreenReaders #ArchLinux #BurnItDown #blogpost

You Don’t Own the Word “Freedom”: A Full-Burn Response to the GNU/Linux Comment That Tried to Gatekeep Me Off My Own Machine — fireborn

fireborn.mataroa.blog
#FreeSoftware #Accessibility #linux #foss #opensource #gnu #archlinux #screenreaders #orca #blogpost #gatekeeping #blindtech #disabilityintech #burnitdown

Someone pointed me to a new PDF to HTML conversion tool that they had helped with. I've now lost that link and can't remember the connection.

So hivemind, what PDF to HTML tools do you recommend for those who want to convert a PDF as an accessible HTML file.

#accessibility #PDF

#Accessibility #pdf

People keep telling me I don’t know how good I have it. That modern systems are easy, and that accessibility has come so far I should be grateful. So I decided to test that claim the hard way.
I’m running Windows XP for a month. Not in a VM. Not themed. Real XP. Real hardware. A 2009 Samsung NC10, with 2GB of RAM, an SSD, and the original drivers I had to dig up from the depths of the internet.
No speech at install. I used OCR to get through it.
Display drivers broke four times.
Serpent is the only browser I could get working.
I installed Office 2003.
Got JAWS 15 running after a registry hack.
NVDA still works fine.
I even played some old audio games I never got to try growing up.
I haven’t found a decent ad blocker or antivirus yet. I’m not expecting this to go smoothly. I don’t even really believe I’ll make it the full 30 days. But I’m doing it anyway.
Day 1 is up. Written and published from Windows XP.
fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/dea…
#WindowsXP #Accessibility #BlindComputing #RetroTech
#NVDA #JAWS #audiogames
#30DaysOfXP

Dead OS Walking: 30 Days on Windows XP in 2025 — fireborn

fireborn.mataroa.blog
#Accessibility #nvda #jaws #audiogames #windowsxp #retrotech #blindcomputing #30daysofxp

It can be EXHAUSTING to share the same feedback over and over and over (and over) again... but this is a harsh reality when you're an #accessibility tester. 😣
#Accessibility

Are you a GitHub user who would like to support the great work NV Access does?

You can become a GitHub Sponsor!

Today, we'd like to give a shoutout to Nael-Accessvision, one of our GitHub sponsors.

You can sponsor NV Access here: github.com/sponsors/nvaccess

(Or through PayPal or bank transfer via the "Donate" link on our website)

*Donations in Australia are tax deductible*

#FOSS #FLOSS #Accessibility #NonProfit #NotForProfit #GoodCause #Donate #Donation

Screenshot snippets of GitHub sponsor button with red heart outline, Nael-Accessvision with "Sponsor" tag, GitHub logo and "Become a sponsor to NV Access with NV Access username and logo and text "At NV Access we believe that every Blind and Vision Impaired person deserves the right to freely & easily access a computer. We create the software which makes that possible: NVDA. " "Thank you" text in purple all on white background with shades of purple, orange and turquoise from corners with white sunbursts

Sponsor @nvaccess on GitHub Sponsors

NV Access creates NVDA, the free open source Screen Reader that enables blind people to gain freedom, education & employment.
GitHub
#Accessibility #foss #floss #nonprofit #donate #notforprofit #donation #GoodCause

There's a growing movement on the #fedi that wants people to switch away from Big (US-based) Tech and towards #FOSS alternatives like #Linux, alternatives to #google, #Microsoft, #dropbox etc.
For #screenReader users, that might not be as simple as all that due to #accessibility reasons. This weekend's IC_Null stream aims to dig into this, but I need your help. What tools, services etc. should I look at from an #accessibility perspective? Anyone here who needs their tools evaluated? Anyone here who's curious about a particular tool or suite of tools? Let me know and I'll add it to the list. Anything goes. #selfHosting #blind #tech #EU
#Accessibility #linux #foss #google #blind #screenreader #microsoft #EU #fedi #selfhosting #tech #dropbox

#Accessibility #webaccessibility #WebAlmanac

ChatGPT’s Mac app now records meetings, but it’s nearly unusable with VoiceOver.
Buttons are unlabeled, transcripts are hard to access, and navigation is broken for blind users.
Full write-up: taylorarndt.substack.com/p/cha…
Demo: youtube.com/watch?v=nGhfTH1ZNW…
OpenAI needs to include accessibility in every release. This one missed the mark.
#Accessibility #ChatGPT #VoiceOver #MacAccessibility #BlindTech #InclusiveTech

ChatGPT for Mac’s New Meeting Recording Feature Is Powerful — But Almost Unusable for Blind Users

When OpenAI released the Meeting Recording feature in the ChatGPT for Mac app, I was excited.
Taylor Arndt (Taylor’s Substack)
#Accessibility #voiceover #chatgpt #inclusivetech #blindtech #macaccessibility

#Accessibility #accessible #blind #gaming #screenreader #games #audiogames #flight #simulation #fsx

There’s always the first time for everything! :)
We just completed our first #Waymo ride from and to home. Everything went fairly smoothly except that on the way back we lost a ride because, for some reason, we could not locate the car even after engaging the “honk” or “play melody” feature. According to the app, the car was nearby but we could not hear any sound. $5 charge for a “no show”, but the bug and feedback is definitely coming! :) #accessibility
#Accessibility #waymo

#a11y #Accessibility #ios

#Accessibility

Episode 30 of Access On, is on.
This week, we look ahead to just a few of the technology-related events at #NFB25 in New Orleans.
we discuss the National Federation of the Blind’s advocacy to promote the availability and accessibility of autonomous vehicles.
Listeners provide comment on Facebook #accessibility, seeking the perfect Windows email client and more.
#Accessibility #nfb25

Is there any web based chess game that has bots, teaching tools and is fully screen reader accessible; i.e. allows you to move around the board with cursor keys, rather than just speaking notation? Basically WinBoard but web based. #accessibility
#Accessibility

I'd still buy them as there is no viable alternative for blind people. I measn… I grew to have this colclusion that #Accessibility is the most important thing to me. I've been telling it to open-source warriors, against-Google, against-Microsoft, against-Meta varriors and so on: if you are abled, you have choice. I'm disabled, I need to work and live my life as fully as I can. So yeah, privacy and all this stuff is good, but to me accessibility is far more vital and important.
#Accessibility

One of Forbes’ renowned 100 lists has just recognised NV Access as a global leader in accessibility.

Forbes’ first-ever Accessibility 100 highlights the biggest innovators & impact-makers in the field of accessibility.

“It’s an honour to be recognised alongside the world’s best innovative organisations advancing accessibility” said NV Access Co-Founder, Mick Curran.

The Forbes Accessibility 100 List is at: forbes.com/lists/accessibility…

#NVDA #NVDAsr #Accessibility #A11y #Forbes #Top100 #BestOf2025

NV Access logo top-left and mockup of NVDA box bottom right, with "ACCESSIBILITY 100" in turquoise diagonally from lower-left to top-right with turquoise lines above and below. 2025 in orange in blank area below, orange tinge in lower-left background and orange border top and right.
#a11y #Accessibility #nvdasr #nvda #forbes #top100 #bestof2025

An #accessibility question for folks who use a #screenreader, I occasionally see people using alternate Unicode letter forms to get an italic effect on servers that don’t support rich text.

How does that play with a screen reader? Are those alternate characters read properly?

In other words: Is “𝑟” read as “r” or as ‘MATHEMATICAL ITALIC SMALL R’?

#Accessibility #screenreader

#a11y #Accessibility #webdev #webdesign #productmgmt

#FreeBSD provides the Ports Collection, a convenient way to install applications. Some ports allow users to configure options before building and installing. By default, this configuration is done through an interactive menu in the terminal.

To improve readability and #Accessibility especially for users with low vision or color blindness, it's important to offer simple and customizable color options. These features have recently been implemented and documented in the preview version of the FreeBSD Accessibility Handbook:
freebsd-accessibility-9d667f.g…

The next step is to extend these features to all terminal-based graphical components.

I'd love to hear from you:
Do you use any accessibility features in the terminal?
Which color-related assistive technologies make the biggest difference in your daily workflow?

Together, we can make FreeBSD more accessible for everyone. #ThePowerForEveryone #FreeBSD #Accessibility #OpenSource #LowVision #ColorBlindness #AssistiveTechnology #AccessibilityMatters

Screenshot showing four different terminal windows running the FreeBSD Ports Collection configuration menu for Vim. Each window demonstrates a different color scheme, illustrating the newly implemented color customization options for improved accessibility. The configurations include toggles for language support and ctags options, with varying background and text colors to enhance readability for users with different visual needs.

Chapter 3. Colors | FreeBSD Documentation Portal

Features to set up colors
freebsd-accessibility-9d667f.gitlab.io
#Accessibility #opensource #freebsd #lowvision #assistivetechnology #AccessibilityMatters #colorblindness #thepowerforeveryone

Steam just added screen reader support in the latest Big Picture Mode beta. On the Deck. On SteamOS. On Linux.
Not hacked in. Not community-patched. Built-in. From Valve.
There's an accessibility tab. There's a screen reader. There's high-contrast mode, UI scaling, color filters, reduced motion, and more.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but: I need a Steam Deck now.
Accessibility isn’t just coming to gaming — it’s here, and it’s official.
Let’s make some noise so they keep going.
🔗 theverge.com/games/689922/stea…
#Accessibility #Gaming #SteamDeck #ScreenReader #Linux #valve

Steam is adding screen reader support and other accessibility tools

Valve’s latest Steam beta adds new accessibility features to Big Picture mode and SteamOS.
Adi Robertson (The Verge)
#Accessibility #linux #gaming #screenreader #SteamDeck #valve

I didn’t plan to write about Wayland yet. But Xorg is dying — not eventually, but now. GNOME’s dropping X11 support. RHEL already removed it. Ubuntu and Fedora are next. And if you rely on accessibility, you don’t get to wait this one out.
So here’s Post 4 of I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn’t Love Me Back.
I’m using Wayland now. Primarily. Not because I love it. Because the fallback is disappearing, and I want to be there helping fix what comes next. GNOME with Orca actually works. KDE and COSMIC are making progress. I’ve talked to the people involved. They care.
But a lot is broken.
MATE — the desktop most blind users preferred — isn’t on Wayland.
ocrdesktop doesn’t work. xdotool is gone.
wlroots compositors still don’t reliably support Orca’s keybindings, especially on laptops.
This isn’t GNOME’s fault. They’re the only reason accessibility on Wayland works at all.
But the old excuses are gone. “Just use Xorg” isn’t going to be an option much longer.
So yeah. I’m a Wayland shill now. Because I’m using it. Because I have to.
And I want to make sure we’re not excluded from what comes next.
fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/i-w…
#Linux #Wayland #Accessibility #Orca #GNOME #KDE #COSMIC #FOSS #a11y #BlindTech #xorg

I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn’t Love Me Back: Post 4 – Wayland Is Growing Up. And Now We Don’t Have a Choice — fireborn

fireborn.mataroa.blog
#a11y #Accessibility #linux #foss #gnome #KDE #Wayland #orca #cosmic #blindtech #xorg

#Signal for iOS v7.65 release notes:

* Message status indicators (sent, delivered, etc.) are now supported by the iOS VoiceOver feature in order to improve accessibility for blind and low-vision individuals.

#accessibility

#Accessibility #signal

#Accessibility #foss #remotedesktop #mesh

If you’ve paid attention to my ramblings over the last decade-plus, then you’ve heard me to talk about selfish accessibility.

It’s nice to see others embrace it.

“Selfish reasons for building accessible UIs”
nolanlawson.com/2025/06/16/sel…

#accessibility #a11y


Selfish reasons for building accessible UIs

All web developers know, at some level, that accessibility is important. But when push comes to shove, it can be hard to prioritize it above a bazillion other concerns when you’re trying to c…
Read the Tea Leaves
#a11y #Accessibility

You may think that digital accessibility is unrelated, but I assure you that every successful effort to chip away at rights and protections will be followed by another.

Don’t wait until it affects you personally. Speak up. This is low-risk, so do it while you can.

#a11y #accessibility

#a11y #Accessibility

20,711 comments between 14 May and 16 June 2025. Not bad for an expedited review period.
regulations.gov/document/DOE-H…

Granted, no guarantee they all support Section 504 nor that all will be accepted by this administration.

Comments are not visible yet.

#accessibility

#Accessibility

#Accessibility #css

How hard can it be to configure an iOS app to make sure that VoiceOver switches to the app’s language? (Answer: really, really hard)

someminorusabilityissues.blogs…

#accessibility #ios #localization #internationalization

How hard can it be to configure an iOS app to make sure that VoiceOver switches to the app's language? (Answer: really, really hard)

In  a previous post , I described how to configure the iOS screen reader VoiceOver to handle multiple languages, allowing the user to manual...
someminorusabilityissues.blogspot.com
#Accessibility #ios #localization #internationalization

#Accessibility #apple #blind #MACOS #mac #voiceover

Open Source Accessibility Summit!
Sunday, Oct 12, Raleigh, NC USA
"Improving the accessibility of open source software"
2025.allthingsopen.org/open-so…
#opensource #oss #a11y #accessibility #events #event #raleighNC

Open Source Accessibility Summit • All Things Open 2025

About the Open Source Accessibility Summit The Open Source Accessibility Summit will be a one-day in-person event that brings together members of the disability, accessibility, and open source communities to define a roadmap for improving the accessi…
All Things Open
#a11y #Accessibility #opensource #oss #events #event #raleighnc

NV Access is pleased to announce that version 2025.1 of NVDA, the free screen reader for Microsoft Windows, is now available for download. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version. This release introduces NVDA Remote Access, provides speech, braille, OCR & Office improvements, Native selection in Chrome & edge

Full info & Download: nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2025-1/

#NVDA #NVDAsr #ScreenReader #Accessibility #FOSS #NewVersion #Update #News #Free

Close up of NVDA Notification area icon

NV Access | NVDA 2025.1 Released

www.nvaccess.org
#Accessibility #foss #free #screenreader #nvdasr #News #update #nvda #newversion

We need urgent community action to stop this incredibly ableist plan from moving forward.

The DOE has ruled that new federal buildings don’t have to meet accessibility standards.

That will mean many disabled people won’t be able to work in or access these places.

They’re literally excluding us from as many facets of life as possible, because they have a eugenics plan.

Call, email, speak out!

Accessibility is not a “nice to have”. It’s a legal right. It’s necessary for our survival.

federalregister.gov/documents/…

#uspol #fascism #disability #chronicillness #ableism #accessibility #doe

Federal Register :: Request Access

www.federalregister.gov
#Accessibility #uspol #Disability #chronicillness #ableism #fascism #DOE

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