Are there any cross-platform UI libraries for Go that either provide strong accessibility support for screen readers or utilize OS-native widgets? #Golang #UI #accessibility @vick21
June 4, 2025 marks the First Annual World Day for Assistive Technology. awarenessdays.com/awareness-da… Devices that help #Disabled folks live more fulfilling, independent lives have come a tremendously long way over the years, so let's hear your stories. What's the first piece of #AssistiveTech you remember using? (yes, mobility devices count.) What's been your favorite? Least favorite? Most helpful? Most Fun? And what are your AT dreams for the future? We can't wait to hear about them. #WorldATDay #Blind #Accessibility
I hesitate to call this a review since I did not use this Motorola Razr as my primary phone for any substantial amount of time. However, I did acquire it
I'm looking for a markdown editor for Windows that’s accessible with JAWS. I currently use iA Writer but not sure how well it works with a screen reader. I also need the ability to export to Word. Any recommendations? Thanks. #BlindTech #JAWS #Markdown #Accessibility #WindowsApps #ScreenReader #WordExport
Amazon has brought Kindle for Android's accessibility to the level of its accessibility on iOS. One can read a book completely with TalkBack, with no need for having system TTS to read it. This means that you can also use a Braille display to read the book, with no need to flip the page using the touch screen. In fact, you don't even notice that pages are being flipped, it's that seamless. So, I now have a great reading app on Android, from the most unexpected place!
What screen readers do you use regularly on your Android device? I’m looking for an anecdotal idea of how popular alternative #screenreader apps on #android really are. Please boost! Thanks so much for your help. #screenreaders#a11y#accessibility#blind
The goal During my 25 years working as a web accessibility specialist I noticed the biggest hurdle to create an accessible web, is the lack of knowledge.
Issue 3 of my newsletter is live! I talk about how I started in mobile development, lessons learned, and big changes coming to Techopolis. Topics: • Native app development • Accessibility-first tech • AI + mobile strategy Read it here: taylorarndt.substack.com/p/new… #Accessibility #MobileDevelopment #AI #AppDev #SwiftUI
I’ve published Part 3 of “I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn’t Love Me Back.”
This one’s about the so-called universal interface: the console. The raw, non-GUI, text-mode TTY. The place where sighted Linux users fall back when the desktop breaks, and where blind users are supposed to do the same. Except — we can’t. Not reliably. Not safely. Not without building the entire stack ourselves.
This post covers Speakup, BRLTTY, Fenrir, and the audio subsystem hell that makes screen reading in the console a game of chance. It dives into why session-locked audio breaks espeakup, why BRLTTY fails silently and eats USB ports, why the console can be a full environment — and why it’s still unusable out of the box. And yes, it calls out the fact that if you’re deafblind, and BRLTTY doesn’t start, you’re just locked out of the machine entirely. No speech. No visuals. Just a dead black box.
There are workarounds. Scripts. Hacks. Weird client.conf magic that you run once as root, once as a user, and pray to PipeWire that it sticks. Some of this I learned from a reader of post 1. None of it is documented. None of it is standard. And none of it should be required.
This is a long one. Technical, and very real. Because the console should be the one place Linux accessibility never breaks. And it’s the one place that’s been left to rot.
Just published a blog post tearing into hCaptcha’s so-called “accessibility” mode.
It’s not accessibility. It’s a cookie. And to get that cookie, you now have to submit your email and send a code via SMS to an U.S. phone number. It fails silently. It doesn’t confirm anything. You click “Confirm Code” and get “An error has occurred.” No cookie. No fallback. No support. And if you somehow get it? It’s a third-party cookie your browser probably blocks, and it expires. Then you get to do it all again.
Meanwhile, hCaptcha’s text-based challenge — the only mode that might actually work with a screen reader — isn’t tied to the cookie at all. It only shows up if the website owner specifically enables it. Most don’t. So even if you’re blind, even if you’re using assistive tech, you get the same unusable image grid as everyone else.
This isn’t accessibility. It’s exclusion wrapped in PR.
The blog post breaks it all down: how the cookie flow works (or doesn’t), why the system is broken by design, how developers got misled, and what real alternatives look like. If you care about accessible design or just want to understand how bad this gets, read it.
Do you have any references for choosing the distribution? My first point of search was distrowatch.com but did not see anything for accessibility there. But maybe I just did not try hard enough .. How did you come to choose Debian?
If it isn't there yet, it's possibly worth to collect information on a website, and having a check list for distributions - What is there? What is missing?
One of my closest and longest friends is starting a new YouTube channel documenting his journey to fulfill a life-long dream of his. Even though he's low vision, through a new program available in Ontario, he has the opportunity to gain his drivers license via the use of a bioptic telescope. If you love cars as much as he does, are just curious, or are a low vision person interested in what a program like this could mean for you, check out his first video on the channel! As far as I know, this is the first time someone has documented the journey of learning to drive with a bioptic telescope from day one, from the perspective of a person with a disability, rather than a doctor or other medical professional. You can find the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GZdw1CzYtI#a11y#cars#driving#accessibility#disability
I now have a full-time client that needed a full-stack developer. I clearly stated I'm a backend person with some exposure to frontend. Okay, they said, go ahead. The first onboarding week everything worked like a charm: I was given an API-related task, I did it the first with really tinny-tiny comments for review, and I merged the PR in time (the only to do that of three newly hired devs). Guess that they gave me as my first real ticket? Are you sittin'? If not, sit down for not to fall. A reskin of a freakin' modal dialog, with Figma, CSS and stuff. Maybe it's the new reality of full-stack devs, but I'll talk to my hiring manager on Monday indeed. Yes, I didn't clearly state I'm totally blind properly, but it was obvious actually. Anyway, the life is hard sometimes. #Accessibility #Work #PHP #JavaScript
Heads up! PiccyBot's developer just announced that due to rising costs from AI providers (especially Google), subscription prices for new lifetime and yearly plans will go up starting next month. This change is meant to keep the service running smoothly. Just passing along the info. Plan accordingly if you were thinking of subscribing. #Accessibility
Sieht man Euch auf der Ham Radio in Friedrigshafen? Pascale und ich sind die drei Tage am Stand der #IBFD und stellen unsere Transceiver-Steuerung auf Basis der #HamLib vor. Haben uns ja schon Jahre nicht mehr gesehen. #Ham #Amateurfunk #Blind #Accessibility #HamRadio2025 #FediHams #FediHamsFN
You’ve seen my posts about Linux accessibility. You’ve read me scream about broken screen readers, unusable bootloaders, and the sheer volume of stuff that only works after three undocumented hacks and a blood sacrifice. That’s from someone who already knows how to deal with this mess. But what happens when someone new tries to step in? My partner just published the first post in a new blog series called “Linux: Helpful or Headache?” It’s a personal account of what it feels like to stare into the abyss of Linux as a blind user who hasn’t even installed it yet. This isn’t a “how to” guide. It’s not a technical tutorial. It’s a moment of honest vulnerability and curiosity in the face of a system that’s infamous for treating newcomers like an inconvenience. Part One – An Introduction reading4life.mataroa.blog/blog… She’s totally blind. She’s used to Windows and iOS — platforms where accessibility is at least visible, documented, and supported. Linux? From the outside, it looks like a twisted obstacle course: too many distros, zero onboarding, no centralized help, and a community that can't agree on anything except that "you should have read the wiki." And yet… she’s jumping in anyway. This first post talks about that pre-installation limbo. The “what the hell even is a distro?” stage. The existential dread of picking between MATE and GNOME when you don’t even know how to pronounce “Flatpak.” The raw, unfiltered feeling of not knowing what you don’t know — and doing it anyway, because the itch to explore is stronger than the fear of breaking stuff. There’s no cheerleading here. No “yay open source!” No tidy beginner tutorial with copy-paste terminal commands. Just one blind woman staring down the reality that Linux doesn’t come with a support number, and deciding to try it anyway — not because it’s easy, but because she wants to learn, grow, and maybe even call bullshit where it’s due. And if you're wondering — no, I didn’t write or co-write it. This is her voice, her experience, her story. But it does tie in beautifully with the nightmare I’ve been chronicling in my own posts, from a totally different vantage point. If you’ve ever tried to onboard someone to Linux, especially someone disabled, this is what it actually looks like. And if you’ve ever told someone “Linux is great, just pick a distro,” read this and realize how much we take for granted. Go read it. Boost it. Follow the series. She's only just getting started. #Linux #Accessibility #FOSS #DisabilityInTech #Blind #NewUserExperience #Debian #UX #TechBlog #DigitalInclusion
Another piece of cool, open source, user repairable #linux #hardware ordered because #accessibility focused guides on user-repairable hardware basically don't exist. I can't wait to evaluate it and make a post series about the experience. Maybe with some videos! I need a Patrion or something if I keep this up, but oh well. It's fun and people seem to enjoy what I have to say. #mnt #linuxHardware #a11y #openSource #foss #openHardware
I think it would behoove some people to not call things they don't like or don't agree with #inaccessible to make a point. Frankly, #accessibility professionals have a tough enough job without misinformation muddying up the waters. Spout thy opinion far and wide, sure, but please don't make our lives harder by shelving it under the wrong monicker
Welcome to GUADEC 2025 GUADEC is the GNOME community’s largest conference, bringing together hundreds of users, contributors, community members, and enthusiastic supporters for a week of talks and workshops.
💻 I’ll be open to work with your team starting July and can help with making the team more effective, building more robust code or make it accessible to comply with the “new” EU law.
In the past year I helped a couple of companies transforming their teams and making their web apps accessible and they effect was huge!
Send me a PM if you’re interested or have questions.
Welcome to Android. It's about as diverse as saying "I run Linux"
I'm sure once you've hammered out a pathway to #accessibility on it, many folks would appreciate the roadmap since iOS tends to be prohibitively expensive for a large section of the population.
Thorsten presents innovative TTS solutions and a variety of voice technologies, making it an excellent starting point for anyone interested in open-source text-to-speech. Whether you're a developer, accessibility advocate, or tech enthusiast, his channel offers valuable insights and resources. Don't miss out on this fantastic content! 🎬
Guude! (hi, nice to see you) 👋,
i'm Thorsten 😊.
You like open source, privacy aware and local running voice technology? Me too 😎. You'll find cooking recipe like tutorials on TTS, STT, Voice Assistants, AI, ML and way more cool stuff here.
Looks like there's been a few new followers so wanted to do another #introduction post. I'm Brandon, and I have a huge passion for #accessibility, #ScreenReaders, and #Tech as a whole. I also enjoy beta-testing software, and light gaming (think arcade style audio games). I am also a huge #TextToSpeech fan, and enjoy exploring all types of speech synthesizers, from voices like Vocalizer or RealSpeak, to Eloquence and others, as well as the latest advancements in AI text-to-speech. Outside of tech, I'm also interested in listening to music, both casually and to help relieve stress, and also enjoy talking and hanging out with friends. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
**update**: If you are using this post as some kind of call-to-action to harass and attack the GOS developers, please don't.
That damages everyone. You, them, and myself. It's not helpful.
**Update two**. I have made the decision to pull this post. It is not a good starting-point for a discussion, and just encourages defensiveness on both sides – when there really aren't sides here at all.
As a FOSS contributor, I am deeply ashamed at the way I approached this out of frustration.
@J3317 @evilcookies98 @darkyen You're giving us a shell of a car and the wheels, but not the engine. This is exactly like saying "I built a display framework but no graphics drivers, good luck." #a11y #accessibility #android jkjk
I bought Assassin’ s Creed Shadows, on the promise of its various blind friendly features. I spent quite a bit of time messing with settings and attempting to navigate the opening chapter, before ultimately concluding I could not play the game. (this is evident from my twitch vod) So I submitted a refund request. Unfortunately, it seems I spent too long trying to make it work:
Requests are considered on a case by case basis and are not typically issued for purchases of released products that are more than 14 days old, or if the purchased product has more than 2 hours of playtime.
because of the (unfulfilled) promise of accessibility, I spent longer trying to make the game work than I otherwise would, and now Steam is telling me I just have to eat the waste of money on a worthless product.
WTF am I supposed to do now? Sue Steam? Ubisoft? Canada?? Someone help me out here.
Well, Apple fixed the Messages rotor in the iOS Mail app. Now, I can read threads in Mail. And yet, with Gmail, well, there is no way to quickly navigate between messages in a thread. There are always third-party apps on Android, but a new user should definitely not need a more advanced mail client to easily navigate threaded mail.
“I’m asking this massive company to stop releasing features & products & ideas that are obvious barriers. And I want them to stop expecting free labor from the community. It’s tiring, frustrating, and disrespectful.”
Hey, Alphabet or Google or Chrome or whomever in that illegal monopoly continues to release things to the web platform that are full of accessibility barriers, I have what I think is a straightforward request.
Hey, Alphabet or Google or Chrome or whomever in that illegal monopoly continues to release things to the web platform that are full of accessibility barriers, I have what I think is a straightforward request.
Ooo lookie! Not sure when this version will be released, but...
The topic for the Tuesday, May 27, That All May eRead online program will be NLS Braille eReader software Version 3.0. In the remaining time, we will answer any questions you have about the NLS Braille eReader.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. eastern time and will last for one hour. The meeting will be recorded. To access the meeting, go to loc.zoomgov.com/j/1609330620?p…
To pause or resume the tutorial, press dots 1-2-5-6-Chord, which is Space along with the OU contraction. To lower the volume of the tutorial, press dots 1-2-3-5-6-Chord, which is Space along with the Of contraction. To raise the volume of the tutorial, press dots 2-3-4-5-6-Chord, which is Space along with the With contraction.
What are the new color options in CSS, and what do they add to the variety of color choices we already have? How do these new color options help to make your site more accessible?
As we are making good progress on #accessibility for GNOME Calendar lately (big thanks to @TheEvilSkeleton there) I have now rewritten and updated the description of this meta ticket to reflect the current status: gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-c…
15 of 28 checklist items completed as of May 22nd, 2025, based on what issues I've been able to find so far.
