#Vision Impairment

[reasonsforhope]

By the time Sue Shusterman turns away from the bench at the overlook and back toward the trailhead, she knows the paddleboarders are out in force 300 yards away on the gleaming blue surface of Chatfield Reservoir.  

She knows the high runoff waters have flooded the roots of Chatfield’s willows and cottonwoods, and that the first spring-green layers of the foothills rise to the west like soft fabric. 

How she acquired these life-affirming memories is at first a mystery, since Shusterman is blind and is heading back toward the parking lot making her usual sweep of the path in front with her ever-present white cane.  

But then a friendly voice emerges from the phone that Shusterman is pointing toward the path from her other hand.

A little to the left to stay on the paved path. Looks like there’s a trail all the way down to the beach, about 75 yards, if you wanted to go. I’ll just be here watching, let me know if you need anything. 

The voice is from a live, trained human guide FaceTiming through Shusterman’s phone camera on the Aira ability-assist app. Sight-impaired people have been using Aira’s guides to make it easier to do anything from navigating an airport to filling out an online job form. Now, all 42 Colorado state parks like Chatfield are geofenced to allow any visitor to use Aira for free to stroll the trails with a helpful set of eyes. 

The Aira guides seemingly effortlessly offer what a blind hiker either needs, or wants. If there’s a dangerous steep drop-off on the right, they warn. If the hiker would rather know if the sneezeweed is in bloom or the sailboats are luffing through a turn, Aira offers that instead.

For Shusterman, trying Aira as an outdoors adventure for the first time, the allure was simple: “Independence.” 

“So she’s doing, I think, a phenomenal job of including the necessary safety things, but the perks of the scenery, too,” Shusterman said, as she paused during a conversation with an Aira guide based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “She’s doing great.”

State accessibility officials recently announced the expansion of Aira to state parks grounds, after previously providing Aira free for other state-related functions such as navigating a government building or getting help on an online site or filling out forms. Colorado cannot control the cellphone signal, though, so parks officials encourage visitors to try Aira at a familiar or close-in park space before ranging farther afield with it. Popular parks like Staunton or Golden Gate contain pockets where signals are not strong. 

For consumers buying access on their own, Aira costs about $50 for 30 minutes of assistance a month. Private employers and governments often buy package access to Aira and other accessibility apps for all employees to use. State accessibility coordinator Theresa Montano, who is blind and accompanied Shusterman on her Chatfield walk, said Amazon buys access so that sight-impaired shipping center employees can navigate steps to pack orders.

Montano uses Aira at her state job, saying the guides on the app can share her computer screen and help her get through an online task in 30 minutes that might take her four hours without help or through older accessibility tools. 

Adding Aira for state-owned lands was wrapped into the overall $250,000 budget for free Aira use on state property and with state websites. The additional utility is an obvious plus, Montano said. 

“This gives blind people the same opportunity to come and enjoy it by themselves or with their family if they want to, and be independent,” she said...

Shusterman walked away taking more from the big picture experience, rather than any particular scenic detail. 

“For me, it was, you know what, I could go for a walk on this path, and I could feel completely safe, and I would enjoy a nice walk and get some exercise, in an unfamiliar area,” Shusterman said. “It’s definitely a real confidence boost for me.”  

-via The Colorado Sun, June 11, 2024

[feelingthemode]

disability pride month userboxes part 1/5

posted these on insta throughout the month :3

[zebulontheplanet]

I want people to understand this, not every person who is blind or can’t read uses a screen reader. Some people don’t use them. Some people rely on other people to read for them, some people rely on magnifying apps. Some people just avoid the internet. There are multiple reasons for this, some people don’t like screen readers. Some people don’t find them helpful. There are so many reasons someone doesn’t use a screen reader.

I know someone with alexia who doesn’t use a screen reader because she doesn’t like them. She depends on other people, and she’s happy with that. That’s great!

[sunnysam-my]

"Hazbin Hotel palet isn't that bad" "They just wanted to keep the theme of crimson red"

Dude, during beginning of "Happy Day In Hell" I had to put on my old glasses (my glasses were broken) and keep them, because Alastor literally disappeared into the carpet and walls of the hotel and Angel's hands into the sofa. I don't even want to know how hard this is to watch for people with eye disorders that can't be corrected with glasses.

What I saw:

BTW Charlie is in both of those pictures. Can you spot her?

And those edit aren't even that well made, in reality it blends even more, just not in a way blurr effect does it, but it's hard to make a stimulation of bad eyesight with a simple, free editing program and no experience.

Clear screenshot:

I couldn't find any online simulator that would allow me to change my own picture, but I found this good simulator of myopia (nearsightedness). That's not all I have, but you can see what I mean when I say it blends more without being blurry.

[the-rest-is-silenc3]

using a computer without a screenreader as a person with low vision is just *squints* *tilts head* *lowers brightness* *squints* *increases brightness* *rubs eyes* *squints* *increases font size* *squints*

if anyone has screenreader tips please send help because I have so much trouble using a screenreader. currently I'm using voiceover

[lemony-ink]

reminder that copy/paste fonts break screenreaders and are inaccessible for people who need them to use the internet!

do not use font generators that are copy and paste, put it as an image and have alt text

[demonicallyslaying]

Since I’m pissed at authors for making glasses seem bad I made an ACCURATE pros and cons list of having glasses

Pros:

It’s really fun seeing all the options of frames and getting to choose one

Being able to see clearly for the first time is one of the best experiences someone can have

Glasses can actually make you look way better appearance-wise

If you don’t want to see someone/something just take your glasses off

You can be more expressive with glasses

You can use the arms of the frames to pull things closer to you

They come with fun little cases

Never in my life have I been made fun of or seen someone else being made fun of for wearing glasses

You can get special lenses that get darker in the sunlight

You can put them on an inanimate object to make a little friend

Cons:

They can get dirty/broken/lost pretty easily

Sometimes the frames you want are too big/small for your face

If they’re too loose they can fall off your face when put your head down

If they fall into a crevice good luck I guess

They’re really expensive

Eye appointments can be boring/uncomfortable

If you need glasses but don't have them everything fucking sucks

I may update this if I think of anything else

[this-is-ali]

Not being able to drive stops me from doing so much more than just driving.

At least in my specific situation, not being able to drive also means:

not getting to choose how early or late I arrive to an event (or when I get to leave the event).

not being able to go for a drive when I'm upset or need to clear my head.

not getting to pick which route I take to a destination or whether/where to stop on the way.

not being in control of my own safety while I’m on the road.

not getting to listen to the music I want in the car (at least not without worrying I'm bothering whoever I'm with).

not being able to be the designated driver when I’m out with friends (even though I don’t even drink).

not being able to help drive during long car rides so whoever I’m with can take a break.

not being able to get to a friend in the middle of the night if they need someone.

not being able to go anywhere spontaneously or last-minute if I don’t have time to arrange a ride.

not being able to go somewhere if no one can/wants to give me a ride (especially if it’s too far away).

feeling left out any time people start talking about cars or driving (which happens surprisingly often).

having to miss out on events if the person who I was supposed to ride with has to cancel.

never going anywhere by myself.

constantly having to ask others for rides, to the point where I burn out on it and feel like a burden.

And so much more.

I’m constantly having to confront the fact that I would live an entirely different life if I could drive. But instead, I’m an adult with the independence of a teenager.

I don’t have an optimistic way to end this rant. It just sucks not being able to drive.

[razzek]

Top 5 MOST useful tools for blind people just starting out

Top 5 most fave tools for the blind overall

Top 5 least useful

Top 5 fucking weirdest and/or funniest

This is a big ask and I will do my best to answer, with the caveat that I am just a single blind person with memory issues who doesn't remember everything my blind friends have told me. XD I am counting other people as tools in this list because a person with eyes sometimes is a handy tool for us. XD

Top 5 MOST useful tools for blind people just starting out 1. White cane 2. Blindness skills training through centers, government programs like Vocational Rehabilitation, Orientation & Mobility specialists, and anywhere you can find it 3. Membership with the National Talking Book Library aka NLS in your state (US); I think the UK is RNIB and Canada has one, not sure about other countries 4. Supportive family and friends and other blind people if you can find them 5. Screen reader (NVDA is free for Windows, iPhone has VoiceOver, Android uses TalkBack)

Top 5 most fave tools for the blind overall 1. White cane and/or guide dog 2. Text to speech, screen readers, audio books, audio described movies and tv 3. Accessible smart phones (often iPhone but Android is catching up) 4. Bump dots (stick-on tactile dots you put around your home) 5. Braille and refreshable braille displays/notetakers

Top 5 least useful 1. Sighted people inventing crap without talking to any blind people ("smart" canes, "smart" shoes, dangerous devices you hold in your only free hand that claim to tell you what's in front of you but actually don't, screen reader breaking "accessibility" overlays, etc...) 2. That ring which only shows one braille cell at a time (that's not how anyone reads) 3. Strangers giving/yelling vague directions ("It's right over there!", "Oh my god watch out for the stairs (that you are halfway down)!", giving directions to the guide dog who doesn't speak English or any language because they are a dog...) 4. Hot liquid measuring devices (always broken, the noise they make is so fucking loud it's caused me a lot more injury than just sticking my finger in the hot liquid, will wake up the neighbors) 5. All but one use case of AI claiming to be for the blind, at least as far as I've seen

Top 5 fucking weirdest and/or funniest 1. Ping pong balls (good for measuring hot liquids) 2. Funnels (really helpful for pouring liquids) 3. The lanyard strap that sticks to the back of your phone so you can wear it around your neck (looks silly, is incredibly useful) 4. White cane holster (yes it's a thing, I have at least three XD) 5. Things being organized Very Specifically (close your eyes and YOU try to find the remote after someone put it in a random place! XD)

[haowenyang]

PUT ALT TEXT / IMAGE DESCRIPTION ON YOUR IMAGES

IM FUCKING SICK OF CRIPPLEPUNK BLOGS NOT PUTTING ALT TEXT/IMAGE DESCRIPTION

[brettdoesdiscourse]

Yall. By definition, glasses ARE a disability aid because vision impairment is (by definition) a disability. Anything that aids a person's disability is a disability aid.

If a person with a vision impairment is not wearing their glasses, they will have a harder time navigating the world around them. If a person with a physical disability that requires a cane does not have their cane, they will have a harder time navigating the world around them.

Disability definition for anyone who wants it: a physical or mental condition that limits a person's movements, senses, or activities.

a disadvantage or handicap, especially one imposed or recognized by the law.

[glimblshanks]

All my love and appreciation to small local book stores but there has got to be a way for y'all to sell digital audiobooks

[picturebookshelf]

A Girl Named Helen Keller (1995)

Story: Margo Lundell -- Art: Irene Trivas

[burntoutuserboxes]

[This user has vision impairment.]

[the-rest-is-silenc3]

How I read print books as a person with low vision

I do read braille, but braille books are often expensive and hard to come by, so I often read print books.

To read print, I use the magnifier app on an ipad. This app allows me to not only enlarge the print, but also change the colors, brightness, and contrast. It allows me to transform a regular print book, with small black font on a white background, to yellow font on a black background. I use the app to take a picture of a page, and then change the settings so it looks like this:

ID: a picture of a page in a book. The contrast and colors have been modified to be yellow text on black background. End ID

Then, I can zoom in.

ID: the word "walked" in yellow font on black background fills the image. End ID

I also usually use reading glasses to see the ipad screen more clearly.

I am happy to answer any other questions about low vision! Just send an ask.