the Blind & the Internet (speech, name, strange, home)

[skel1977]

I had no idea blind people used the internet. In fact I never even thought about it but that is pretty interesting. I guess that means you cant scroll through useless posts like the rest of us. Does this mean you have to listen to each reply individually. I mean reading a thread of posts must take a while for you.

[{geek}]

Originally Posted by skel1977

I had no idea blind people used the internet. In fact I never even thought about it but that is pretty interesting. I guess that means you cant scroll through useless posts like the rest of us. Does this mean you have to listen to each reply individually. I mean reading a thread of posts must take a while for you.

Yes, blind people use the Internet for all sorts of things including educational research, shopping, and news.

Newspapers aren't available in Braille and not everyone has cable. You have to get news from somewhere, so the Internet makes it very easy for blind people to learn about what's going on in the world.

Shopping online is great -- if the site is web accessible (many however, aren't ... yet). It's hard to shop in the real world because you can't "hear" a price tag, and it's hard to navigate the store. Navigating a website is much easier.

Besides, most blind people have to use either a cane or leader dog. They can't drive, so it leaves buses, cabs, family and/or friends to transport you from point A to point B.

People on the bus get very nasty when a blind person with a cane gets on the bus. Taxi cab drivers won't even pick up a blind person with a Leader dog (not kidding).

There are lots of really not-so-nice things that people do to those that are blind, and I have no idea why.

Nope, I can't scroll through useless posts. And, yes ... it does take a while. If someone posts a link and I click on it and then go back to the thread the screen reader starts at the very top (all over again).

If a thread is really long, I generally won't bother reading through the whole thing -- I just read the first & last pages.

[2goldens]

One question

How did you find your way back to your own thread? Did you subscribe?

My hat tipped to you. It takes on a new meaning of disabled.

Can you read private direct messages? Or rep points in my settings?

[{geek}]

I find my way back to my own thread by clicking on my username and then selecting the link that says "all threads started by {geek}" ... it's how I revisit any thread I've been in.

Yes, I can hear direct messages. Yes, I can hear rep points in my user panel.

[linicx]

I am, for all intent and purposes, blind, although I have limited sight. My spouse is Macular but will probably not live in a completely dark world. We we both born fully sighted and did begin to lose vision until after 60 years of age.

It is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow, and I try to be as graceful as possible. Ignorance is not age or gender specific. Make no mistake, it does take emotional adjustment. It takes time to build a support system, It takes time to teach people that blind is not deaf, and we can sometimes see. It takes time to teach web designers that web accessibility is more than 'eye-candy' and a user friendly index page.

I am very fortunate that I live in a small town where the things we need are delivered. The most frustrating is to fail at simple tasks like using a measuring cup and reading directions on a package of frozen food.

This country needs an accessiblity policy that puts responsible people on the hook for failure to provide "handicap accessible" street crossings, store entrance, restrooms, packaging, websites, contact information, emergency numbers, signs, etc.. With three in wheelchairs, I know a bit about the accessibility issues that keep shoppers out of national stores and restaurants. I've long wondered if the Boards that run these large corporations really understand how much money they turn away at the door due to poorly designed stores.

One of the things I would like to know is how well JAWS handles PDF and redirected links you can't back out of???

[{geek}]

Unfortunately, I can't use JAWS on my computer. It doesn't support my OS (I have windows '98). I use a screen reading browser called "Read Please" and it'll read the contents of the page w/o having to paste it into the application window.

Redirects only work when the user has JS enabled. I do not enable JS in my browsers.

The screen reader I use does not read content from PDF files because screen readers can't read files that are essentially JavaScript.

In order for JavaScript to be web accessible there has to be a text equivalent version of the JS file contents, contained in a <noscript> tag located directly below the JS file link.

If that is present, it will be read as plain text on the page and the screen reader will be able to see it, and read it out loud to the blind person using the screen reader.

If you'd like the chance to hear what a blind person hears when using a screen reader, there's an online screen reader located here: WebAnywhere.

It doesn't require any install on your computer and anyone with Internet access can use it regardless of where at in the world they are located.

[linicx]

For what it's worth, and for what little that is actually accomplished,, i've been fighting the non-compliant accesibility businesses for years on behalf of my mother-in-law (deceased), two sister-in-laws and now a spouse - all of whom are wheelchair bound. Julie can't stand or walk un-aided; Joan has MS and is a power chair user.

It is amazing the number of businesses and government buildings that offer accessible restrooms that prevent or limit wheelchair access. Rhe doors and stalls are designed wrong, locks are broken. or you can't use a closed fist to open, close or lock a stall door. It is impossible to hang up a purse or jacket, reach toilet paper or a hand-irail. It is impossible to roll up to a sink, reach soap, water or paper towels. Then there is always the issue of opening the door to exit the restroom. This is a national problem.

The only places I can always depend upon for a true handicap restroom is at the large, busy truck stops like Petrol. Sadly, the world's largest retailer fails on all accounts. This company employed a wheelchair bound door greeter as an experiment. The company first installed a broken lock on the handicap stall, and then failed to repair if for more than a year. I ceased to shop there years of ago because of it. I find this type of behavior offensive and self-serving.

The problem with the ADA is that it is smoke and mirrors. It is not enforced and there is no penalty for non-compliance. What I strongly suspect is there will not be any real compliance until handicapped Americans and their providers band together and demand access.

[{geek}]

You want to hear something even stranger? The website for the National Association for the Blind, isn't web accessible. Not kidding. It's really miserable.

I understand what you're saying, and agree 100%
It's really awful that things like this are still a problem in this country. It's like people just want the disabled to go away.

One guy at the grocery store one time behind me in line, yelled at me "I've only got ONE ITEM! ONE!!! Like you couldn't just let me ahead of you?! Like you couldn't see that I had just ONE ITEM!!!"

What a putz. No buddy. I couldn't see your ONE ITEM but I sure could HEAR your bad attitude!

RE: people in wheelchairs and accessible bathrooms ... did you read the story about the wheelchair-bound man that was sexually attacked by a homeless homosexual man in the handicapped bathroom stall?

This homeless guy (who's gay) waited inside the restroom. There was a man that's wheelchair-bound that went into the handicapped stall to use the bathroom. The homeless gay guy came into the stall right behind him, and locked the stall door.

He dumped the poor guy out of his chair and raped him. Then he left him there face down on the floor, pants down around his ankles, and he couldn't even pull himself back up into his wheelchair because he's paralyzed from the waist down.

I read about that a few months ago and was disgusted by it. If you haven't read it, I'll see if I can find a link to the article somewhere.

[Tek_Freek]

I went to the webanywhere page and it is amazing that someone is doing this.

The comments about accessibility are interesting because for a few years I worked for someone that remodeled large office buildings when people moved in. He always followed ADA guidelines and if a client told him not to he would try to talk them into it, and if he couldn't he wouldn't work for them. The dumb part is that his prices were low enough that the same work without ADA compliance done by another company would cost as much as his work with it. That always confused me.

Geek, your mention of the taxi drivers reminded me of a man I saw in the winter with a cane and a German Shepard who was obviously blind. He was trying to figure out where the sidewalk was when it was covered with deep snow because whoever was supposed to clear that part didn't. I stopped, backed up and got him and his dog into the back seat and took them to WalMart. I left him there for about 45 minutes then went back and dropped him off at the bus stop out front. He would not accept a ride home.

I still wonder how many people drove by and kept going without even thinking about giving that man some help.

[{geek}]

That's really very kind of you to do that. Not many people these days would even consider helping a disabled person.