#accessibility
Real-time text on Android and iOS is helpful for those with hearing or speech disabilities to converse in real time with text
While texting is great for asynchronous conversations, calls are still the way to go if you want real-time conversation.
That’s not an option for people who are hard of hearing or have speech difficulties. RTT or Real-time text solves this issue by allowing people to text in real-time. In this guide, Android Police explain the RTT feature, how to activate it on Android smartphones, and how to use it in different situations.
One benefit of RTT over text messaging is that it allows you to connect to businesses, government agencies, and emergency services. To connect to emergency services using RTT, all you do is dial 911 (in the USA) in RTT mode.
This feature makes emergency services accessible to people with hearing or speech disabilities and allows everyone to connect to emergency services without speaking. If you are in a situation where speaking out loud can be detrimental to your safety, use the RTT feature to connect to 911.
To connect to government agencies or businesses, you can use the Relay service. People who are hard of hearing or have speech impediments can connect to the relay service by dialling 711 (probably also USA). An operator picks up their call and connects them to the desired service.
See https://www.androidpolice.com/what-is-rtt-calling/
#Blog, #accessibility, #disability, #technology
Wireless earbuds, such as AirPods and Galaxy Buds 2, can actually help you hear conversations better with Ambient Sound
Apple’s wireless earbuds are routinely praised for their natural-sounding transparency mode, and for good reason. But did you know you can customise the level of ambient noise that transparency mode lets through? And if that’s not enough, there’s a separate “conversation boost” mode that’s designed to make it easier to hear face-to-face conversations happening in front of you.
Samsung also provides granular control over the ambient sound mode on the company’s Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. You can choose between five different levels of amplification and set individual preferences for each ear. Moreover, there’s also a slider that can adjust ambient sound from “soft” to “clear” based on what sounds best to each person.
And there are also more dedicated ear buds for hearing aid type use. Yes, they do cost a lot more, but are still way cheaper than actual medical hearing aids. In all cases, our ears become less sensitive to certain frequencies, which accounts for some noise sounding louder than someone speaking next to us. All these ear buds are doing is normalising that sound so that what you want to really hear, is more audible to you.
See https://www.theverge.com/23811197/hearing-conversation-apple-airpods-pro-samsung-galaxy-buds-otc-aids
#Blog, #accessibility, #hearing, #technology
Reddit has now sufficiently broken their own site that moderators of the blind community's subreddit who are themselves blind can no longer access the moderator tools.
This statement by the mod team is worth a read to understand the full extent of the failure.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/comments/14nzwkm/they_finally_did_it_reddit_made_it_impossible_for/
it's also worth noting that this community now has a dedicated Lemmy instance. https://RBlind.com
Jabra Enhance Plus review: These $800 earbuds are close to $5,000 hearing aids but are only compatible with iOS for now
An interesting review, and it was much expected that cheaper earbuds would probably do a similar job. There are some minor drawbacks, but still for those who can’t afford $5,000 these may be quite liveable.
On the Android side of things, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro look like a good choice as a first foray into hearing enhancement. The company recently rolled out an update that offers higher levels of amplification for its Ambient Sound option, which passes and enhances outside sound before it reaches your ears.
See https://www.androidpolice.com/jabra-enhance-plus-review/
#Blog, #accessibility, #hearing, #hearingaids, #technology
iPhones will be able to speak in your voice with 15 minutes of training, assisting those who’ve lost the ability to speak, or who are blind or have low vision
According to Apple, users can create a Personal Voice by reading a set of text prompts aloud for a total of 15 minutes of audio on the iPhone or iPad. Since the feature integrates with Live Speech, users can then type what they want to say and have their Personal Voice read it to whomever they want to talk to. Apple says the feature uses “on-device machine learning to keep users’ information private and secure.”
There’s also a new detection mode in Magnifier to help users who are blind or have low vision, which is designed to help users interact with physical objects with numerous text labels. As an example, Apple says a user can aim their device’s camera at a label, such as a microwave keypad, which the iPhone or iPad will then read aloud as the user moves their finger across each number or setting on the appliance.
See https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/16/23725237/iphone-personal-voice-speak-training-accessibility
#Blog, #accessibility, #disability, #iphone, #technology
Webbed Briefs: What happened to text inputs
Brilliant video from @heydon@front-end.social about web designers making the web worse:
https://briefs.video/videos/what-happened-to-text-inputs/
The Hidden History Of Screen Readers – Why Open Source And Cleaner Web Code Is Needed
The market for screen readers is hardly niche. In 2020, the estimated number of blind people worldwide was 49.1 million — comparable to the population of Spain or South Korea. An additional 255 million people have moderate to severe visual impairment. These millions of people may use magnification tools, Braille support, or screen readers.
That said, the price of JAWS is no small barrier. One home license currently costs $1,000 ($1,285 for a professional license), and future updates cost extra. Annual licenses that cost $95 ($90 for students) are available only in the U.S. 89% of people with vision loss come from low-income and middle-income countries.
It is sad that a proprietary screen reader like JAWS costs so much, as this is just unaffordable in poorer countries. But thank goodness for an open-source alternative — NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) that arrived in 2019.
Ojala’s pet peeve is people thinking that accessibility is a feature, a nice-to-have addition to your product. When they tack on accessibility later, without thinking about it from the very beginning, Ojala can tell — it feels haphazard. (Imagine first creating a product with a colorless UI, then to add colours later as an afterthought, only to use the wrong colour combination.)
Any of us can go blind at any time, but it is sad actually that sighted developers don’t consider enough around making design and coding simpler to use with screen readers.
See https://www.theverge.com/23203911/screen-readers-history-blind-henter-curran-teh-nvda
#technology #blind #screenreader #opensource #accessibility
#Blog, ##accessibility, ##blind, ##opensource, ##screenreader, ##technology
Comment Big Oil a conquis le monde entier ? Part 1/2
#Français #France #OMS #WHO #NationsUnies #UN #Pandémie #Pandemie #Vaccins #PasseVaccinal #PassedelaHonte #Pathologiespostvaccinales #Actu #3èmeDose #VAERS #Santé #Soignants #Réinformation #Résistance #Activism #SocialJustice #Justice #CivilRights #Equality #Freedom #Liberty #HumanRights #Humanitarianism #Humanitarian #Organize #Organization #Collaboration #FunctionalCollaboration #Coordination #Cooperation #Empowerment #Culture #CulturalHealth #CulturalFreedom #CulturalPluralism #CulturalDiversity #HealthyCulture #MonoCulture #SocialTheory #SocialScience #Government #Politics #PoliticalJustice #PoliticalScience #PoliSci #PublicPolicy #Policy #Democracy #MaintainingDemocracy #FunctionalDemocracy #ParticipatoryDemocracy #ParticipatoryEducation #Citizen #Citizenship #CitizenCommunications #Education #Access #Accessibility #AccessibleEducation #LiberateEducation #EducationLiberation #Socialism #Mutualism #MutualAide #SocialEcology #Anarchy #Anarchism #Anarchist #Scientism #Collectivism #Capitalism #AntiFacist #AntiFa #Civilization #Economics #EconomicJustice #Law #Journalism #News #History #FightPropaganda #Propaganda #Truth #Corruption #Lies #USA #America #Europe #Environment #Environmentalism #EnvironmentalJustice #Ecology #Ecosystems #EcoActivism #EcologyActivism #Health #Climate #ClimateJustice #ClimateActivism #ClimateActivist #ClimateChange #Carbon #AirQuality #WaterProtectors #Water #Pollution #Sustainability #ToxicCulture #ToxicConformity #Fascism #Fascist #Paternalism #Discrimination #StopDiscrimination #Oppression #Persecution #Slavery #Nazi #Nazis #NoNazis #KnowThyEnemy #Righteous #Righteousness #Vigilance #ReWild #Wild #ReWildorDie #Health #HealthCare #HealthyEating #HealthFood #Food #Nutrition #Eating #Diet #Natural #Veg #Vegetarian #Vegan #FoodJustice #FoodSecurity #FoodSupply #FoodShortage #FoodShortages #Famine #SupplyChain #Agriculture #AvianFlu #H1N5 #BioWeapon #BioSecurity #Medical #Medicine #Wellness #WellBeing #Sociology #Power #Sustainability #COVID #COVID19 #COVID-19 #Coronavirus #Pandemic #Pandémie #Pandemie #Quarantine #Lockdown #Lockdowns #Vaccine #Vaccins #InformedConsent #ClinicalTrial #Autonomy #Pfizer #BionTech #Shot #Jab #Vaxx #NoVax #VaxPass #EndAllMandates #AdverseReactions #Survival #Prepper #Prep #Preppers #SelfCare #DeColonize #DeAssimilate #InformationJustice #KnowledgeDistribution #InfoDistribution #EducationJustice #EducationalJustice #InfoShare #GrassrootsEducation #KnowledgeIsPower #Luddite #Union #Science #BioTech #CBDC #DigitalCurrency #Currency #Democrat #Republican #Progressive #Weather #WEF #Eugenics #Genocide #BioTerror #Resistance #Transportation #PublicTransportation #Electric #Streetcar #Cars #ElectricCars #Rockefeller #Oil #BillGates #Bus #Buses
How Big Oil Conquered The World
TRANSCRIPT:
Oil. From farm to pharmaceutical, diesel truck to dinner plate, pipeline to plastic product, it is impossible to think of an area of our modern-day lives that is not affected by the petrochemical industry. The story of oil is the story of the modern world.
Parts of that story are well-known: Rockefeller and Standard Oil; the internal combustion engine and the transformation of global transport; the House of Saud and the oil wars in the Middle East.
Other parts are more obscure: the quest for oil and the outbreak of World War I; the petrochemical interests behind modern medicine; the Big Oil money behind the “Green Revolution” and the “Gene Revolution.”...
#Activism #SocialJustice #Justice #CivilRights #Equality #Freedom #Liberty #HumanRights #Humanitarianism #Humanitarian #Organize #Organization #Collaboration #FunctionalCollaboration #Coordination #Cooperation #Empowerment #Culture #CulturalHealth #CulturalFreedom #CulturalPluralism #CulturalDiversity #HealthyCulture #MonoCulture #SocialTheory #SocialScience #Government #Politics #PoliticalJustice #PoliticalScience #PoliSci #PublicPolicy #Policy #Democracy #MaintainingDemocracy #FunctionalDemocracy #ParticipatoryDemocracy #ParticipatoryEducation #Citizen #Citizenship #CitizenCommunications #Education #Access #Accessibility #AccessibleEducation #LiberateEducation #EducationLiberation #Socialism #Mutualism #MutualAide #SocialEcology #Anarchy #Anarchism #Anarchist #Scientism #Collectivism #Capitalism #AntiFacist #AntiFa #Civilization #Economics #EconomicJustice #Law #Journalism #News #History #FightPropaganda #Propaganda #Truth #Corruption #Lies #USA #America #Europe #Environment #Environmentalism #EnvironmentalJustice #Ecology #Ecosystems #EcoActivism #EcologyActivism #Health #Climate #ClimateJustice #ClimateActivism #ClimateActivist #ClimateChange #Carbon #AirQuality #WaterProtectors #Water #Pollution #Sustainability #ToxicCulture #ToxicConformity #Fascism #Fascist #Paternalism #Discrimination #StopDiscrimination #Oppression #Persecution #Slavery #Nazi #Nazis #NoNazis #KnowThyEnemy #Righteous #Righteousness #Vigilance #ReWild #Wild #ReWildorDie #Health #HealthCare #HealthyEating #HealthFood #Food #Nutrition #Eating #Diet #Natural #Veg #Vegetarian #Vegan #FoodJustice #FoodSecurity #FoodSupply #FoodShortage #FoodShortages #Famine #SupplyChain #Agriculture #AvianFlu #H1N5 #BioWeapon #BioSecurity #Medical #Medicine #Wellness #WellBeing #Sociology #Power #Sustainability #COVID #COVID19 #COVID-19 #Coronavirus #Pandemic #Pandémie #Pandemie #Quarantine #Lockdown #Lockdowns #Vaccine #Vaccins #InformedConsent #ClinicalTrial #Autonomy #Pfizer #BionTech #Shot #Jab #Vaxx #NoVax #VaxPass #EndAllMandates #AdverseReactions #Survival #Prepper #Prep #Preppers #SelfCare #DeColonize #DeAssimilate #InformationJustice #KnowledgeDistribution #InfoDistribution #EducationJustice #EducationalJustice #InfoShare #GrassrootsEducation #KnowledgeIsPower #Luddite #Union #Science #BioTech #CBDC #DigitalCurrency #Currency #Democrat #Republican #Progressive #Weather #WEF #Eugenics #Genocide #BioTerror #Resistance #Transportation #PublicTransportation #Electric #Streetcar #Cars #ElectricCars #Rockefeller #Oil #BillGates #Bus #Buses
Apple may have just spilled a bunch of details on iOS 16 | Macworld
The advancements that power Apple's upcoming accessibility features will likely be felt all throughout the next major iPhone update.
#technology #tech #Apple #iOS #accessibility
https://www.macworld.com/article/702442/ios-16-airplay-speech-recognition-augmented-reality.html
NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is a free, open source accessibility screen reader for Microsoft Windows
For blind people to use a computer, they need a screen reader which reads the text on the screen in a synthetic voice or with a braille display. But in many cases, screen reading software costs more than the computer itself. In the past, this has left computers inaccessible to millions of blind people around the world. This is a critical problem, because without computers, access to education and employment is severely limited, not to mention everyday functions such as online banking, shopping, and news.
NVDA has been translated by volunteers into more than 55 languages, and been used by people in more than 175 countries. It has also won multiple awards.
See https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/
#technology #screenreader #accessibility #disability #sightimpaired
#Blog, ##accessibility, ##blind, ##sightimpaired, ##technology