Delta

i wish people would start saying "people who need screenreaders" instead of "visually impaired people" or similar, because:

1. not everyone with low vision needs a screenreader. this leads to people thinking their job making things accessible is done by making things screenreader-friendly, while most of it is still violently inaccessible to hard of sight people like me who rarely use screenreaders and rely on things like large text.

2. not everyone who uses a screenreader does so because of low vision. i have low vision and the main reason i use a screenreader sometimes are visual processing issues. the idea that only people who can't see (and thus also can't read) use screenreaders leads to situations like on twitter when we weren't able to actually read the alt text, leaving lots of things inaccessible for lots of people. i missed out on a lot of stuff before i was able to view alt text.

be specific. it matters.

#LowVision #Disabled #Disability #VisualProcessingDisorder

May 9, 2023 at 8:10pmWeb
Show threadDeltaMay 9, 2023
the discord app, for example, was entirely unusable for me until about 2021, because while my large text was showing up, they messed up the formatting so bad that i couldn't navigate anything. i've had the same thing happen on many other apps, leading to me having to choose between the inaccessibility of small text or the inaccessibility of not being able to navigate the app.
Show threadDeltaMay 9, 2023
(there might also be a similar thing going on with "deaf" vs. "people who need captions/transcripts", as most of the people who asked me to provide transcripts for my podcasts have been hearing people with auditory processing issues.)
Show threadJune T. MichaelMay 10, 2023
@soongtypedelta (It's me. I'm "people who need captions/transcript" despite having confirmed actually having better than average hearing.)
Show threadEssjay (she / her) 🏳️‍🌈May 10, 2023

@soongtypedelta

Thank you for this perspective.

Noted.

Show threadSpeakerToManagersMay 10, 2023
@soongtypedelta
Indeed. I have severe hearing loss, but my hearing aids correct for that. I need captions because most speaking rates are just a little too fast for my auditory processing. And some accents defeat my processing completely (but come one, can anyone but a Glaswegian understand a Glasgow accent?).
Show threadSarah, The Website TherapistMay 10, 2023
@soongtypedelta @PaulaToThePeople I love being able to have text read out to me. I can see it ok but large blocks of text are hard. I love that the screen reader I use highlights each word as it says it, allowing me to follow along. Basically, multi-modal is best for me.
Show threadDeltaMay 10, 2023
@twt @PaulaToThePeople on yeah, i sometimes do that too even when i technically would be able to read it.
Show threadqueer as in fuck your bordersMay 10, 2023

@soongtypedelta Yep, I always say "screenreader users." I too rarely use mine, I use magnification.

And like you say about captions, I say "people who benefit from image descriptions" because it's understood here that a lot of people who aren't visually impaired do benefit from them. Even the ones who don't "need" them often have a better experience if they're there.

Show threadSarah MatthewsMay 10, 2023
@soongtypedelta @bright_helpings Yes, I remember when I lost my sight and first went back to Twitter I was so baffled when I found out that alt text wasn’t visible! I just assumed it would be available to all! I only found out when I asked someone to consider using it and they filled me in. I know some brands have been abusing it over there lately which is annoying but generally the uptake of people using it once they made it visible was considerable.
Show threaddeilann v -0.2.1.  May 10, 2023
@soongtypedelta i prefer "screen reader users" to "people who need screen readers" because the latter feels akin to "wheelchair bound" to me
Show threadqueer as in fuck your bordersMay 10, 2023
@deilann @soongtypedelta Yeah. And not everyone who needs a screenreader is using one -- not everyone has access to one, skills to use it, etc.
Show threadDeltaMay 10, 2023
@deilann good point. thanks!
Show threadKevin Karhan May 10, 2023

@soongtypedelta *nodds in agreement*

Some people may use #Screenreaders because they want to use #TextToSpeech / #TTS to output stuff for them while they may be otherwise busy looking up or handling stuff...

People may not have time nor given the necessary discretion to scroll on a touchscreen...

Show threadDuncanWatsonMay 10, 2023
@soongtypedelta alt-text is often too small for me to read as well.
Show threadDeltaMay 10, 2023
@DuncanWatson same. somehow a lot of things that actually display alt text seem to be locked in text size.
Show threadlazylichMay 10, 2023
@soongtypedelta If I had a nickel for every time I was stumped by simple red/green colorblindness on somebody's website...
Show threadNatalyaDMay 10, 2023
@soongtypedelta I have visual processing issues where I can't stabilise my vision and many colour combinations are just poor. I loved it when I got a browser extension that let me see ALT text on Twitter. I still use it as it shows text under the image rather than a separate thing to click. I definitely get more sense from images with ALT.