*Edit:*

I want to express my thanks and appreciation for all the boosts and comments! I had no idea this would get spread so widely, and I'm humbled by the support.

I'll reply to this post with the plan that I have for the next session.

Original post below...

I'm volunteering at my daughter's elementary school by teaching a "coding club" for 5th graders during their lunch and afternoon recess.

It mostly went great, except I left nearly in tears...

One of the kiddos that joined is blind, and I discovered that the coding programs for kids don't appear to be accessible *at all*.

First we tried Swift Playgrounds, but that didn't seem to work with VoiceOver. Then, he said that he's liked ScratchJr. in the past, and he got frustrated with that because he couldn't get his cat to move.

I'm kinda at a loss for how to help him. He left crying because he thinks that he can't get it, but I'm sure he can. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks!!

#coding #swiftplayground #blind #accessibility #apple #ipad

@hpux735 Sadly, like most fun tech products, the blind are excluded from participating due to poor designs and developer apathy. It’s definitely possible to get into programming— I’ve done it, as have many. You might look at Code Jumper from APH and Microsoft as a possible solution: https://www.aph.org/product/code-jumper/
Code Jumper | American Printing House

Code Jumper™ assists students in learning computer coding and programming skills through a unique, physical system.

American Printing House
@sclower You're absolutely right. I cared before at an intellectual level, but nothing makes it quite as salient as seeing how completely tech can fail folks that aren't typical. Apple regarded as the leader in accessibility in tech, so I'll admit I assumed it would be better.
@hpux735 They have done a lot of good, but most of it was spurred on by avoiding lawsuits from K-12 schools here in the States that required accessibility support in anything they procured. Outside of their built-in tools like VoiceOver, Zoom, and the like, access is bad to nonexistent (just try visiting icloud.com with a screen reader some time).
@sclower ugh, yah. Isn't that they way it always is... Thanks for that information 😄​