Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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How could a programmer help? (self.Blind)
submitted by _frederik
Hello. I like to program and help other people so I though, why not ask here what should my next "hobby" project be. Is there something I could help out with? It can be a website, some kind of software, bot.. So, does someone have an idea? I'm not yet a professional, but I tend to get things working. Thanks for your time!
EDIT: So I looked around the subreddit and found PictureDescribot and it was last active 5 months ago. Could something like this be useful?
EDIT: So I looked around the subreddit and found PictureDescribot and it was last active 5 months ago. Could something like this be useful?
Amonwilde 28 points 5y ago
Probably the most helpful things would be to contribute to other open source projects to make them more accessible.
Here is a list of issues with commonly-used software on the Orca website:
https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
You could also contribute code or docs to NVDA:
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/wiki/Contributing
I know writing a new green-field app is probably what you have in mind, and I'm not saying that might not help. But contributing to existing projects will probably advance your own skills and our cause more than creating something new. With that said, if you have to make a new app, try tackling hard problems rather than making weekend hacks, which aren't really needed. If you absolutely want to create something new and want to scope it reasonably, try making an accessible text-based game or audiogame, since those are in high demand and quality versions still don't exist. Finally, I've noticed there is a strong need to an accessible IDE or text editor for OSX, especially for programming in Python.
Remember too that there are actually lots of blind programmers, so most low-hanging fruit that doesn't require domain expertise has been tackled.
Here is a list of issues with commonly-used software on the Orca website:
https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
You could also contribute code or docs to NVDA:
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/wiki/Contributing
I know writing a new green-field app is probably what you have in mind, and I'm not saying that might not help. But contributing to existing projects will probably advance your own skills and our cause more than creating something new. With that said, if you have to make a new app, try tackling hard problems rather than making weekend hacks, which aren't really needed. If you absolutely want to create something new and want to scope it reasonably, try making an accessible text-based game or audiogame, since those are in high demand and quality versions still don't exist. Finally, I've noticed there is a strong need to an accessible IDE or text editor for OSX, especially for programming in Python.
Remember too that there are actually lots of blind programmers, so most low-hanging fruit that doesn't require domain expertise has been tackled.
GuineaFowlItch 2 points 5y ago
Do you know if there are open source projects to make video games more accessible to visually impaired persons?
Amonwilde 3 points 5y ago
According to u/fastfinge, use Python using libaudioverse and pygame. There are some abandonware projects but it's not worth using them. Use this Python library to talk to screen readers: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/accessible_output/0.7.5
On Windows only, you can use this: https://github.com/dkager/tolk
Don't use Unity, but if you insist for some reason, use this: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/gui/ui-accessibility-plugin-uap-87935
It occurs to me that you could also make a text game using the native iOS utilities, just make sure you test it well. You could also make a web app that is primarily text and that is accessible like any website can be accessible.
On Windows only, you can use this: https://github.com/dkager/tolk
Don't use Unity, but if you insist for some reason, use this: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/gui/ui-accessibility-plugin-uap-87935
It occurs to me that you could also make a text game using the native iOS utilities, just make sure you test it well. You could also make a web app that is primarily text and that is accessible like any website can be accessible.
_frederik [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Thank you for taking the time to answer and guiding me in the right way. Sometimes I get really passionate and don't really think things through.. I'll definitely think about contributing. Could you please make an example on the low-hanging fruit that has been already made. I forgot to mention that I also like to look at other people's programs/code.
Amonwilde 2 points 5y ago
I have a project called Eloud which is written in elisp. It's supposed to be a lightweight screen reader for Emacs. It could use more work, though.
https://github.com/smythp/eloud
Check out the stuff Tyler Spivey and /u/fastfinge are up to. There's also the Raspberry Vi project, the vOICe, and vinux, to name a few things that people are working on. If someone could get a version of Emacspeak that people could easily install on OSX that would be a game changer, would need to be a binary that includes the speech software though. There's a lot going on, come hang in #blind on snoonet (the Reddit IRC) where there are some other blind devs.
I also did a talk on some of the cool stuff going on, it's called "Blind Hackers."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8_O3joo4aU
https://github.com/smythp/eloud
Check out the stuff Tyler Spivey and /u/fastfinge are up to. There's also the Raspberry Vi project, the vOICe, and vinux, to name a few things that people are working on. If someone could get a version of Emacspeak that people could easily install on OSX that would be a game changer, would need to be a binary that includes the speech software though. There's a lot going on, come hang in #blind on snoonet (the Reddit IRC) where there are some other blind devs.
I also did a talk on some of the cool stuff going on, it's called "Blind Hackers."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8_O3joo4aU
derrekjthompson 2 points 5y ago
I don't know if a Describebot would be effective. The image descriptions Facebook automatically generates aren’t very useful. They’re not inaccurate, but they don’t give you enough information to figure out what a picture actually means, if that makes any sense.
AllHarlowsEve 1 points 5y ago
I'd really like an easy, simple to use Character Sheet app for D&D5E.
As it is now, I have to hunt through Roll 20, several Wikis, and deal with all that comes with that.
I'm thinking, front page of the app is a list of characters by name, and the game they're currently in. There's an add button in the top right, with a menu botton on the top left, which lets you change the theme, from black on white to white on black, adjust text size, export/import the files to iCloud, or email them.
But, in a new sheet, you have the basic info, Name, race, which is in a drop down with a custom race option. If you pick, say, Tiefling which has variants, it puts up another picker choice, and it automatically adds the requisite skill points for you.
You get a button to roll for each of your stats, and they come up above the stats, and each stat says the bonus, ie Strength +2 if it's 14, etc. It only lets you assign those values, then adjusts for race, features, etc.
On another tab, you can add spells by looking at a spell book and what's meant to be available to you. Like, my tiefling is an Eldrich Knight, so it would automatically show me only first levels, sorted into offense, defense, and buff, letting me select only the 4 I'm meant to have, then 2 of the other kind, I'm blanking on what that means.
Another tab could be for bio and other semi-important stuff that only kind of affects the character, like gold and alignment.
I'm brand new to D&D but I'm having a hell of a time making this work for me.
As it is now, I have to hunt through Roll 20, several Wikis, and deal with all that comes with that.
I'm thinking, front page of the app is a list of characters by name, and the game they're currently in. There's an add button in the top right, with a menu botton on the top left, which lets you change the theme, from black on white to white on black, adjust text size, export/import the files to iCloud, or email them.
But, in a new sheet, you have the basic info, Name, race, which is in a drop down with a custom race option. If you pick, say, Tiefling which has variants, it puts up another picker choice, and it automatically adds the requisite skill points for you.
You get a button to roll for each of your stats, and they come up above the stats, and each stat says the bonus, ie Strength +2 if it's 14, etc. It only lets you assign those values, then adjusts for race, features, etc.
On another tab, you can add spells by looking at a spell book and what's meant to be available to you. Like, my tiefling is an Eldrich Knight, so it would automatically show me only first levels, sorted into offense, defense, and buff, letting me select only the 4 I'm meant to have, then 2 of the other kind, I'm blanking on what that means.
Another tab could be for bio and other semi-important stuff that only kind of affects the character, like gold and alignment.
I'm brand new to D&D but I'm having a hell of a time making this work for me.
_frederik [OP] 1 points 5y ago
Hey, sorry for taking so long to answer. Right now I'm helping bradley22 with some of his ideas. After that, I won't have much time. I'll be hopefully available the next weekend. However, the biggest problem is that I never played D&D. I read your post several times and I'm still not exactly sure what you mean. So if you are willing to wait a few days shoot me a PM and I'll contact you when I'm ready. :)
bradley22 1 points 5y ago
Hello. This isn't a project for the blind exactly but i'd love a new fan fiction downloader.
The one I have at the moment is great but I am unable to download all of the stories that the users have made at once and feel that in this day an age that should be a thing.
I know there's a book reading like app to do this but it isn't that accessible.
I forget the name of it at the moment.
I'll give you an example of what I'd like.
I open the program, choose the plain text option for the stories to be changed into once they're downloaded.
Then I coppy the URL of a user from fanfiction.net for example.
I paste the URL into the box, press enter or a shortcut to download the stories and a folder is created with that username and in that folder is all the stories in plain text dot txt format.
I believe this would be something worth working on as quite afew of us read fan fiction.
The one I have at the moment is great but I am unable to download all of the stories that the users have made at once and feel that in this day an age that should be a thing.
I know there's a book reading like app to do this but it isn't that accessible.
I forget the name of it at the moment.
I'll give you an example of what I'd like.
I open the program, choose the plain text option for the stories to be changed into once they're downloaded.
Then I coppy the URL of a user from fanfiction.net for example.
I paste the URL into the box, press enter or a shortcut to download the stories and a folder is created with that username and in that folder is all the stories in plain text dot txt format.
I believe this would be something worth working on as quite afew of us read fan fiction.
_frederik [OP] 1 points 5y ago
This is exactly what I wanted! I will send you a PM because I have some questions and don't want to spam this thread.
bradley22 1 points 5y ago
Sounds good. keep in mind, i'm not a programmer. I can write HTML and can learn about PHP if I have to but I can't program to save my life.
proboardslolv5 1 points 5y ago
I made a salesforce plugin at my internship to provide voice-to-text accessibility support using Cortana for blind or otherwise disabled call center agents, so that reasonable accommodation can be made for employees. It never really went anywhere though
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