Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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How can software better help you? (self.Blind)
submitted by Huskydog9988
Hello, I'm a software developer who is looking into what issues the blind and visually impaired community might have. Blogs, articles and other mediums may give me an idea of what people in this community are experiencing. The downside to this I feel is that they are either outdated or I could use more specific information. So I have come here instead. Sorry if anything in this is unclear, so please feel free to ask clarifying questions. Before you answer any questions please make the answer is as general as you can reasonably make it. A very short example could be: many apps don't have good accessibility support.
Question one, what frustrates you, your family, or your friend the most with software currently? Please describe the issue(s) as best you can and/or upvote the comments you agree with.
Question two, did you, your family, or your friend have an issue with software that was then solved by the same program or another program? If so, please describe as best you can the issue, the solution (as you know it), and if you can please name the program.
Question three, what do you, your family, or your friend wish software could do that it currently can't do or could do better? As before please describe the issue as best you can and your preferred solution in as much detail as you can.
Now, more details as to why I'm asking these questions. Firstly I want to better understand the blind and visually impaired community to help make better products for them. Second, I want to gauge any issues this community might have and determine what projects I could undertake to better solve them.
Edit: improved first paragraph
Question one, what frustrates you, your family, or your friend the most with software currently? Please describe the issue(s) as best you can and/or upvote the comments you agree with.
Question two, did you, your family, or your friend have an issue with software that was then solved by the same program or another program? If so, please describe as best you can the issue, the solution (as you know it), and if you can please name the program.
Question three, what do you, your family, or your friend wish software could do that it currently can't do or could do better? As before please describe the issue as best you can and your preferred solution in as much detail as you can.
Now, more details as to why I'm asking these questions. Firstly I want to better understand the blind and visually impaired community to help make better products for them. Second, I want to gauge any issues this community might have and determine what projects I could undertake to better solve them.
Edit: improved first paragraph
[deleted] 1 points 3y ago
[deleted]
rp-turtle 1 points 3y ago
1. Not all apps are accessible (they don’t follow accessibility guidelines)
2. I just switch to different apps. For example, the Reddit app is very not accessible. So I switched to a third party Reddit app that is accessible. 3. I would like a better color reader on my phone. I have a stand alone device that’s designed for just colors. There’s dozens of color reading apps out there too. My problem is that most of them turn on the rear LED on the phone which results in too much direct light on something and therefore an inaccurate color reading. Idk how to get around that exactly. I am thinking a fusion of AI and color detection. I don’t know.
All of this was phone specific because I wasn’t sure what you were looking for but there ya go. Hope that helps.
2. I just switch to different apps. For example, the Reddit app is very not accessible. So I switched to a third party Reddit app that is accessible. 3. I would like a better color reader on my phone. I have a stand alone device that’s designed for just colors. There’s dozens of color reading apps out there too. My problem is that most of them turn on the rear LED on the phone which results in too much direct light on something and therefore an inaccurate color reading. Idk how to get around that exactly. I am thinking a fusion of AI and color detection. I don’t know.
All of this was phone specific because I wasn’t sure what you were looking for but there ya go. Hope that helps.
Huskydog9988 [OP] 1 points 3y ago
For the first question, can you specify what accessibility guideline? For the third question, the only other way I can think of to implement a color reader is to use the selfie camera so the screen can hopefully illuminate the object more evenly and maybe even dynamically.
rp-turtle 1 points 3y ago
I found this after a quick google search:
https://developer.apple.com/accessibility/
You’d be surprised how many app developers don’t bother to make their apps accessible. Idk how you can do anything about that. I guess just really focus on making sure whatever app you create is very accessible and follows all those guidelines.
I know right! I wish the color reading apps had some sort of dynamic adjustment for the light on the back of the phone. They either don’t turn the light on or turn it on max brightness and that distorts the color read out. That’s why I was thinking it should involve AI of some sort. Perhaps one that also can recognize differences within a given color. Such as light red, medium red, dark red, apple red, firetruck red, etc. to provide a reference point for the blind user to visualize the color better.
https://developer.apple.com/accessibility/
You’d be surprised how many app developers don’t bother to make their apps accessible. Idk how you can do anything about that. I guess just really focus on making sure whatever app you create is very accessible and follows all those guidelines.
I know right! I wish the color reading apps had some sort of dynamic adjustment for the light on the back of the phone. They either don’t turn the light on or turn it on max brightness and that distorts the color read out. That’s why I was thinking it should involve AI of some sort. Perhaps one that also can recognize differences within a given color. Such as light red, medium red, dark red, apple red, firetruck red, etc. to provide a reference point for the blind user to visualize the color better.
Huskydog9988 [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Well, firstly if i were to make an app it wouldn't be on IOS. At least for quite a while due to apple charging 100 dollars (if i can remember correctly) for the ability to publish the app. While I can make an app for Android for free. Secondly, an AI can only help so much. The issue where isn't really the software, but the hardware. Don't get me wrong apple makes great hardware but from my brief glimpses at color readers, they all flash rgb onto the surface. They do this to read the waves coming off for accurate color detection. The app would require a physic calibration item so the device can adjust to your phone. The only other way I can think of getting an app to accurately read a majority of the time would be to make an external device which would defeat the purpose of this whole project. Basically in all of that spaghetti I'm trying to say that a color reader app isn't really feasible for me at least. I'm not trying to make a profit off whatever I end up making so I really want to limit my spending. Hence the preferred lack of physical items.
rp-turtle 1 points 3y ago
Hm all fair points. Well best of luck! Let me know if you have any other questions.
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