I was given a link to a free Braille learning course that has options for high contrast mode and non-visual access mode. I've never been someone who has picked up new things fast, but so far I feel great. I committed one hour a day for a week and I've been able to memorize more than half the alphabet. It was intimidating at first because I thought of it as learning an entire new language, but in reality it's non-verbal, so it only requires learning 26 new symbols that are space holders for letters and sounds you already know. There's also commas, periods and capital letter symbols, but that's as far as I reached. I'm unaware of the level of difficulty of learning numbers, I assume that would be a priority for you as a coder. My opinion is bias because I'm sighted and learning so I can teach my blind son when he's old enough. I have no comprehension of how difficult this would be if I had to feel the letters out instead of memorizing how the symbols look.

Anyway here's the link
https://uebonline.org/

Odd timing, as a lot of posts have been lately, because I was JUST thinking about asking if people here have headaches and immediately I see this, within 5 seconds

I was going to ask if any particular pc monitor types or sizes do better for some people than others, but that is related too because I am mainly talking about as far as any better or worse for eye strain and headaches.

I was born with my vision problem, but also now I have a bad cataract, so possible that could be why in recent years I have had much worse headaches. But also I am leaning over at the pc and having horrible posture, so that leads to them too.

I try to not have to take aleve or tylenol much, but some weeks I have to take one or the other almost every day.

I rarely get true migraines, but those are of course even worse.... But most days I have bad.... I guess tension headaches.

I am so sick of it. Day after day. And by the way it all got MUCH worse when I started watching tvs made between 2010 and current. Before that my 1080i 40 inch one was not giving me bad headaches. But now all of them do.... plasma, leds, oleds, etc... And no doctors know a thing to do about any of it or what is happening. of course I have not asked a neurologist or gone to a headache clinic, though.

Also, skip using the narrator. NVDA is much better.

JAWS as you probably know is akso very popular. But JAWS is probably more suited for a totally blind user.

I find this post very interesting and I can relate. I work as a developer and code a lot. I also get headaches. But I do get some extra support from the welfare system so the state pays my employee a part of my salary so I can get extra time to rest if I need it. If you have that opportunity in your country, take it if you could use that help to get some extra rest or slack when you get tired.

Please try to use the screen reader more. I myself have only used it for like a year now I think consistently while working. The reason is that I want to get used to the synthetic speech, train my brain and hearing to understand it better to crank up the speech rate and learn the shortcuts of the screen reader. If you work on Windows, I strongly recommend the NVDA screen reader, I freaking love NVDA and it has probably saved my productivity some days.

I get it though, yes it sucks to have this and some days I feel frustrated too and even sad. But I get inspiration from other blind/visually impaired developers who can crank that screen reader up to like 300 words per minute. If they could learn to use a screen reader that effectively, why couldn't we? But I think it takes practice so practice with the screen reader more.

Also, there are blind developers who don't use a braille display at all, only screen readers. So you don't need to feel too much pressure I think to learn it. I read about one Google developer or is totally blind and only uses a screen reader, no braille. But I am also thinking about starting to learn it braille if it could help me.

One thing I will say for iPhones is that the screen reader is terrific (or was when I had one in 2015 anyway - I assume they're still good.) I was legally blind (just light and colors) for a few months following surgery in my good eye. I don't think I would have done nearly as well using an Android back then. You're less likely to get eye strain if it's less necessary for you to look at your phone screen.

You might want to consider a second opinion re: cataracts. Pain is one of the main things they look for when deciding whether surgery is warranted. And the procedure is extremely easy and streamlined as well. Doctors routinely do them in tents I'm the Himalayas, FFS.

Additionally, I can't stress enough the importance of increased contrast and color adaptation. I have my PC set to "High Contrast Dark" mode and it helps immensely.

Re: lighting - overhead lighting is crap for folks like us anyway. I've got my place set up with indirect modular lighting and a single task lamp over my computer area. There's a lot of guidance to be found online.

This is a sign that you need to go up to the next level, so probably using more text to speech. Sucks but the sooner you stop resisting the sooner the headaches will go away. I was there 10 years ago or so.

Braille is certainly helpful for coding. When your speech doesn't say an exclamation point, so you don't realize some variable or expression is being negated, it's annoying. There are plenty of times when I appreciate having braille while coding. However, please learn VoiceOver, or whateveryr screen reader of choice is, first. Having good screen reader skills is far more important for you right now. Braille would help in the long term, but don't prioritize it just yet. Get very, very good with screen readers and speech first. Once all that is second nature, then embrace braille. Just my two cents.

I went totally blind at 35. and have to say, not once have I yet thought to myself, "geez, wish I knew brail". I guess maybe once or twice in an elevator, but I'm not about to learn an entirely new language like brail for that.

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I'm a software developer myself, and although it takes a little getting used to, screen reader works just fine.

I get major eye strain headaches too and it just plain sucks. I found that screens with a high refresh rate (preferably LCD since OLED is known for increasing the risk of eye strain - I notice a big difference). Using high contrast settings, an anti-glare screen cover, and being careful not to scroll too fast has also been beneficial.

You can adapt. Is never too late to learn things like this. Best of luck to you.

p.s.: a little Vap-O-Rub, BenGay, or similar on the lower forehead and temples works wonders for the headaches.

It can never hurt to learn braille. I learned as an adult. For coding however, I doubt you’d need it. You know this but practice with VO so that you don’t have to use your sight.

Maybe you should focus on learning voiceover then.