Does anyone else Prefer reading with a screen reader rather Than using braille?(self.Blind)
submitted by blind_system
I don't have access to braille books, and most of my reading is done via my phone. I find my refreshable Braille Display a bit distracting when it comes to reading, so I prefer not using it much for that purpose. I find using a screen reader to be more practical especially when out and about. I can keep reading my book pretty much wherever I like, without having to worry about 2 different devices.
zersiax5 points2y ago
I personally don't have the patience to read a book with just braille on a braille display. I am way quicker on actual braille paper, and have less of a problem with that, but obviously braille books are bulky and impractical for most situations :)
Until there's a good multiline braille display, I use braille mainly for looking at things in detail, when I'm coding, spell checking or working with foreign languages for example.
Nervous_Tailor34311 points8m ago
Do you prefer using Braille display or screenreader for coding? I'm new to all of this and not sure what would be more convenient to invest in for the long run
zersiax1 points8m ago
I tend to use a mix of both myself.
andrew_X211 points2y ago
oh, you are blind and you code ?
zersiax2 points2y ago
Indeed I do :) I teach same, as well :)
Ajv23241 points2y ago
Hey :) sorry if this isn't the right place to ask - did you program with sight, ever? And if so, how hard was the transition?
zersiax2 points2y ago
I'm afraid not, I've been blind since birth. So the transition was rather effortless ;)
andrew_X211 points2y ago
In wich language do you code?
zersiax2 points2y ago
various ones. Python, Ruby, PHP, a bit of c#, JavaScript, I'm working on Elixir and Swift at present
SightlessBastard4 points2y ago
For me, it depends. If I just read a news article, I don’t mind using a screen reader. If I, however, read an actual book, especially, when it comes to a fictional book, I prefer reading it on my display. When I read a book, the characters in it always have different voices in my head. Including the narrator. That just wouldn’t work with a TTS voice. Plus, a TTS voice will never hit the right tone for a certain part in a book. Action scenes, sad scenes, funny scenes, it will always read it in the same tone. I don’t think, I could ever concentrate on that for a longer time. I also think, reading an actual book, will improve your spelling, as well as your grammar. A lot of my friends are completely blind. And with most of them, you just know, that they only use screen readers. Their spelling is just terrible. And they never use punctuation. That is some thing, I noticed with a lot of blind people. Head over to the audio games forum, and you will know what I mean. You can always tell, who uses a display, and who only uses a screen reader.
MilkbottleF1 points2y ago
> And with most of them, you just know, that they only use screen readers. Their spelling…
Don't have time to write my complete rant at the moment (it must be worded with delicacy), but yes, I am glad you had the courage to bring it up, it's part of what I meant when I was talking about blind people needing to know Braille. Chronically underfunded (or sometimes just cheap and lazy) school districts en masse have recently decided that it's easier to let a computer or a smartphone read to their blind students for the entirety of their education instead of teaching them to read words and sentences out of a book $1 It's a silent goddamn tragedy that will have unforeseen consequences for years down the line as these people grow up to try and have a social life or join the workforce with, frankly, a stunted understanding of how words are put together, their shape and the space they take on the page. Not a popular opinion here but I think it should be a requirement to teach it, if they were bornblind or lost their vision young there is no other choice, they have to learn!
the-cat15131 points2y ago
For my part, I am sorry to disagree.
I am not sure how much reading in braille affects a person's spelling, I know many people who write badly despite attending their elementary education and highschool only with braille.
I went through such a situation (I was only able to access a computer at age 15) and my own spelling was downright awful. It got better when I started playing muds :O
I think it is something that should be attributed more to the person himself than to the use of braille.
SightlessBastard1 points2y ago
Wow. I didn’t know, that schools have become that bad. I went to school in a time without smart phones, laptops and screen readers. We had to carry around these bulky braille books for school. And we had these loud typewriters. And even later, when we were introduced to computers, we only had braille displays. So yes. I will never forget my braille. LOL.
blind_cowboy1 points2y ago
This. I can admit that I am one of those people. I can also blame teachers for it though.
Up through fifth grade I depended on Braille. In the summer of 1994 I got my first Windows computer. Before that, I had an old apple, but I don’t recall it being very useful. Anyway, after it flew away in a tornado, I got my first Windows 3.1 computer. It also had Arkenstone Open Book.
That Opened up a whole new world of books for me. Without that start, I never would have gotten to enjoy the thousands of books I have read over the years, but it came with some pitfalls as well.
Because I wasn’t reading Braille, My spelling and punctuation never developed the way it should have. In HS, and in college for that matter, I never was graded on my punctuation. I did spellcheck my documents, but I know that I missed a lot of hominems. I know my punctuation was faarm from perfect.
As an adult I have taken corses to mitigate this. I am also married to an author, and when I don’t get it right I hear about it. I’m not perfect, but it’s something I have improved upon a lot.
I guess what I am saying is that it’s a double edged sword. I only read with a screen reader. On the other hand, I wish that I read more Braille when I was younger to help with my punctuation and spelling.
On a side note, I discussed that teachers and professors let my spelling and punctuation slide. I’m not sure if that’s because I am blind or just a lack of quality writers. My wife often mentions the lack of quality writers who she deals with that have college degrees. She is in marketing for a day job, so writing is kind of important.
[deleted]1 points2y ago
I agree with this. Braille (and thus spelling/grammar) was literally beaten into me, and you never forget it lol.
goldfingas1 points2y ago
I agree. Although my spelling isn't the best, and I know it's because I don't read much braille, I do try to at least spellcheck or review what I am putting out there first. lol
gothicquee3 points2y ago
Not really, I prefer Braille, I comprehend things better when I physically read.
retrolental_morose3 points2y ago
I'm about 4× conventional audiobook speed with my screen reader' although as I've aged I find it easier to fall asleep and lack concentration. Still if I haven't got my gsplay or am doing something with my hands (gardening, washing-up, etc) tts all the way.
DariusA922 points2y ago
I do. Reading with a braille display is too slow and I sometimes forget what the paragraph was about when I reach the end of it. Beside, I'm a non-native English speaker and because I've been using JAWS for years I have the best comprehension when Eloquence reads the book for me. I read using this TTS on Windows and on Android, using an app called @Voice Aloud Reader. It's kind of like an old friend reading the book for me.
retrolental_morose2 points2y ago
I'd not enjoy a TTS other than Eloquence that's for sure. I had a doubletalk before that, but been eloq for ... gosh. gone about 2 decades
DariusA921 points2y ago
Same here. I tried to get used to others, but kept coming back to Eloquence.
[deleted]1 points2y ago
It will be sad when eloq stops working.
hopesthoughts1 points2y ago
I do, simply because when I'm reading braille, I turn the page and forget what I just read. This was a huge problem in school.
Mitmee_pie1 points2y ago
I have a braille display connected to my computer and use it in conjunction with my screen reader. Most of the time, listening to the speech is more efficient, but I like having access to the braille for proofreading and things like that.
the-cat15131 points2y ago
I personally prefer a screenreader to braille. Be careful, I think it has its uses, such as when coding for example, but for things like reading a book, social networks, etc ... I prefer the screenreader.
MilkbottleF1 points2y ago
Well you know it is a whole, complicated thing, with me! I am eternally grateful that I was educated juuuust before laptops and iPads etc were integrated into the mainstream classroom, forced by circumstance to learn Braille as a child. But it's true that after secondary school I kind of left it behind in favour of screenreaders and digital files (except for mathematical subjects, which were impossible for me without paper and Braille), for much the same reasons as you (a limited, conservative selection of titles, too bulky, too slow to produce.) Still, Braille literacy is a valuable asset, rare as it may be these days, and it is crucial for congenitally blind children (the reasons for that could fill a dissertation), even if the delivery system changes. (Braille itself must never die, but the form of it, the enormous embossed books chosen for us by printing houses and charities, that stuff could be on its way out in certain countries, now that we have refreshable displays and can read regular old ebooks and digital Braille files downloaded off the Internet.) If there was a multi-line display that could be afforded by ordinary humans without having to rely on pity cash from the government, I feel like I'd be using it almost as much as a screenreader. There is something about the slowness and intimate physicality of reading Braille that makes every word stick in your mind, in a way that simply doesn't happen when using TTS, for me. During my studies I would always use Braille if the option was available, because I took it as a given that all would be forgotten by exam time if I read the textbooks audibly. The problem is that the tiny one-line displays we have now aren't exactly ideal: you either have to press a button every 5-10 words to move to the next line, or tell it to automatically refresh after a set period, so that you can never establish your own reading rhythm because you're always either waiting half a second for the line to refresh, or reading faster than you're comfortable with to get to the end of the line before it refreshes, which, as you say, is all a big distraction when you'd rather sit down and just…fucking…read. Maybe I'm using it wrong?
Tl;dr: yes, I do all my casual reading with TTS and it works great, but sometimes, I wish there were better options when I require the immersion of Braille.
CosmicBunny971 points2y ago
I’m pretty slow and I feel like Braille takes a lot of energy out of me. I only know Grade 1 but will be learning Grade 2 very soon. So yeah, screen reader is fine for reading but an absolute pain for editing, which is why I’m getting a Braille display.
napoleon881 points2y ago
I've not read braille for literally anything in 18 years. Screen readers all the way
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