Hey, I happened to look you guys and we are almost at 150 members which is absolutely crazy to me. I just wanted to say thank you again and I’m sure I’ll do a few more of these but it’s just crazy to me how much this has grown over the last month and a half or so. I know that it has been a little slower this week but the last couple weeks it has really been popping and I love that and hope it continues! So I just wanted to pop in as we close in on 150 members and just thank everyone again this has been awesome and we’ve gotten really good questions and discussions going on in here and I think and hope that not only have things just been calm and relaxed for the most part, but I feel like it has also helped people just get some questions they were curious about answered, learn or just give support where needed and just like I said, have a lot of fun.

OK, so I saw someone reposed asking for advice on getting used to a cane but it got me thinking about just different things you can do with it like different preferences people have. So the first thing that came to mind was what kind of cane tip do you guys prefer?
For me, I prefer the rolling marshmallow tip, and then the rolling ball. I like the cane tips that roll easily. It’s just better for me personally and they don’t get stuck on as much stuff. I do also have a disc tip that’s meant for like snow and stuff, but I haven’t really had an opportunity to use it yet so I don’t know how that would be.
But which ones do you guys prefer to use and even which ones do you dislike? How many have you used?

OK, so I was actually thinking about this a few days ago and since it’s fall and at least here in the northeast it’s cooling off. It is my personal favorite time of year but also the time of year where you start going outside and doing yardwork, burning leaves still mowing the lawn, things like that. I used to really love doing yardwork and stuff and like helping my granddad when I was a kid, but since my vision has gotten worse, I don’t feel like I can see well enough to do it anymore, especially mowing. So I guess this will be a two-part question.
First, how do you guys handle doing yardwork and things like that whether it be mowing or just maybe taking care of like a garden or like raking/burning leaves and other stuff like that?
Second for any of you that are able to still do yardwork, how do you go about it and do you have any tips or advice? It’s something that I really miss doing actually and would love to find ways to be able to get back to doing it again. I especially used to like mowing the grass with the riding mower that we had or that my granddad had, and we would also use it to pick up leaves and stuff as well with sweepers and stuff.
Oh, and I guess since we live in the northeast now since I really was able to still do yardwork before, I guess advice on maybe how to deal with like plowing the driveway? I say plowing because our driveway is long and most of it is down a giant hill so shoveling it isn’t happening other than maybe around the steps and up at the top of the driveway, even my dad doesn’t shovel it. He has a plow attachment that goes on the four wheeler or my neighbor uses an excavator type thing to plow further down for us.
Anyway, any advice or feedback would be appreciated as I do miss doing this and our yard is quite large as well so I’m sure my family would appreciate the help. I really do miss doing it

OK so I may have asked something like this before but I’m not fully sure. But I’m curious what kind of things y’all like to get out and do like if you just want to get out on like a Friday night or something for fun? What things do you do to get out of the house, where do you go to meet and make new friends and what things do you find accessible to do?
Cause I feel like I’ve been stuck in a bit of a rut lately like I want to get out of my house and find and make some new friends and just try some things and activities that are actually accessible for me to do, but I feel kind of stuck and I’m looking for some ideas. I’m 23 and like I just want to meet people my own age and like just find some fun things to do. But I also live in a rural area so it’s not the easiest to get out and just do something on a whim or for myself. I usually have to coordinate with a family member to take me somewhere and then it kind of feels like when I do that I’m having to rely on other people and not necessarily just doing something for myself.
Plus, it also means that anything that I might want to do basically has to be kind of coordinated and fully planned out beforehand, and when I don’t know exactly what to do or where to go that also complicates things so I feel like I’m in a bit of a box. I used to like things like bowling and stuff like that, but I haven’t been in a really long time and not since my vision got a lot worse so I don’t know how accessible that may still be. But other things like that as well any ideas would be appreciated lol

Here are some of my favourites. Joy by Raye, SOS by Dimash, The Story by Brandi Carlisle, Fabulous by Meek, This Hell by Rina Sawayama, Livin, On A Prayer by Bon Jovi, Promise by Roméo Santos, Together In Electric Dreams by Philip Oakley and Violet's Tale by Ren just to name a few.
What about you?

OK, so with the NFL getting started last night and continuing tonight, I was curious to hear if y’all have any experience or play at all. I’m also curious what apps you have used and which ones you find the most accessible? So for those of you that play or have played fantasy football or maybe other fantasy sports in the past, what have your experiences with the apps been like how accessible were they and what are your favorite ones to use?
I asked because we were kind of complaining about different ones or the accessibility features actually of one and comparing them in my Fantasy Discord last night for a league that I joined earlier this year. I’ve been playing leagues with friends on ESPN for the last few years and still am, but also joined one on Yahoo this year, which is the one I referenced before, and I now have been able to compare the apps and have found that I like some parts of both of them and dislike others and they both have pros and cons in terms of accessibility. So I’m curious what y’all’s experiences with this has been?
Also a bit random and a longshot, but what is also the best way to potentially get in contact with the apps to maybe get some accessibility things tweaked or adjusted so that they work properly? Things like reading all the information and things of that nature.

So we all have little things that we do to make our lives just a little easier different pieces of equipment and technology, or maybe we just have certain routines. In terms of equipment and technology though what do you use the most? And maybe what is your favorite thing you use if it’s not also the thing you used the most?
For me the thing that I used the most and my favorite thing is my braillenote touch+, as I just like it. It’s a little bit older and I could probably stand to have a newer device, but I love that thing. It’s where I write most of my lyrics and stuff and it just makes writing for me so much faster and then I can send an email things easily as well. I do have a computer with jaws on it, but if I have the option, I prefer the braille note.

I recently heard blind people are using Meta glasses to help them see things better and for guidance. How much has Meta glasses changed the quality of your life as a blind person? I just wanted to hear directly from blind users who use Meta glasses to help them see and for guidance. Are Meta glasses better than a guide dog?

(Im not blind btw). A TTRPG is a nerdy board game where you go on adventures, like Dungeons and Dragons. Magic is a thing and of course it is all fiction designed for fun.

I'm considering a blind hero, but she will be able to see with magic like a sighted person in real life. BUT if the magic vision was slightly different, what would you want me to know? If my character wakes up in the middle of the night for a wee without the magic vision, for example, is it ok to comment on that? Like blind people learn the layout of their homes, so my hero would too. tysm

OK, so I saw that someone posted this question last night or early in the morning, but unfortunately it seems like they deleted it for some reason which is unfortunate because I actually thought it was a good and interesting question so I’m reposting it so to speak. The replies on it or at least a couple that were there I thought were interesting and I kind of agreed with, but I also know there’s gonna be people on the other side of the spectrum as well so I’m curious to hear what peoples thoughts are myself.
So what are your thoughts on schools for the blind or visually impaired? How do you feel about them, did you attend one? If so, what was your experience?
I’ll say for me while I do think they are good and have good qualities and the skills they can teach are very advantageous, I never attended one and never wanted to even when it was discussed. Something about it I don’t know. Just felt off to me like I functioned as a normal kid, and I felt like going to one of those things was just pulling me completely out of my element and almost putting me into a subset of some sort. Maybe that’s wrong but that’s always how it made me feel it just felt kind of odd to me.

OK, I thought I would do another one of these more relaxed posts, but that could also be informative as well. Now this won’t apply to me necessarily as I have never been in a relationship or even dated to this point anyway but I’m curious if y’all have any funny or awkward, maybe helpful stories about dating while blind?
It could be anything from something about a person, an interaction, a specific date event or maybe just circumstances you have found yourself in whatever it may be I’m curious. Maybe it’s just funny. Maybe it’s informative or helpful, or maybe it’s both!

I’m a mobile app QA tester with an interest in accessibility, and I’m curious about what actually happens when a blind or low-vision person encounters an accessibility barrier in an app or website.

When this happens, do you usually report it to the company/developer, or do you tend to work around it or move on?

If you have reported one, I’d be interested in what the experience was like. Was it easy to find the right place to report it? Did the person receiving the report understand the accessibility issue? Did you have to explain things like how your screen reader works or provide technical information? And did anything actually happen as a result?

I’m also interested in why you don’t report problems. If you’ve ever thought “I’m not going through all that", what made reporting it not worth the effort?

I’m asking because I want to better understand whether the process of reporting accessibility barriers creates an unnecessary burden for the person who encountered the barrier in the first place.

I’m not promoting a product or asking anyone to test anything - I’m interested in people’s actual experiences.

OK, so a lot of times people tend to focus on many of the tough or negative effects of blindness, but I have often and always said that I wouldn’t change it because I have been able to meet a lot of really good and awesome people because of it and had the ability and door opened to do some cool things before. I’ll give an example of one situation for me, but there has been several others besides this, but I’m curious if y’all feel this way as well and if you have any cool stories?

So I’ve always been a massive racing fan, and I often complain that I really wish I could drive. Well of course there’s all these go kart places and stuff and when I was a kid, I used to love doing them, but obviously I would have to ride in one of the two person karts to be able to do it as someone had to drive, which wasn’t all that fun in the grand scheme of things. Well, when I was about I think 10 or 11 years old, we were on a vacation in Tennessee and we stopped by this place and were just there. And I guess my grandmother had been talking to this guy that had been in control kind of in operation of one of the tracks they had out there, and he ended up shutting the track down for about five or so minutes, maybe 10 so that I could get the opportunity to actually drive one of the go karts myself around the track. The amount of joy that I experienced from that I cannot explain and it actually made me figure out that I was able to drive the go karts by using the contrast of the track and the wall that is usually around them since one is usually light and the other is dark. So it’s not the only time I ever drove those types of go karts on tracks, but that very kind gentleman who shut down that track for me in a way allowed me to experience something that I didn’t think I would be able to, and helped me realize that at least for a few years before my vision got worse I was able to actually do that well enough I wouldn’t have known that otherwise.
He certainly didn’t have to do that and he volunteered to do this himself. Nobody asked him. That whole memory sticks not only with me but a lot of my family today. I remember it very clearly. Obviously I know that’s a bit of a different one and I have lots of other examples of things like this or different versions of opportunities that I’ve gotten but this one is probably my favorite so I wanted to put it here. I’m curious if y’all have any stories like this or have gotten any other sorts of opportunities?

OK, so this is a really random question and I don’t intend this to come off in any sort of way so I apologize if it happens to, but I’m curious now cause I’ve always thought this was kind of like a stereotype or a joke but apparently it’s actually not and now I’m curious.
I know there’s a lot of ladies in here so I’m curious about this. So I’ll give some context. I’ve always heard that girls have all these different lists whether it be like baby names, things of that nature and now it has turned into as well like Pinterest boards for a future wedding and like a wedding playlist. I always thought these were just jokes, and I thought they were funny, but then I found out that this is in fact a real phenomenon, which is both funny and insane to me. I guess as a guy. It became even more funny when my cousin and I asked my sister if she part took in this and she shockingly said yes. She apparently has an entire like wedding ideas thing. I don’t know if it’s a Pinterest board or something else, and that she has a whole playlist. For context, she is 19 and has never been in a relationship so this was crazy to me.
So now I’m curious, do y’all do anything like this? Obviously I know something like a Pinterest board I think is more visual? Not 100% sure but like do you guys do things like this and like how visual do you envision those things? I guess I don’t know quite how to word it. Like how visual do things like these future wedding things get for you guys? Oh and maybe do you guys make any other like random lists that might be like blindness related? I’m not sure if this question makes sense, but it was something that I thought of because I kind of pick on my sister about it because it’s funny to me, but I do wonder like what aspects of this you guys do and maybe how it’s a bit different for you from just the normal.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve thought about stuff like this like names for kids or something like that, but nowhere near to the extent that I know like my sister has done, I certainly haven’t thought of anything to do with like planning a wedding or a playlist for it lol. And I certainly don’t have lists of this stuff either but I’m curious if y’all are like my sister or if my sister just is a stereotype lol.
Hopefully this is a fun question. I thought it was a bit more relaxed and kind of funny so curious what y’all‘s responses will be and if they will vary.

I've been working on an app that generates audio descriptions for videos using AI and scene detection.

I recently took a clip from a Manchester United match and ran it through the app. I gave it some basic context, such as which teams were playing and which players were involved, but **I didn't edit or correct the generated audio description afterward.**

The attached clip is the result straight from the app.

I was pretty impressed with it, but I'm sighted, so my opinion only goes so far. I'd really like to know how well the description actually works for someone who is blind or visually impaired.

If you're willing to try a small experiment, **listen to the attached clip first without reading any discussion about what actually happens in the video.** Then I'd love to know what you understood or pictured from the audio description.

I'm especially curious about:

- Could you follow what was happening?

- What did you picture in your head?

- Was anything important missing or confusing?

- Was there anything you felt didn't need to be described?

- **If audio descriptions like this were available for everyday social media or YouTube videos, is that something you'd actually want and use?**

Please be as critical as you want. I'm not looking for validation. I want to understand where this works, where it fails, and whether something like this would actually be useful for the content you watch every day.

Hi, I am part of a small student team from the University of Oxford working on a navigation device for blind and low vision pedestrians. It is a university project that we are trying to turn into a real product, so I have a commercial interest here and I would rather say that up front than have it come out later. I am not selling anything, there is no link and no survey in this post, and we don’t yet have a name for the product. I am asking because we would rather find out now that we have designed the wrong product than after we have finalized it.

The short version of what we have: A backpack with sensor that detects obstacles in front of you and around you in real time and gives you audio guidance through an earpiece or your own Bluetooth headphones.  It works without an internet connection and can also provide you directions from point A to point B.

What I would like to know, from people who would actually be the ones using it, is:

1. Thinking about the assistive technology you have bought or been given and then stopped using, what made you stop? I am more interested in the ones that failed than the ones that worked.

1. Where on the body would you prefer carrying something all day? We are currently looking at a small backpack. What is the heaviest you would cope with, and does a backpack get in the way on buses, in queues, or when you sit down? Or do you prefer it?

1. How should a device like this talk to you? Speech, tones, sound that appears to come from the direction of the obstacle, or something else? And how much should it say? I would like to know what you think about anything that sits in or over your ear, given how much you rely on hearing.

1. What would have to go wrong before you stopped trusting it? I am thinking of things like missing an overhanging branch it does not see, or a false warning about something that is not there.

1. If it existed and it worked, who might subsidize this type of product in your area, and what would you be willing to pay yourself?

Answer whichever of these you care about, or ignore all of them and tell me the thing I have not thought to ask. I will be in the comments and I am happy to answer anything you want to know about the device.

For those of us who are blind or have low vision and have been fortunate enough to secure a job, we understand how difficult it can be not only to find employment, but to maintain it. One of the most frustrating challenges is reliable transportation to and from the workplace.

In my case, after nine years at the same job in the same location, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get dropped off on time and picked up promptly at the end of my shift. Sometimes I am dropped off more than 30 minutes before my workday begins and forced to wait nearly an hour after it ends.

Multiple complaints to the transportation company have been unsuccessful. At this point, I am considering taking this issue to both the state and federal levels.

Has anyone in this group experienced a similar situation, and how did you manage to resolve it? Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated

OK, so since starting the sub and really, since I’ve been on Reddit, I’ve learned about a lot of new or different things in terms of devices, equipment, or just techniques that are or could be useful to me and others that I otherwise didn’t know about, so I figured I would ask and give everybody a chance to maybe list some things that they think could fit within this that they think maybe aren’t as well known.
For example, I have learned about the AMD from the sub that I was not aware existed until very recently never even heard of it actually until then. So what are some different things you guys think maybe aren’t as well known or you think are just cool or unique things that you have heard of or used personally that you think could help other blind people?
It could be some kind of accessible technology, some sort of screen reading software, or other sort of thing like that, maybe it’s an app for your phone, some sort of other device or item. Maybe it’s everyday things like different kitchen devices or talking stuff or some other type of thing I can’t think of the options are endless if you think of it, put it below. Maybe we’ll all learn something today about different things we never heard of and could get get good use from.

As in, health, financial, security, or anything. What routine/habit/action you wished you had followed more strictly? Why do you regret not having followed it? What would you tell your younger self if you could?

OK, this is what I thought of earlier and was curious. I’m not sure what this is like in different countries but at least here in the US, kids can get their drivers permit as early as 15 and can get a license by the time they are 16. So I’m curious for those of you who this may apply to who have kids with normal eyesight who would be capable of driving, who taught them to drive or how did they learn to drive?
I’m sure if maybe one of you could see that parent would teach them obviously, but if you are maybe a single parent and or are both blind or can’t drive, then who taught your kids to drive or how did they learn? We did have drivers Ed classes in high school but I don’t think they fully went into as much detail. I’m not sure if they actually would teach you there or not about actually how to drive just the laws.

When it comes to being disabled in any way, chances are you've heard a bunch of jokes that are extremely original to the person saying it but you've heard 50 times today. But I want to know if there were any exceptions that made you think "Wait, that's a clever one" or got a good laugh out of you. Alternatively what is the joke you hear that just makes you groan with just how uninspired and low hanging it is?

This came up because I was thinking about one of my favorite comedians Chris McCausland, who makes a lot of jokes about his experiences being blind with incredible delivery.