You are not alone.

A safe space for people who are blind or visually impaired and our allies

[blindandlowvisionsupport]

Cane tips

For those of you that use a cane, what kind of tip do you use? My cane has a rollerball tip. For some reason, I get a lot of really stupid comments from people about it. I even had a POLICE OFFICER ask me, “Did you get mad at a golf ball and ram your cane into it or something?”

I’ve had another person ask if I was looking for treasure (thinking that my cane was some sort of metal detector).

I don’t know if it’s because of the cane tip that I use or if people are just stupid but every day, at least once, someone asks me, “What’s the stick for?” My partner says that I should reply with, “For hitting stupid people like you.” LOL

Picture above: A fold-able white cane with red at the end and a rollerball tip like the one I have. 

[tarnagona]

I have a rolling marshmallow tip on mine, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten any comments about the tip specifically.  Maybe it’s because it isn’t quite so large?

Most people know what a white cane is, but occasionally I get someone who doesn’t.  And for the ones who don’t know, their guesses are pretty hilarious.  So far, I’ve witnessed a white cane be mistaken for: a foldable pool cue, a dog-training tool called a touch stick, a Nordic walking pole, and a selfie-stick.

[kinuskikakku]

I also use a rolling marshmallow tip. And as for people’s reactions? Well, nothing about the tip itself ever (except for my mother wanting to wash it because it’s dirty. But that’s just my mom). Actually, no one really comments even on the cane. But they do stare and do strangest things.

Like, once leaving a store, someone stopped i nfront of me and stared and me with they mouth wide open for a solid minute, before I finally asked what might be the problem. Or this one time when I was moving around with my cane and someone actually told me to “watch where I’m going”.

Only queries I’ve ever received about the cane are from children. And that’s fine, I like telling children.

So, all around, I’d say that people are generally just kind of stupid. And I can’t say how to respond to them. I personally alter my responses to them depending on what mood I’m in at the given time.

[blindandlowvisionsupport]

hi! I use a marshmallow tip (I think that's what they're called) on my cane and believe me people in general are just stupid. I get things like that all the time too :(

[transientescape]

All About Image Descriptions

TL;DR- A post all about writing image descriptions on Tumblr.

Introduction Text

So, I’ve been looking around for a master post on how to make image descriptions, and have had no luck. So, I’ve decided to put everything I -have- learned in one place.

Why are image descriptions important?

To start off, image descriptions are important because they make Tumblr more accessible. People who use screen readers need them because they can’t see, or it’s hard to see, images, gifs, videos, etc. Image descriptions are also important for people with slow internet speeds, or people who are on mobile Tumblr. They are needed on Tumblr because the way this site is coded doesn’t allow for the normal way that screen readers read descriptions. (I won’t go into that because it’s confusing and technical.)

What are image descriptions and how do you make them?

Image descriptions are plain text (Generally, text you can copy and paste) descriptions of images, gifs, videos, and other media. On Tumblr, there are several kinds of image descriptions. 

The first describes a picture without words. This kind of description goes in brackets [ ] and tells about what is in a picture or gif. Image descriptions should start with the words “Image Description,” to indicate what it is, especially for those using screen readers. Image descriptions need to be the first comment to a picture. If you are adding a description to a picture that already has comments, just use the return key to add a few more spaces. Image descriptions must be first, or else people using screen readers will have to be read meaningless dialogue first without knowing what the comments refer to.

For example:

This is a picture of me. An image description for this picture might go something like:

[Image Description: A picture of a person sitting on a brown couch. The image is cut off at their chest. They are looking straight at the camera, and are smiling slightly. Their hair is brown and asymmetrical and falls to the right side of their face. They are wearing glasses and a white tank top with a ruffled edge. Behind them is the back of the couch. On top of the couch is a long, light brown pillow with dark brown jagged patterns on it. Behind the couch is a white wall and the edge of a windowsill.]

How descriptive you are will depend on how much time (And spoons) you have. 

Notice that I could have included more detail, such as my eye color, my freckles, or the color of my skin. (A note about skin color and image descriptions, you either need to use it all the time, or in posts where race is the main subject.)

In general, I like to bold text in brackets. This is because it helps it stand out to people who aren’t using screen readers. Organizing your image description so that people who -can- see it, can read it, is another part of accessibility.

The second kind of image description involves both text, and pictures. This can occur in several different ways. The main ones are simple pictures or gifs with a few words on them (This includes pictures with subtitles, and ones that have words in the background), comics, and infographics. The way you caption each of these is slightly different.

For pictures and gifs with words, you would start out with a normal image description that would also include a “with text that reads…” somewhere in it.

For example:

source

[Image Description: A black and white gif of Emily Osment in the film Cyberbully. She is standing on the right side of the screen. She, and the person on the left side of the screen, are facing each other. Her hair is either short, or pulled back into a ponytail, and appears blonde.She is wearing a short sleeve shirt with flowers down the front. Her left bra strap is showing and she has a bag over her right shoulder. Her words are subtitled at the bottom of the image, saying, “You should know that your words actually hurt.”]

I also have the tendency to italicize quotes to make them stand out from the rest of the image description.

As you can see here, the image description comes first with what is being said at the end. This is almost always true for captioned pictures. Regarding gifs, especially longer ones, what is being said would be put between the description of the actions shown in the gif.

For example:

source

[Image Description: A slightly blurry gif of comedian Bo Burnham making a visual pun. He is wearing a short sleeve gray shirt with a light gray object on it. He is sitting on a green couch. Behind him is a white wallpaper with green birds on it. Captioned under him in yellow says “My puns aren’t just bad…” He pulls up a white piece of paper that says ‘My puns’ on it. He rips the paper, smiling through the tear as he says “They’re tear-able”]

So that’s how captioning works when a gif is longer. But how do you write a description when two people are talking?

Like so:

source

[Image Description: Two people as simple light gray silhouettes on a light blue and tan wavy background. One person is reaching out toward the other and is captioned saying “Let me help you!” and the other replies “Thank you.”]

The more complicated the picture, the more you have to combine these elements. But, usually, pictures and gifs don’t contain more than a few lines, which helps to keep image descriptions small.

So that’s how you do single images and gifs. But what about comics, which have lots of words with their pictures, or infographs which are word heavy pictures with lots of smaller charts, diagrams and other images?

For comics, especially longer ones with lots of background and dialogue will probably be structured exactly like image descriptions for other pictures with dialogue, but with one thing added in. New paragraphs. This will help space out who is saying what, and what is in each panel so that people reading the description can understand it better.

For example:

source

[Image Description: A black and white three panel comic. There is a robot with one, black eyes stands to the right of a man wearing a tee shirt, pants, and a hat. Behind them is a white background with part of it shaded gray using pixels. The robot introduces the man,

Robot, pointing to Chad: “This is my roommate Chad”

Chad, waving: “Hi there.”

Robot, making a thumbs up: “He’s a cartoonist and the best buddy a robot lie me could ask for.”

Chad smiles and holds his hands on his hips.

Chad, frowning and looking down at the Robot: “By the way, your part of the rent is due.”

Robot, looking annoyed: “He’s also slightly annoying.”]

For more complicated comics, or at least ones that change their view, perspective, etc, the new setting also should be described.

For example:

source

[Image Description:  A person sitting in front of a desk for an interview. They have short brown hair and are wearing a tie. The person behind the desk is wearing glasses and is holding a paper. The person behind the desk, presumably a manager, asks the other person, an applicant for a job position a question.

Manager, holding onto the edge of their glasses in one hand, and a paper with the other: “Mr.Idangam, please describe yourself at the present moment.”

The next panel zooms in on the applicant’s face.

Applicant, smiling with eyes closed: “I am a man who is describing himself at the present moment.”

The panel under that focuses on the manager’s face.

Manager, taking their glasses off: “Welcome aboard!”

The door of the office is show open. Above the door is a sign that reads ‘Grelling & Nelson Incorporated.’ The applicant and the manager are shaking hands across the desk.]

The easiest way to put in a change of setting is to describe it immediately before the dialogue in that scene.

When it comes to infographs, which are mostly text but in an image, you can briefly describe what the infographic is about, and any images near the top or it. Do not use the image description to put down the text in the infographic. Infographs are text heavy, and they need more spaces and specialization then just the image description. You can use bullet points, bolding, and italics to make the text more organized. Then, if there are any other images in the text, they can be described in small image descriptions.

For example:

source

[Image Description: An infograph about what happens in an internet minute. There is a clock in the upper left corner with boxes coming out of it. Each box has the name of a website, and each is tagged with a fact about the website.]

In a minute on the internet here’s what happens:

639,800 Gigabites of global IP data are transferred

135 botnet infections occur

6 new Wikipedia articles are published

20 new victims of identity theft occur

204 million emails are sent

1,300 new mobile users come online

47,000 apps are downloaded

$83,000 in sales are collected

61,141 hours of music are played

100+ new Linkedin accounts are created

20 million photos are viewed on Flickr

3,000 photos are uploaded to Flickr

320+ new Twitter accounts are created

100,000 new tweets are sent

277,000 people log into Facebook

6 million Facebook profiles are viewed

2 + million searches are made on Google

30 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube

1.3 million videos are viewed on Youtube

And future growth is staggering:

Today the number of networked devices are equal to the population [A picture of a black stick figure standing on the planet with the symbol for wireless coming out of their head. The symbol is five curved, yellow lines.]

By 2015, the number of networked devices will be double the population. [The previous picture now has two wireless symbols coming out of their head, and a 2X over them.]

In 2015, it would take you five years [A red arrow with the word ‘IP’ on it is shown linking up this information to the next] to view all video crossing IP networks each second.

So that’s what an infographic might look like with an image description.

When it comes to videos, you would probably approach it similarly to an infographic or a longer gif. It would be similar to a longer gif in that there would be a brief description first, and the the dialogue would be under that, with the scenes and actions also described. However, the dialogue of the video would not be in the image description. Instead, it would be outside of it, like the information in an infographic. 

Like so:

[Video description: A video of a cat that visits the person who is taping the video. The cat’s name is VeeSee, or Visitor cat. The cat is gray and and brown, with the brown striped slightly on their body. The cat’s tail is long and their eyes appear green. In the video the person taping follows the cat into the kitchen.] 

Video Taper: “Mreow, mreow”

[VeeSee meows back and then turns around from the camera and begins to walk into the kitchen. The video taper follows VeeSee as they brush up against a chair in the kitchen and walk to a door leading out of the house.]

Video Taper: “Mreow.”

[VeeSee meows as they rub against a cabinet.]

Video Taper: “Mreow. VeeSee, tss tss. Visitor cat, pff pff.”

[VeeSee looks back at the camera and meows.]

Video Taper: “Mreow.”

[VeeSee meows in response and walks towards the camera. The video taper meows at VeeSee as they walk to a waterbowl]

Video Taper: “Mreow…Mreow…Mreow.” 

[VeeSee meows back and sniffs the water bowl.]

Video Taper: “Mreow… D’aww, it looks like he’s preoccupied.”

[VeeSee drinks some water.]

When it comes to audio posts, if you can usually find lyrics or transcripts online. If you can’t, but you’ve got the spoons, you can always write your own.

A few helpful hints:

Sometimes transcripts will be available for popular videos or newscasts

Check the source for information that will be helpful in writing an image description.

So this is everything I’ve learned about writing image descriptions! I hope you’ve enjoyed.

[blindandlowvisionsupport]

Thank you to transientescape for making this!!!!

[blindandlowvisionsupport]

Hey, I wanted to start adding descriptions to photos i reblog to help make this website more accessible but i don't know how to do so correctly. i was wondering if you could give me any tips? also whether its better to do it on every picture or just some. sorry if these are really annoying questions

no, this is a perfectly reasonable question and I am glad you asked! Please feel free to post photos that may be related to this blog. Please put a description of all pictures (if possible). To do so, simply describe what is being depicted, the more detailed, the better! Thank you!

[blindandlowvisionsupport]

Cane tips

For those of you that use a cane, what kind of tip do you use? My cane has a rollerball tip. For some reason, I get a lot of really stupid comments from people about it. I even had a POLICE OFFICER ask me, “Did you get mad at a golf ball and ram your cane into it or something?”

I’ve had another person ask if I was looking for treasure (thinking that my cane was some sort of metal detector).

I don’t know if it’s because of the cane tip that I use or if people are just stupid but every day, at least once, someone asks me, “What’s the stick for?” My partner says that I should reply with, “For hitting stupid people like you.” LOL

Picture above: A fold-able white cane with red at the end and a rollerball tip like the one I have. 

[thexfiles]

if a marginalized group tells you that a word or phrase is harmful/toxic towards them and they wish you’d stop using it, it’s not an opportunity for you to flex your fucking debate skills

[kimberleybishop]

BuzzFeed Yellow Case Studies

While researching I came across the two YouTube videos (‘What It’s Like To Go Blind’ and ‘How The Blind See Beauty’) from the channel BuzzFeed Yellow. Both videos follow the lives of people living with visual impairments. They allowed me to begin to understand what it would be like to live with a vision problem as well as get a perspective of how they feel emotionally. 

What It’s Like To Go Blind: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPGTfUr6O8o)

This video focuses on the life of 29 year old Marc Muszynski who is gradually going blind. Diagnosed with Conrad Dystrophy, (a form of macular degeneration in the eye) after taking a simple vision test during Kindergarten his condition means he has very little vision in both of his eyes (20/800 in his left eye, 20/400 in his right) and will eventually go fully blind in a few years. In the video we are shown how this affects him on a daily basis from performing simple activities such as talking to his friends, crossing the road, using his mobile phone, and reading the difference between a shampoo and conditioner bottle, due to his vision appearing blurred and being extra light sensitive. Overall, I found the video to be quite moving, and provided me with an in depth understanding of the difficulties people face with this condition. 

How The Blind See Beauty: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlcx_q8u_YI)

In this video BuzzFeed asks several people who are blind to tell them what they regard as being beautiful. The response showed that they no longer cared about what something looked like but rather the experience or feeling of someone or something. One said that beauty to them was listening to the birds in the morning, meanwhile others regarded it as smelling cookies and feeling the warm breeze on their skin. 

[2ndcupoftea]

Eyes Wide Open - Tour Guiding For The Blind

Eyes Wide Open – Tour Guiding For The Blind

‘Why would you travel if you are blind?’ Only last week on a tour of perfectly sighted, very well educated travel aficionados I was once again asked this question. It happens almost every time when I reveal I have recently become a tour guide for the blind and visually impaired. You might equally ask; ‘why would you do anything if you are blind?’ I replied as I normally do when challenged in such…

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[vagabondretired]

And now for Monday morning “feel good” story: A charity that helps the blind was stunned when a man they’d never heard from before left them $125 million in his will. Seattle, Washington businessman, Donald Sirkin, left almost all of his estate to LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco, but no one at the charity had ever heard of him. Their records showed he’d never contributed to the nonprofit group in the past. Lighthouse CEO Bryan Bashin visited Seattle to learn more about the mysterious benefactor–a recluse who had built a successful insurance business. Only after touring Sirkin’s house, did Bashin realize the significance of the millionaire’s gift. The large house was in disrepair, and after seeing giant screen televisions, light boxes, and magnifiers, Bashin realized Sirkin had lost his own eyesight — and had been hiding it. That also explained why he’d become a recluse. Bashin is still trying to figure out how to use Sirkin’s gift, which is 15 times the group’s annual operating budget. Lighthouse hopes to build a new headquarters, with dormitories where people can live while learning how to use blind technology and the necessary skills. There’s talk about endowing an award for exceptional blind people or those who develop technology to help the blind. Like Sirkin, CEO Bashin also hid his advancing blindness for years, but advises others not to: “Don’t just hide. “This is not some kind of deep loss,” he told NPR News. “This is just another side of being human.”

[inclusivecities-blog]

Most of us take telling the time and reading books for granted.

But these simple actions can be a real struggle or completely impossible for visually impaired people, despite the advent of new technologies such as smartwatches and e-readers.

Dot, it has shifting cells of raised bumps which visually impaired people can read or feel as words.

The gadget could enable them to read text messages as well as whole e-books from their wrists using haptic technology, which provides information in real-time through touch.

It has a built-in vibration motor to alert wearers to incoming messages, which are sent to the watch from a smartphone.

Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3184208/Braille-smartwatch-lets-blind-people-read-text-messages-e-books-using-active-dots.html#ixzz3t5Xdmpuv

Follow us:

@MailOnline on Twitter

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DailyMail on Facebook

[inclusivecities-blog]

The device will scan the text and generate the corresponding Braille code enabling the visually impaired person to sense it on a fingertip by the means of a piezoelectrically actuated tip. The sensors, processing units, power supply and output units are completely integrated into a wearable device. Along with this, the device also facilitates the user to learn Braille by manoeuvring it in training mode.

[princesscutiewithacane-deactiva]

Paint the right part of the step yellow.

OK, so it’s great when edges of steps are yellow. That helps people with various degrees of visual impairments immensely. I have terrible depth perception, and it’s hard for me to notice the edge of things; the height difference doesn’t really look much different if the stair or surface below it is the same color.

But, that only helps if the edge of the step that’s right before the step up or down is yellow. It’s not all that helpful, at least for people with problems like mine, if the back of the step that’s against the rising part of the next  lower step is the part that’s yellow instead of the front edge of the higher step. Maybe that’s supposed to work the same way and it just doesn’t for me because I’m weird? Maybe there’s some other reason the designers would have done that. I don’t know.

But I would like it if the steep edges of as many stairs as possible would be painted yellow for contrast. That would be very helpful and make things much more accessible.

[inclusivecities-blog]

Electronic Braille Travel card. Links with Irish rail real time information to deliver train information to the card in braille. 

User can interact with the middle button to indicate their journey.

Vibrations and braille indicate when to to get on and off the train.

[blindandlowvisionsupport]

this is brilliant!

[micdousmi]

NBC will make 'The Wiz Live' accessible for the visually impaired

NBC will make ‘The Wiz Live’ accessible for the visually impaired

NBC’s live broadcast of The Wiz Live will be fully accessible for people with visual disabilities The musical production will be the first live entertainment show in U.S. history to provide video description to viewers with Secondary Audio Program audio feeds, according to an announcement by Comcast. Video description is defined as “a narration track between the natural pauses in the dialogue…

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[thealphabrain]

Marc Dillon, a Helsinki-based designer, is the mastermind behind The Unseen Project, a new initiative that is giving the blind and the visually impaired the possibility of experiencing some of the most amazing pieces of classical art. Famous paintings such as the Mona Lisa have now been recreated in 3D models that can be felt and touched. 3D Printers are giving these people the possibility to experience art for the first time in their lives!

The people behind The Unseen Project use 3D imaging and sand based 3D printing in order to recreate these works of art on a scale that could be displayed in art museums around the globe.

The Unseen Project is currently holding an IndieGoGo fundraiser campaign; so if you have some extra cash to support this amazing project please visit their page – The Unseen Project.

The post 3-D Printed Paintings Will Allow the Blind to Experience Famous Art appeared first on theAlphaBrain.

[positivedoodles]

[image description: drawing of a lion saying “You’re stronger than you think.” in a green speech bubble.]

[cyberneticenchantment-deactivat]

Can we please just stop saying “special needs” when we mean “accommodations that level the playing field so disabled peeps can get their shit done”? I don’t have special needs. I have reasonable needs. I don’t need you to make school and work easy for me. I don’t need easier tasks. I need to be provided with the tools to make tasks doable. That’s not “special.”