#actuallyblind

[teddybearworld]

Question for people who use screen readers or text to speech/audio

When a post on here has lots of emojis, special fonts/text or lots of keysmashes, what is a way to tag those posts so that you guys don't have to sit there listening to nonsense for a minute straight?

Thanks!

[castledock]

I would love for more Daredevil fanartists to give Matt Murdock different eye conditions that are associated with blindness other than the (stereotypical) blueish-white cataracts / corneal scarring. While it does make sense for him to have that from the chemical burns, it’s an over-represented shorthand to indicate blindness even in characters who wouldn’t actually have cataracts or corneal scarring, so it’s a pretty tired trope.

I’m going to give a few examples that i think would be cool for me, as a low-vision / blind person, to see (yeah, haha) in Daredevil fanart. This is not an exhaustive list and isn’t intended to describe every possible presentation or manifestation of eye conditions.

Strabismus is a big one, where the eyes don’t align properly and don’t move in tandem; it can be unilateral (one eye) or bilateral (both eyes). Eyes can point inward toward the nose, outward, up, or down. Each eye can have its own presentation of strabismus. It can be more apparent when someone is tired or stressed.

There’s also nystagmus, or “dancing eyes” where the eyes move rapidly around and don’t stay in one place. This in itself can cause legal blindness as the person’s vision is constantly shaking, but it’s also common with muscle/nerve damage.

The eyes can also bulge a bit out of the sockets if there’s scar tissue or inflammation inside / behind them.

Ptosis (drooping or closed eyelids) is another one caused by muscle weakness or nerve damage.

These can all be observed in some people who have been blind for any length of time, either as the primary cause of blindness or as an associated condition.

I think it’s important to consider what you think the exact mechanism of Matt’s blindness is & what kind of chemicals/substance you think was in those containers, or if it’s explained in a comic run you’ve read, when drawing Matt’s eyes. Head injuries can also cause blindness, and I read a fic once where Matt had eye damage and a brain injury to the cortical area that processes vision, which was a fun take! Even an unspecified “chemical burn” injury will affect more than just the cornea; the retinas, optic nerve, & more can and will be damaged. Take this into account when coming up with headcanons and making art!

[theimaginatrix27]

To anyone in the position to edit future non-fandom wikis, from a blind fan

I have run up against this issue on the Star Trek Fandom wiki (I know Fandom is bad, if there's an alternative wiki for the Star Trek franchise please please point me to it), but I hope anyone else who edits/will edit any wikis for (particularly live-action) fandoms will hear my plea.

On behalf of all blind fans, I implore you:

When creating/editing a character's page, provide a physical description of them.

Yes, even if there are pictures. Blind people can't see those. Alt text for those pictures would also be nice because screen-readers can read alt text, and it's not always visible to a sighted person who just wants to check a thing real quick.

Yes, even if they basically look like the actor playing them. We also cannot see what actors look like, funnily enough.

Yes, even if you think some things are obvious. You never know what someone might have missed when watching the show/movie or playing the game/watching a let's play. Especially if they're blind/low-vision viewers.

Yes, even if you personally find it annoying. Wikis are an excellent reference if done well, and can be very helpful for reminding people of stuff, and for helping blind fans like myself know what something looks like, so long as the description is there. We find it annoying when there isn't all the information on a wiki page there could be.

Sincerely, a blind Treky who has looked up the pages for several characters on the Star Trek wiki this past week to try and find out for suresies what those characters looked like, only to find there was no physical description section. The races get them, which is great and mostly helpful (but why do they talk about Cardassians having grey skin most of the time instead of scales? I got tripped up by that—though not in anything I've posted yet thankfully!). But that only gets you so far for specific characters! I can't keep relying on fanfics and the kindness of sighted friends with lives who can't always be reached when I need the information to find out for certain what colour Miles O'Brien's eyes are, or Kira Nerys's hair, and sometimes fanfics aren't accurate about descriptions, and I could be basing my entire perception of a character on something I read in a fic once! And I won't know if I can't look it up!

[thecoffeecrew404]

I want to make a rentry about screenreader accessibility!!

Why do you use a screenreader? Is it due to a disability?

What are common inaccessibility issues you come across?

What information would you like to see in an informational rentry or carrd about screenreaders, plaintext, and image descriptions?

Feel free to link to resources in your reblog for a resource masterlist as well!

Pings: @mightyoctopus @accessibleaesthetics @accessible-tumbling

[albinohai]

Im a day late for white cane awareness day BUT look at these earrings i made 🦯🥰

[nonspeakingkiku]

Kiku doesn't remember if Kiku posted about Kiku's white cane here or not. But this is Angel. ☺️

Angel is a pink Ambutech graphite slimline folding cane with the handle covered in pink ducktape because Kiku couldn't handle the feeling of the foam handle and a rolling marshmallow tip. Kiku also has non-rolling marshmallow tips but prefers the rolling marshmallow tip. Kiku takes Kiku's cane when goes anywhere out of the house and it helps a lot.

Kiku also applied to the National federation of the blind's free white cane program so Kiku will have a backup but it hasn't arrived yet. It will be a rigid (non folding) plain white cane with a black handle and a metal glide tip.

Kiku eventually wants to get a regular (non slimline) version of Angel and a rigid version to see how they are different.

[varian-ross-horror-author]

If Earth Is Hell

If we are in hell, then it is hell with fine spring mornings and singing birds. “Earth is nothing but pain,” but I am assigning times to my talking watch, rolling my new cane along the sidewalk, and trying that new recipe I found with confidence. Hummingbirds startle away when my indicator says I’ve poured enough coffee, but my neighbors know that sound is not a call of distress, but of life. All battles of autonomy have been hard-fought and won. My home is adapted to my needs, even for days when I have to pull the curtains because .light is too much. My life is different than I imagined, but life—my life--while being almost blind—is still worth living.

[cipher-the-sidhe]

[Image description: three illustrations of W D Gaster are arranged across the page. He is a tall and lanky skeleton in a long black lab coat and cream turtleneck, with a crack going up from one eye and one going down to his mouth from the bottom of his right eye. He has circular glasses with a glasses chain, which he is holding in his hand in the full body image on the right. He is also holding a white mobility cane in his hand, which has a large hole in the center. In the bottom left image he is being led by a sighted lab assistant who is a cat monster in a white lab coat and jeans and who is the same color as Gaster’s turtleneck. In the top left image is Gaster’s head and shoulders squinting through his glasses, along with the caption “who the fuck formats their reports so small?” End description]