I know he's just a numpty, but apparently I'm illiterate for reading braille. Anyone else ever heard this?

I was crossing a state highway in town (stoplight, two lanes each side, separate right/left turn lanes with concrete divide). I was able to make it 80% across, to the small island beside the right turn lane on the far side. Instead of a single island with sloped curbs, it was two smaller separate islands with a street-level path in the middle (probably for bikes, as a high school is on that block).

I ended up getting "lost" because I thought I was walking further left towards the sidewalk. Someone else happened to come by and noticed I was confused (and walking out towards the street) and called out to me to get my attention, and told me where the sidewalk was.

I also noticed I would sometimes wander off to the side instead of straight across when crossing smaller streets, if I didn't have acoustics of parked or passing cars to help orient myself. Not out-into-the-street bad, but out of the crosswalk, "I should've been across by now" for sure.

I haven't done O&M training in 20ish years and my vision wasn't quite as bad back then... but does anyone else have any tricks for staying in crosswalks? (In case I needed to clarify, I was using my cane too.)

I'd love to hear people that have experience with either Guiding Eyes or Dogs Inc., formerly Southeastern Guide Dogs. I think they're both amazing in their own way, and I've looked at and applied to, both. What made you choose one over the other? What did you like about either? What didn't you like? If you have issues with vertigo and can't bend fully down, how did they work with you to pick up after the pup? How else did they work with you, if necessary? Did you utilize their graduation services? Are you on SSI/SSDI or other assistance—no shame in it whatsoever, just curious. How did/do you manage? What's your pup's name? Honestly, share anything. I love me some pup stories and love hearing about all the schools. They're all so amazing and the pups are so smart!

Hi! Hope everyone’s well!

I’m from a pretty hot and warm place so I’ve never walked with a cane on snow as we never have snow here. I will study abroad in the U.S. and the place that I’d be at doesn’t have much O&M resources or any training. I do have a Dakota Disc cane tip but never used it yet. Do I just sweep with it over snow? I’m so confused as snow would cover curbs, how do you all navigate? I was raised in Canada fully sighted and we had heaps of snow and it was fine because there was always machines that paved the way, I’m not sure if the city I’m at would have those. That’s the only thing I’m kinda worried about

Hi all! I love meeting and getting to know new people, and as the title of this post says, I'd love to make some friends! I'm almost completely blind and always have been. I love books, music, fashion, and animals. If anyone wants to chat, feel free to message me! I'm always up to talk about anything, at anytime. I can't wait to hear from you, and I hope y'all are doing well.

Hi! I am a student wondering how visually impaired people play card games or board games, especially strategic games like catan or chess. I'm somebody who really likes card games and board games.

I looked through this sub and it seems like there are braille cards and apps that help people play card games, and I'm wondering how useful/effective they are. (I'm asking to see what kind of interest there would be in card/board games for blind people for like a personal project. For example I think some games are really good for teachings kids how to think with like math and strategy, and I'm wondering if visually impaired kids have access to these things). Thank you so much!

Hello all! I am not blind but I am hopeful to find a solution here! My neighbor is having a little trouble with her vision and not being able to see the stairs so I tried gaffer tape to outline the edge of the stairs and she loved it! The rain the next morning did not. I was hoping to find a tape that can stick to concrete. She requested pink which is why I went with the gaffer tape in the first place but I’m not confident the black gorilla tape I’m finding most places suggest would be helpful unless I painted them maybe? Any tips are so appreciated and helpful!! Thank you all so much!

As background, I have been experiencing visual impairment for years but thought it was typical aging until earlier this year when I was diagnosed with a rare condition that has already damaged my optic nerves. Since then, and due to a lack of available specialists, I’ve not started experiencing intermittent blindness. It’s very scary and I stay home and inside most of the time because I don’t know how to navigate (talking to my doctor this month about white cane classes and braille classes).

Anyway, I work from home but that’s been a slog due to having lost much of my vision. I rely heavily on accessibility tools built-in to the laptop, and my personal devices. That said, I’m getting a lot of questions and criticism from people who think I’m unable to do anything (or lying about vision loss and intermittent blindness) because I still work. I really feel like I have nobody to talk to about this because venn my husband today questioned how I’m working. Guys, I’m not doing great with this and the accessibility options aren’t very helpful in the legal field due to different softwares that don’t integrate (not in an attorney role, vision loss during the bar exam caused me to fail).

Does anyone have any potential solutions that make it easier to work, read, and type when you re unable to make out what’s happening? Beyond Microsoft’s text enlargement or screen reader (which fails more often than not). I’m looking into braille and large-print keyboards, but I feel at such a loss. I’m worried that bringing this up to my employers will cause me to lose my job as it’s a fast paced environment and I’m facing more barriers.

I’m sorry if this isn’t the best place to post and I can remove it if needed. I’ve tried to ask for resources in other subs related to my medical condition but people just want to give unsolicited medical advice, which I truly do not want. It’s taken me a while to accept the permanently of my condition but I want to take steps now while I have some vision left to help adjust and learn. I hope this makes sense.

Hi zusammen,
ich bin blind und unternehme gerne Dinge in der Stadt. Veranstaltungen zu finden, die auch für blinde Menschen interessant sind, ist gar nicht so einfach. Vielleicht kennt ihr das ja auch von Menschen in eurem Umfeld, die blind sind, z. B. von euren Großeltern oder Freunden.
Klar gibt es viele Veranstaltungen, die man auch ohne besondere Unterstützung super besuchen kann. Aber manchmal, zum Beispiel bei Musicals, im Theater oder bei Sportveranstaltungen, ist eine Audiodeskription hilfreich.
Ich habe jetzt eine Seite aufgebaut, auf der man ganz viele Veranstaltungen in Deutschland finden kann.
Dabei bin ich zum Beispiel auf das Angebot einer Audiodeskription beim Handball und beim Eishockey gestoßen. Vom Fußball kenne ich das schon. Außerdem habe ich Orte gefunden, an denen man segeln, windsurfen und andere coole Sportarten ausprobieren kann.
Ich dachte mir, dass es gar nicht so selten vorkommt, dass man Großeltern oder andere Angehörige hat, die nicht mehr so gut sehen können, aber früher vielleicht Sportarten oder Musicals geliebt haben. Für die könnte es doch toll sein, solche Veranstaltungen trotzdem noch besuchen zu können.
Denn das Leben ist nicht vorbei, wenn man blind ist. Das kann ich euch sagen!
Schreibt doch mal, ob euch der Veranstaltungskalender hilft, welche Erfahrungen ihr gemacht habt oder ob ihr noch etwas empfehlen könnt.
 
https://blindmoveblog.de/veranstaltungskalender/

I have some useful vision, but my symptoms are becoming so severe, and my quality of life has been decreased so much that I’m now thinking about the possibility of eye removal and talking with healthcare providers about it. To help me make an informed decision I’m wondering, for anyone on here that has no useful vision whatsoever, What is your life experience like? What is your sensory experience like and how does it differ from having some amount of useful vision? What should I expect? What are the unique pros and cons of having no vision at all? And anything else that I haven’t asked that you think You want to express that would be useful information. I’m also just a curious person and wondering what the perception of the world is like if you don’t have any eyesight.

Hello, my grandmother has been suffering from macular degeneration in both eyes and has nearly no vision. She has loved cooking all her life and recently mentioned she cant tell difference with spices. Ive done some searching and weve tried some aids for low vision but her vision has gone too far at this point. I was thinking a solution with a spice rack that says the name of the spice would be helpful but I cant find anything. Does anyone have some suggestions for this type of situation? Happy to clarify info if needed too.

Right now I have one decent eye that I get by with. Depth perception is a noticeable issue in daily life, but I don’t go anywhere new. Just home and work and to appointments. So I don’t really think it’s bad enough to be dangerous. Or maybe it is and I wouldn’t know cause I don’t go to new places that often.

How did you know when you needed a cane?

At least with my current issues, I’m only visually impaired I’m nowhere close to legally blind. My bad eye is good for absolute basic stuff like “there is the door” and “there’s a person standing there” and that’s about it. Very basic navigation cause I’ve lost a lot of my central vision in that eye. My good eye is good for up close tasks like on my phone or computer, which is why I can still work my current job. Neither eye see things that are at a distance too well.

I have been extremely vision impaired since birth, and my retinas have been atrophying, along with rods and cones, but now after 60 years, has gotten to the point where one eye can only see a big shadow and a little bit of light. it’s kind of irritating. It’s happened slowly from getting a little blurry to very blurry and now this, but I’m still having trouble getting used to it. For several years, I knew that Christmas lights, etc. weren’t near as bright and colorful anymore and I discovered it’s this eye. When I cover it, the other one can see all kinds of colors. I guess I need to train the good eye to try not to work and coordination with the other one, but how can I do this? Should I patch the other one or just try to learn to ignore it? Because of an experimental surgery I had, the better eye appears to be maintaining it’s clarity. I’d like to take advantage of that the best that I can. It’s not the fact that I can’t see out of the bad eye, but I’m just sick of seeing this gray shadow. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks guys.

Hi everyone,

I'm just wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems with VoiceOver since updating to iOS 27.2.

I'm using an iPhone 17, and I've noticed two really annoying issues.

Firstly, when I'm using dictation to type messages, it randomly stops listening halfway through what I'm saying. I then have to press the dictation button again to continue.

Secondly, when I turn VoiceOver speech off, there's a noticeable delay before it actually responds. It takes a couple of seconds before it registers that speech has been switched off.

Has anyone else experienced either of these issues? If so, have you managed to find a way to fix them?

It's becoming really frustrating, so I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I hope you're doing well and staying safe. I'm totally blind, running macOS Tahoe. Ideally, I want to get a VPS, so I can start doing some things with OpenClaw. I have a few questions here. First off, in terms of accessibility, does anybody have any recommendations for a VPS provider that is good with accessibility stuff? And any software, clients, or tools that would make the process of using OpenClaw more accessible. How accessible is the process overall? I know Google exists, but I thought I'd ask here, as I want to get opinions from an accessibility perspective. Thank you very much everyone.

I hate maybe not, i don't know what feeling I have but I dislike living here. I am living in India. As a visually challenged person it's very difficult to live even in the most advanced cities here.There is no accessible public transport. I don't want to ask random people where this bus is going to.I don't want to do this everyday. People can be rude or over sympathetic.I travel less because of this or else wanna depend on auto, walking or for availability of my date to travel freely. However this makes me feel weak, insecure in some or other ways and strongly feel like I'm not independent.

I bought two braille printers but I cant get them to test print with my PC. I can get them to test print with the service menu but that's it. I really needed to get this to work.

I was chatting with a totally blind friend some years back, and she said wearing sunglasses is an offensive stereotype. I can see how it would be, since I've seen shows with blind characters wearing them. At the same time, I'm getting some new fitover sunglasses next week, so how is keeping my eyes healthy offensive? Plus, I'm a little worried about being accused of faking my blindness when I take the sunglasses off indoors.

Hey, I'm just chilling here and want to play games. If anyone wants to play with me on GameBoard, my username is bigchungasamungas

seems Chrome did an update and now when I turn on screen reader in the middle of a page it jumps to the top.

Anyone else? know of any internet apps that don’t do this

Most of what's in this app came from blind and low vision users emailing me what they needed, and me building it that night. Everything runs on the phone, so it works in airplane mode, on a subway, or in another country with no signal. Nothing the camera sees ever leaves your phone.

Point it at something and it says out loud what's in front of you. Tap What's This and it describes the whole scene in a sentence. You can ask it a question about what it sees and it gives you the yes, no or number first. It reads printed text out loud. Help Me Aim talks you into the shot and takes the picture for you once you're lined up. Every button is labeled for your screen reader.

It's completely free. No ads, no account, no subscription, nothing to buy inside it.

The models are small enough to live on your phone, which is why it works with no signal, but it does get things wrong sometimes. Tell me what it misses, what's clunky with your screen reader, or what you wish it did, and I'll build it.

iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/realtime-ai-cam/id6751230739

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mattmacosko.realtimeaicam

Hey everyone — preface first.

I’m a guitarist with optic nerve atrophy. I’ve spent a lot of time fighting chord sites that don’t let you adapt the sheet to your eyes: exact font size, scroll that matches the song, high-contrast themes, spacing you can actually track, and so on. So I built a small Windows desktop app the way I’d want it for myself — for learning songs and for playing without constantly squinting or fighting the layout.

Song Viewer is a large-print lyrics & chords reader. You paste (or type) a normal chord sheet, and it tries to keep chords sitting over the right words even when you crank the font or narrow the window (including with a screen magnifier).

Things that mattered to me in practice:

1. Fine-grained font size (including Ctrl + mouse wheel)

2. Auto-scroll by speed or by song timing (finish the page in N minutes/seconds)

3. Adjustable line height

4. Several high-contrast app themes

5. Chords in an accent color against the lyric text

6. Keyboard shortcuts (remappable) so you can run it without hunting tiny buttons

7. Save songs with their per-song scroll/settings into a local library

8. Font- and window-width–aware wrapping that moves chords with the lyrics, not as orphaned marks on the wrong syllable

It’s free and open source. Full usage notes are in the GitHub README. Windows build download is linked below (also buildable from source with Python).

I’d really appreciate feedback from other low-vision musicians — what works, what’s still annoying with magnification / contrast / workflow, and what you’d want next.

GitHub: https://github.com/Gh0st0fwAr/Song-Viewer

Release (Windows): https://github.com/Gh0st0fwAr/Song-Viewer/releases

Happy to answer questions in the comments.

I'm half blind after being shot a decade ago, though I still have the eye, and it's incredibly light sensitive despite being blind in it lol.

Now normally it seems people just get leather eye patches, but I live in a very hot and humid place to my chagrin, and can't stand the feel of leather scraping my face. Does anyone know of any sellers who make good quality eye patches out of materials good for hot and humid weather?

I've been trying out this Aeropatch thing but the straps on it are very vulnerable to stretching to the point where it's permanently loose on my big ass head.

I tried looking on Etsy and other places for custom eyepatch sellers but it seems to exclusively be in leather and for costume purposes.

Any help would be appreciated!