#accessibility tools

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

“alt text for more info” “turn on cations for more info” no actually this is not where more info goes. These have a very distinct purpose. There are plenty of other places for more info. If you’re going to make your post inaccessible, the least you could do is not use accessibility tools at your own leisure for whatever purpose you see fit.

[yardsards]

do you love streaming tv shows and movies on free (perhaps even shady) websites but hate how many of them are inaccessible to you due to lack of subtitles?

i have a solution!

get the browser extension "substital"

it's available for firefox and chrome for desktop, as well as firefox. it even works on the chromium mini-browser in hyperbeam if you like watching with friends (tho i haven't figured out if/how i can make it run srt files in hyperbeam or android)

to use it:

you first navigate to your streaming website of choice.

then click play and then pause on your video (this is necessary on some streaming sites to make the video visible to the extension, idk why)

then click the substital icon (it looks like an S in a square) in your browser extension list. then the name of your video should pop up.

then click the name of the video

you'll see a popup with two boxes: one that says "search subtitles" and one that says "upload your own subtitles file"

you're gonna wanna try the "search subtitles" box first. look up the name of the episode or movie you want to watch. if you find an option in your language, then just click it and you'll be good to go

if you can't find the right subtitles in their database (or the ones in their database suck/are broken) the unfortunately you're going to have to use the "upload your own subtitles file" option. (and to do that, you're gonna first need to go find and download an srt file of your desired show/movie and language from a 3rd party website. (my favorite subtitle souce is addic7ed.com, another common source is opensubtitles.com)). then you can either click and drag the srt file from your downloads folder, or click the "upload your own subtitles file" and find where you have the set downloaded at like that.

now that you have your subtitles on your video, you may find that you want to change the size or colour of the subtitles for easier viewing. or that the subtitles are a few seconds behind or ahead of the audio/video. to fix that, just click the little S icon that will appear on the bottom of the video alongside the play/pause and time bar and volume and whatnot, and the options will appear to fix that.

happy streaming everyone!

EDIT: apparently hyperbeam recently stopped allowing browser extensions :(((

EDIT EDIT: apparently on hyperbeam if you use the old chrome webstore it works but not the up to date one???

also apparently substital recently introduced a 5 subtitle daily limit (which applies to ones you get from their database but you can still upload your own as many times as you want) which is fucked up and annoying.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Hi there, i have a story where 1 MC is blind. I dont want to fall into any bad tropes so I was looking at your blog and I wanted to ask your opinion. my character went blind young but she sees a shifting mix of color, it cant imply distance or details however, at the start of the story she is gifted a tool that helps shape them into rough outlines, my plan is for her to stop using it as her character grows more confident (use it as a plot point for her development). Do you have any thoughts?

It sounds like this might be a possible accessibility tool, so I don't think she would abandon it completely. She might become less reliant on it as she develops her other senses to be more helpful, but in situations where she needs a little extra help, maybe she'd dig out that tool. New environments, meeting important people where she has to make a good impression, moments where she's in danger, those would all be useful and relatable reasons to use additional accessibility devices.

The goal of orientation & mobility and life-skills classes isn't to become Daredevil-levels of confident in your remaining senses. The goal is to make you an expert in all the accessibility devices at your disposal.

A personal weakness of mine is that I am not proficient at screen reader with my phone. I would be much more powerful if I would take the time to master it because I'd be able to use my phone in any situation without trouble. As it is, I struggle to use it in my low-vision settings and it takes me a lot longer to finish tasks (texting, google search, opening/navigating apps) and a lot more eye-spoons.

If I got good at it, I would probably use a combination of screen readers and my remaining vision to get things done.

I'm going to open the comments to all disabled readers and ask: is there an accessibility tool you used for a while and then phased out of your tool-kit?

[settlercolonialismisbad]

Accessibility PSA

Quick reminder to add alt text to your photos when you upload them so that screen readers can describe what is in your pictures for visually impaired users.

You just click on the little ellipsis in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture when you're uploading and type what is in the picture.

If you need help pulling a lot of text out of a photo, you can use this free tool to scrape the text from up to 5 images a day. It's super easy and has been a lifesaver for me. Make sure you bookmark the tool!

[applejupiter]

hello tumblr, i'm hoping to get some perspectives from people who use mobility aids or other visible tools for accessibility (eg. hearing aids, splints, earplugs, service/emotional support/etc animals, and anything else!). i'm writing a paper for my feminist disability studies class about how mobility aids and other access tools can serve the function of helping the user access spaces/resources, but also be used as a political tool or message. i identify as disabled myself, but i don't currently use many physical, visible tools to help my access, so I'm looking for input from those who do! some themes i'm thinking of focusing on:

normalization & fostering social familiarity and acceptance (feel free to talk about this in a positive sense, like you are glad to help normalize, or in a negative sense, like it feels like a burden)

self expression, fashion, and customization (this can include purely cosmetic adjustments as well as adding things to your access tools with an explicitly political purpose- eg stickers with political phrases or symbols)

feelings of unity/safety/support when you see other people using visible access tools

access tools as being an extension/part of the body

if you want to share your experiences/thoughts, reply to this post or dm me!

i was also looking for a specific post and i can't find it anywhere- does anyone remember a post by a younger cane user about someone coming up to them to ask them about using a cane because they thought they might need to use one but we're scared to do so?

thanks to anyone who helps in any way! feel free to reblog to spread this if you want!

edit: turning off reblogs now as i don't need anymore for my paper! anyone who contributed and wants to read it once i've finished pls lmk!

[walks-the-ages]

Making an image description while low on spoons? Can't stand having to scroll up and down to pain-stakingly type out an entire tweet when the OP literally could have copied and pasted the text of the tweet into and ID themselves, but now you have to hand type it because you don't know the source and no one ever links to it?

here's my new best friend-- an online OCR (Optical Character Recognition) that can extract text from small images for you.

[thedisablednaturalist]

That veggie chopper takes a fair bit of force. Idk what to compare it to, but it's high impact on the hands and wrists.

Aw bummer. People will recommend stuff for physically disabled/chronically ill people without checking that it's actually helpful. Which is why I take any advice from an abled person with a pile of salt.

[hussyknee]

How To Copy Text Off An Image In 4 Clicks

You don't have to be vision-impaired for alt text to make A LOT of difference. So many images are so much more readable in alt text. Here's an example:

Copying the text from an image is much less of a bother than you'd think. Here's how to do that.

1) Open the screenshot or picture, and select "Share".

2) Then select "Search image"

3) Select the "Text" tab, then "Select all". You can also use the cursor to select individual blocks of text.

4) Now select "Copy text".

5) Now paste to a notesapp or word document.

The most bother after that is the character limit in the alt text box. This may mean you have continue the alt text in the body of the post, or crop the pic into separate parts to fit the alt text.

Yes, it's more complicated than just reblogging or posting, but the more you do it, the more it becomes second nature. It's true only a minority is vision impaired, but a) you are also probably a minority in some spaces and b) seeing alt text makes ALL disabled people feel valued. Accessibility is a human right.

[stupidwittlebaby]

I saw a tiktok the other day about a person talking about how they used their work bonus to splurge on a neck massager they can strap to their shoulders. To them, luxury is a fancy something to help them manage their disability. They told people to comment what tools they'd splurge on, and at the time I couldn't think of anything, but that video has been floatin' around my brain for the last few days now. I'd probably get...

More kitchen gadgets. My husband got me a rice cooker for my birthday, to help me meal prep when I start college. I did not realise how much it would fucking help with my ARFID shit-- (I am steaming dumplings as we speak)

More specific cleaning tools. Gloves, more trustworthy washer and dryer, drying rack for clothes. Things to make cleaning more sensory friendly.

Storage everything. Dividers, bins, shelves. Anything to make organising Less Complicated, because we all know ADHD Does That-

These are the things that have come to mind. At first, when I thought "accessibility tools", I thought of things like noise cancelling headphones and fidget toys, tools that expressly cater to my disability itself, but I already have those. They're great, sure, but quality of life updates would make my home itself more accessible, which means easier meltdown recovery, which means functioning a whole lot better overall.

I still live with family (and am poor--), so I can't really get a lot of these things right now, but it's been an interesting and helpful thing to think about. I've been looking at my environment more critically and noticing things that bug me, even if just a little, to know what to work towards in the future, or even tweak right now. Better to notice these things sooner rather than later.

[7thedisasterdyke]

Much as I hate Apple, I really like playing with this personal voice tool. It’ll be really helpful when one of us goes nonverbal or semiverbal while fronting.

[allhandsondeck1]

somebody help i tried to screenshot smth and it didnt work and somehow turned on the accesibility reader for blind and vision impared people and i cant turn it off. like. please. im not blind and the most i have for vision is the need for glasses i can see but i cant turn this off

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

I follow tons of disability/chronic illness/mental health tags and I keep seeing memes or infographics without alt text or image IDs. This is not okay for content of any subject matter, but its beyond ridiculous for these spaces in particular. You can’t call yourself an advocate if you are declining to use accessibility tools like this. There are absolutely no excuses, especially with the technologies we have now. Most devices can read and copy the text out of any image, for example.

Basically if it’s not worth including everyone, it’s not worth posting. Make it accessible or don’t post it. Thank you

[theoculus124]

Hi, I know this is a very random question but it would be so useful for u guys to answer it

For my fellow autistic folk (Doesn't matter if ur self diagnosed or clinically diagnosed)

Would accessibility item would you like/love to have that would improve your quality of life?

Eg: Weighted blankets, chewable jewellery, better noise cancelling headphones/earphones, apps (if so can you please specify what kind of app you'd like), emotion cards etc

It could be literally anything I'd love feedback from this question xx

(You're answers can be in my dms, comment on this post, or anons/asks)

Love you all, thank you so much

[girlwithsword]

Me when I realize an accessibility tool was one ask or email or one under 20$ purchase away

[settlercolonialismisbad]

Accessibility PSA #2

Hey kids! It’s time for another tip on making your blogs accessible (ie useable) for disabled individuals!

Let’s talk about color contrast. Did you know that you can actually make your blog inaccessible for some vision impaired user by using the wrong combination of colors on your page?

Best practice is to use text, background, and accent colors that contrast against each other enough to be easily visible to everyone. If you have to squint to see your bio, chances are that there’s someone out there who can’t read it at all.

here’s a neat tool that you can use to check if you’re blog’s color scheme is fully accessible.

Next time, we’ll talk about fonts and accessibility 🖋

[theatreofthelivingmind]