Difference between revisions of "Blindness"

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==Design considerations==
For more about blindness, go to [https://accessibility.perpendicularangel.com/what-is-accessibility/types-of-disabilities/visual-disabilities/blindness/ Blindness] on [[Perpendicular Angel]].
* All content must be present in text or in a text equivalent, because screen readers can't read non-text content.
* All functionality must be available using only a keyboard, because while most blind users can physically move a mouse or trackpad, they can't see where the pointer is.
* Semantic HTML is key, because screen readers offer blind users the ability to navigate by headings, landmarks, and other semantic elements, and also uses those elements to describe what the user is focusing on.
* Custom controls must have the correct name, role, and value, and must change that value when appropriate, so that blind users can understand what is going on.
* Users must receive immediate feedback after all actions, because if the browser is silent, the user doesn't know if what they did had any effect.
* Videos must have audio descriptions if the current audio doesn't describe what's going on in the video -- anything that's purely visual content must be described.
* Touchscreens (primarily on mobile devices) use swipe actions to control the screen reader, so custom swipe actions generally won't work (or will break the screen reader). Similarly, all features require a click action to work.
 
Source: [[Deque University]] accessibility training.
 
When we design for people with vision impairment we provide:
 
* The ability to enlarge and reduce text size and images
* The ability to communicate the meaning of visual content - pictures, charts, and icons - through a method other than visual display
* The ability to customize fonts, colors, and spacing
* Properly-tagged semantic HTML understood by a screen reader or text-to-speech software
* Audo descriptions of video in multimedia
* The ability to use a Braille reader
* Forms and data tables where the information is easy to scan and understand even at 400x zoom
* Color palettes and iconography that is compatible with colorblind vision
* Content that always relies on more than just color to communicate meaning
* Keyboard navigation
 
It's also important to recognize that someone with a visual disability may not know when a new window or browser tab is being opened. Not opening new windows by 30 Days to a More Accessible Website explains more.
 
== What people with low vision or blindness say about themselves ==
 
* [http://loveisvisuallyimpaired.tumblr.com The Things You Don't See] by a 21-year-old woman going blind is a blog where she discusses her experiences in life and answers questions on tumblr.
* [https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey7/ WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #7] - includes quantitative and qualitative research directly from people using screen readers on how the web is doing (as of 2017)
* [http://www.salon.com/2011/02/19/going_blind_at_37_open2011/ What I learned by going blind] by [[Ingrid Ricks]] on [[Salon]] talks about retinitis pigmentosa. I don't condone of her approach to her doctor's advice, but it's her life to live.
* [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/legally-blind-illustrator-designer_us_5b19589ce4b09d7a3d6fe7fa What It’s Like To Be A Legally Blind Illustrator And Graphic Designer] by [[Keith Rosson]] at [[Huffington Post]].
* [[Elsa Sjunneson-Henry]] wrote a column on [[Terrible Minds]] called [http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2016/04/20/elsa-henry-so-you-wanna-write-a-blind-character/ So You Wanna Write A Blind Character?] that covers what it's like to be blind from a blind person's point of view. Elsa explains how she uses [[Twitter]] (reading glasses and [[Dragon Speech Recognition | Dragon Naturally Speaking]]), social cues, statistics about blind folks, and guide dogs.
* [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/what-alexa-taught-my-father/556874/ Alexa is a revelation for the blind] by [[Ian Bogost]] on [[The Atlantic]] talks about how, for many blind people, being able to communicate with another human being without someone being a passthrough is a service they may have never had until VUI.
* [https://www.instagram.com/tv/B3sQLqZAbR0/?igshid=1atw30v44px8c How the Visually Impaired Experience Hubble Images] by [[NASA]] is a video of [[Denna Lambert]] at the Goddard Space Center describing using this book to learn about telescopes and stars and nebula and planets for the first time.
* [https://modus.medium.com/losing-my-sight-made-me-a-better-designer-da9e5150c513 Losing my sight made me a better designer] by [[Soren Hamby]] on [[Medium]]
 
=== Videos ===
A preview of the movie Blind Skier's Edge, a film from blind mountaineer [[Erik Weilhenmayer]], showing a blind man skiing. Captions are provided.
<YouTube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpGLy-FyOc0</YouTube>
 
==Tools==
TBD
 
==Additional resources==
Blindness statistics by the National Federation of the Blind
Karwai Pun's Dos and Don'ts on designing for accessibility and the accompanying posters on designing for users of screen readers and designing for users with low vision.


[[Category:Vision Disabilities]]
[[Category:Vision Disabilities]]

Latest revision as of 19:15, 5 September 2021

For more about blindness, go to Blindness on Perpendicular Angel.

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