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Is your cane entirely white ? Mine isn't and apparently it's by purpose. A totally white cane means you are totally blind. Or you low vision is unusable. A white cane with a red section (mostly the section before the tip) means you have low vision but what is left is actually useable. For example, if you can see the crossing lines on the road. A white cane with red stripes is for blind and deaf individuals. You should have the cane that best describe your vision condition. It is a visual key to signal your disability to people around you. But seriously... How many people know about these cane variations. I know someone who actually thought the red stripes cane was for Christmas. Not kidding ! There is definitely some education needed here.

One thing I left out of my Twitter accessibility review was Magic Tap, Magic Tap is a feature that is activated on IOS devices when VoiceOver is ON. Double tap with two fingers and magic should happen. And it actually does... when the app developer includes it on his app. Magic Tap is present almost everywhere on Apple stock app but it is rarely implemented in third party apps. Mostly because of Apple not being very clear about how to implement it. Then of course it really is up to the third party dev to decide to include accessibility features to apps... and it isn't usually a top priority. Twitter however includes the feature. It is found under the accessibility menu of the app (Twitter Settings > Accessubility...>Accessibility if you wonder where to go) . Magic Tap can do nothing if you select None. It can automatically start a tweet if you select that choice. Try Magic Tap on twitter and share with us if you find another third party app supporting the Tap. Remember though... Magic Tap works only with VoiceOver.

The symbol of perseverance and independence to people with vision impairment. It is the most useful tool and the simplest to use. It literally opens the way in front of you in a crowded place. Dogs want to play with it when they see it on the road. Kids think it is the coolest thing on Earth. It is the White Cane... ...and I hate it so thoroughly. As someone who slowly loses his sight, the cane is the most obvious sign of a disability. A huge ugly white flag telling everyone about something I have to deal with on a personal level. . I hate my white cane. Does it feel better to say it out loud ? I don't know. What is your perspective ? Comment below

Let's look at accessibility settings for Twitter. The accessibility menu has often moved around over Twitter version releases. Accessibility is now found under Twitter Settings > Accessibility, display and language. A strange one size fits all option... For visually impaired users, the offer is very limited. Twitter offers to increase color contrast. If you already use that option on your device, I am not sure this makes any difference. I sure don't see any. Twitter also offers a few options regarding text to speech, which may or may not work depending on the speech software you are using. More on that below... You can have web articles opened within Twitter in Reader Mode. For those who don't know what Reader Mode is, it is a tweak in the web browser interface which locates text in a web page and displays it in large font on a dark background if you are in dark mode. Images, advertisement (in some cases), etc. are ignored. If you don't use that mode on regular basis for your web browsing, you may want to look into it. You can also increase font size within the interface. Again, if you have already activated this option within your device accessibility menu, this won't make much difference. There is a lot more Twitter could do for us however. Dark mode is nice and smooth on our eyes... but Direct Messaging is awful to use. Text boxes are too bright and the contrast with the text inside these dialog boxes makes things unreadable. This really should be fixed. Twitter Spaces needs work too. Announcement and Spaces invitations are displayed in large white cards within feeds. This is running against the idea behind dark mode. I can't read a thing! A shame because Spaces is actually a great alternative to Discord. Finally, text to speech is funky. Apple VoiceOver will not always read tweets you want to check out, describing instead the various Twitter menus accessible on the on the screen. What do you think about Twitter's accessibility options ? Do you have any suggestions ? Share with us in the comments section below.

In this week's episode: - We discuss the difference between stand alone and integrated screens. - We talk about the easiest way to improve contrast settings of your mobile device and computer. We preview our new website and describe each pages. We look at Sign Up / Log In process and membership benefits.. Check out the episode here or head out to our podcast page. Don't forget to subscribe and give us plenty of stars on your favorite podcast app. Source: https://www.blindsanity.com/podcast-1/episode/3bd676b8/s1e97-picture-quality-settings-website-preview

Contrast setting is maybe the most important setting you want to spend time on to improve reading on your screens. First, let's talk about contrast setting on TV and stand alone computer screens. We are talking about the contrast option usually buried in the settings options of these type of screens. If you struggle trying to find that option or if you didn't know it existed, you are not missing much. Even with a good eyesight it's almost impossible to make a difference between a low or high contrast on these screens. You will always have better results using the contrast option from the computer attached to these screens. For example, Mac computers can increase contrast to such an extent that each word starts to bleed light at its highest contrast setting. When you deal with a device with its own screen, chances are the software running your device is optimized for your screen. Head directly to contrast settings and play around to see what works best for you. This works for phones and laptops. Once you are done with contrast settings, there are other options that are not directly related to contrast but work the same way. For example, eliminating transparency usually increases contrast dramatically. Try this on Apple TV for example, it's the most dramatic way to improve screen readability. Increase font size or use bold font works as well. Android devices allow you to change font type across the device, some fonts are easier to read than others. Experiment with a few to see what works for you. Some devices offer you an option for people with light sensitivity, Apple TV for example. Selecting that option darkens the screen. It doesn't work well for my condition but you should try on your own to see if it works well for you. There is no single magic setting that will work for everyone, unfortunately; you are likely to spend some time fine tuning these settings. Remember that if you are sharing a screen with someone with different eye conditions those settings may not work for them. If your system allows you to save your settings, take advantage of it. At the very least take note of the changes you made. That way, you won't have to spend too much time resetting your screen after your friend or family member changes them to their preferences.

Our new website needs bloggers in the following areas: Lifestyle: Cooking, Fashion, Gardening, Sport, Meditation, lifehaxks Technologies: Electronics, Connected Devices, Accessibility, Assistive Technology for the Blind Legal: ADA regulations, social security and disability programs, Anti-discrimination laws and regulations. You do not need to be an expert in any of these fields. All you need is honesty, personal interest and passion to help others to the best of your capabilities. When selected, you will need to issue a minimum of two blog articles a week. Unless there is a request for a special topic, you are free to blog about anything you like within your assigned field. Note that these positions are voluntary based. There is no funding at that stage. You will be in for an adventure trying to develop the website.

A quick look at unemployment numbers for vision impaired Americans - 45 percent of Americans with vision impairment are working. - 10 percent of Americans workforce with vision impairment are unemployed. - 55 percent of Americans with vision impairment are not part of the labor force. Numbers are from 2017 (source American Community Survey (ACS)). Current labor shortage has improved employment odds. Of course, this says nothing about wages. Also, remember that to be considered part of the workforce, you need to have a job or be actively looking for one. Being underage or retired count as out of the workforce. Unemployment numbers are surprisingly low considering how limiting vision impairment can be. I suspect Assistive Technologies are playing a critical role here.

As messy as Windows 11 can be sometime, applying color filters on your screen is surprisingly easy. Follow the instruction below. On the search bar type 'System Settings' Look for Accessibility Scroll down until you locate 'Color Filters' Activate 'Color Filter' a few preloaded filters will appear. Experiment with all filters to find the one you prefer. There is a color wheel on top of the color filter page to show you how the color filter of your choice will affect colors. You are done. Unlike Apple OS, windows will not allow you to change intensity or work on your personal filter using intensity or tint options. This means you are limited to just the few filters preloaded on your machine.

The new version of MacOS 2022 changed system preferences to look like what you see in an iPhone or an iPad. The instructions to apply a screen color filter on the monitor connected to your Mac are identical to the ones described in an earlier post for iPhone. Click on the Apple logo on the task bar on the top left of your screen. Select System Settings On the search bar, type 'Color filters' Select 'Display Color Filters' On the right panel, scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the Display Color Filter option. Activate Color Filter located under the raw of crayons. Choose your filter. You have a few preloaded already. Use the intensity slider to experiment. If none of these filters is suitable to you, select Color Tint and play with Intensity and Tint until you are satisfied with the result. You are done! You can always deactivate Color Filter to return to the original display setting.

Following on our previous posts about color filters on mobile devices and Windows / Mac computers, lets look at Android phones, The instructions are similar to iPhone. Under Settings. locate Accessibility. Within Accessibility, tap on Visibility Enhancement Scroll down and select Color Filters Switch Color Filter ON Select one of the pre loaded filters. you are done Keep in mind the the instructions might change depending on the android version loaded on your phone. The option might not be available for oldest phones. Your android phone might also have a manufacturer skin on top of Android which could slightly change the way to access the color filters option. This is the case for Samsung phones in particular.

Tired of bright white light on your iPhone screen ? do you know the device actually comes with a whole collection of filters that can give a green, yellow, red or even blue tint to your screen ? To apply a filter on your phone screen, follow the procedure below. Go to the Setting app of your iPhone Swipe down on the screen with your finger. A Search bar will appear on the top of the page. tap on the bar and a keyboard will appear. Type Filter. A list of all settings containing the word Filter will appear on your screen. Tap on Color Filter. Scroll down on the page until you find the option called Color Filters. Tap on it. The color Filter page open. Switch Color Filter to the ON position. A list of filters will then appear. A few preloaded filters will appear. Try them all to see if they are helpful to you. Use the intensity slider at the bottom of the page to change how the filter you selected is applied. If none of these filters works for you, select Color Tint option on the page.. A new Hue slider will appear below the Intensity slider. Play with both sliders to find your favorite filter. Be sure a check mark appears on the same line of the filter of your choice. You are good to go ! Your screen will now always show the filter you selected no matter where you are on your phone, and whatever app you open. The Color Filter page contains an image showing a row of crayons of various colors . Look at what the color will look like when the filter is applied..