This doesn't include the 35 books I have on USB. I have a whole damn library of audio books, and its all free. At least blindness has its benefits. #Books, #Bookstodon, #Blind

I just got my cartrages, a good haul, 16 books, and 7 of them are from the wheel of time series. #Books, #Bookstodon, #Blind

A #blind student graduated cum laude at UKZN, with 14 (!) distinctions. It shows there's hope for us all. :-) https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-05-16-blind-student-graduates-cum-laude-with-14-distinctions/?utm_source=MastodonAfrica #VisuallyImpaired #SouthAfrica

Lol Microsoft is like: "Okay disabled people, we have to skill up! Learn about AI so we don't have to fix Windows! I mean, with AI blind people can develop scripts to have Gem... Um I mean Copilot! Use Copilot! To control your PC for you! And while you do that, I'll be playing Candy Crush and Doom! Oh, blind people can't play that? Meh, too bad. Go play some text game roflmao. Oh and take our course cause it's not like you don't have tons else to learn and do. I mean statistically, disabled people don't have jobs and blind people spend their time running radio stations. I mean, it's the data bro, data don't lie and data means everything right? Also happy #GAAD, here's a course! Get to work upskilling cause AI, particularly our AI, particularly our $20 per month best AI, waits for no one! And you'll want the best AI for the best image descriptions and help and a eleven y!"

Note: I know GAAD isn't just about blind people, but it should seriously include us. We kinda do exist after all.

https://blogs.microsoft.com/accessibility/ai-in-action-celebrating-global-accessibility-awareness-day/

So anyone who uses the Qidi Q1Pro, in order to access the EMMC module, do I have to remove the back pannel or the pannel at the bottom of the printer? I've been trying to get at it for days now so that I can flash the firmware again because the printer firmware got killed by my stupidity, but I just don't know what to do anymore. I really need help. #3DPrinting #Blind

Question for Mona users, if I wanted to make lists, how would I do it? #Blind

Also totally forgot to talk about this yesterday.
As a part of global accessibility awareness day, we put out a new update for the Be My Eyes app for Windows that is completely rebuild from the ground up. Along with giving us a better base to build amazing new features for desktop in the near future, this new app also fixes a lot of the accessibility issues that people have reported over the last 1.5 or so years.
In addition Chat History is now also available on Desktop, so you can start a conversation from mobile and continue it on desktop (and vice versa).

#a11y #bemyeyes #gaad #globalaccessibilityawarenessday
#blind #bme #tech
#disability #assistivetech

Are planted cracks and gaps on sidewalks an issue for blind and visually impaired people?

Do you need perfect gap lines to follow them or would plants work without an issue?

Context is an image @streetartutopia posted earlier where a line of marigolds lines a sidewalk. The gap lines and a crack are planted.

(Link to the image with alt text: https://mastodon.social/@streetartutopia@mastodon.online/114516509133066429)

Well I just used #Innosearch in partnership with #BeMyEyes to buy some PLA filament for my 3DPrinter and it was a seemless and completely accessible experience. I even used Apple Pay to pay for my purchase with no problems whatsoever, and so I'll definitely be using Innosearch along with BME in the future to get my necessary shopping done for sure. #3DPrinting #Blind #AI #Shopping

Google just released their #GAAD update, and at least their images are described. And no, captions are not Alt-Text. Can't really say the same about Apple's thing from a few days ago. Kinda interesting since Google's is all about AI image descriptions, and Apple's... Well it's not.

https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/accessibility/android-gemini-ai-gaad-2025/

Be My Eyes and Innosearch Join Forces to Bring Seamless, AI-Powered eCommerce to Blind and Low Vision Users

‍Be My Eyes announced today – on Global Accessibility Awareness Day – a strategic alliance with Innosearch.ai, an AI-powered eCommerce portal. The alliance will provide super-accessible online shopping to the users of the Be My Eyes app,, without the clutter and noise present of many other websites.

Be My Eyes users will benefit from an exclusive 2% cashback credit into their Innosearch account for use against future purchases made through the Be My Eyes app. The service is currently available in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia, with more regions to follow.

The alliance represents a significant step and new direction for Be My Eyes, as it lays the foundations of the Be My Eyes app and the underlying technology platform becoming the de-facto access-tech of choice for people who are blind or have low vision, wherever they are – at home, at work or at play.

https://www.bemyeyes.com/news/be-my-eyes-to-provide-in-app-accessible-shopping/
#globalaccessibilityawearnessday
#gaad #a11y #bemyeyes #innosearchai #innosearch #blind #shopping #disability #assistivetech

Happy Global Accessibility Awareness Day or something. I'm too tired to give some grand speech of unification for the betterment of all and honestly I'm sure we all have accessibility fatigue by now, especially those of us who need it most. But hey at least we'll get some companies tell us about new features today, or this week, or whenever Google does their blog post. That's something, right? The crumbs we've always gotten, of course.

And who knows, maybe a Linux distro will write about accessibility and all the five people working on it because it's no one else's problem and they don't know accessibility anyway. Sent from my Fedora 41 system because I ain't upgrading a machine I rely on until accessibility is reliable.

So yeah, happy #GAAD or something. Yay. A day out of the whole year. And the rest of the year? "Accessibility? What's that!" But oh no we should be grateful we even get a single day right? /s I just hope the few people in accessibility teams at companies, like oh hey Microsoft, aren't laid off in the coming years, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they were. Cause AI can just like, tell you what you're seeing bro! /s Meanwhile my sunken eyes roll around in my head uncontrollably, seeing nothing. And today, I wish I could see more than ever.

I'm blind, listen to audiobooks, and edited seventeen Braille readers’ documents today and yesterday where they constantly mixed up forego and forgo, so can we not pretend that Braille readers are superior in all things’ grammar and writing? I'm proud to say that many believed me to be a fluent Braille reader based on my editing skills alone. While I do know uncontracted Braille, I prefer audio. #Blind

Am Welttag der Barrierefreiheit wollen wir, über digitalen Zugang/Inklusion und Menschen mit unterschiedlichen Behinderungen sprechen, nachdenken und lernen. Durch den Zugang zu digitalen Produktionsmitteln hat die Do-It-Blind Gruppe selbst herstellbare Beschriftungen für Menschen mit Blindheit oder Seheineschränkung entwickelt. https://oskars.org/posts/gaad-2025/ #make #blind #inklusion #gaad

Z #NowPlaying Did you miss it 45 minutes ago? We'll play it again at the 45 minute mark. The repeat of New Horizons Produced by #Blind Citizens #Australia. is up next. Listen in at https://theglobalvoice.info:8443/broadband #TGVRadio #A11Y #visionloss #news #talk ⠁⠥

Z #NowPlaying At the top of the hour it's New Horizons Produced by #Blind Citizens #Australia. www.BCA.org.au news and events in the Australian blindness community. Listen in at https://theglobalvoice.info:8443/broadband #TGVRadio #A11Y #visionloss #news #talk ⠃⠉⠁⠀⠁⠥

Well, I found a Micro-SD Card, so Stormux on a Pi 400 here I come. Why am I doing this to myself. Maybe I'm starting to like pain.

https://stormux.org/

Museums are becoming more accessible for those in the blind and visually impaired community. Read more below.
#Accessibility #Blind #Museums #Technology
https://t.co/egChZvZtE3

Oh, neat. I was wondering how they'd do this.

> The Window Switcher tool makes it easy to switch windows in desktop mode with just a couple keystrokes. To use the Window Switcher, press dots 4-5-8-chord and wait a few moments for the Window Switcher tool to open. Window Switcher presents a list of currently open windows and announces the currently active window Your cursor will be placed on the currently active window. Use dot-4 chord to scroll through the list of windows and press enter (dot 8) or space to select the window you would like to move your focus.