#screenreader

Vee x Brightney !

Poster gave permission:

Disclaimer

I am not blind or visually impaired. I use a screenreader because of neurological symptoms that make it hard for me to access technology. I have different experiences to blind and visually impaired people

This is just my experience. If you have a different experience, please add it on! If you don't use a screenreader, please don't talk over those who do

No advice please. No comments on how my screenreader voice sounds. No advice on how I can improve my reading. No advice.

If you have questions, please send them to my inbox or ask them in the notes! But please format them accessible to me

I use Claro Read, a software I got through the DSA. I can't recommend software to you.

Spelling mistakes/typos

They do impact my screenreader. I can understand them though, mostly, especially in context

It is good practice to try and proofread writing, but a singular typo is probably not catastrophic to a screenreader user

I will say that I'm usually reading along with the screenreader rather than fully relying on it. I can't speak for blind or visually impaired people that can't see the screen; it's probably more of an impact there

Acronyms

You can hear on the video that acronyms are read differently depending on how they're typed. "LOL" is pronounced as a word, but when each letter is separated, each letter is individually read.

I'm okay with most acronyms. I google ones I don't know. Same with slang I don't understand

Other

On the topic of screenreaders. Everyones screenreader voice is specific to them. It took me ages to adjust the voice to exactly what I need in terms of accent, pitch, speed, etc

I thought this was common knowledge but apparently a lot of people think there's one singular screenreader voice that everyone uses

I find it really difficult to read long blocks of text. As you can tell, I only put one or two sentences per paragraph, otherwise I find it too exhausting to read

I also need extra wide line spacing – 1.5 or double spacing is the easiest for me to read. Most sites suck at this. I compensate with following text with my finger or with a ruler (either virtual or physical)

I find it easiest to read black on light blue. At least font size 14 in Arial or Bold Open Dyslexic

Text effects like italics is really difficult for me to read. Bold text is hit or miss. Coloured text on this site is the bane of my existence and I refuse to read posts with coloured text

Simple, short sentences work the best for me. I'm not sure if I'm always grammatically correct, but I'm understandable, which is the most important thing to me.

Actual footage of my screenreader

A lot of people don't know what using a screenreader is actually like. There are lots of different set ups depending on needs and uses

I typed up a sample text to show what a screenreader might sound like with a few styles of writing.

Video transcript under cut.

our partner is blind and uses a screenreader and it gives us so much anxiety because like. “well they actually need it, but we can see enough to not need it” dude we LITERALLY have a processing disorder and other language neurodivergencies. :/ plus using it doesn’t take away from their ability and/or right to use it either

There will be two versions of this zine to make it as accessible as possible. Please do not hesitate to message me if you have thoughts on how to make this zine even more accessible. I deeply care about that, but I have very little experience and limited knowledge that I'm always ready to expand on. 

The purple version is written in the dyslexia-friendly font "OpenDyslexic". The text is black on a pale purple background. It has short image descriptions. 

Why do you use a screenreader? Is it due to a disability?

What are common inaccessibility issues you come across?

What information would you like to see in an informational rentry or carrd about screenreaders, plaintext, and image descriptions?

Feel free to link to resources in your reblog for a resource masterlist as well!