#visuallyimpaired

So here's how you get around that (on Android), for iOS I don't know, but there's a few websites that let you upload images to grab the text! I will link one in a reblog so this post can show up in tags!

You take your screenshot of the tags, just like you would if you were gonna add the screenshot. You go into your Google Photos app. This should come pre-installed and is probably the standard app you use for you photos, though some phones do come with separate gallery. It's icon is this very reduced graphic flower with four leaves. This one:

[ID a screenshot of the logo END]

Then, at the bottom of your screen, right in between edit and delete, should be Google Lense.

[ID: screenshot of the bar at the bottom of the screen in Google photos END]

You will want to click that. Now it will mark all the text it recognizes and if you click into it, you can copy it✨✨✨ this is what that looks like:

[ID: A screenshot of Google Lense. I have the picture of @pocketsizedquasar s tags open and the word "been" is marked blue, a bar at the bottom gives the options, copy text, search, listen and translate END]

This doesn't just work with screenshots, but all images, even photos of handwritten text, though you might have to correct a lot depending on handwritings.

I haven't seen anything about this on Tumblr in quite a while so I thought I'd post, on the off chance that 2 or 3 people might see my blog.

I just got off a call from Be My Eyes. I'm a sighted volunteer, like the majority of the people who download this app. The rest of the users are visually impaired or blind. When a user needs help with something they can't see, they can send out a call on this app, which then goes to several volunteers (I think it was 10). The first one to respond is now on a video call with the user who needed help. I can see through the camera on their phone, and they can hear my voice. On the call I just got off of, I was helping someone make sure she found the side walk - in places where the side walk widened into a parking lot, she had trouble going straight and would miss the side walk on the other side. It took all of a minute for me to verbally give her directions back towards her path.

I love this app because it essentially crowd sources assistance, letting a visually impaired person be more independent and confident, knowing that they have help in their pocket if they get turned around. And they don't have to rely on family or friends who might not be available. Since the app calls multiple people, I can easily decline a call if I'm busy. That way, the person making the call knows that whoever picked it up wasn't busy. No worries of inconveniencing anyone, and none of the volunteers ever feel like they had to drop everything. But let's be honest, helping people feels good. I like answering calls on here (though I get them quite infrequently) because I like helping out a stranger for a few minutes. If I can make their day a little easier, that just makes me happy.

I have the honor of serving as the Accessibility Coordinator for my chorus this upcoming season (a position I've pioneered as a means of lowering barriers to participation). I have been gathering a list of different axes of accessibility that need to be addressed for our chorus members, and am looking for any input on things I may have missed! My current list of accessibility concerns* are as follows:

Vision

Mobility

Seating

Transportation

Financial aid for dues/costumes

Childcare

Translation/ESL assistance

Computer literacy (our weekly updates and information are sent digitally and Zoom has become very important to our communication)

Rehearsal accomodations such as music stands

*Deaf/HoH assistance is not included in this because we are, ultimately, a chorus, and we are not equipped for Deaf/HoH members to have equitable participation. This may change in the future, and I will be helping organize a sign interpreter for the audience for our concerts when we are able to meet again. It just isn't currently feasible to have Deaf/HoH vocalists in our chorus.

Is there anything that I am missing? Glaring ommissions, obscure assistance that I should at least have on my radar, etc? I don't quite know how to address mental health concerns/accommodations, and any immediate medical concerns like asthma or seizures will be handled by our medical team, not me - I am not even remotely qualified with my own health situation to be in charge of someone else's. I am just looking for insight into other people's lives experiences. We should be working with a racial justice and equity group in our community soon to help address potential racial barriers in our overwhelmingly white chorus, but that is also not something I am going to be assisting with, so feel free to share ideas on accessibility concerns re:race but know that my primary concern is physical barriers because that is where my expertise lies.