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Blind developer/sysadmin here as well. I completely agree with the above comment, and would add to it: I'm not sure what platform you currently use, but if not

Blind developer/sysadmin here as well. I completely agree with the above comment, and would add to it: I'm not sure what platform you currently use, but if not Windows, you're in for some challenges if you're blind or visually-impaired. I'm currently using Linux because I'm a console-based developer (I mean, I still use Firefox and the GUI but run most dev tools from the console.) This generally works well enough for me until I need an IDE, because my current codebase is C#/CSHTML/JavaScript/HTML/CSS/TypeScript, and I can't juggle all that state in my head without something like an IDE to help out. And, as far as I know, there's nothing like that available and accessible for Linux. My hope is that VSCode can help a bit, but Electron apps are currently inaccessible under Linux, which rules out a whole bunch of traditionally useful tools (No "Electron is bloated" arguments here please, this is something else entirely.) Unless you're a Linux user who uses mostly GTK-Gecko-based tools and the console, and those GTK-based tools don't use crazy custom widgets, you can make Linux work. But QT is challenging, Electron is out, and Chromium/Chrome are inaccessible (though I hear that is changing soon.) Windows offers lots more tooling, plus access to Electron apps, which opens up many more possibilities for non-console-based development. But anyway, if you can at all transition your workflow to Windows before things get more challenging, I think you'll be in a better place. I'm about to ditch Linux soon, but for a high-end PC which will run VMs for anything I might need. Running a pile of VMs is probably the best solution to this issue, but second best would almost certainly be Windows. MacOS and Linux trail behind, unfortunately. I also wish you good luck. Happy to chat if I can help more. nolan at thewordnerd dot info

_asummers 8y ago
I've heard iOS is generally good towards people with visual impairments. Do you have experience with iOS/OSX and are you able to comment on their friendliness?
- forthewyn 8y ago
  OSX has been an accessibility leader for a very long time. However recently everybody else has been catching up. I was away from Linux and Windows for 10 years because neither provided key chorded full screen zoom by default and now they do. So, in short, accessibility support in OSX is good, but no longer best in breed, so choose the OS you're most comfortable with generally. IOS accessibility is excellent. Screen zoom, VoiceOver, high contrast, etc.
jareds 8y ago
I'm a totally blind developer and have never gotten Linux to work very well. What distro do you use? I'm also curious if you run Linux in VM's with speach? I think part of my problem may be bad audio support in Virtualbox and I may have better luck with VMware. I use Windows 10 every day with Jaws and Windows subsystem for Linux. WSL has noticeably increased my productivity compared to Cygwin do to the larger volume of software that runs in it and no longer having the need to spend time compiling tools from source. I find NVDA to be a pretty good screen reader and you could probably use it full time. I've used Jaws for over 20 years though so it's worth paying the $100 a year to keep up to date rather then spending the time getting used to a new screen reader. It's also nice to have a company you can call for support and talk to someone instantly when your entire ability to do your job depends on screen reading software.
- ndarilek 8y ago
  I use Fedora. Most of my issues seem like potential leaks/performance degradations in the accessibility stack. Performance drops over time, and doesn't seem to improve when apps are killed/restarted. The only components I can't restart are a11y-related, and the only way to get performance back is to restart or log back out and in. Maybe the issue is gnome-shell, but I can't help but feel like there'd be a revolt if everyone experienced the performance issues I do, so unfairly or not I blame accessibility.
- forthewyn 8y ago
  Hi! I'm nosing in here but I'm a partially blind dev who recently came back to Linux and have had great success with the KDE desktop, specifically Kubuntu 18.10 in my case. They have excellent accessibility support baked in by default. Things are getting better all around in modern Linux though because in recent Ubuntu releases you can enable voice narration, full screen zoom (my show stopper must have) and screen readers from the login screen. Good luck!
PakG1 8y ago
Many thanks, may reach out in the future. :)

_asummers 8y ago

I've heard iOS is generally good towards people with visual impairments. Do you have experience with iOS/OSX and are you able to comment on their friendliness?

forthewyn 8y ago
OSX has been an accessibility leader for a very long time. However recently everybody else has been catching up. I was away from Linux and Windows for 10 years because neither provided key chorded full screen zoom by default and now they do. So, in short, accessibility support in OSX is good, but no longer best in breed, so choose the OS you're most comfortable with generally. IOS accessibility is excellent. Screen zoom, VoiceOver, high contrast, etc.

jareds 8y ago

I'm a totally blind developer and have never gotten Linux to work very well. What distro do you use? I'm also curious if you run Linux in VM's with speach? I think part of my problem may be bad audio support in Virtualbox and I may have better luck with VMware. I use Windows 10 every day with Jaws and Windows subsystem for Linux. WSL has noticeably increased my productivity compared to Cygwin do to the larger volume of software that runs in it and no longer having the need to spend time compiling tools from source. I find NVDA to be a pretty good screen reader and you could probably use it full time. I've used Jaws for over 20 years though so it's worth paying the $100 a year to keep up to date rather then spending the time getting used to a new screen reader. It's also nice to have a company you can call for support and talk to someone instantly when your entire ability to do your job depends on screen reading software.

ndarilek 8y ago
I use Fedora. Most of my issues seem like potential leaks/performance degradations in the accessibility stack. Performance drops over time, and doesn't seem to improve when apps are killed/restarted. The only components I can't restart are a11y-related, and the only way to get performance back is to restart or log back out and in. Maybe the issue is gnome-shell, but I can't help but feel like there'd be a revolt if everyone experienced the performance issues I do, so unfairly or not I blame accessibility.
forthewyn 8y ago
Hi! I'm nosing in here but I'm a partially blind dev who recently came back to Linux and have had great success with the KDE desktop, specifically Kubuntu 18.10 in my case. They have excellent accessibility support baked in by default. Things are getting better all around in modern Linux though because in recent Ubuntu releases you can enable voice narration, full screen zoom (my show stopper must have) and screen readers from the login screen. Good luck!

PakG1 8y ago

Many thanks, may reach out in the future. :)