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I have been blind since birth. I recommend downloading NVDA, a free screen reader for windows, and getting used to using it for basic computer use. Getting us
by RobMurray 6y ago
I have been blind since birth. I recommend downloading NVDA, a free screen reader for windows, and getting used to using it for basic computer use. Getting used to hearing the speech as fast as possible is key to being able to use it efficiently.
You said you have hearing loss. Is it bad enough to make speech output useless? If so you would need to learn braille.
I would never try front end design as I have no idea what it should look like, but you may still be able to do it if you have an image in your head of what you are trying to achieve. You would just have to ask someone to check it.
Python is not a problem with screen readers, contrary to what someone else said. The screen reader can be set to report the indentation level. In fact I can't think of any text based language that wouldn't be usable with a screen reader. Tools are a different story. Some work and some don't.
Feel free to contact me if you would like any more information, weather it's about computers or not. rob at mur.org.uk
- O_H_E 6y agoThis is a bit off-topic, but may I ask: how did you get introduced to programming? Feel free to not answer :D
- RobMurray 6y agoBasic on a C64 in the 80s. I had just enough sight to read the screen if I set it to all caps and adjusted the contrast on the TV.
- zachrip 6y agoFortunately my hearing loss is stable and correctable using hearing aids.
- warent 6y agoThis was my biggest concern. I'm so relieved to hear this and have very high hopes for you!
- mwcampbell 6y agoNot only is Python not problematic when using a screen reader, but there are blind programmers who gladly choose Python over other languages. The NVDA screen reader, mentioned in the parent comment, is developed primarily by blind programmers, in Python. The Orca screen reader for GNOME was written by a blind friend of mine, in Python. I have another blind friend who wrote and sold several accessible apps for Windows and Mac using Python. And those are just a few anecdotes that I'm aware of.
- DonHopkins 6y agoYou might also want to check out "dragonfly", which is a Python based system for integrating applications with speech recognition and synthesis, and includes a large library of pre-existing modules for many popular applications: https://pypi.org/project/dragonfly/ https://pypi.org/project/dragonfly/ Project description: Dragonfly offers a powerful Python interface to speech recognition and a high-level language object model to easily create and use voice commands. Dragonfly supports following speech recognition engines: Dragon NaturallySpeaking (DNS), a product of Nuance Windows Speech Recognition (WSR), included with Microsoft Windows Vista and freely available for Windows XP
- warent 6y agoI've come to understand that this is actually a very powerful reason to actually use tabs instead of spaces for indentation. I used to have the irrational preference of using spaces, but once I learned that screen readers work better with tabs, it was a no-brainer from then on.