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> As a blind person, AI has changed my life. Something one doesn't see in news headlines. Happy to see this comment.
by densh 11mo ago
> As a blind person, AI has changed my life.
Something one doesn't see in news headlines. Happy to see this comment.
- badmonster 11mo agoWhat other accessibility features do you wish existed in video AI models? Real-time vs post-processing?
- devinprater 11mo agoMainly realtime processing. I play video games, and would love to play something like Legend of Zelda and just have the AI going, then ask it "read the menu options as I move between them," and it would speak each menu option as the cursor moves to it. Or when navigating a 3D environment, ask it to describe the surroundings, then ask it to tell me how to get to a place or object, then it guide me to it. That could be useful in real-world scenarios too.
- kulahan 11mo agoWeird question, but have you ever tried text adventures? It seems like it's inherently the ideal option, if you can get your screen reader going.
- devinprater 11mo agoYep, they're nice. There are even online versions.
- tippa123 11mo ago+1 and I would be curious to read and learn more about it.
- joedevon 11mo agoIf you want to see more on this topic, check out (google) the podcast I co-host called Accessibility and Gen. AI.
- moss_dog 11mo agoThanks for the recommendation, just downloaded a few episodes!;
- tippa123 11mo agoHonestly, that’s such a great example of how to share what you do on the interwebs. Right timing, helpful and on topic. Since I’ve listened to several episodes of the podcast, I can confirm it definitely delivers.
- swores 11mo agoA blind comedian / TV personality in the UK has just done a TV show on this subject - I haven't seen it, but here's a recent article about it: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/nov/23/chris-mccausland-seeing-into-the-future-review-disabled-people-tech-bbc https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/nov/23/chris-m...
- latexr 11mo agoHilariously, he beat the other teams in the “Say What You See” round (yes, really) of last year’s Big fat Quiz. No AI involved. https://youtu.be/i5NvNXz2TSE?t=4732 https://youtu.be/i5NvNXz2TSE?t=4732
- swores 11mo agoHaha that's great! I'm not a fan of his (nothing against him, just not my cup of tea when it comes to comedy and mostly not been interested in other stuff he's done), but the few times I have seen him as a guest on shows it's been clear that he's a generally clever person.
- asplake 11mo agoI remembered he was once a techie, and Wikipedia confirms that he (Chris McCausland) has a BSc Honours in Software Engineering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCausland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCausland
- lukecarr 11mo agoChris McCausland is great. A fair bit of his material _does_ reference his visual impairment, but it's genuinely witty and sharp, and it never feels like he's leaning on it for laughs/relying on sympathy. He did a great skit with Lee Mack at the BAFTAs 2022[0], riffing on the autocue the speakers use for announcing awards. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLhy0Zq95HU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLhy0Zq95HU
- chrisweekly 11mo agoSame! @devinprater, have you written about your experiences? You have an eager audience...
- devinprater 11mo agoI suppose I should write about them. A good few will be about issues with the mobile apps and websites for AI, like Claude not even letting me know a response is available to read, let alone sending it to the screen reader to be read. It's a mess, but if we blind people want it, we have to push through inaccessibility to get it.
- fguerraz 11mo ago> Something one doesn't see in news headlines. I hope this wasn't a terrible pun
- densh 11mo agoNo pun intended but it's indeed an unfortunate choice of words on my part.
- 47282847 11mo agoMy blind friends have gotten used to it and hear/receive it not as a literal “see“ any more. They would not feel offended by your usage.
- devinprater 11mo agoNah, best pun ever!
- kkylin 11mo agoLike many others, I too would very much like to hear about this. I taught our entry-level calculus course a few years ago and had two blind students in the class. The technology available for supporting them was abysmal then -- the toolchain for typesetting math for screen readers was unreliable (and anyway very slow), for braille was non-existent, and translating figures into braille involved sending material out to a vendor and waiting weeks. I would love to hear how we may better support our students in subjects like math, chemistry, physics, etc, that depend so much on visualization.
- WillAdams 11mo agoFor a physical view on this see: https://www.reddit.com/r/openscad/comments/1p6iv5y/christmas_should_be_for_everyone/ https://www.reddit.com/r/openscad/comments/1p6iv5y/christmas... The creator, https://www.reddit.com/user/Mrblindguardian/ https://www.reddit.com/user/Mrblindguardian/ has asked for help a few times in the past (I provided feedback when I could), but hasn't needed to as often of late, presumably due to using one or more LLMs.
- VogonPoetry 11mo agoI did a maths undergrad degree and the way my blind, mostly deaf friend and I communicated was using a stylized version of TeX markup. I typed on a terminal and he read / wrote on his braille terminal. It worked really well.
- kkylin 11mo agoThanks! Did you communicate in "raw" TeX, or was it compiled / encoded for braille? Can you point me at the software you used?
- VogonPoetry 11mo agoYes, mostly raw TeX, just plain ascii - not specially coded for Braille. This was quite a long time ago, mid 1980's, so not long after TeX had started to spread in computer science and maths communities. My friend was using a "Versa Braille" terminal hooked via a serial port to a BBC Micro running a terminal program that I'd written. I cannot completely remember how we came to an understanding of the syntax to use. We did shorten some items because the Versa Braille only had 20 chars per "line". He is still active and online and has a contact page see https://www.foneware.net https://www.foneware.net. I have been a poor correspondent with him - he will not know my HN username. I will try to reach out to him.
- Rover222 11mo ago`Something one doesn't see` - no pun intended
- WarcrimeActual 11mo agoI have to believe you used the word see twice ironically.
- K0balt 11mo agoI must be wrong, but can’t help but harbor a mild suspicion that your use of sight metaphors is not coincidental.