3 ms·
Though I have reasonably good vision under some conditions, I deal with one of the mild variations of ocular albinism. I can see pretty good but I can't handle
by jcr 14y ago
Though I have reasonably good vision under some conditions, I deal with
one of the mild variations of ocular albinism. I can see pretty good but
I can't handle some things very well like bright lights, flickering, or
some areas of the spectrum, such as older florescent lights. Most of the
web where black text is put on a white background is painful for me to
read, but luckily I know how to configure my browser to override the
default display colors.
Over the years, I've set up many computer systems for people with
various types of vision limitations, including text-to-speech, special
magnification, color pallets within visual range, alternate fonts, and
Braille display systems. Sadly, I can't read Braille by touch, and when
I check systems to make sure they're working right, I do it visually.
Text-to-speech is helpful, but there are many textual clues which are
never vocalized. For example, on a UNIX mailing list one user was having
trouble understanding some of the emails due to the fact that the
convention for indicating a manual page is to put the name of the manual
page followed by a left parenthesis, then the number of the manual
section, followed by a right parenthesis. His screen reader just sort of
skipped over the parenthesis, so he never realized he was being directed
to the text based manuals.
The major problem with Braille displays is their cost. Most of them are
heavily protected by patents, insanely expensive, and extremely limited.
Braille is tough to do well on most modern computer systems. Most modern
graphical user interfaces are just not designed to give an alternate way
of interacting with the system.
I've always wondered if it would be feasible to create a pin display?
The idea would be basically replacing the pixels of visual displays with
pins to create a tactile display. Graphical elements, even pictures,
could be represented with raised or lowered pins. The text could be
translated to Braille, or rendered as raised pins in a touch-readable
font.
It would not solve the issue of Braille illiteracy exactly, but from my
ignorant view as a sighted person, I believe it could help in a lot of
ways, including literacy.