Re: Do you feel excluded?
Hello. I am going to go into a very long post, so be prepared.
I have been blind from birth, and when it comes to not being included, it really doesn't matter how hard you tell your self not to worry about it, it'll get better, it really doesn't help. At least not for me. And i'll tell you why.
First off, friends and culture.
I have a friend, her name is Madotsuki, i've known her for three years, and when it comes to things like memes, sometimes, I really don't understand them. Mostly because they're visual, and they really do take quite a bit of time to make me understand them, and at the end of the day, I am left saying. What the hell is this? two such examples are the cloraform meme, and some meme that goes, Yeet!
When they try to explane, I get the meme sometimes, but most of the time, I really don't know how to interpret them.
It's like when some person with site comes up and asks you. Do you know how green looks? And I go like, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I don't , And they start asking me, Do you have an idea of how it looks? and that's, just, gunna haunt me for ever, and ever.
I know most of you are probably on the saim page with me, not having the pleasure of seeing things just like a
sited person, herts, like a bite from a poisenous animal, it just kills you inside everytime someone talks about something visual that's almost impossyble to describe, like a meme or color.
Next, technology, software, and games.
I groo up in a place where my familly couldn't teach me how to use a computer, so I had to teach my self. This caused me to brake at least seven of my computers, of which were paid by BCVI, a company that takes care of the blind and visually impared here in Belize.
When ever I had a problem, I'd call for my parents, they usually fixt the problem, but they would only do it with
the mouse.
That made me feal rather bad, as it made me feal as if though I could never figure out how to use a peass of tech, even if I tried my hardest.
Although with most if not all of our sited counterparts, could usually figure out how to use a computer with a mouse, than the time it took me, [seven years,] to figure out how to use one computer.
When I lirnd how to use a computer, I got hold of my little brother, he thought I looked interesting using the computer with just the keys, so I got him settled with NVDA, and the keyboard, together I showed him how to use it with only the keyboard, and now, my little brother does 99.9 of his time with only the keyboard and NVDA!
The only time he uses the mouse, is when he plays games that use it.
Down here in Belize, my familly doesn't do that to me when it comes to computers and phones. If anything, they're the first ones to come asking me!
Which brings me to my other point, games.
You know when there's this good game around and everyone is talking about it? And when you try to play, it's only then you realise that it's not accessible?
I love playing games and keeping intouch with our sited counterparts, but that huge gap between games and accessibility in games will be something that will always stic to us and will never die away, like a scar that never heals.
I know my blindness can not be the falt of me not being able to play games, but it is rather a sad truth that it is one of them. While my friends are there playing fortnite and minecraft, I am stuc wondering if, and when, most, if not all of these games will become accessible to people who are blind or visually impared?
And now, my second to last topic, software and chat.
Open MPT or Open Mod Plug Tracker, is one of the coolest trackers to use the windows native background for displaying text, dialogs, and other things.
Only problem is, accessibility is auffen seen as an afterthought, especialy in the creation of software such as Open MPT, making software accessible for the blind and visually impared is auffen very laggy, or sometimes never finishes itself, lieving the blind and visually impared away from making music with a close to accessible program like Open MPT.
Next, chatting and Discord.
Dispite Discords accessibility impruvements, chatting has always been a thing when it comes to new sited people
you don't know, especially when it comes to a chat client like Discord, where when chatting, and if you tell them that you're blind,and forgive me if I sound terable on this part of my point here, but they go. you're blind? WOW!
So, how are you tiping? and you ancer. I'm using a screen reader called NVDA.
They go. NVDA? What's that?
You meen to tell me, that noone, in there life, has ever herd of a screen reader?
IT'S FUCKING TWO THOUSAND NINETEEN AND YOU HAVN'T HERD OF A FUCKING SCREEN READER! WOW! COOL!
Madotsuki always tells me, sure they're not gunna know what's a screen reader Juan, cause they have no use for it! And to me, that sounds like a stupid, poor, terable excuce!
It just shows how uninformed the hole sited comunity really is, It's like we're invisible to them!
Just imajin, having to explane that again, and again, and again to a hole bunch of sited people!
I'm sorry, but although discord has impruved, it's accessibility isn't that grate, especially with NVDA, on top of it, the hole sited comunity up there is so uninformed that there is an accessibility project going on and they're not even notissing!
And this, is just one of the notable things you can find on discord. Therefor, keeping us away from many of the up to date social media apps out there. Excuce me if I got a little vulgger.
I actually have to get Mado on some of the servers because I don't like doing that thousands and thousands of times LOL
And that's why, no matter where you go, this fealing of not being included will always haunt you, and me, for ever. No matter how we try to run away from it. I would really wana be included just as much as all yall, but the sited has to change just a bit if we are to fit in.
-- Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
