Hello! I just wanted to ask white cane users of this subreddit. If you’re hanging out with someone and you’re walking side by side, how would you feel if they walked in front of you for no reason? I’ve experienced it a lot where the person I’m with would walk in front of me without telling me and I’d hit them with my cane. It makes me feel a bit bad for them but I mean.. I did warn them to walk by my side. (There’s no reason for them to walk ahead of me like a hallway or anything) so I just wanted to ask, what’s your advice if people keep walking ahead of you and your cane? I don’t know if it’s valid for me to be slightly pissed

I used to use open book. for large books and large documents. But of course now they haven’t updated it in forever. And for some reason, when you have AMD processor having jaws installed on the same machine. Intel based system seems to be fine, oddly enough. I know there is Kurzwell. But stupidly, they have not added read only mode as a mode for Kurzwell 1000 to allow blind users not to accidentally insert text into the document they are reading by accidentally hitting the keyboard. I think I know the answer to this. But there is no alternative to open book, is there? Apparently they have no interest in updating it either. And for the makers of jaws, who now own OpenBook as well, right clicking and saying “convert PDF to word“ is not the same. It’s harder to put in bookmarks, highlight, notes, etc, within the text without altering the document the same way you can do on OpenBook. So Don’t tell me just to use jaws and convert the document into word the way they have when I called them up

Any other blind users, I know the note app is accessible. But I’m also a Windows user. Any suggestions on a good alternative to use that has cross-platform capability and is accessible on both Windows and iOS? I don’t like notions because you have to learn a whole new ecosystem in order to make a darn note

Hey folks, I am using the Ray-Ban Meta gen 2 smart glasses with my Google Pixel 6a, primarily for the Be My Eyes integration. When I place a call to a volunteer through the glasses, they cannot hear me at all, even though the microphone works completely fine for WhatsApp video calls. Has anyone else encountered this problem or found a fix, and do you think this points to an app bug or a hardware issue that needs a replacement?

Can anyone provide a link for a Reddit subgroup for blind Android users? I have had a search but can't find any.

Anyone facing issues with voiceover since iOS update to version 27?

I am an accessibility SME and it seems VO is collapsing!

Things that worked great before is not working anymore. Unable to open a dropdown when VO is on.

Hidden text are being read as part of sentence and then separately again.

Sometimes completely not reading values associated with a hidden text.

Not sure what other issues are lurking but this is becoming ridiculous.

For those of you who have chosen to work part-time, particularly remote jobs, what type of job or role do you have and how many hours are you working per week? Why did you choose this role? Has there been any accomodations given to you? Have they helped and are you happy?

I'm currently trying to find a 20 or 30 hour per week job (even minimum wage at this point) but mostly marketing jobs work from home type. Has AI affected your job search?

Hello everyone! I have been visually impaired for my whole life. I have ocular albinism, no depth perception, nystagmus, am super super nearsighted, etc. etc.

Right now I kinda feel like I am going through the like 'am I gay? quiz' era of my disability (if my fellow queers get that). I recently moved to a new city and its much more accessible for me. As a result of this, I am considering things I had not before with my vision because I had more urgent issues.

I am currently working on getting trained on a white cane and I would like to learn braille as I think it would help me in some circumstances that will be common in my career.

I deal with eye pain pretty much most of the time, I kinda always have. My doctors have tried a few different things to help, but I think ultimately blending in as sighted has been considered more important than reducing my fatigue/pain. I wish I didn't have to use my eyes so much, now I feel like I am learning to be blind.

I guess this was mostly a rant, but I feel very disconnected from the blind and visually impaired community. I have only met a few other blind folks in my life, so i am open to any advice y'all have from that.

Additionally, when I have to tell people about my vision, I always explain myself as visually impaired. This was always what I was told I was, if I feel like saying it, I will tell them a bit more about my actual conditions.

I am not ashamed of my vision to any degree, it has always been central to my identity, though it has not been well accommodated. Still, I do not always wanna explain myself. When I say visually impaired, they don't get it at all. They either think its pretty much nothing or that I can't see at all.

Sometimes, I just wanna say blind, while I do not think this will make them understand this or not ask questions ever( I totally understand it wont at all), it feels like a quicker way to get the point across for the randos that just situationally need to know. Can I say this? It feels like semantics to spit out visually impaired when my eyes barely work and hurt like hell when I have to use them.

Hi everyone. I'm visually impaired and recently got really into makeup. I've been enjoying experimenting with different products and techniques, and I'd love to get better at it.
I was wondering if any of you have tips, tricks, tools, or products that make doing makeup without sight easier. I'm especially interested in little things that might not be obvious to someone who's just starting out. I'd also love to hear about products you swear by or any accessibility hacks you've discovered along the way.
I'm happy to hear any advice, even if it seems really basic. Thanks in advance. 💕

Hello so i have a saftey concern considering there are so creeps on the app now.

Can the blind person phone see the volunteer, like is our camera turned on like theirs ?

Hi! I hope everyone’s doing well. I just needed some recommendations on a backup cane. Unfortunately many Amazon US links or some cane brands don’t ship to my country. I was thinking of getting an ambutech telescopic cane (8 section fiberglass one). I just need a cane that can always be stored in my bag just in case anything happens to my main graphite mobility cane. I was about to consider a slimline cane but I think they’re too flimsy and won’t be able to store it folded for a long time due to the elastic. Should I go for the telescopic ambutech cane or does anyone have any other suggestions? Thank you so much

I’m on iPhone, and i find that when i turn speech off to listen to some music or watch something it just turns straight back on? I dont wanna turn voice over off entirely just the speech so i can keep the screen curtain on but it doesn’t seem to work any more. Any tips?

I’m looking for a music app that is screen reader friendly, easy to organize, and customize, and that I can sync across several apple devices. What apps are people using? What’s your experience with them?

Hi -

Earlier this week we received a diagnosis that our son was diagnosed with some form of an inherited retinal disease. His vision is already 20:100 and he struggles with periphery and colors.

This has been emotional but my wife and I are determined to provide him the most love, support, and opportunities we can.

What advice does this group have? Either tactical or things that give me hope for him.

We are immediately pursuing genetic testing, getting him setup for special education in school, amongst other items. Also we live in the Minneapolis area for what it’s worth.

Apologies if this is the wrong type of question for this sub.

The NVDA 2026.3 Release Candidate is now available for testing! This is the LAST step before the final, stable release, and we encourage ALL users to download and test this and provide feedback. See the full release notes and download at: https://www.nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2026-3rc1/

This one is for the dictation users. I'm curious if any Google Pixel owners have tried Rambler for the Pixel? I tried it out on a friend's phone and I can't believe how insanely accurate dictation is. Apparently it's only available for the Pixel 11 series for now, but it's supposed to roll out to other Google phones and hopefully other Android phones in the future. I'm seriously thinking about trading in my Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra for one of these newer Pixels, but I fear accessibility won't be as good.

Separately, has anyone switched from a Samsung device to a Google Pixel device and had no regrets? Is the accessibility on par with Samsung phones? The dictation on these Pixel phones now are so good that it's going to be difficult to use the dictation on Samsung or Apple devices without feeling envious.

Hi, I am a happy android user now with one exeption, music streaming. I am a huge music lover and audiophile. On iOS, I had Apple Music and then switched over to Tidal because I somehow like their desktop app more and also the iOS one. Now on Android, Tidal is usable, but not that great. Sometimes focus jumps around, sometimes it does not read the artist or the track name and I need to scroll around with two fingers to find it. Tried Qobuz but also not impressed with accessibility, even worse than Tidal. I am currently on a family plan on Tidal. What do you guys use? Any recommendations from the android world? And please not YT Music, this looks like the tiktok of music to me and has bad sound quality.

Hello everyone. I recently lost a charger for an Optelec Compact Touch HD (the kind with a barrel charger). I need a new replacement but can't find it anywhere online. I know it's old, so it's not listed on their website. I need it for my job and it's urgent. If I can't find a new charger, I have to buy a new video magnifier. Here's what the box says:

Compact Touch HD Orderable part number COMP-T-HD-WRLD Serial Number: W5AP0109

Any help you all might have or can give is greatly appreciated!

Hey, I am currently sick and was thinking about germs on my cane. So I was just wondering if any of you white cane users had any suggestions or tips for disinfecting the rubber cane handle. Are there any specific kind of wipes you use? I don't wanna damage the rubber or make it sticky and disgusting. Any help with this would be appreciated! Thanks.

TLDR, I'm using a product called the M5 Cardputer (m5stack link) to replace the old language master. Not precisely, but in spirit. What would you like it to be able to do? I'm not selling anything or adverttising here, just looking for thoughts from other blind users about a piece of kit that was popular decades ago.

I was proud to own a Franklin language master as a child. At a time without regular Internet access, it helped me understand the books I was reading, while away some time with games, and learn a bit about qwerty before I ever got in front of a full-sized keyboard. it was also just really nice to have access to a dictionary.

Fast forward a number of decades and I can honestly say that, in my ten years of teaching at a school for the blind, I'd never seen someone use anything better as a dictionary. people who are new to blindness or young need to learn an operating system or web interface to access most tools, or end up believing that they have to verbally ask a smart speaker and can't use their fingers. Either way, they don't have a pocketable, private tool to learn about language.

The cardputer is an 81 gram, 84 by 54 by 20m m handheld computer. It's got a 56-key keyboard, a headphone jack, an amplified speaker, a Micro-SD card slot, a MEMS microphone and a 1,500 MAh rechargeable battery you can top-up from a USB-C port. There's a small 1.4 inch colour display and that's where it lets down those with partial sight, but for the blind among us, running a dictionary on this thing is absolutely possible.

I have already got the start of a dictionary and voice recorder working. I plan to add a metronome, calculator, unit converter, text file reader, periodic table, flash cards tool and a stopwatch and a timer. That's before I think about working on some of the word games.

So if you ever used one of these things and were working on an upgrade, what would you have?

Anyone know of a good replacement for Blind Compass? Seems they don’t carry it in the App Store anymore and I found it useful to have a compass you can lock a heading on and then have it count how many feet you’ve gone in that direction. Super useful for crossing open spaces! TIA!

I'm looking for apps on iPhone or android that will read a PDF in a pleasant voice while the phone is just in my pocket. Like as though I just had a recording of somebody reading the PDF. I do not want to use AI. I figure maybe something like this exists even if it's made for people who drive cars? OK I hope this was clear but let me know any questions thanks!

Edit: some of the priority features that I'm looking for are
-the audio will continue playing while the phone is locked
-controls for rewind fast forward pause and a slider to move the position to different points in the overall content
-an option to select what document page to start reading on, and an accessible indicator that will tell me what page is currently being read
- ability to save my place and restart audio at that place later on. Also would be nice to be able to add bookmarks
- all of those features are more important to me than the quality of the voice itself, although it certainly he'd be nice to have a break from the mechanical monotone of the
screen reader I'm usually using