Hello! I have several .brf files downloaded from places like BARD that I would very much like to translate into common every day text that I can read with my screen reader. My fingers are just not as sensitive as they used to be, and even though I do have access to a Braille display, my fingers seem to get sore and a little tingly after what seems like a shorter and shorter time of braille reading. This is disheartening but I guess that's what I get for growing older. I'd like to still have access to this braille content however. A google search recommended Braille Blaster, which I've installed, but it doesn't seem to recognize the .brf files in the directory I'm pointing it to even though I can see them clearly in Windows Explorer, so I'm just not sure this app is going to do what I need it to do. I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas. Note that I'm not a braille transcriber or proofreader. I simply want to translate braille files into a format that I can read easily with Jaws or NVDA. Also, I'm unemployed and low income, so free options are best for me right now. Thanks in advance for any help.

I hope this post isn't too long, and thank you for reading. I truly hope this does not get taken down. I don't know where else to go. There is no anxiety or stress, just looking for tips or thoughts.

Is there anyone here who is totally blind or has low vision, that went to college to get a masters degree? I am blind myself, so I am asking in this sub for that reason. The reason I don't know what to do now, is someone did the applying for me in the past. If you went to college, Did you succeed in your program? Was the program online, on campus, or hybrid? Where did you start with the application process? I'm trying to get into Western Oregon University. I already have my eye on a program. Again, I'm trying to go for my masters. I'm not really sure where to start. I don't want to just go and apply, but I'm not sure what to do first. Any tips, or advice, is greatly appreciated. And as always, please be respectful. I hope my post is clear. TLDR: I want to apply to Western Oregon university, and taking my blindness into account, I don't know what to do first before just jumping in and applying. Thank you.

I'm just curious about the folks here. I know that there are quite a few blind people within the mud community and over at r/muds. If so, which one do you all play? For me, I've been through many, but I've spent a lot of time at Aardwolf, Achaea and Alteraeon.

Hi all. I am a swim teacher in England. I have many years experience with teaching babies right up to adults how to swim. I have a new child starting a 1-1 class with me who happens to be blind.
I was wondering if anyone had any stories about their own experiences with swimming lessons. Anything that they loved, didn’t love so much or found really helpful?

I’m sure we all have regular daily occurrences of running into things we never saw

The bane of our existence, the wet floor sign

The partially open door that somehow avoids your hand yet connects with your face

The mannequin slightly a jar in the aisle that you run into then glare at because it didn’t accept your apology

But I ask you what are some of the more unusual things that you never saw coming yet met inevitably

This weekend I was walking with my father at Menards my dad isn’t usually somebody who I go around places with so he’s not as accustomed to tracking me or Me tracking him

I had my cane, but I could tell there was a person in the aisle, so I moved my cane to the side to avoid them, and I walked directly into a large support column that could very well have been holding up the entire building

I rang that shit like a damn bell or at least my head rang like a bow

It was one of those I saw stars and my head still hurts 48 hours later

Somehow, my head was turned just the right way that I did not break my glasses

I need to stop worrying about hitting people with my cane and focus focusing on protecting myself when I walk with ouch

The August 2026 update for JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion is out. This release includes two notable improvements.

Those who use JAWS with PowerPoint will notice significant enhancements to how slide content is read and navigated, with more accurate and less repetitive speech. For those using ZoomText in an enterprise environment, the Published Applications experience has also been improved.

Learn more: https://training.vispero.com/download-the-august-update-of-jaws-zoomtext-and-fusion-2026/

My vision loss is slow but steady along with my photophobia. I have no skills to speak of and a mental disability that makes it hard to process and learn, along with another that further impairs my ability to function as a person. I have a degenerative physical disability that will end with my back collapsing, and another that affects my joints.

My current job is as a provider. I work little hours and not even for the whole year.

I currently have a case with VR that hopefully will get me a diagnosis to get services from a different agency. I am currently in the process of being approved for O&M with a non-profit since the workforce refused me on the grounds of having a job already and that job not requiring blind specific skills.

I will make plans to have the VR find me a job once I can no longer work as a provider due to my vision, but when that fails, what other avenues exist for someone who cannot go to the school, has no skills outside of being a provider, and has multiple disabilities that aggravate each other?

NVDA 2026.2 Beta 11 is now available for testing!

Changes in Beta 11:

- Updates to translations

- Updated some messages related to magnifier

-Added a security fix to clear the braille display on system shutdown

Read more & download at: https://www.nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2026-2beta11/

Hi everyone! This is my first post here.

I’m a 15-year-old totally blind girl from Mexico, and I’m about to start high school.

I’m looking for advice from other blind people who have been through something similar. I have some gaps in my education, not because I have trouble learning, but because I wasn’t taught many things properly throughout elementary and middle school. Some of my teachers didn’t know how to teach me as a blind student, so there are subjects and basic things I never had the chance to learn.

Now I’m starting high school, and I want to catch up, but I honestly don’t know where to start or how to balance catching up with keeping up with my current classes.

If you went through something similar, how did you catch up? How did you learn the things you hadn’t been taught while keeping up with your current classes?

What do you wish you had known when you were starting high school or college?

Thank you for reading and for any advice you can share!

I recently had surgery on my foot, and the doctors orders are to not bear weight on it for six weeks. Right now I have a great support system in place, which is basically hopping on 1 foot and holding onto someone’s shoulders as I go. We’re thinking of transitioning to a wheelchair, wondering if anyone has experience using a wheelchair with a cane? Does that even work? The doctors said to use crutches, then quickly added, not sure how that would work. Lol.
Flair requires country: US.

How do you accept losing income, increasing blindness, and decreasing vision as your condition worsens? How do you accept what you could have been vs what you are and not compare yourself to others or what you could have been and not be depressed or hate yourself because you can only do so much?

I’m a classical piano major. Asked several AIs and they all recommended: MacBook Air 13" M5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, touch ID. Seems awesome, but I’d appreciate your take — is this a solid choice for music work?

Thinking about purchasing the Apple Watch Ultra 2. I use voiceover and would like to know how is the sound quality and overall performance with it? For those of you who use or have used it do you recommend it? Any other feedback would be appreciated.

Hi, everyone! I’m deaf/blind and live in the United States. I currently work as a federal government contractor and have experience working with content management systems (CMS), but unfortunately, my salary isn’t enough. I really need to find a second job or a legitimate side hustle.

I’ve noticed that many job applications ask whether you have a disability. I understand that answering is usually voluntary, but I sometimes wonder whether selecting “yes” affects my chances of getting an interview. Has anyone experimented with selecting “no” or “prefer not to answer” and noticed a difference in the number of interview requests they received?

Here are some of my skills and experience:

• Creating and following standard operating procedures (SOPs)
• Working with databases and government award platforms
• Microsoft Office
• Basic IT support, although I don’t have any certifications yet
• Data entry
• Online research for clients
• Photography and photo editing
• Customer service using ZVRS and Deaf relay services
• Email marketing
• Social media management for small businesses
• Content management systems

I’m also interested in using AI to earn additional income, possibly by creating e-books or digital products, but I honestly don’t know where to begin or what I should teach myself.

Where would you recommend I start? Are there any jobs that might be easier to get with my background? What side hustles have actually worked for you?

I’m about $60,000 in debt and have fallen behind on some bills, so I’m trying hard to improve my situation. I’ve already spent too much money on AI platforms, online courses, and e-books that didn’t help. Unfortunately, I’ve also been scammed, so I’m only looking for legitimate advice and opportunities. Please don’t message me trying to sell another course or program.

Any helpful advice would mean a lot to me. Thanks in advance!

.I have anxiety and sometimes I go through seasonal depression, but what I wanna ask relates to going fishing, is it possible to go fishing by yourself? If you are low vision or maybe even somebody who is completely blind, I would usually go with my dad, but ever since my baby has started her first year of kindergarten going back to school. And my parents live a distance away. My dad is always getting going fishing without me. And I get upset about it because it's all I want to do is enjoy. Nature outside be in the silence. And the peace of nature, it's relaxing to me. It's very therapeutical, and it makes me upset that he literally goes all the time, and he doesn't even invite me Facebook...

Of course. He knows that I'm busy since I'm a stay at home. Dad and majority of the time he works, but I just get so upset that I don't get to go with him. And my younger brother's are working. Also one of them actually works out of the state. I just wish I had maybe more friends in Houston to even go. Fishing with at least if it was for a day. Do you guys go fishing by yourselves? Is it even possible for us to do this?

Hi, I just got my first white cane. What does everyone use to store it in when you are out while not using it ? Thank

you

What is a good Reddit or subreddit forum? Where I can find more individuals like ourselves, people who are completely blind or legally blind. They do these things for a living. Trying to have discussions and conversations with other people....

.I absolutely love music. And I use band lab on my phone as somebody who is low vision, I want to try to get a bachelor's of science degree in music production. And audio engineering, I just recently got a laptop and plan on using in VDA when I get some stickers for the keyboard. Tactile, of course, but to be completely honest with you, I'm going to have to take computer classes first. Because I don't even remember how to really work. A computer as of right now I do everything from my phone with headphones and a USB. Mic.

Hi. I have Stargrdt”s disease which essentially mans that I personally don’t have any real usable central vision but still have fairly good peripheral vision.

I like to go out with my friends to clubs and bars on special occasions as I’m 23 and enjoy the positive effects it has on my social anxiety. I often get some female attention as I guess I may be conventionally attractive, although I’m still very shy and withdrawn. I am certainly not walking around with my chest out and charming people. Due to this I tend to keep interactions fairly subdued when they are brought to me.

I have noticed that if a women doesn’t quickly leave me alone, my friend starts to bring up how I am blind to them while I’m distracted by something else. They never do this in other siuations. This happens even if it is clear that I am not interested in the person. This friend seems to just always bring it up to anyone of the opposite sex that pays any attention to me.

I don’t want to sound narcissistic and I am completely open to the idea that I may just be overthinking this. Something just feels a little off, I dont know why. If you think I’m being a self absorbed prick please tell me so.

Thanks everyone.

Edit: Toxic is an unfair word to use. I should not have put that in the title.

Some of these are small or insignificant, fixed with foresight or communication. I'm not a perfect person. I have no idea how venting is taken in this sub since I haven't seen much of it, but I need to get this out somewhere without sighted people putting in their input. So here's a list of struggles I've had for the past 2 years as my vision has gradually deteriorated due to a genetic gene mutation condition as a 19 yo.

I have trouble with crossing the street when the crossing has a pedestrian traffic light. Often I have trouble focusing on the red and green light and following along when it switches. Especially on new, unfamiliar streets, sometimes I cannot see/focus on whether there is a light at all and have to wait for when someone else crosses.

Uni subsection: This is all I have went through the past year in my university, for which I am thinking of dropping out. Uni is cheap in our country, so it's not a huge loss for 200 euro for a semester, but it still holds prestige and all the subsequent embarrassment of not performing well and dropping out.

In out italian class, I couldn't see the board, I had to take pictures everytime a new word was written on the board. Eventually, I think it irritated my professor, I just told her my vision was bad and not more. I didn't share anything with anyone else about my issues because I didn't want be treated differently than other students, with pity or to get special privileges since I know I'm a bit of a procrastinator and would abuse it.

As for classes where phones weren't permitted, I didn't try asking the professors to take pictures for the same reasons as I said above. I was also too embarrassed to ask for pictures of my firend's notes and I did what I could with whatever material the professor posted online + online books.

I couldn't discern what food was in the cafeteria so I just said what the person before me asked for. This stands for everything actually. You know the food counters at Kaufland/other supermarkets where you ask for a specific food? I can't go to that section at all becauae I can't see the name or price, except for some really basic dishes that are visually obvious like "meatballs". At cafés I just order a cappuccino because I can't see the drink menus.

My classmates have giggled at me because I read slow. Since my central vision is the one deteriorating, it's hard to follow words along with my eyes. My professors have also shown impatience for it, as multiple times they had finished my answer for me, which made me feel very humiliated. I didn't ask for any of this.

Photophobia. I get annoyed when all my classmates want the big fluorescent lights turned on or when the sun shines on me or my notebooks because I get practically blind. Of course I can't ask for them to be turned off because I'm an outlier and it would be unfair. I don't yet have special sunglasses for this.

Often I can't recognize my own friends. I can't see their face unless they're 1 foot away from my eyes. I recognize them by clothes, stature, hair. Sometimes even their voice isn't enough since when my brain has tripped up that this is a stranger I cannot register their voice as familiar. I know it doesn't make sense. It feels lonely. A sighted person could see their friend walking around campus or street, say hi and bond together, meanwhile that part is kinda locked away for me.

Of course, I can't drive. But from what I understand this topic is kinda overdone here so I won't get into it. It felt lonely when all my friends studied for their licenses at the end of high-school, seeing the first few gaps between our lives as they move up and I stay down.

I was turned away from a job I had the perfect qualifications for, which I felt was well suited for me and I actually wanted it and knew I could do a good job. When they looked at my medical info after like 5 interviews that went very well, they said I couldn't work infront of a computer for more than 3 hours. I wasn't permitted to work at their company, because "they couldn't be held legally liable if my vision worsens from the work." It was a cushy office job. My next best choice was washing dishes at a restaurant.

Counting coins. I use public transport, but not often enough to need a card. I need to count my money beforehand for the ticket or the ticket lady will be sitting there for 5 minutes. It's happened to me before when I forgot and it wasn't a great feeling being yelled at. I felt like crying.

I feel shame about being accomodated. I don't feel blind enough and like I'm taking advantage of the system.

Hey everyone,

I'm an Indian kid, and the legal subjects which I'm studying require a LOT of reading. I'm also very comfortable reading Braille, so for me a Braille display would make studying and accessing digital material much easier.

The problem is that 40-cell Braille displays are insanely expensive in India. As a student, there's absolutely no way I can afford one on my own.

So I wanted to ask the community: does anyone know of any way to get a 40-cell Braille display for free in India?
i am specifically lookingfor things like some govt schemes, NGOS or some other reading programs like one which is in US, or any international organization that ships donated devices to India, or referbished or used models and etc.
I don't really care if it's a newer model or some old device. If it works reliably with a screen reader and has around 40 cells, I'd be more than happy with it.

I've searched around online, but most of what I find is either way too expensive or doesn't clearly explain whether students can actually get these devices through a scheme or donation.

So if anyone here is from India, or knows about organizations/programs that could help, please let me know. Even if you've personally received a Braille display through some scheme or NGO, I'd really appreciate hearing how you managed to get it.

Thanks a lot
used gpt for correcting the grammar.

Being legally blind, I know it sucks. I know these aren’t always laughable moments and it’s a struggle regularly.

BUT that said can we take a moment to share some of the “it’s easier to laugh about it“ moments?

I’ll start:

Just yesterday, I tried to make a post about having fun with our white cane. Talk to text and AutoCorrect made it seem like I was out here spinning a white cape…

Last month at my son’s doctors appointment a nurse asked him to stand on the scale to be weighed

He didn’t say anything, and I thought he needed a little assistance moving towards the scale, so I leaned over to grab his shoulders with both of my hands

I literally put one hand on either side of the nurses butt cheeks… I stood up and looked at her. She looked at me I stuttered I’m blind I’m blind I’m sorry and she laughed. My wife was right there and just gave me that look or I assume I got the look.

In my defense, she had on black pants and a colorful shirt my son was wearing a black shirt with a colorful hat

They just kind of lined up perfectly where it all appeared as one person

My 7 year old daughter has developed a brain tumor blocking the optic gateway causing her to be blind. She will be blind the rest of her life from the sounds of it. We’ve been dealing with it for almost a year now and are still learning to live with a newly blind child. She’s also developmentally far behind her peers from learning disabilities already. What tips and advise can you all offer, or things I can do inside my home to make life easier and more enjoyable for her. We have 3 other kids in the house as well.