My Computer Talks to Me, and I’m Not Hallucinating
Reading time: ~2 min
If you are not a developer, know somebody, or have a family member who is blind, there is not a big chance that you know or even assume it is possible for a blind person to use their computer, smartphone, or tablet without vision.
Such technology exists, and it is called a screen reader. There are screen readers available for Android, Linux, and Windows. I only have experience with VoiceOver, a screen reader exclusive to Apple products.
As the name suggests, the tool reads aloud what is on the screen for the user. You navigate your device using keyboard shortcuts and gestures. You can adjust the speech rate, voice, and language, or switch between multiple setups of preferred use cases. For example, someone can have their set for reading with a more relaxing voice and lower speech rate, and another set for browsing with a slightly different voice and increased speech rate to boost productivity. I have previously written about how to access glanceable information when you are visually impaired.
You may wonder how much slower it is to navigate a Mac with VoiceOver compared to a sighted person. The difference is significant. You can imagine it like a puzzle: a sighted person sees all the pieces at once, while a blind person touches or feels them one by one. The same applies to a screen reader. As a sighted user, you see your Dock, Menu bar, and Desktop all at once. As a VoiceOver user, I have different keyboard shortcuts to access those areas separately. Additionally, a sighted person can take advantage of multiple displays, whereas a blind person does not rely on a display at all. However, it’s not so bad. I can lie in bed or on the sofa and type away on my keyboard, looking in all possible directions as long as I keep my focus on the speech from VoiceOver.
Although a screen reader is mostly used by visually impaired users, it can benefit sighted users as well! A friend of mine broke the screen on his iPhone and was unable to use some parts of the screen. Since he is my friend, he, of course, knew about VoiceOver. He turned it on and was able to navigate his phone this way. After this experience, he gained a better understanding of how time-consuming it can be to use a phone with a screen reader compared to someone who can use their phone without accessibility features.
For me, VoiceOver is more than just a tool. Without this technology, I would not be able to use my devices. A screen reader is a powerful technology that makes it possible for millions of people to use their devices with partial or no vision at all.
This is my entry written about tools for IndieWeb Carnival, July 2024, hosted by James.