#visual-impairment — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #visual-impairment, aggregated by home.social.
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Leamington Observer: British Motor Museum image archive to become more accessible. “The project, running from spring 2026 to early 2027, will provide unprecedented access for visually impaired visitors to a historically significant collection of 20th century photographic negatives. This digital accessibility project will produce digital twins of a currently inaccessible collection using […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/05/12/leamington-observer-british-motor-museum-image-archive-to-become-more-accessible/ -
Associated Press: AI smart glasses will help visually impaired runners take on the London Marathon. “Running past Buckingham Palace during training, Tilly Dowler is closing in on a goal she once thought out of reach. Dowler, who has Stargardt disease and says she has about 10% useful vision, only began running last year, starting with a couch to 5K program before building up to marathon […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/04/29/associated-press-ai-smart-glasses-will-help-visually-impaired-runners-take-on-the-london-marathon/ -
University of Washington: Tiny cameras in earbuds let users talk with AI about what they see. “The prototype system called VueBuds takes low-resolution, black-and-white images, which it transmits over Bluetooth to a phone or other nearby device. A small artificial intelligence model on the device then answers questions about the images within around a second. For privacy, all of the processing […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/04/22/university-of-washington-tiny-cameras-in-earbuds-let-users-talk-with-ai-about-what-they-see/ -
Museum Management and Curatorship: Experiencing a historic garden online: impact of an inclusive digital multisensory audio descriptive tour. “An inclusive audio descriptive online tour of the Chelsea Physic Garden was created for people who were blind and partially blind (BPB) and sighted. Sixty-two participants completed an evaluation questionnaire directly after experiencing the online tour, […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/03/31/experiencing-a-historic-garden-online-impact-of-an-inclusive-digital-multisensory-audio-descriptive-tour-museum-management-and-curatorship/ -
Touch, sound and style: how London fashion week is opening up to visually impaired guests – photo essay.
From live audio descriptions to fabric swatch booklets, designers are rethinking the catwalk experience for blind and low-vision clothes-lovers.
#Fashion #LondonFashionWeek #Disability #Blindness #VisualImpairment #Design
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💬 The white cane represents more than mobility, it represents independence.
White Cane Week is a reminder to respect personal space, remove barriers, and design environments that support safe movement for people who are blind or have low vision.
🦯Awareness helps create inclusion in everyday spaces.
#WhiteCaneWeek #AccessibilityMatters #DisabilityAwareness #InclusiveDesign #DigitalInclusion #VisualImpairment #MobilityIndependence #A11y
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64-year-old woman has been going blind for nearly 50 years. AI glasses just helped her 'see' again.
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/ai-glasses-help-blind-woman-see
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Great news, folks! Now you can feel like Tony Stark 🤖 while squinting at your see-through monitor, because who needs clear vision in the 21st century? Just what we needed: a transparent screen that’s perfect for a more confused, visually impaired future. 🎉
https://www.visualinstruments.co/phantom/display #transparenttechnology #futuristicinnovation #TonyStark #vibes #visualimpairment #techtrends #HackerNews #ngated -
@ChristineMalec
Can't comment on clever software; not sure if this tip any use, probably only works at small scale, but many (many) years ago an accountant once recommended to their client that they get a page-a-day diary and when they come home at the end of the day, they staple all the receipts from that day to the page/date in the diary, in order to make the accountant's life easier.Sorry I cant be of more use. At any rate, good luck with your search!
#accounting #taxReturns #blind #visualImpairment #screenReader #selfHosted
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Digital Seams: Image descriptions on Bluesky. “What percentage of Bluesky images have image descriptions? I checked 2.8 million image posts and their user-provided image descriptions to find out.”
https://rbfirehose.com/2025/09/08/digital-seams-image-descriptions-on-bluesky/
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Breakout Boards for the Blind - Connecting an LED to a battery seems trivial. If you have any knowledge of using b... - https://hackaday.com/2025/08/29/breakout-boards-for-the-blind/ #visualimpairment #accessibility #breakoutboard #toolhacks #braille #blind #proto
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James’ Coffee Blog: Developing an alt text button for images on my website . “Inspired by this feature, I decided to see if I could make a HTML-and-CSS-only alt text button for images on my website. After some development, I have a solution that is 90% of the way there. I could use help to get the rest of the way. Below, I will write what I have, how it works, and where the limitations are in […]
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BudgetBraillerBlog: BudgetBraillerBlog Intro. “A manual brailler costs a little under $1,000 and electric braillers cost significantly more. Given that I was just at a 3D printing festival and you can build a 3D printer for under $200, I decided to try to design one.”
https://rbfirehose.com/2025/08/16/budgetbraillerblog-budgetbraillerblog-intro/
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Have you heard of the #Soundscape project?
The app describes itself as "an app to help people with #VisualImpairment explore and navigate the world. It does this by describing nearby features using mapping data from #OpenStreetMap."
It is available on Android and iOS devices.
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University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: UWM professors are reimagining digital libraries for the visually impaired . “The problem is that most online platforms emphasize visuals, giving little consideration to the needs and primary senses of visually impaired users. That’s why Xie, a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies, is creating research-driven […]
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Johns Hopkins University: Johns Hopkins students’ invention prints braille beer labels for local nonprofit. “When the local nonprofit Blind Industries & Services of Maryland reached out to Johns Hopkins University’s mechanical engineering program last year, they asked for one thing: a printer that adds braille writing to beer labels. Students in the mechanical engineering program’s senior […]
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In the U.S., there's a "secret" form of media: radio reading services, where volunteers read aloud the text of newspapers, books and magazines. These used to be broadcast on "sidebands" — little hidden side pockets of public radio or TV stations' airwaves — for which folks needed a special radio, but nowadays you can access them online. There are 79 radio reading services across the United States (the first debuted in 1969) and their audiences are mainly blind or visually impaired, and over the age of 65. The impacts of the services can be profound. “A lot of people with visual impairments can become shut-in, and we found that people who listen to their local publications tend to get out and do more. They’re more engaged in their neighborhood," says Michael Benzin, executive director of the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading service in Buffalo, New York. "They vote, which obviously is important, and they’re more confident.” Here's more from Nieman Lab.
#Media #Journalism #MediaIndustry #LocalNews #Community #Blindness #VisualImpairment #Accessibility
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Clemson News: A more connected world: Research into social media accessibility. “[Hillary] Smith and [Mary Anne] Raymond analyzed images posted on different platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (X). Many of the images were inaccessible to people with visual impairments who would need to utilize alternative text (description of an image) to help them understand the context of the […]
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Sim Daltonism: The color blindness simulator
https://michelf.ca/projects/sim-daltonism/
#HackerNews #SimDaltonism #ColorBlindness #ColorSimulator #Accessibility #TechForAll #VisualImpairment
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MIT News: A new way to make graphs more accessible to blind and low-vision readers. “Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have now developed an approach that streamlines the design process for tactile chart designers. Their program, called ‘Tactile Vega-Lite,’ can take data from something like an Excel spreadsheet and turn it into both a […]
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Got to test the latest version of Magic Sight - glasses for the visual impaired developed by a European company. Fantastic device in which the developers carefully listened to their patients needs. Chapeau! #magicsight #visualimpairment #embedded
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Veroniiiica: How To Write Alt Text For Educational Content. “While a missing description can render an image or visual information invisible or inaccessible for assistive technology users, having descriptions that are not useful or meaningful can be just as frustrating for students with visual impairments that rely on them to access information. Here is a list of tips for writing meaningful […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2025/03/10/veroniiiica-how-to-write-alt-text-for-educational-content/
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Receiving the opportunity to try out the latest version of the digital glasses made for the visual impaired by Paris based company Magic Sight soon. Very much looking forward to that! #magicsight #new-invention #digitalglasses #visualimpairment
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Lending libraries for Nissa, Nowhere Space, and Kaisa in “Hilda”
Kaisa smirks during a scene in the final season of HildaHappy February! In early December 2023, Hilda aired its third, and final, season. It was a fitting end to an animated series which could (and should) have been longer. Unfortunately, Kaisa, the fan-favorite mysterious gothic librarian, got a short shift, as she had in Hilda the Mountain King. Even so, there are many library themes to discuss when it comes to the episode with her most prominent appearance, creation of a lending library by the protagonists, and connections to previous posts about her, Hilda, other series, and library concepts.
In the seventh episode of the final season, entitled “Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies”, Hilda holds the hand of Tonto as they chase a nissa through nowhere space. They jump out of a card catalog, go running through the Trolberg library stacks, and jump inside a copier (also a portal into Nowhere Space) to the bewilderment of Kaisa, at first, before her eyes and body movement give the message that this is something she is used to. Later in that same episode, Hilda sets up a lending library for the nissa, so they can borrow items for a certain period of time, basically functioning like a public library. It seems to work well, from what I can tell.
While it is not directly stated, there is no doubt in my mind that Hilda and her friends learned about this thanks to Kaisa. It would have been better to give Kaisa some speaking lines and have her directly. Perhaps this was originally included, but since the season was only seven episodes, and one special (the movie), it was half of the proceeding seasons, which had twelve episodes each! Such cuts by Netflix were confirmed by show director Andy Coyle.
As I described her back on December 14, 2023, which some fans call “Kaisa Day”, she is a White female librarian (and witch) who is feisty, with unmatched, and extensive, knowledge of cemeteries and mystical items, with 170+ fan fics featuring her, ship her with Johanna (known as Sketchbook), Entrapta in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, or draw parallels between her and Cassandra in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. She has strict bosses, is skilled, but bashful,shown to be experiencing burnout and fatigue, even downplaying her personal knowledge at times, and has a unique style which fits with her personality, which can be calm, but also strict or stern. Even so, she clearly has insecurities and can feel like an outcast.
Additionally, she engages in duties which resemble reference librarianship, likely believes that librarians are responsible for patrons’ safety, challenges established systems, and may even be working class, even as she holds herself back in other instances. The library’s classification may resemble those from the human world. She definitely looks content in the series finale when she eats a bag of Jorts given to her by David, and smiles, even after David’s Jorts are taken away, showing the strong friendship between them. Even so, she is possibly queer, as I noted in a blogpost some time ago.
The episodes in Hilda are a night-and-day difference from the stereotypical evil librarian (who is dedicated to shushing her patrons) in Hamster & Gretel, who only serves as a plot device for Gretel to realize her brother is a hero. Funny enough, the librarian is voiced by the talented voice actress, Cree Summer, known for roles like Princess (then Queen) Kidagakash “Kida” in Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Atlantis: Milo’s Return, Catwoman in DC Super Hero Girls, andPeabo in The Proud Family (and the reboot/revival).
To add more detail to the aforementioned librarian in Hamster & Gretel, a middling all-ages Disney animated series, she is an old White lady wearing glasses dedicated to keeping the library quiet, shushing people when they make too much noise. In the episode, Kevin, and his sister, Gretel, make it to the periodical room where no electronics are allowed. Kevin finds out that the librarian wants to shush everyone in town for being too noisy. His voice is taken away by her Shushinator machine (created by Dr. Doofenschmirtz). She shushes the entire town but is stopped thanks to what Kevin read…in a library book. He is successful, Gretel and her animal companion, Hamster, assist him, and she punches the librarian.
This makes you think. Did the episode writer (Joshua Pruett) or episode director (Erik Kling) have a bad experience in a library? Why would a show like that include such a sexist stereotype? Compared to Hilda, it makes clear which show wants to buck typical depictions and create more holistic characters, and which do not. Pruett is well-known for working on series like Milo Murphy’s Law, Onyx Equinox, and Phineas and Ferb. Erik Kling, another White man, directed episodes of animated series like Madagascar: A Little Wild. You would think that these talented people could avoid such stereotypes.
Hilda surprised to see a running NissaWhat the librarian in Hamster & Gretel did or any of the other atrocious examples of stereotypical librarians, especially those who excessively shush patrons, Kaisa would never do. She wants to uphold rules, but she would never go around and shush people. Instead, she’d be enjoying coffeehouse light jazz, or if in other moods, indie folk (Bon Iver), indie rock (Shoegaze), reggae (Ghost), heavy metal (Slipknot, the HU, Ministry, Bathory), alternative rock (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees), gothic rock (Joy Division, Bauhaus), or Steven Universe and Adventure Time soundtracks, as some fans suggested.
All in all, I hope other characters in the future can have such an impact as Kaisa and promote the importance of librarians and libraries while both remain under attack more than ever.
© 2024-2025 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
#burnout #CassandraTangled #CreeSummer #Entrapta #HamsterGretel #Hilda #HildaAndTheMountainKing #Kaisa #LGBTQ #librarianStereotypes #librarianStyle #MiloMurphySLaw #music #PhineasAndFerb #RapunzelSTangledAdventure #SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower #shushing #visualImpairment #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen
