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Announcements: New Community Guidelines

ourblind.com

Hi, everyone! As you may know, we run a number of communities as part of the OurBlind community. We have this Lemmy, our legacy Reddit community, a Discord community, an IRC server, etc. In order to make sure that moderation is transparent, fair, consistent, safe, and predictable across all of our various community platforms, we have been working to put together a centralized set of rules for all of our various communities. The first version of those rules is now available, and linked above as well as here: https://ourblind.com/comunity-guidelines/ We are completely open to feedback! Did we miss something? Do you think something is unfair, difficult to understand, or incomplete? Comment below! This is version 1.0 of the centralized rules, and we would love to engage in discussion and feedback with all of you, to perfect them as much as possible.

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The Nonvisual Gaming Toolkit

This looks like the replacement for BGT. For those of you who haven't heard of BGT, it was a game engine for creating audiogames that was developed throughout the early 2010's. It's possible to migrate old BGT games to NVGT with just a little bit of work. Here's hoping that NVGT brings on a new golden age of cross-platform audiogames.

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Rblind now has an irc server!

We're still testing this out, to see if people want this and if it works well (secure, usable, accessible, etc.). We support SSL, SASL, and all of the latest IRCV3 features. To connect: * server address: rblind.com * port: 6667 (plaintext) or 6697 (SSL) * login method (if you have a registered account): SASL, SSL client certificate, or NickServ * channel: #main If you're looking for an accessible client: * Windows (all major screen readers): https://github.com/fastfinge/adispeak * IOS (voiceover): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/igloo-irc-client/id1545797402 We're missing accessible android and mac clients thus far. To answer some possible questions: * No, we won't bridge with Discord; it would cause too many moderation issues * The server we're running is Ergo * It's on the same box as Lemmy, and fully dockerized etc, so I don't anticipate any server stability issues * No, your Lemmy account doesn't sync with the IRC server; maybe someday! * We don't yet have a Lemmy post bot, but we might someday.

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Overlays and Ethics: a conference panel that hurt my heart

www.lflegal.com

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11303446 > I appreciate Lainey highlighting the inequities of this panel session. It is important when creating a panel to include a wide range of diverse perspectives and people from different backgrounds.

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Server Update: I am a Silly Person; two factor will work for everyone this time, I promise!

So for those of you who have been having issues getting two-factor to work, uh, (blushing) you should try that again. I forgot to configure time syncing on the server, and it had gradually drifted about 90 seconds out of sync with the actual time. Thanks to fellow server admin and mod MostlyBlindGamer for performing the incantations required to tell the server that we do, in fact, need it to keep the correct time. As each two factor code is only valid for 30 seconds, this could have been an issue for you if your computer's clock wasn't off by a similar amount as our server's clock. Turns out the clock on my laptop is *also* off by 50 seconds or so, so it wasn't causing any problems for me, meaning I couldn't reproduce the bug whenever I got complaints. Anyway, it's fixed now, and it will stay fixed in future! These are the adventures you have when you run servers for other people, but only do it as a part-time hobbyist rather than a professional system administrator. I'm really glad I didn't file a bug on the Lemmy github complaining about how two factor still doesn't work. Yikes.

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Tactile marks on currencies - Blind Coin Collector

If you have more info on any of these currencies, let this person know! This is a unique resource for travelers.

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Thunder for Lemmy: an excellent iOS app for voiceover users

apps.apple.com

So I went through about 10 iOS apps on the App Store to see what worked well with voiceover. Thunder is my new fave! customizable accessibility settings, fully labeled interface and easy to tell what you’ve read and voted on. My only wish is that we could have the voiceover actions in the roter.

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State of the instance: you may need to re-enable two-factor

Hey, folks! As the holiday season approaches, and time off work is granted unto some of us, I thought it'd be a good time to post a quick and informal "state of the instance" report. First, the critical info: I've updated the instance to the latest version, and that has changed the way two-factor tokens are handled. If you've enabled two-factor previously, please check to ensure it's still enabled. I posted this on our Discord, but realized I forgot to post here. Sigh. Second, we're still looking for a designer to create a custom theme that prioritizes accessibility. We promised this ages ago, I know, but nobody has had the time to drive the effort forward. If you're a person with a disability, you have design experience, you're comfortable with Lemmy themes, and you're interested in helping out, let us know! You can post in the comments, or you can post in the lemmy-alpha-testing channel on Discord. And that segways nicely to my third topic: when the heck are we getting out of Alpha? The answer is: who knows! The servers are stable, and the infrastructure is all working well, with one exception. However, I'm not willing to declare this a stable instance until we have a theme that's fully accessible to everyone, and the accessible apps on mobile have matured a little bit. Next! Email, the one exception I mentioned above. If you have email notifications turned on here, please note that our email deliverability is *terrible*. If you're not getting emails from rblind.com, that's why. We do have SPF configured, and we send email via IPV6 and TLS. However, I don't pay for a service like SendGrid to ensure deliverability, and we send emails directly from our server. Paid email services are expensive, and I have no plans to pay for one. So check your spam folders, and whitelist our emails if you want them. Outlook *usually* accepts our emails, and Gmail does so when it's in a good mood. This will probably not be getting better any time soon. The last topic I guess I *have* to talk about: threads. We have no plans to block federation with threads at this time. However, threads currently isn't federating directly with Lemmy, and federation is a per-account opt-in on the threads side. Should these things change, we will respond accordingly. In the interests of full transparency, because I don't think this information is publicly visible anywhere, we currently defederate with the following instances: * lemmy.saik0.com: personal instance, user trolling * lemmygrad.ml: communism, genocide denial * invariant-marxism.red: more of the same * hexbear.net: abusive comments in multiple posts, no action taken by the moderators of hexbear. We only add a server to that list less than once every three months or so, and only when we notice or get reports of abusive or spammy comments. We don't use any automated blocklists. If this changes, we'll update the community. That's everything! Happy holidays, everyone, however you celebrate!

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A new accessibility architecture for modern free desktops – GNOME Accessibility

I have no idea how well this will work in practice; see the recent discussion here about the infrastructural problems with Linux accessibility. But I do know that @matt@toot.cafe is an expert with years and years of #accessibility experience in the #a11y space. So it will at least be a step in the right direction: getting the right people on the problem is always a good place to start.

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Planned Downtime on Friday August 11

Hi, folks: The data center where the server for rblind.com lives has informed me that they're planning some downtime in order to improve the network infrastructure. The downtime is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 11, between 9 AM and 3 PM eastern, and is expected to last a maximum of two hours. During that time, rblind.com may be unavailable. However, our [sister website](https://www.ourblind.com) will remain up, containing information about our Discord, our Reddit, and this Lemmy. Should something go wrong, and the downtime last longer than expected, we will post updates and announcements there.

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Screenreader Accessible Visual Novels

So playing visual novels written in [Ren'Py](https://renpy.org) has become my latest momentary obsession. I figured I'd create a thread to post my thoughts on the few I've played, and see if anyone else has played any good ones. If you have, let me know in the comments! I really want to hear what everyone is enjoying. ### How to Play ### In theory, you can just press "v" in any Ren'Py visual novel that supports self voicing. However, at least on Windows with [NVDA](https://www.nvaccess.org), this isn't the best way. It will use whatever SAPI voice you have set as default in the control panel, and that's probably not what you want. First off, it makes it difficult to focus on the game, because frequently Ren'Py is talking, and your screen reader is *also* talking at the same time, and the game is playing background music, and some games are parcially voice-acted, and it's just a lot. Secondly, it makes it difficult to review text in detail, for example if you want to know how an unfamiliar character name is spelled, when you want to write about them later. Lastly, Ren'Py won't send text to your Braille display, if you have one. Thankfully, there's a better way! Instead of speaking itself, you can convince Ren'Py to send all text to the clipboard instead. The best way to set yourself up with NVDA, IMHO, is: 1. Download and install the [autoclip](https://github.com/mzanm/NVDAAutoclip) addon for NVDA. 2. Start the Ren'Py game you want to play. 3. Press "a". 4. Press "NVDA+R" to OCR the screen. 5. Find the spot where it says "clipboard", and move the mouse there (NVDA+numpad divide), and click on it (numpad divide). 6. Press control+shift+nvda+k. This will cause autoclip to read the text on your clipboard whenever it changes. 7. You should now be able to move through the menus with the arrow keys and make choices with enter, while NVDA reads out everything with your preferred screen reader voice and settings. You'll need to find "return" to get back to the main menu. Now, even if you quit and relaunch the game, the clipboard setting will be saved in that game. If you want to review something more closely (to check spelling for example), the last text you heard will always be on your clipboard. You can just open notepad and paste it in. 8. When you stop playing, you'll want to press control+shift+NVDA+k again to turn off clipboard reading. If you forget, next time you copy something to the clipboard for any reason, NVDA will start reading it. 9. Bonus: if you want to play a game that isn't written in English, you can use the [NVDA Translate](http://www.mtyp.fr/nvda/translate/translate-2022.06.24.nvda-addon) addon to translate any text NVDA speaks. Install it, and press control+shift+NVDA+t to toggle it on and off. If you launch a game that you're sure is written in Ren'Py but pressing either a or v don't seem to do anything, it could be that the game was written in an older version of Ren'Py, that didn't offer the self-voicing feature. However, you can take the files from that game, and play it in the newest Ren'Py version, and it will frequently work. There is [a video on getting the files from Ren'Py games and loading them into the latest Ren'Py version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUv8TbRs9Nk) by @kimchitea@fandom.ink; she's specifically talking about playing games built for IOS or Android on a computer, but the process is the same. I know, I know, YouTube tutorials. But she describes what she's doing, and there's no annoying background music. ### Games I've Tried ### Some of the below contain slight spoilers. #### Arcade Spirits #### [Arcade Spirits](https://fictionfactorygames.itch.io/arcade-spirits) is an excellent starting point. Self-voicing is officially supported, pictures and animations generally include descriptive text, and the story is sweet and well written. Even if the subject matter puts you off, give this one a chance; I don't have a lot of familiarity with Arcades going in, but I didn't need any. The game manages to embrace all of your choices, and wrap itself around your playstyle in a way that feels seamless, while not railroading you through the plot. Arcade Spirits likes you and wants you to have a good time, rather than the more adversarial relationship that most computer games have with players. If you've never played a visual novel, this is the one to start with. There are multiple endings, and none of the ones I've managed feel better or worse than any of the others; it's entirely down to personal preference. #### Catacomb Prince #### [Catacomb Prince](https://skeleteam.itch.io/catacombprince), on the other hand, isn't quite that style. There are multiple "bad" and/or less than ideal endings, and the game will kill you off quite quickly for making certain choices. I actually struggled to get an ending that I consider "good", but that says more about my lack of judgement than it says about the game itself. But even the "bad" endings are logical, well-written, and interesting. The game is also short (comparatively), so replaying it a few times doesn't feel like a burden, and the game concept never overstays its welcome. However, while self-voicing is available by default, there are a few accessibility issues you need to be aware of. First off, the main menu doesn't respond to the keyboard. You'll need to OCR the screen and click start that way. Once you've done that, though, everything mostly works as normal, with one exception. Sometimes, when transitioning between scenes (Acts? Chapters? Not sure the official term people use) you'll get a menu with no choices for you to make. You'll just have the standard options, save, load, quit, etc. I suspect this is some kind of full-screen image or picture. If you use numpad divide to make NVDA simulate a mouse click anywhere on the screen, the game will continue as normal, and you won't have missed anything. #### Katawa Shoujo: Re-Engineered #### [Katawa Shoujo: Re-Engineered](https://github.com/fleetingheart/ksre/releases/tag/v1.3.0) is a game I should probably love. It's a disability centred high school romance game, with excellent portrayals of characters with multiple differing disabilities, and the process of getting to grips with your identity as a person with a disability. And yet...and yet...It didn't work for me. Maybe because I play games as an escape; I know about disability, and I'm just not that interested in exploring it in the visual novel format. Maybe because I didn't particularly like the main character; I was born with my blindness, so I don't have a lot of patients with people grieving their disability diagnosis, though I recognize that's a personal character flaw. Maybe because I didn't really like any of the love interests, and just following my natural inclinations lead to me dying alone, and I wasn't as unhappy with that ending as the game obviously wanted me to be. But these are the reasons I didn't like the game, not reasons it was a bad game. If none of these put you off (or maybe even if they do) give it a chance. You'll find no accessibility issues, thoughtful characterization of disabled students, and disabled romance, something that's all too rare. #### Doki Doki Literature Club #### Self-voicing is not included in this one by default, and in my personal opinion, it's not worth the trouble of getting it working. If you want to, maybe because this game is so famous you've heard about it and want to know what it is, the best thing to do is to use [Doki Doki Mod Docker](https://github.com/GanstaKingofSA/DDModDocker). Follow the installation instructions, but don't add any mods. Once you launch the game and click I agree using OCR, the self-voicing settings will work. But everything about this game rubbed me the wrong way. Note that everything to follow could be considered a complete spoiler, even though I'm trying to avoid it. The game makes some pretty strong assumptions about who the player is (a straight dude who wants to date Japanese high school girls). Normally, that would be fine. But this game breaks the fourth wall, making the player "me". As "I" am a middle aged dude, I don't like it. I'm fine with putting myself into the shoes of a player character, but it's less fine when the game then tries to tell me that me and the player character are the same person. Second, the plot seems to be a complete railroad. No matter what you do, horrible things are going to happen. The problem is, the reason they happen is poorly explained and uninteresting. Without spoiling *too* much, this game explores obsession, computer games, and psychopathy, in ways that are pretty incoherent, and don't help anyone draw any knew conclusions. It feels like miserable horror, for the sake of miserable horror. Maybe if I knew more about how the love interest that's forced on the player became who she is, how she found out what she knows, or how that knowledge lead her to the conclusions she draws, it would be a more interesting game. But we're not given that. The game just wants us to be impressed by how weird and interesting it is, when it does nothing to earn that depth. I'm glad this was the second visual novel I tried, after a wonderful experience with Arcade Spirits. If it was my first, I might well have given up on the format entirely.

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[solved] How do I stop IOS #Braille Translation for a Single word?

Hey folks: I've been using Braille input on my phone a lot more now, since I got my Orbit Reader 20. But this morning, I was trying to write the word "alt", as in alt text. I use Grade 2 Braille, so whenever I typed "alt" and space, IOS translated it into "altogether". How can I make IOS stop doing that for a single word? I don't want to switch to grade 1 Braille, write "alt", and then switch back to Grade 2 Braille. That feels slow and annoying. Does anyone have a better solution?

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Accessible XMPP client?

I'm looking for accessible XMPP/jabber clients for Windows desktop and IOS. Anyone got any recommendations for me?

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The Current State of Things

So a quick update on where we're at for folks not following the discord. The stability issues plaguing us over the last couple of days seem to have been fixed, touch wood. Thanks to Arch and VictiniStar101 on our Discord for keeping me moving forward when I was out of ideas, spinning in circles, and becoming unproductive. However, in order to get the latest accessibility fixes, we're still running development code. I'm not comfortable with that for any kind of official release, and I would warn you all to continue to expect weird issues moving forward. ## Known Issues 1. Two factor doesn't work. Turning it on will just lock you out of your account. 2. The jump to main content link isn't a link and doesn't work. This is a symptom of running untested development code with unfinished features, in order to get the upvote toggles and nested lists for comments. 3. The theme is really bad for screen magnification users. We can and will fix that locally. 4. A ton of issues on mobile Android. ## Next Steps Assuming things remain stable, our next steps are: 1. Get back onto an official release that includes the accessibility fixes when it becomes available. 2. Icons and Banners: we need to find someone who can make us an Icon and Banner. This matters not just for sighted friends, but for our friends using screen magnification who need a unique icon to help them find the tab amidst all the other open tabs they might have. 3. Theming: we need a custom default theme that looks better when magnified, and has better out of the box contrast. We'd also like to offer several accessible choices, to fit everyone's needs. 4. Get things working on Android with talkback. 5. A few more labels: a couple of unlabeled links and buttons remain. Also, some of the heading levels are strange (heading level 5 for posts? Why?). However, I currently don't see these remaining screen reader niggles as a blocker on us opening up more widely, the way the other issues are. If you want to help with any of these next steps, reach out! Especially on the more visual aspects, all assistance is appreciated.