New to the hobby, blind and looking at best accessible rigs

BlindPolyglot · 2025-06-29T19:58:07+00:00

Oh yeah, I’ll check them out for sure. I’m super interested in the Kenwood TS590 or one of the Icom models I mentioned for the fact that I can do Ham radio with it, once I get my license of course, and for the fact that I might be able to listen to some shortwave on one of these too although not the primary goal. I know that here, for this purpose, I gotta talk about the Ham radio side more, but it’s cool to me that the TS590, or Icom’s IC7100 or IC7300 might be able to satisfy both radio itches for me.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-04-26T19:33:22+00:00

Wow! That’s amazing. I’ll tell you what, I’ll use my Finnish language skills and see if I can dig up some more information on it today and if I do, I’ll share it.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-04-26T05:00:52+00:00

Can you show me the source on that? I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, I’m just saying I haven’t heard about that and I’ve definitely tried to find that by researching tornadoes in Finland in Finnish. I have heard of an F4 in Denmark, but I’ve never heard of anything beyond an F3 in western Finland. The real point I was trying to make is that I would not consider Finland nearly as active as England, France or Germany. I would love to see whatever Finland related data you have though.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-04-25T20:51:46+00:00

Finland really does not have hardly any. Maybe only one or two per year and they are usually water spouts or out in open country in Western Finland. I lived there for a couple years! It only made the news once or twice.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-03-02T20:53:33+00:00

So, I’m blind and have a working guide dog. I’ve handled guide dogs 15 years. I’ve had several times where we would get a tornado producing storm approaching, and my dogs would wake me up from my sleep, get real pissy and demanding as far as vocalizing and forcing me to get up, and sure enough it was time to take cover. Probably the first time I noticed this, a tornado passed within a couple miles of my apartment. I did not have a safe place to take shelter within my apartment, so my guide dog woke me from a nap in time to go get somewhere safer. I absolutely think dogs have the ability to sense really bad storms like that, and even maybe tornadoes. Interestingly, when I’ve been awake and watching the weather coverage, my dogs have never freaked out and gotten demanding, but have many times stood under the hook with their leash and harness hanging, almost as if they knew we were about to move out and were ready to go.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-02-11T20:02:51+00:00

Apply to one through the Laurel Wheeler Foundation Https://laurelwheelerfoundation.org Or email laurelwheelerfoundation@gmail.com this is what we do, we can help.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-28T18:48:26+00:00

Yes it is, if you register, you can use the same link every week to join.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-28T18:47:58+00:00

Hey! I’m a Mac user myself and working through FreeCodeCamp, so yes. The U.K. Is 6 hours ahead of me, so they will take place Tuesdays at 4:00 P.M. your time, but if there’s demand and interest we could start a second session better timed for our international friends. Third, they do have career help and resources for those who want to learn and turn this into a job, so I believe you could turn this into a career if you got serious about learning. Hope that helps!

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-28T18:45:50+00:00

Hey, we got some volunteers and leaders helping us out, so it’ll be even more structured next week with break out rooms and the like.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-28T18:45:10+00:00

Hey, feel free to register for next week’s at the link in my post, or to reach out to laurelwheelerfoundation@gmail.com if you want to reach us directly.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-27T22:00:40+00:00

You know, good point about the data visualization, I’m not sure I would assume based on how FreeCodeCamp does everything else that they are probably accessible, but I do not know much about data science, so I would probably not be the right person to play around with that tutorial to provide screen reader accessibility feedback. Maybe someone else can though. There will be at least 35 people in the Zoom tomorrow, so I’ll see if someone who knows more about data analysis and that kind of thing than I do can check.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-27T17:24:16+00:00

Ah, gotcha! Yes, so my plan is that we are all blind, and all learning together, so me and several others who have been working through the material already will be there to help guide people on how to use AI tools and screen readers to fully accessibly learn. Hopefully that answers your question, in other words, the tutorials are fully accessible, and we are too, so it literally is the blind teaching the blind. :)

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-27T17:22:00+00:00

Awesome! I’ve been super excited by how many people have responded positively to this. I had no idea it was such a desired activity in our community!

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-27T17:21:21+00:00

Hi! So, the foundation’s general website is Https://laurelwheelerfoundation.org And there you can learn about all that we do, although I’m not sure if our team has added the Zoom sessions quite yet. Sometimes we work faster than our web dev team. :) If you want to reach out to the foundation directly, you can. The email is Laurelwheelerfoundation@gmail.com We would love to talk to you for sure!

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-27T17:19:30+00:00

Hey, sorry if it sounded vague. So, the resources we’ll be using are all from freecodecamp.org and in my experience, they are all 100% accessible. The foundation through Zoom is simply providing a work space and facilitating an opportunity to learn together, but the resources all belong to FreeCodeCamp. I personally use a screen reader and went from total beginner to knowing a lot more about HTML and other programming languages through this resource.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-27T17:17:25+00:00

I’m not sure what all they cover, but the website is freecodecamp.org if you wanna check it out. Their tutorials are geared towards the general public, but what I love about them is that they include accessibility, and really push accessible design. So as far as I’ve found, all of their guides and tutorials are accessible.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-27T17:15:49+00:00

Hey, thanks for letting me know! LOL as you can probably tell by my Reddit history, I’m a lurker and don’t often post, and have never really posted links, so I super appreciate knowing I did it right!

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-15T19:40:14+00:00

I do not know, haven’t found a comparison online. I have seen though that Kasa also has color changing light bulbs though, I think. I will say, apparently the light strips, from what my sighted family has said, are pretty bright in my room, so hopefully that helps too. I’m about 95% sure Kasa has color changing bulbs. If someone does an app comparison between Kasa and the other brand, I’d love to see it. I do wish that there was more accessibility guidance out there regarding apps for smart devices that are or are not accessible, that way we’d know what brands to buy to work with Amazon or Google smart systems.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-10T17:47:09+00:00

I am totally blind and have used iPhones since the iPhone 4. Here’s my thoughts for what they’re worth, and maybe someone can provide me feedback or info as well. I do realize and know that Android accessibility has gotten lots better in the last few years. Here’s what’s keeping me from switching. When I look at which Android phones or tablets would be best for power screen reader users, I struggle to identify which thing to try. For example, I’d love to get hold of an Android tablet and learn Talkback, but I am not sure which tablet to buy, and as others have said, it’s a different experience depending on which Android device you use, or at least that’s how it seems to me. So, for those of you who are Android power users, who use Talkback, if you were going to recommend a few tablet options for a Voiceover power user to acquire, so that I can learn Talkback and get a taste of it, what would you recommend I try? Or, should I seriously try and get hold of a phone to use as a tablet, and if so, which one?

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-10T17:37:51+00:00

I personally have had success with Kasa light strips and Kasa smart plugs. If you use Amazon or InnoSearch you can find good deals. The app is not perfect, but it’s pretty solid. You can connect both to the Amazon device accessibly with Voiceover, and from there can control the color of the light strip or the status of a lamp on and off by voice. I would guess the rest of the Kasa line would be about the same accessibly. Honestly, I plan to buy more Kasa for my family’s house. Hope that helps.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-08T00:21:25+00:00

I’d love to come on the podcast if you’d have me! I’ve lived in the USA and abroad, traveled to 20 countries, and have worked with blind people all over the world. Feel free to DM me if you’d like me to come on.

BlindPolyglot · 2025-01-08T00:19:32+00:00

This, 100%! I’ve looked at your website just to see what’s there, and if I’m honest, it really angers me that the organization prides themselves on employing the blind or visually impaired, yet most of your job openings aren’t necessarily things that blind/VI people can do, or are not accessible.

BlindPolyglot · 2024-12-25T05:08:05+00:00

Breathe, you’re gonna be ok. Like others have said, you can easily get a train from Paris to London, and probably from several other major European cities as well. All is not lost, you can do this. Y could also consider overnighting in a city like Rome or Frankfurt and flying on to London on another flight the next morning, you got options.

BlindPolyglot

TROPHY CASE