Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?

I've been using it for about 7 months now and it's been great. I especially like being able to type complex passwords without looking at my phone's keyboard. (like when joining a new wifi network, for example)

1) educating other blind people in how to best utilize technology. She was always "legally blind", but has been 100% blind since the 90's so picking up technology has not been easy for her.

2) Accessibility QA. I know this probably could feel like a "step back" from being a developer, but I think the world (especially large companies who are becoming more and more dependent on their web presence) NEED more people who can help their teams understand the world from the perspective of a blind person. There are people in these positions obviously, but I was surprised to learn that most of them can see, so I don't put much faith in their ability to do justice to their jobs.

Finally, this sort of goes with #2 above, but I think there's opportunity and a market (think government subsidies) for people who want to build accessibility technology to make it easier for blind people to use technology. I think this probably should start from standardization. There are a lot of standards out there, but I think not enough.

PS. I think one of the best first steps will be to start to learn Braille. It likely will be easier to get started while you can still see.

Good luck !

1. Talon - Writing code by voice: https://www.blakewatson.com/journal/writing-and-coding-by-vo...

2. Gordon Gund - Blind later in life, conquered the market by speed listening. Quote: "Meanwhile his (acquired) blindness seemed to pour gasoline on the fire of his life, and he began to flourish in unexpected arenas." https://vimeo.com/296637627 (TED-style inspiring video, speed listening at ~8:45) https://n-magazine.com/blind-curing-blind/

3. CRISPR holds promise, never stop hoping for a cure. It's an amazing time to be alive, keep building amazing tech for the world, and perhaps even learn to program the big data tools used to find the solution. https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/methods/fullte... Unfortunately, can't link directly, but search for jobs at "Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard" with the title "Bioinformatics" or "Python" in the query.