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

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

#451
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment about proof reading and errors not sounding right reminds me of the "proper/best" way to learn Morse code for ham radio. Most everyone is familiar with the charts that show A=.- B=-... etc. Lots of beginners try to actually interpret the sounds in their ears and convert that to a letter and then convert a bunch of those to a word. Obviously, that is very processor intensive and has a high failure rate. T…

A while back I worked for a team that had wired up Jenkins to a speaker in the office. Each type of event would trigger a different Zelda sound effect. Victory music for successful deployments, game over music for breaking the build, etc. Notably, dev server exceptions were connected to sword clashing sounds. It led to debugging situations like this: "Okay, so that's two clanks when we click on this button, but if we…

I'm reminded of this set up at a fusion reactor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrtGp8hv-0Y

They put microphones in the reactor and monitors for them in the control room, so they can hear if something sounds wrong.

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

#452
I'm in a similar boat to you as I'm about your age, also have Ushers (type II, which is what I'm assuming you have), and programming features heavily in my work (although I'm not in SWE).

I'd interested to chat with you; you can drop me an email at (awwoof) (hotmail) (com) To be honest, I am not very up to date with assistive technologies. I think my plan is basically pick stuff up when I find it useful.

Also, on a lighter note, while it's impossible to tell what the future holds, in my experience many people retain good central vision into their 50s (although that might be a self selecting sample). RP is also a key research area (easy to administer things to the eyes) so it's always possible there will be a treatment at some point. Obviously you still have to prepare for the worst, but it's not necessarily an absolute. It's very que sera sera.

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

#454
I am blind and I have been working as a software engineer for almost 3 years. My formation was as an economist with a Master in management, but I went into a 10 month reconversion course to IT, focused on java programming. I am working at a Portuguese international company called Critical Software (I am Portuguese), and it is really inclusive and I feel great. When I was looking for a job in economics./management I felt that no-one wanted to employ me because of my blindness, it was a little depressing, but in IT what matters is your brain, so, usually, there is no discrimination. Sometimes some creativity is needed to overcome some visual challenges, some inaccessible documents or less navigable websites, but with a good team spirit and no problems in assuming when you need help, everything is doable. My experience is fully as a backend developer, but I had an internal workshop on React and I could make things happen in frontend during that afternoon. I am a Mac user (using VoiceOver) and I've used Windows with Jaws and NVDA before 2013. Now I am starting a new challenge at work, because we have to use Linux to run the test environment and, after having a very inaccessible experience with Mint in the last days, I will now install Ubuntu and try to completely figure it out with Orca, its screen reader. I am also doing a Master degree in Software Engineering since September, I've encountered some challenges, but where others visualize, I tend to create mental representations and, sometimes, I have a broader mental picture of things than my colleagues. I also agree with the user about the super-powers, I am realizing that my reading speed is priceless when there are things to learn at work or to study.

Regarding life itself... you can prepare in advance, I knew that I would become blind since I was 8 (I am 29), I still see a tiny bit, irrelevant to work or study but useful to figure light and some walls. I started to try to get around my room at night with no lights and I developed some confidence in myself during my teens. I also learned how to walk with the cane before I thought I needed it, it gives you extra security to know that you are prepared for the inevitable. And walking independently on your own is a requirement to have a guide dog.

I am an independent blind person now and, besides driving, I do everything I want. I play guitar, drums, go to the gym, hear the books I want with my screen reader and I've lived alone and cooked on my own for one year and I still have all my fingers. I know blind people that watch Netflix with audio descriptions, others that run marathons, play futsal...

My biggest challenge was when I wanted to change to software development and my first trial was a failure, and I lost hope of doing it. Since you have that part already, my suggestion is to be calm, believe that, like others, you are capable of overcoming the challenge and try to be yourself and believe in your problem solving capabilities, because in the en that is what life and blindness is about. And trying to prepare in advance and believing it is possible is a decisive first step, believe me!

Try to familiarize yourself with screen readers - NVDA on windows, Voiceover on all Apple things, Orca on Linux, talkback on Android. Know how to turn yours on and off and try to get familiarized with hearing things. There are other tools but I am not an expert on neither: braille displays, tactile printings, haptics also.

Also, try to have some mobility lessons (I don't know if it is the right English term), it is important to learn to feel and hear instead of seeing and to "activate" the capabilities you already have but never needed.

Sorry for the essay, but I wanted to assure you that you can live your own life and be independent despite being blind. If you need anything, diogopmelo@gmail.com

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

#455
post #447
post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hehe, perhaps no and this is the moment when you figure out that you have mild aphantasia. When people say they "count sheep jumping over a fence" it's not a metaphor.

That's kind of what I've been trying to figure out: when people say they count sheep, do they close their eyes and literally see sheep jumping over a fence as if watching a movie or wearing a VR headset? Even in low resolution... That would be pretty impressive... why would we still need movies and games then? ;) Of course I can imagine sheep jumping over a fence, even in vivid detail, but this imagining is not reall…

Generally when I’m idly visualising something it is ‘in my mind’s eye’ as you put it. But if I’m really focused and close my eyes then everything else seems to disappear and I’m ‘really’ seeing it, not on the inside of my eyelids but it encompasses my entire visual perception if that makes sense

More rarely I also get it with sounds and then it definitely does feel that the sound is originating externally to my mind

You’re right that these experiences are more like hallucinations but I think they are points on a spectrum rather than separate things

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

#456
post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wonder at the madness of elevator design. Most of them "ping" as they pass a floor for accessibility. But that means the blind rider must first know the floor he is on, then count the pings to the right floor. It should simply announce each floor as it passes. I know from experience that you can make quite comprehensible voice sounds by connecting a 5V I/O pin to a speaker, so there is no excuse. (All you do…

Any modestly "modern" elevator would have Braille indicators. And many also announce floors same way public transit does.

Might be an EU thing. Pretty sure there's a regulation that says new lifts need to announce floors even cheap hoists that only go one floor do it.

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

#457
post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I suspect nobody really sees something visually when thinking/imagining something, I suspect that you may have some degree of aphantasia. Visualizing something encumbers the same visual processing as sight does. Personally I have a hard time visualizing something and looking at something at the same time. I can only pay close attention to inside or outside, not both simultaneously. (Casual attention, like half-list…

Perhaps... what I mean is this: close your eyes and visualize a tree. Do you literally see the tree in the darkness of your closed eyelids in front of you, visually? Even just vaguely? If not, then imho that's not really visual. I "see" the tree, but it's a different kind of seeing. Perhaps that's a degree of aphantasia, but how would I know? ;)

I do, but I haven't practised the skill much lately so it's not as vivid as it used to be.

It's more like a second virtual desktop than superimposed; it takes up the same coordinates, but there's a clear distinction between "real" and "imagined" objects (unless I'm particularly tired, but that's closer to "hallucinating" than "visualising").

I used to be able to visualise things in positions relative to real objects, but at the moment I can only manage floating in the air, such that focusing on the position of imagined objects de-focuses the background, either relative to my field of view (so it moves when I move my head) or in a defined position in space (so it doesn't move when I move my head – though obviously this is limited by my ability to instinctively judge positions and distances, so it often doesn't quite work right when things are moving in complex ways, or I'm moving fast).

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

#459
post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps... what I mean is this: close your eyes and visualize a tree. Do you literally see the tree in the darkness of your closed eyelids in front of you, visually? Even just vaguely? If not, then imho that's not really visual. I "see" the tree, but it's a different kind of seeing. Perhaps that's a degree of aphantasia, but how would I know? ;)

I do, but I haven't practised the skill much lately so it's not as vivid as it used to be. It's more like a second virtual desktop than superimposed; it takes up the same coordinates, but there's a clear distinction between "real" and "imagined" objects (unless I'm particularly tired, but that's closer to "hallucinating" than "visualising"). I used to be able to visualise things in positions relative to real objects,…

That's blowing my mind right now. First I thought people who can visualize to the point of actually seeing what they visualize were pretty rare. For me what I visualize takes place in a mental space: it's a clear mental image, not a literal visual image.

Have you always been able to do this, because you mention practising this skill? Also, does this only happen after focussing on something, or does it happen spontaneously when thinking? I imagine it would be pretty distracting if someone says for example, "don't think of scary thing X", and then the scary thing manifests visually for you because you are thinking about it.

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

#460
You will survive and thrive in the remote era; that said, make a note of the areas for which screen readers lack coverage (i.e., BIOS screens, stack traces and the like) so that you can work around or call out a need for said tools.

Good luck, and do reach out if you need anything; PVL is real and more people suffer from it than you'd realize at face value.

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