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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?

#481

Post by blzaugg »

ddevault wrote: post #82
hatsunearu wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sighted?

Not perfectly, and not for long. I wear glasses, but they only do so much, and my vision worsens every year. I use some light assistive technologies on the daily - higher contrast, large fonts, zooming in on things. To test the tools I linked to, I spend the occasional workday with all of my monitors turned off, relying on these tools to get work done. I also have a braille reader that I occasionally pull out. I have…

Would you be willing to chat privately with a colleague of mine going through a similar lost of sight transition?

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

#482

Post by blzaugg »

cookiengineer wrote: post #203
ddevault wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not perfectly, and not for long. I wear glasses, but they only do so much, and my vision worsens every year. I use some light assistive technologies on the daily - higher contrast, large fonts, zooming in on things. To test the tools I linked to, I spend the occasional workday with all of my monitors turned off, relying on these tools to get work done. I also have a braille reader that I occasionally pull out. I have…

As someone preparing for this, too, I still have no clue on how to rasterize the code quickly. Voice always feels inefficient and braille feels like a joke when it comes to the amount of information being displayed. Do you have suggestions? Do you transpile code? I also use VIM because it feels like the best case of voice integration or braille integration...but I have no source for how to actually do this properly.…

Would you be willing to chat privately with a colleague of mine going through a similar lost of sight transition?

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

#483

Post by blzaugg »

TriNetra wrote: post #270

Legally blind, I'm a full stack engineer (and a solution/security architect) with extensive experience in building both backend and frontend (web) systems. I work on Windows with Jaws screen reader. I use autohotkey extensively to super charge my productivity. I had worked as employee with Microsoft (and others) in the past and have been running my consultancy cum product company since 2016. Email in profile - You ca…

Would you be willing to chat privately with a colleague of mine going through a similar lost of sight transition?

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

#484

Post by TriNetra »

blzaugg wrote: post #483
TriNetra wrote: post #270

Legally blind, I'm a full stack engineer (and a solution/security architect) with extensive experience in building both backend and frontend (web) systems. I work on Windows with Jaws screen reader. I use autohotkey extensively to super charge my productivity. I had worked as employee with Microsoft (and others) in the past and have been running my consultancy cum product company since 2016. Email in profile - You ca…

Would you be willing to chat privately with a colleague of mine going through a similar lost of sight transition?

sure, email in profile

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

#485

Post by [deleted] »

blzaugg wrote: post #483
TriNetra wrote: post #270

Legally blind, I'm a full stack engineer (and a solution/security architect) with extensive experience in building both backend and frontend (web) systems. I work on Windows with Jaws screen reader. I use autohotkey extensively to super charge my productivity. I had worked as employee with Microsoft (and others) in the past and have been running my consultancy cum product company since 2016. Email in profile - You ca…

Would you be willing to chat privately with a colleague of mine going through a similar lost of sight transition?

[deleted]

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

#486

Post by cowb0yl0gic »

hnick wrote: post #437
baseonmars wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try gently pressing your finger against your larynx when you read in your head - you'll likely find you read faster - this works for me, although I tend not to bother.

Interesting tip, I will try it. The worst thing about the inner voice is it's not just when reading, it won't be quiet at bed time. And I have a tendency to complete thoughts as words. Even if I know where it is leading, and what the conclusion is, it feels like I have to see it through and phrase it correctly in my head. I feel very uncomfortable leaving it hanging.

Exactly. Sometimes I even feel compelled to complete the sentence more than once (as if I wasn't paying attention enough the first time, so I feel the need to say it again). I think there is a subtle difference between that and "reading without production" (when I try it, it feels more like skimming text; I have to really try to pay attention). To me, reading/inner-speaking feels like engaging with the text; to only be able to "see" words would be lifeless (I'm assuming that some/many/most people can do both).

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

#487

Post by cowb0yl0gic »

milton0825 wrote: post #161
hnick wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'll be amazed how good your memory will get without the crutch of sight That's all really interesting. I personally have a problem with my thoughts in that I need to "sound out" or read them aloud in my head. This sometimes really slows me down, I mull over a thought until it sounds right. Especially when I'm tired I can get stuck in a loop. And it applies when reading too, I can force myself to read faster but…

I have this inner voice when reading English, which is my second language. However, if I am reading stuffs in Chinese, I can skim through without the inner voice.

When I read Spanish (2nd language; not great at it) I sub-vocalize as I do in English. But if there is a long, complex word that I would have to laboriously "pronounce" (but I know exactly what it means ahead of time), I will treat it as a gestalt/symbol (so, it's like "cheating" on the vocalizing), so sub-vocalization isn't actually needed for comprehension, but I'm guessing is a parallel mental action/process (probably correlated with how we learn to read a language and personal characteristics). Maybe non-sub-vocalizing is really just suppressing this parallel processing workflow. (I'm wondering if people who "don't need to do this" could read backwords (accidental pun!) effectively.)

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

#488

Post by foofoo2 »

dundercoder wrote: post #211
zachrip wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes this was 2 years ago, I ended up at Columbia Ophthalmology in NYC and they were able to get me DNA tested after another local doctor failed to assist me in doing so. USH2A is the name of the specific condition if you're curious.

I have two mutations on USH2A. It would be spectacular if someone could repair the whole gene.

Photobiomodulation seems promising

PHOTOBIOMODULATION IN INHERITED RETINAL DEGENERATION (2012)

"A growing body of evidence indicates that exposure of tissue to low energy photon irradiation in the far-red to near-infrared (NIR) range of the spectrum, (photobiomodulation or PBM) acts on mitochondria-mediated signaling pathways to attenuate oxidative stress and prevent cell death. "

https://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=...

I have no experience with it, just lots of reading during this downtime.

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

#489

Post by jodrellblank »

dang wrote: post #197
Galaxity wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The person took the time to mention their ability to listen and comprehend two times faster than presumably the average. They didn't not mention the original poster in any sense of compassion, ignoring them. What is the strongest possible interpretation of what this person said? That which is not a fair understanding of the criticism of my post?

The plausible interpretation is that the commenter got excited about screen readers because they unexpectedly connected to something he was already interested in, and it made him curious. Not only is that a perfectly decent thing, it's an example of the curious conversation that HN exists for. Meanwhile, snarking and putting down other users, which unfortunately are what you did, are examples of what HN very much doe…

Without meaning it as a personal attack, do you have any reason to think that 6 years of trying to detect meanness has made you any more accurate at it than you were before, or than anyone else is?

When you say "trained to pattern match it", is there any feedback to change your models? As moderator-by-fiat it's your decision what comments are mean, which is potentially a self reinforcing loop.

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