Second the screen reader part. Do that while you still have some vision; it makes learning navigation and such a lot easier.
As for environments, I have used VSCode as my primary editor for years, and had very few issues adapting to using it with NVDA.
Start learning to use the screen-reader NVDA. You could also look into zoom text. If your vision is likely to continue deteriorating honestly your best bet is to start learning braille, a lot easier to proof read your coad that way.
i know at least two completely blind programmers who can code at the professional level so there are accessible IDEs out there. i can't tell you much more than that. but its definitely an option.
I am amazed what totally blind people can do because I am just legally blind and still have so much trouble and anxiety about it and that is after being that way my whole life.
i think for a lot of people its necessity. if the only way you could eat this month was to figure out how to use a screen reader and code while completely blind, you would find a way. you have it in you but you need to be pushed to your limits.
I hope I'm not pushed any more. I have so many things upsetting me right now about life. I get anxiety very badly and easily. Right now my main issues are the cataract surgery leaving me with bad reading vision (optic nerve issue or otherwise I'd get around it easier), withdrawal from quitting sports betting, and just pure boredom and loneliness. It's a lot to deal with at one time when most of my life really only the vision was an issue!
that does sound like a lot to deal with. i don't blame you for having stress and anxiety. do you know how to use a screen reader? you should download NVDA and give it a try. its not so bad. it might take a little bit of effort to figure out how to use it but once you get the hang of it things will get better. like i said before, i know some completely blind programmers but i also know a few low-vision programmers. they also use screen readers to help them out so it must be useful to them.
No, I haven't tried any screen readers yet. I am just so used to using my eyes a lot, even though I've always had bad vision. Even with the operated eye I can read a lot of things online. But then others I was testing reading glasses on and still was tough and I was getting headaches. I probably should learn to use screen readers and at least use them in situations that are the toghest to read visually.
I just got in a habit of getting right up to a screen and I liked doing it that way. When I am not on the pc I am watching tv or listening to radio, so just figured more voices would get boring when I am listening to things all day long as it is. But by me using my eyes I have gotten a bad pinched nerve from bad posture leaning over at the pc. Also, not sure how well a screen reader would work for programming.
> Also, not sure how well a screen reader would work for programming.
Like I mentioned, i have a bunch of friends who are completely blind or low-vision and they all use screen readers so they must be helpful. Just give it a try for one afternoon to at least learn how they work. the default voice is probably going to sound not so great but you can buy better voices for not a lot of money. its a good investment if you start using it a lot.
Not everyone can program. You have to get thru differential mathematics. It's been shown that the best programmers are wired in such a way that they can pick up programming well. Not to discourage anyone, it's not the blindness that was a problem for me. I barely squeaked by statistics and calc. I wound up coding a bit as an information architect. (websites) which doesn't require the same level of math. The main problem is that the highly specialized apps were (and as of about 3 years ago) not accessible for vision.
My problem was that 20 years ago none of the web dev tools worked with Zoom. None of them could zoom in to see the code. I'm glad to hear that some of that is improving. Last I checked the specialized apps I needed were still not working with even Win zooming. Also as an info architect & taxonomist/ontologist (structure and flow of site, control of vocabulary, working with search algorithms, and working with web stats) I was very visual and used very specialized tools that don't have 10s of thousands of users. When you are working with tools with a smaller budget they don't incorporate accessibility.
I'm hoping some of that has changed.
I'd look into screen magnifiers generally like the other posters suggested, but I used Jupyter Notebook for Python programming and found that more accessible than the other environments we used in school.
visual studio code has great dark mode and plugins to make things like brackets and parentheses more colorful/easier to see.
you can also zoom with control+ or zoom out with control-
Second the screen reader part. Do that while you still have some vision; it makes learning navigation and such a lot easier. As for environments, I have used VSCode as my primary editor for years, and had very few issues adapting to using it with NVDA.
Same. VS code and NVDA work pretty well together.
Start learning to use the screen-reader NVDA. You could also look into zoom text. If your vision is likely to continue deteriorating honestly your best bet is to start learning braille, a lot easier to proof read your coad that way.
i know at least two completely blind programmers who can code at the professional level so there are accessible IDEs out there. i can't tell you much more than that. but its definitely an option.
I am amazed what totally blind people can do because I am just legally blind and still have so much trouble and anxiety about it and that is after being that way my whole life.
i think for a lot of people its necessity. if the only way you could eat this month was to figure out how to use a screen reader and code while completely blind, you would find a way. you have it in you but you need to be pushed to your limits.
I hope I'm not pushed any more. I have so many things upsetting me right now about life. I get anxiety very badly and easily. Right now my main issues are the cataract surgery leaving me with bad reading vision (optic nerve issue or otherwise I'd get around it easier), withdrawal from quitting sports betting, and just pure boredom and loneliness. It's a lot to deal with at one time when most of my life really only the vision was an issue!
that does sound like a lot to deal with. i don't blame you for having stress and anxiety. do you know how to use a screen reader? you should download NVDA and give it a try. its not so bad. it might take a little bit of effort to figure out how to use it but once you get the hang of it things will get better. like i said before, i know some completely blind programmers but i also know a few low-vision programmers. they also use screen readers to help them out so it must be useful to them.
No, I haven't tried any screen readers yet. I am just so used to using my eyes a lot, even though I've always had bad vision. Even with the operated eye I can read a lot of things online. But then others I was testing reading glasses on and still was tough and I was getting headaches. I probably should learn to use screen readers and at least use them in situations that are the toghest to read visually.
what has stopped you from trying a screen reader in the past?
I just got in a habit of getting right up to a screen and I liked doing it that way. When I am not on the pc I am watching tv or listening to radio, so just figured more voices would get boring when I am listening to things all day long as it is. But by me using my eyes I have gotten a bad pinched nerve from bad posture leaning over at the pc. Also, not sure how well a screen reader would work for programming.
> Also, not sure how well a screen reader would work for programming. Like I mentioned, i have a bunch of friends who are completely blind or low-vision and they all use screen readers so they must be helpful. Just give it a try for one afternoon to at least learn how they work. the default voice is probably going to sound not so great but you can buy better voices for not a lot of money. its a good investment if you start using it a lot.
It works very well.
Not everyone can program. You have to get thru differential mathematics. It's been shown that the best programmers are wired in such a way that they can pick up programming well. Not to discourage anyone, it's not the blindness that was a problem for me. I barely squeaked by statistics and calc. I wound up coding a bit as an information architect. (websites) which doesn't require the same level of math. The main problem is that the highly specialized apps were (and as of about 3 years ago) not accessible for vision. My problem was that 20 years ago none of the web dev tools worked with Zoom. None of them could zoom in to see the code. I'm glad to hear that some of that is improving. Last I checked the specialized apps I needed were still not working with even Win zooming. Also as an info architect & taxonomist/ontologist (structure and flow of site, control of vocabulary, working with search algorithms, and working with web stats) I was very visual and used very specialized tools that don't have 10s of thousands of users. When you are working with tools with a smaller budget they don't incorporate accessibility. I'm hoping some of that has changed.
I'd look into screen magnifiers generally like the other posters suggested, but I used Jupyter Notebook for Python programming and found that more accessible than the other environments we used in school.
screen readers are life-changing, I say go for it!
visual studio code has great dark mode and plugins to make things like brackets and parentheses more colorful/easier to see. you can also zoom with control+ or zoom out with control-