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First of all, can you hear me at the back? Or rather, is everyone finding my journal easy to read? I try to go for what I personally find easiest and what I think is likely to work universally, such as font choice, background colour, or paragraph length, but if it's messing up your text-to-speech system or giving you a blinding migraine, do let me know. My own preferences, by the way, are for properly punctuated and spelt text in paragraphs that don't get too long, in normal font size and colour, and if you want me to have a hope of remembering who you are, it really helps to keep to the same icon!
I'm going to be blogging from my own perspective as well as trying to understand what computing is like for other people, so let's begin by telling you a bit about me. I've got severe ME/CFIDS and am unable to work as a result, which is why my journal is titled "A Lobster of Leisure". (I'm nicknamed the Lobster after getting sunburnt at a barbecue a few years ago and spending a week complaining that I looked like a lobster. It stuck.) The problems which affect computer use are overall fatigue, muscles and joints (weak and get tired or painful easily), eye problems (I'm not partially sighted but I can barely read due to processing difficulties known as Meares-Irlen Syndrome and muscular weakness), migraine (the other reason why I fuss about colour and light sources), hearing (Auditory Processing Disorder, which means that I'm neurologically hard of hearing), cognitive problems (memory, concentration, getting words muddled), and having to spend a lot of time in bed. I am a complete bookworm, or rather audiobookworm these days, and studied English Literature at university. I used to be a keen musician until I got ill, and still have the world's loveliest piano, so I'll probably be looking at some music-related stuff. I am addicted to quilting.
I'm going to do a series of posts today just to round up the subjects I should cover. The posts will be divided up by disability/accessibility problem. You don't have to identify as disabled - and indeed we will no doubt have a discussion about the politics of that term sooner or later - to join in, as long as the subject affects you in some way or even just if you're simply interested in it. Here are the categories I'm thinking of:
* Blindness, visual problems, dyslexia, migraine
* Deafness, hearing problems, Auditory Processing Disorder
* Fatigue, pain, RSI, ergonomics
* Cognitive issues, memory, concentration
Any others I should put up? I've just started thinking about issues relating to having fewer than usual limbs or fingers, physical disabilities in that region, and to be honest I don't even know where to start. Suggestions about how to categorise and explore that topic, and which LiveJournal communities I should drop into, would be very welcome.
Once I've got those up, we can use them for brainstorming. Tell me about your experiences, the adaptations or software you use or are interested in, what it's like surfing the web, what you'd want to know about a computer or computer equipment before buying it. Don't do that in this post, save it for the ones I'm about to put up. This post is more for general suggestions and waving hello.
I'm going to be blogging from my own perspective as well as trying to understand what computing is like for other people, so let's begin by telling you a bit about me. I've got severe ME/CFIDS and am unable to work as a result, which is why my journal is titled "A Lobster of Leisure". (I'm nicknamed the Lobster after getting sunburnt at a barbecue a few years ago and spending a week complaining that I looked like a lobster. It stuck.) The problems which affect computer use are overall fatigue, muscles and joints (weak and get tired or painful easily), eye problems (I'm not partially sighted but I can barely read due to processing difficulties known as Meares-Irlen Syndrome and muscular weakness), migraine (the other reason why I fuss about colour and light sources), hearing (Auditory Processing Disorder, which means that I'm neurologically hard of hearing), cognitive problems (memory, concentration, getting words muddled), and having to spend a lot of time in bed. I am a complete bookworm, or rather audiobookworm these days, and studied English Literature at university. I used to be a keen musician until I got ill, and still have the world's loveliest piano, so I'll probably be looking at some music-related stuff. I am addicted to quilting.
I'm going to do a series of posts today just to round up the subjects I should cover. The posts will be divided up by disability/accessibility problem. You don't have to identify as disabled - and indeed we will no doubt have a discussion about the politics of that term sooner or later - to join in, as long as the subject affects you in some way or even just if you're simply interested in it. Here are the categories I'm thinking of:
* Blindness, visual problems, dyslexia, migraine
* Deafness, hearing problems, Auditory Processing Disorder
* Fatigue, pain, RSI, ergonomics
* Cognitive issues, memory, concentration
Any others I should put up? I've just started thinking about issues relating to having fewer than usual limbs or fingers, physical disabilities in that region, and to be honest I don't even know where to start. Suggestions about how to categorise and explore that topic, and which LiveJournal communities I should drop into, would be very welcome.
Once I've got those up, we can use them for brainstorming. Tell me about your experiences, the adaptations or software you use or are interested in, what it's like surfing the web, what you'd want to know about a computer or computer equipment before buying it. Don't do that in this post, save it for the ones I'm about to put up. This post is more for general suggestions and waving hello.
