Technology and Low Vision
Singletona082
First appeared in Ctrl-Zine Issue 20, April 2025.
To get ahead of everything: I am fortunate in that all I need is magnification. Even then, though, it's not a 'here just scale everything by this much and call it good.'
Looking at you Windows 8, 10, 11...
Windows 3.1 through windows 7 allowed the end user to change and scale individual elements size, fonts, and in short there was a lot of granularity at play. More than a few linux desktops allow this now (IceWM comes to mind.) To me this is far better than what windows 8 - 11 do which is 'here we will put a global scale increase on ALL screen elements and leave the rest for You to figure out.' Frankly that one size fits all approach not only fails, but is just plain lazy not just for those like me with poor vision, but even someone with normal vision might simply Want their interface to be a little more comfortable for whatever reason.
Sadly linux mint's cinnamon desktop went with less granularity than I like, but it lets you change fonts on several elements rather than a global. Plus there's global scaling, plus there's being able to edit how elements are presented. It's not all in one place, which is why it gets a minus from me. However a positive that I consider an auto-enable regardless is to go into accessibility settings and enable desktop zoom.
From there, regardless of what you're doing, ctrl+mousewheel up to zoom in, ctrl+mousewheel down to zoom out. Sadly ctrl and plus/minus keys do nothing, which can be a minus if you don't have a mouse with a scroll-wheel. I won't say that's impossible, even though I've had such for twenty five years now. I view that as an oversight that should be corrected.
What about phones? I'm not going to advertise what I'm using for home screen and the like. So to summarize. Accessibility settings, large font size, bump display size up for a global zoom, and Bold text. Apple, I have been told, has some interesting accessibility features however I do not have apple. Also I use PipePipe for Youtube both for the features it offers and more importantly for me? I find the interface to be cleaner and easier on me. Plus I can keep the thing playing when I swap apps out, which can be helpful when I want to listen to something while I'm working. Not strictly an accessibility thing, but that has come up from time to time when I've needed to listen to a how-to, or even one of those tone generator/anti-tinnitus sound 'videos' while working since it helps blot out audio clutter so I can try mentally sorting through the visual clutter. Also, phone camera. That is one of the main reasons I'm actually using a smart phone instead of still rocking a flip phone. I use the camera constantly to zoom in on text I want to read, or to get a better look at since it helps with contrast (I have a secondary device essentially for youtube/peertube/etc on the go along with local audio to listen to as I do farm work.)
There won't be a program by program breakdown on accessibility features. I simply wanted to use computer desktops as a showcase and my phone because otherwise people would ask. All of that though? It demonstrates that while I'm not going to be as quick on the draw as someone who is as familiar as I am with computers, I can function even in the here and now where web design is Maximalist clutter and visual noise everywhere even with ad blocker going.
For those worse off than me that need screen readers and optical character recognition? For all the complaints of smart assistants like siri, or alexa, or the like (even before AI-Everything those had complaints,) I am glad those got popular because I have had to endure computer voices since the days of DECtalk, and having a more naturalistic voice, even if it is stilted, helps in message clarity.
That's a key takeaway. Even with things getting more expensive as more assistance is needed, I am on the whole hopeful. Used to be you had no screen reading anything built in by default and 'zoom' was 'here let's bump the text up for you.' Even though the hoops are still there to be jumped, there's a higher baseline of help for those that are disabled and wanting to computer. That isn't to say the future is all sunshine and roses for those that need assistance, but I remember the bad old days of having poor vision and trying to do things in DOS.
I am grateful, for all that is wrong in the world, there is a thought given to those of us who have poor vision and want to Computer.