International Day of People with Disability
International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) is held on 3 December each year. It aims to increase public awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability and celebrate their achievements and contributions.
The theme for IDPwD 2022 is ‘Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world’.
This International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD), Guide Dogs Australia is seeking to normalise disability, highlight the importance of inclusion and accessibility, and celebrate the talents and achievements of our Clients with low vision and blindness.
Celebrating some of the innovative and lesser-known ways that our Clients utilise technology.
Some of you may listen to audiobooks or podcasts at 1.5 or 2x speed. But many of our Clients can listen much faster!
In fact, a study by the University of Tübingen in Germany found that people with low vision or blindness can process up to 25 syllables per second. For reference, rapid human speech is usually measured at around 6 syllables per second.
This “superpower” comes in very handy when using screen reader apps. These apps, such as NVDA for Windows or VoiceOver on Apple products, enable a person with low vision or blindness to use a computer or smartphone.
Take the challenge today – listen to screen reader NVDA read out a message three times and see if you can translate it.
Can you decipher this message? We have taken the NVDA screenreader and played a message three times, starting at 100 percent plus boost speed. Put yourself to the test and see if you also share this “hidden ability”.
Reveal the answer
This International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD), Guide Dogs Australia is seeking to normalise disability, highlight the importance of inclusion and accessibility, and celebrate the talents and achievements of our Clients with low vision or blindness.
Hear from Guide Dogs Client Scott
“I'm able to hear my computer speak to me with what's on the screen, and I'm able to do all the work I need to do. On my iPhone, I can do basically anything everyone else can do. I can surf the web, do emails, send messages, surf Facebook, and have a look at Twitter.”
Scott has Retinitis Pigmentosa and has been a Guide Dogs Client for the past four years.
About Screen Reader Technology
A screen reader is a technology that helps people to access and interact with digital content, like websites or applications, via audio.
The main users of screen readers are people who are blind or have low vision.
The technology reads out loud what is on the screen and users can adapt them to their needs, for example you can decrease the speed of speech or change the language. Screen readers allow people to navigate through websites and applications via the speech output.
Screen readers are not just for people who are totally blind. They can be useful for people of any age who have low vision, experience visual fatigue, light sensitivity, dyslexia or any other difficulties reading and typing in text.
Resources
-
Download
Guide to using a screen reader
-
Learn more about Assistive Technology
Assistive Technology
Ready to continue?
Seems like you have filled this form earlier. Let’s pick up where you left off.
