Sightless Interpretations

hOI!!!

For the past couple of weeks I have been really struggling with using online job sites. They each have their own way of presenting material, activating links, listing data, etc. It wasn't until just now I realized why.

While I had even the faintest degree of vision I was able to visually reference what made up a given screen on a web site. This meant I had a true visual concept of where specific content should be. Now that I'm using sites I've never used before I am finding navigation difficult as a result of not having such points of reference to go by through using my screen reader keys.

One example is "FiM Fiction". I was still able to use it despite having the need to operate two different web browsers to successfully submit a story. Even though there is a link that will not activate with neither browser I knew what should be there, where it should be, and how to direct someone sighted to help me click it.

For sites like Pennsylvania's "Job Gateway" and "Indeed" this luxry is lost. I can't tell what links do and do not activate since I do not have a true visual point of reference to go by. This leaves me confused on whether or not I'm going about the process right. I also don't know if I'm missing information that may be overlooked by a browser.

The best correlation I have is reading a book. A story can be seen by anyone in any given way. However it becomes a static look when it is turned into a show or movie. Without something to properly describe what is on the screen you don't know what may be going on during the visual interpretation of the book.

This applies to web sites. There is no Universal Design for how a web site should look. They all are developed based on how the developer uses their physical vision to show what is to be understood, navigated, etc. With this in mind web sites are a super pain with no sight. You may know what is supposed to be there but how to get to it and access it properly is completely different with each site.

Movies and shows get around this with something called "Descriptive Audio". However there is no "Descriptive Internet" to aid in the navigation of the web. This leads to a lot of frustration as trial and error are often what yield the best possible results. You then learn something you may have missed when a "Sighted Friend" looks over what you are doing and states something your accessible technology may have missed.

These are just thoughts I've had in my new life as a 100% physically blind person. I'm determined to find work and adapt to succeed. It's just a matter of getting around challenges, like the one above, one day at a time.