04 Jan Web accessibility – radio for the blind

Getting to know someone who is blind is an incredibly humbling experience. I have recently been doing support work for a young man who has a vision impairment. We have been talking lately about the possibility of getting him access to audio resources, such as podcasts, short-form comedy and news stories. However, the process of accessing these kinds of media is not all that straightforward for someone with low vision. I promised to research ways of accessing radio for the blind. And to find specific programs that might be of interest to this young man. It has opened up a whole world of starting to understand how to navigate the world (and the web) as someone who is blind.

ABC Radio in Australia

Without any understanding of how to use the accessibility features on a mobile phone, I was confused about how a blind person would be able to browse through podcast episodes on their own. However, I found this very helpful tutorial about how to navigate the ABC Radio app with Voice Over on an iPhone, and this has started to bring some awareness of how to navigate the web using accessibility features on a mobile phone.

As ABC Radio is ultimately where I want to guide my client, so that he can explore and listen to what is happening in the world, this tutorial will be incredibly useful. However, I will need to get a better understanding of how to use touch and voice to navigate the web on a mobile phone before I start to convey this information to my client.

In the meantime, one strategy that I have devised is to use Google Assistant to search for and play podcasts. Using the words ‘Ok, Google’ can activate the Google Assistant, which will then respond to commands such as ‘Play [name of podcast] on [podcast platform]’. It is also possible to tell the assistant to play the podcast, skip to the next episode, go back, or pause.

Google Assistant

While this may be an okay starting point, I do wish to be able to help my client browse different podcast episodes. So that he can find ones that are of interest to him. I have found some decent comedy and interesting science and history short-form podcasts that might be a good starting place. However, I will have to let my client know that this is a whole new world for me too, so it may take a little time before we get into the exploration of audio media as a source of news and entertainment.

Exploring radio for the blind is quite a challenging endeavour. However, I feel like the rewards for my client (and the skills I will learn along the way) will be invaluable. It adds another element to User Experience Design that can sometimes be overlooked by a sighted person. Until you have to negotiate the interweb through accessibility services, or with someone else’s help, we can be unprepared for how tricky it can be!