Hi,

As a blind owner myself, I understand the need for such a separate forum. However, given that it is possible to translate what sighted folks say to screen reading terms, I would vote that we unite our discussions on this group.

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There are other benefits of using this group and translating what is “shown on screen” to what “we can hear”:

1. Educational: one way to educate the public (at least a limited audience) is translating what folks say to our own terms, and let others see how we use assistive technologies to manage groups on Groups.IO. Also, by learning practices from sighted owners in regards to leadership and terminology, blind owners too can learn how we can interact with sighted peers not only on Groups.IO, but also on other forum management spaces.
2. Mutual understanding: from my experiences and if I read stories from other owners correctly, it doesn’t matter what kind of disability you have as long as you understand your responsibility as a group owner. One good analogy I can offer in this regard is how some political thoughts can transcend disability. Same way here: the ultimate qualification of being an effective leader of a group (or groups) is knowing who you are and how to take care of groups using whatever technology one is using, and this can be furthered by talking to other owners and establishing mutual understanding.

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To those who have recently become owners of groups and don’t know what a screen reader is: a screen reader is a software product that uses various techniques to read contents of a computer screen to blind computer users. These may involve using services offered by operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, or using standards developed by various organizations as guidance for reading and helping users interact with web services (the latter is the predominant case for Groups.IO website).

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I believe some members of this forum are screen reader experts (I am an actual screen reader developer and a Windows Insider, so I can give you pointers on technical matters), so don’t hesitate to contact us if you are interested in learning more about this.

Cheers,

Joseph

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