The Somebody, Nobody, Anybody and Everybody Blog!

* Please note, I am not the author of this content and am reproducing it for the purpose of reaching more readers and creating awareness amongst the society on this challenge that many persons with a print disability face with the digital world related to accessibility. To sum things up; it's not that the technology is difficult to implement or expensive but the lack of awareness on accessibility that creates such digital barriers. Digital inclusion was to be a must after the Digital India and accessible India movement was proposed by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, so unfortunate in reality it is a still want have or wishful thinking! Vineet Saraiwala works as Inclusion Lead with the Future Group and is also the Founder of Atypical Advantage, India's first talent platform for people with disabilities. His vision impairment has never been an excuse in life. Economic independence is not only about earning a decent sum but also having the liberty to access the money on...

Yesterday; I played a prank on one of the customer service numbers of a reputed Food Delivery application in India. The prank had a serious message which the customer support executive failed to understand and get. It was actually driving them a product improvement idea. The scenario being I am a one handed person and find it difficult to type in the chat window of the application everytime I needed help with an order I placed. Since there is no support number to their team; each time one has to connect to them via chat; discounting all their customers have their limbs and senses in place to be able to chat with them. Please don't forget the time invested in contacting them about a delivery issue. Moving on, the product improvement idea was; I had a new delivery address to send a Chocolate Cake to; it was for a friend on their birthday. I wanted to surprise them. In the application I could add the address but not put in the contact number of the person for whom the delivery is. Wha...

It was one of those evenings OR nights when the air was blowing cold and I needed to get home on my own after I have been dropped off at my stop by the company shuttle. The task at hand was no less than a James Bond movie, without the pretty girls. It had to do with crossing a heavily trafficated 2 lane main road, after jostling through the street vendors who occupied not only the pavement/ sidewalk for my American readers. That’s when it dawned on me that I am not on planet Earth but Krypton where I am stripped of all my super powers of flight and strength. I had to ask help to cross this road! Before I knew it and gathered the courage of asking help I had someone grab my arm and offer to help. This God sent angel to my help spoke the local language which I know very little of, to make things extremely challenging he didn’t exactly talk but muttered asking me where I wanted to go. I told him that I needed help in crossing the road and if he left me at the otherside I would be fine and...

Women "LOVE" to shop. Now in malls! I am so not like your mall shopper, I'd rather get my feet dirty in crowds of street shoppers for a better deal on price and choice. My bitter half is the mall junkie and I ain't a bit proud of that skill, imagine putting that on your resume: Loves to shop at malls even while sleeping. It's all this branding that is brain washing today's kids, youth, women and the so called "Metro Sexual Man" The popular mall around my hood is called "Forum", the one on Hosur Road; Bangalore. It's a huge carnival on sale day and we happened to be there at the right time with the not so right expectations of saving any money. Trust me, it's a jungle of shoppers on a sale day. This is when most of the malls expect great "Footfall" for those of you who are not fimiliar with this jargon, it simply means the right crowd for the $$$ (Kaching!) What are we shopping for is not important but the windows looked ve...

It’s a usual practise of mine to make conversation when there is the opportunity to do so. Such opportunities come by often when you are commuting to work using the company shuttle service, where you get to meet with new fellow associates. This was one of the days. When a charming voice asked if she could sit beside me and if I minded if she did. Being the gentleman I think myself to be I replied “Sure, why not. I don’t own the bus” To which she giggled and said thanks. After our seats were taken she decided to be the courageous one and asked “do you travel by this route often?” and me in a sober but very not interested kind of tone “No, just while getting back from work that makes 5 days in a week, one way. except for the days I forget where I kept my pants” OK I am going to stop using the rabbit ears symbol by which I mean these: “ There was laughter on that note. Not that one where I said that I will stop using the rabit ears symbol, the one before that. The conversation continued w...

It was a fine bright Sunday when my bitter half was snoring till the cows came home. I tried to nudge her for breakfast but she refused to adhere to the protocol of making me breakfast on demand. So the brave me got off my bed and headed to the kitchen remembering there is a pack of noodles in the top left shelve next to the fridge in the dining room. I took up the challenge of making breakfast myself that day, some of you women must feel really proud of me already. Wait let me not get your hopes flying like a kite that has lost it’s thread. How difficult could this be? I said to myself. I have made really good tasting noodles in the past, but this time I am going to do it without sight. A little challenge to the whole adventure that was going to unfold. For the convenience of the reader I shall share ten easy to do steps to make noodles as I saw them in my head below: 1. Find noodles on the shelf next to the fridge 2. Open noodle packet and put in cooking utensil 3. Get water meas...

Having acquired a print disability at the age of 35 I was introduced to a world of assistive technology and was trained in a technology called a screen reader. This technology enabled me to access the digital world with the help of a text to speech interface with destop/ smart phone applications/ websites navigation aided by keyboard/ touch. The screen readers that I use are: On my desktop/ laptop: NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access) and JAWS (Job Access With Speech) On my smart phone: VoiceOver for IOS However, to enable complete accessibility of applications and websites the applications and websites need to be WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliant; otherwise I am introduced to barriers due to inaccessibility. In this article I am sharing with you a few accessibility barriers and nightmares I have using the many digital resources with the help of my screen reader.   Example 1: Using color or in page messages to indicate error/ action: This is another favo...

Hope you caught the pun in the title of this blog; for those who didn’t the word Inside is at play. As we sit here; at home with our whatever kind of WFH set up, I would like to bring to you my experience of WFH and how I am trying to do my best in challenging myself in such a situation through this note.   I would like to start with my WFH set up; it’s not state of the art but a desktop with my upgraded Windows 10 OS, has got me struggling a bit. I have been a user of Windows since 97 and relaxed upgrading after Windows 7. Windows 7 was my favorite OS from Microsoft. However, life goes on and there must be upgrades and all upgrades to Windows 7 are no longer supported post January 14, 2020. All I have to say to this is “Happy New Year!” Moving on; being print disabled (blind) I had to get used to the new interface; surprisingly didn’t take me long; it was a familiar interface, with the Windows Key being my go to button. My assistive technology NVDA supports this OS completely;...

Having acquired a print disability at the age of 35 I was introduced to a world of assistive technology and was trained in a technology called a screen reader. This technology enabled me to access the digital world with the help of a text to speech interface with destop/ smart phone applications/ websites navigation aided by keyboard/ touch.   The screen readers that I use are: On my desktop/ laptop: NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access) and JAWS (Job Access With Speech) On my smart phone: VoiceOver for IOS   However, to enable complete accessibility of applications and websites the applications and websites need to be WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliant; otherwise I am introduced to barriers due to inaccessiblity. In this article I am sharing with you accessibility barriers and nightmares I have using the many digital resources with the help of my screen reader.   Image Captcha: This one tops my list of nightmares. Since I cannot read the swi...

When ever I have a talk; as casual as it may be about a movie/ web-series I saw on one of the OTT (over-the-top) platforms; I end up discussing the accessibility features that enable and empower me as a person with a print disability to derive the entertainment I need from what I indulge in. Later I realise that such discussions have no relevance or meaning to someone who has no physical impairment; simply because they don't need to think of such features.  Let's understand what these accessibility features are and what they do. I promise you that you will not regret the information I have shared here. Audio Description: This is one of my favorite accessibility features; due to my print disability many a times I have no idea what is happening on the screen when there is no dialogue in context to the scene. Here is a good demonstration/ resource to help you understand this feature better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_GrYOruY7w Additional reading and understanding: https://w...