[nfbcs] Communication with people who don't use screen readers

[Larry Wayland]

Do you know the hotkey commands for visual Studio?
If you don't you can look them up on google by searching for "key board
commands for visual studio."  Once you have them set down with a class mate,
do the command and see what happens.  The class mate might learn something
that would help them as well.
Larry


-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sabra Ewing via
nfbcs
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2016 4:40 PM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
Cc: Sabra Ewing
Subject: [nfbcs] Communication with people who don't use screen readers

I am in a visual basic class that uses visual studio. Before we start, note
that I have been blind since birth. I know nothing about how sighted people
use the computer apart from the fact that their icons look like pictures and
they click on them with a mouse. My problem is that even though Visual
studio is completely accessible, I don't have any resources to know how to
work it and it is not very intuitive. I have been working with my professor
and several other people to try to work something out, but they don't know a
lot about screen readers. I explained that optimally, I should be able to
work Visual Studio myself if I could just know how, but they seem to think
that I can't do it because it is too complicated, not because I lack the
appropriate resources. It was suggested that I would have an assistant click
on things for me and I will tell them what to click on. I explained it that
that wasn't going to work, and they thought that it is because I am too
independent and don't want to do it, but that isn't it. At this point, I am
willing to do anything to get through the class, but I really don't think it
would work. I could not tell a sighted person to do something that I know
how to do like edit a worksheet and XL or put a header in a word document.
So if I can't tell you how to do basic things on the computer using a mouse,
how can I tell you how to use a barely familiar piece of software? They say
it would be easy though and I would just tell them what to click on, but I
can't do that, but I can't explain why to somebody who does not know a lot
about screen readers. My professor says that my assistant would not know
anything about visual studio so I couldn't use them to cheat on a test, so
that means I couldn't just say something like, go to data tools or rename
the table. The only way I can think of it to make that work is have a list
of things I want to do, followed by a description of how to do it with the
mouse, and I would just have to memorize each description, but that would be
very diffi!
 cult, and if the description did not work for my assistant, the only thing
I would be able to do is just repeat it. My professor said that I could have
the office for students with disabilities produce a tactile picture of the
screen. If there is a way to make that work, I would try it, but I don't
know how. I don't know how the picture would fit on one page, and even
though pages could be stuck together, it would start to get too big for me
to read. Plus the screen changes all the time. Even my cited classmates seem
to think that if I know where something is on the screen, that will help,
but these computers are not touchscreen. I don't know how I would remember
that though. For example, if you put a dot on a page, take the page away,
and give me a blank page and the dot, I will not be able to put my dot in
the same place no matter how many times I look at it. On my phone, I know
where things are on the corners of the screen after keeping everything in
the same place for four years, but I was thinking about this, and I really
have no idea about the location of most of the things on my screen. If I
need to go to an app, I flick to the folder where it is, tap on that folder,
and go to the page where it is located and then flick until I find it. If I
can't do that because it is being really elusive, then I just asked Siri to
open it. I can type on a touchscreen keyboard though, so that has to mean I
know where the letters are on the screen somehow, but I don't know how that
is. That aside, even if I could somehow figure out how to know where things
are on the screen, I don't know how I would click on it. I can't use the
mouse, but I can't explain to people why that is. They say if I know where
it is, then I should be able to point at it with the mouse. Maybe a picture
of the screen would be different, but I can't read a tactile nap, and I feel
like that ups the risk factor. They tried for years in school to teach me
using a variety of methods, but it wouldn't work. The last thing I am trying
to explain is that if !
 you tell me how to do something based on how an icon looks such as go to
the green arrow or the red triangle, I will not be able to do it, even if
you are asking me to perform a task I already know how to complete. I
understand the concept of how an icon can be a picture, and how excited
person clicks on that picture to do something, but I cannot match up the
pictures they use with what I'm doing. This is not just becoming a problem
working the software. It is becoming a problem with learning the material.
For example, I was trying to learn to create an error provider control. I
did, and there was supposedly an error message flashing when I typed in
something in valid, but if someone had not told me, I would not have known
that. If I had been using the program, all I would have known is that it
wouldn't let me move onto the next text box for some reason. I was told to
put something on there called a status bar strip as well, but it didn't do
anything. They also say that jaws has a problem because they want to change
the text of a button without changing the name. For example, they will place
a button that is automatically named button one, then go to the text
property and change that to insert or whatever it should be. But when I do
that, it just says button one, button  two, and so forth. In order to be
able to use the buttons, I have to change the name so it matches up with the
text. I don't know exactly what this means, but I'm assuming there is
probably a picture of a button like maybe an elevator button, and there is
text next to it. Also, when I put a text box, I also have to put a label,
but that doesn't make sense because the text box is already labeled. It is
automatically labeled text box one when you place it. All I can figure is
that sighted people can't see the label for some reason or maybe they need
two of them. Well anyways, I need it to be able to communicate with the
people I am working with for this class to work out. It has to work out
because I somehow made it through visual basic one even t!
 hough I can only do limited things with visual studio, and my college is
switching to C-sharp next semester. That means I will be a semester behind
if I don't pass this class because I will have to start over again with
C-sharp. What is going to happen as things get more complicated, and I have
fewer and fewer tools to communicate because there is no terminology for
anything I want to say? I have to say something because they think I'm just
being stubborn and don't want to try a new way that could work. I also
explained that I don't think using the flow panel to position controls will
work, but was told that I have to try so I will know how to do things
multiple ways. That sounds nice, but there is something in that exchange
that I want to say, which I know what in my mind, but I don't know how to
say it in words. For example, I will say I don't think it will work. You
will say why not? I will say I don't know, and then you will assume that I
have no reason and that I just don't want to try it. The only way I can
think of to say it is to imagine that I am an iPhone, and you are asking me
to run android. I can't do it because it just won't work. However, I have a
feeling that would not make sense to the people I'm working with. If you
would give me some suggestions on how I can communicate better, that would
be great. Thank you.  

Sabra Ewing
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