I woke up to a comment so smug, so perfectly soaked in gatekeeping and faux-righteous posturing, it earned its own blog post.
You want freedom? You want GNU/Linux to mean something?
Then maybe start by not telling disabled users to go fuck themselves with a smile.
This commenter thought they were defending "software freedom." What they were really doing was kicking people out of the room. Dismissing accessibility. Mocking effort. Pretending that cruelty is some kind of rite of passage. They quoted Stallman like it was scripture, ignored real-world experience like it was noise, and wrapped it all in condescension dressed as virtue.
I’ve spent over a decade in this ecosystem. Writing patches. Rebuilding broken stacks. Helping blind users boot systems upstream doesn’t even test. I didn’t "just install Arch and whine about the terminal." I lived in it. I survived it. I held it together when maintainers disappeared and no one else gave a damn.
But apparently, because I didn’t call it GNU/Linux™ and because I dared to talk about how this OS chews people up and spits them out, I’m lazy. I’m weak. I should "get a dog."
So I wrote a response. Line by line. No mercy. No euphemisms.
This isn’t just about one comment. This is about every time someone’s been told they don’t belong because they couldn’t learn fast enough, code well enough, or survive long enough. It’s about everyone who was pushed out while the gatekeepers patted themselves on the back for "preserving the spirit of free software."
You want a free system? Start by making it livable. Because freedom that demands you crawl bleeding through a broken bootloader isn’t freedom. It’s abandonment dressed in ideology.
And if this kind of gatekeeping is your idea of community?
You can keep it.
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/you-dont-own-the-word-freedom-a-full-burn-response-to-the-gnulinux-comment-that-tried-to-gatekeep-me-off-my-own-machine/
#Linux #GNU #FOSS #Accessibility #BlindTech #FreeSoftware #Gatekeeping #DisabilityInTech #OpenSource #Orca #ScreenReaders #ArchLinux #BurnItDown #blogpost
accessibility
Yesterday at the #PlayStation concert, a young, blind man sat next to me.
We got talking and it turns out he is an accessibility consultant for companies, including video game developers and has worked with Sony on God of War and other products!
He goes by his handle: Sightless Kombat.
He is entirely #blind from birth, but loves video games so is passionate about accessibility in the sector.
I told him to come join Mastodon as I think it’s the friendliest social network for visual impairments, he said he was thinking of joining but wasn’t sure which instance was good. I’m not sure if there is one that’s dedicated to visual impairment? I just told him to join mstdn.games 😅
Anyway, here’s his YouTube & Twitch channels, and website if you’re interested in seeing what he has to offer. The dude has platinumed God of War Ragnarok on its hardest difficulty, what a legend!
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@sightlesskombat?si=lwP3ci1qgQTj6V9v
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/sightlesskombat
Website: https://sightlesskombat.com/
I had an interesting question on colour filter overlays from a librarian today.
A dyslexic student wants to read some original documents, not scans or reproductions, and they'd like to put some colour filter overlays on them.
The librarians are concerned that the documents might get damaged. They want to know if a hand-held colour filter, or something on the light source, would work just as well.
I don't know much about the science of colour filters for dyslexia except I've heard the data on efficacy is mixed, but assuming we want this to happen: is there any strong reason to have the colour filter directly on the document?
I don't know any hashtags that archives people would be watching, so please recommend one if you know one!
Relaunched on Threadless!
The four principles of WCAG, plus more. You can pay money for them!
Available in black or white, set in Neue Helvetica Heavy or Atkinson Hyperlegible. You can choose shirt colors.
Black Helvetica:
https://aardrian.threadless.com/designs/pourpn-neue-helvetica-black-text
Some of the messaging around alt text is about how easy it is. Like there was a button marked “accessible” and some people simply failed to push it out of laziness, or spite.
I put alt text on every picture I post, not because it’s easy, but because I believe it helps. It isn’t a lot of work, but it is work.
Sometimes we get overzealous, and imply (or say) that making the Fediverse accessible is basically free. That therefore something is wrong with you if you don’t do it. Those messages never sat quite right with me. I’m proud of how much alt text there is around here, but we could do much, much better; we won’t get there by gaslighting people about what it will take to do so.
I encourage you to put alt text on your pictures. I won’t tell you that it’s not work. What I will say is that making the Fediverse more accessible and inclusive is a good use of your time and energy.
Let’s get to work.
As someone who has developed several #ActivityPub software implementations (Fedify, Hollo, BotKit, and Hackers' Pub), I believe one of the most frustrating features to implement in the #fediverse is #custom_emoji.
The challenges are numerous:
First, there's no standardization. ActivityPub specifications don't define how custom emoji should work, leading to inconsistent implementations across different servers like Mastodon and Misskey.
Rendering is particularly problematic. Emojis must display properly across different contexts (in text, as reactions, in emoji pickers) while maintaining quality at various sizes. Animated emojis add another layer of complexity.
Perhaps most concerning is the poor #accessibility. Most implementations simply use the emoji code (like :party_blob:) as the alt text, which provides no meaningful information to screen reader users (in particular, non-English speakers) about what the emoji actually depicts or means.
What really dampens my motivation to implement this feature is knowing I'm investing significant effort into something that ultimately creates accessibility barriers. It's disheartening to work hard on a feature that excludes part of the community.
For Global Accessibility Awareness Day we are launching a new settings page that lists all of your media without alt text, so you can easily update any missing alt text in a single, easy to remember place.
You can also enable the Require Media Descriptions setting in Settings -> Media.
Today is the Global Accessibility Awareness Day - and so Apple sat down with me to talk about how I build truly accessible apps. 🦾
The interview is now live on the *front page* of the App Store 🥹
Fellow disabled players! 👋
For research: What were the most toxic comments you had to experience when talking about game accessibility on social media? Please feel free to DM me or flag your response with a CW, so that others don't have to read it and become retraumatised.
#GameDev #Accessibility #Disability
Legally blind Strange New Worlds actor Bruce Horak (Hemmer) had news earlier this spring that I somehow missed:
- a crowdfunded documentary is being made about his ‘Boldly going’ as a disabled actor and visual artist
- he met with William Shatner, who has agreed for Bruce to paint his portrait. (Bruce paints as he sees with his very limited vision in one eye.)
Here’s a report from CTV from his hometown of Calgary filed in March.
“And he says he’s an example of how DEI works – for everyone.
“When you design for disability, everyone benefits,” he said, pointing out that phone texting started as something to assist the hearing-impaired and now it’s for everyone.”
#StarTrek #Disability #Blind #Accessibility @zora #StarTrekSNW #StrangeNewWorlds #BruceHorak #Shatner
Finding it too hard to describe images you're posting online?
It's okay, you don't have to overthink it! Write how you'd describe the image to a friend over the phone.
Still having trouble? Tag your post with the "Alt4Me" hashtag, and someone will be happy to help you out!
Peeking through the Liquid Glass: From usability to branding, we explore what Liquid Glass means for designers and developers in our latest post.
https://blog.iconfactory.com/2025/06/peeking-through-the-liquid-glass/
This felt too valuable not to share. Braille-labeled maps of washrooms to help people find and use facilities in the washroom. Everyone deserves to get in, do their business, wash their hands, and get out in peace and safety.
This seems valuable for all public spaces.
Steam just added screen reader support in the latest Big Picture Mode beta. On the Deck. On SteamOS. On Linux.
Not hacked in. Not community-patched. Built-in. From Valve.
There's an accessibility tab. There's a screen reader. There's high-contrast mode, UI scaling, color filters, reduced motion, and more.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but: I need a Steam Deck now.
Accessibility isn’t just coming to gaming — it’s here, and it’s official.
Let’s make some noise so they keep going.
🔗 https://www.theverge.com/games/689922/steam-is-adding-screen-reader-support-and-other-accessibility-tools
#Accessibility #Gaming #SteamDeck #ScreenReader #Linux #valve