@disability The "Disability Dongle": Why Silicon Valley Hates Me and you. . https://sightlessscribbles.com/disability-dongle/

Diane Swonk says July’s bizarre jobs report is the first data from the deportation economy: shrinking payrolls and a shrinking workforce. [TLDR: unpaid caregivers remove themselves from the job market to provide healthcare and social work that deported immigrants no longer provide]

RE: https://me.dm/@kshernandez/116635041867434173

Hi y'all. I'm just $1115 away from goal and from being able to end this nightmare of a living situation.

Another run in with a housemate today, and slamming doors all day and night. That's what I have to deal with.

Please make this happen for me?

https://chuffed.org/project/blessks

#mutualaid #Blackmutualaid #disability #housingcrisis #Crowdfund @disability @mutualaid @mutual_aid@starflower.space @mutual_aid@hexbear.net @BlackAzizAnansi

I had the boardwalk between the house and the summer cottage replaced, but with twist - literally: both ends of the boardwalk now gently rise up and meet the house's backdoor and the cottage's terrace level, so there are no steps anywhere. Also, it's wider than regular, commercial boardwalks. You could say it's a boardwalk with accessibility in mind.

My wife who has a disability can now easily go to the cottage and spend some time enjoying the lake and listening to music there without any help.

From the linked PDF:

Anyone with a smartphone or other wireless device that supports RTT can make a TTY Relay call. As a result, it is easier for individuals with no communication- related disability to misuse TTY Relay in an attempt to hide their identities or otherwise deceive a called party by communicating through a CA.

36. To ensure that TTY Relay is used appropriately and efficiently, and to safeguard the TRS Fund from waste, fraud, and abuse, we seek comment below on applying user eligibility, registration, verification, and call detail records requirements to all forms of TRS95—measures that have proven effective in safeguarding other TRS programs. 96 We seek comment on the specific processes for TTY Relay user registration and verification, including the type of documentation or assessment required to confirm eligibility and how to balance ease of access for legitimate users with robust protections against misuse. Are providers able to verify the identity of TTY Relay users at the beginning of calls? Would user registration requirements unduly burden state TRS programs in their support and oversight of intrastate TRS?

54·. User Eligibility, Registration, and Verification Requirements. To ensure that IP STS are used appropriately and efficiently, and to safeguard the TRS Fund from waste, fraud, and abuse, we propose to apply user eligibility, registration, and verification requirements similar to those already in place for IP Relay, VRS, and IP CTS. 137 This would include requiring users to register with a certified provider and undergo a verification process to confirm their identify and location, as well as to certify eligibility as individuals with speech disabilities who require the service for functionally equivalent communication. 138 We seek comment on the specific processes for IP STS user registration and verification, including the type of documentation or assessment required to confirm eligibility and how to balance ease of access for legitimate users with robust protections against misuse.

Yikes. Having my voice recorded by large corporations (e.g. banks), then having to trust the untrustworthy to protect the recording so that it is not used to do AI-driven impersonation -- no thanks. So obviously TTY/RTT services are interesting for non-impaired (hearing) people who want to avoid that exploitation. As we can see from the quote, the FCC intends treat street-wise people as “abusers” for doing common-sense self-defense.

Some people need a Call Assistant (CA) and some do not. Obviously a hearing person does not need a human CA. We can simply do a straight text chat in both directions. Having a needless MitM is where the waste is. I’ve read that IP relays need a CA, but it’s not clear why that would necessarily be the case for everyone.

Interesting to note that the FCC cares to protect the privacy of the hearing/speech-impaired /to some extent/:

53. Provision of a Muting Option. The Commission currently requires STS providers to offer the user the option of having their voice muted so that the other party to the call would only hear the STS CA re-voicing the call, and not also the voice of the STS user. This feature serves to minimize disruption to the conversational flow and potentially enhance the privacy and comfort of the STS user.

Nice, but in the end the FCC (who blocks Tor) is privacy-hostile motherfuckers:

3. Extending User Registration and Verification Requirements

4. While Internet-based TRS users are subject to various registration and verification requirements, analog TRS, such as TTY Relay, CTS, and STS, currently lack comparable mandated user registration and centralized verification processes. To further strengthen the integrity and oversight of the entire TRS program and build upon the recognized benefits of a user registration database, we propose to extend comprehensive user registration and verification requirements to all forms of TRS, including these analog services and any future Internet-based forms of TRS. This expansion is crucial to ensuring that all services supported by the TRS Fund operate with enhanced accountability and to combat waste, fraud, and abuse program-wide. Such a measure would allow the Commission to gather complete and accurate data on service demand and utilization across the entire TRS landscape. We seek comprehensive comment on the feasibility, costs, and benefits of extending user registration and verification requirements to all forms of TRS. Commenters should detail any unique technical or operational challenges for specific services (e.g., TTY Relay, STS, CTS, or IP Relay, or proposed IP STS and RTT- based relay service), and identify the specific types of data that would be most relevant and least burdensome for the providers to collect and submit. We also solicit input on how current user registration data elements might apply or need modification for these services, and the timeframe for implementation.

5. TRS providers seeking compensation from the TRS Fund must submit Call Detail Records (CDRs) to the TRS Fund administrator for each call for which compensation is sought.

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/27156738

I have been relying on quite poor VOIP service to place calls to large orgs that have call centers. The voice quality was lousy and recently my VOIP provider screwed something up and the service became broken.

I am not hearing-impaired but I think TTY might solve my problem. If I need to call a large org/agency that is likely TTY-capable, is this possible without some kind of service? In principle, shouldn’t I be able to connect to a bank or something without using any kind of subscription service? Linux, gnu screen, ssh, a terminal, Internet should be all I need, no?

My searches for TTY either yields results about how deaf people can use dedicated hardware or a Telecommunications Relay Service (“TRS”) -- or the search results are about /dev/tty* which is just a UI for sending commands to a command interpreter (apparently not a human). There are claims that all iPhones and /some/ Androids can do TTY. But doesn’t that still rely on phone service? I prefer NOT to use a phone or phone service.

This question has no answers, but it’s along the lines of what I need. There is this Zapata thing but that project has had no status since 2004.

Update

After more looking, it seems an “IP-TTY” relay service is needed for this situation. Searches so far lead to services that want to force a proprietary app on you, which only works on proprietary platforms.

Mavis Tech is the manufacturer of the Viaro assistive smartglasses

That's one legit and worthwhile use case of AI and cameras concealed in glasses.

Interesting and informative video on the winter paralympics classification system.

It’s similar to drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth.

Not sure what chemical reaction happens, but it’s vile, and it lingers.

A rule change pushed by White House officials would slash benefits or end support for as many as 400,000 Supplemental Security Income recipients with Down syndrome, dementia and other disabilities whose parents or relatives receive SNAP benefits.

I have special feet and these are my new special boots. And they're awesome!

It took the shoemaker over 6 months to make them, but they're perfect. Someone's gonna be hiking everywhere soon 🙂

Yes, I know, they're just shoes. But they're something special to me. Today is a good day!

Hello

I hope it's okay i post here, as I'm not physically disabled, but i can't find much else.

Is there a way to get an ABI/TBI diagnosed? Would it show up on a CT/MRI? I had a history of massive SU attempts. So I'm wondering if that may have caused brain damage. I spoke to my doctor, and I got assessed for ADHD, and the psychiatrist i saw said no to ADHD. I spoke to my GP today about some other stuff, and i brought up the ADHD assessment. She said it could possibly be an ABI from my history, so I'm wondering..... what do i do with this?

As part of Accessibility Week, Fundación Jean Maggi and VML Argentina unveiled the MONSTER CHAIR, a striking wheelchair with oversized wheels designed to spotlight a problem that is as common as it is frustrating: cars blocking access ramps and limiting accessibility in our cities.

MET! Thank you to every kind soul who uplifted me! Blessings to you. I'm safe for another month. 🐻🫂

The numbers below include a fee I tried to avoid. Such a waste, that coulda been the phone bill or food, or some chronically unmet need.

But alas...

Needed today. https://linktr.ee/khernandez

#BlackMutualaid
#helpfolkslive2026
#mutualaid
#disability
#BlackFediverse
#Housingcrisis
@disability @blackfedi @Fedicares @mutualaid

MAGA maximum cruelty at work once again.

cross-posted from: https://lazysoci.al/post/43438786

cross-posted from: https://lazysoci.al/post/42391352

Dear all.

I am very sad to inform everyone that our friend Didier died last week.

Early 2015, I asked on the slackware list if brltty could be added in the installer ; Didier answered promptly that he could do it on slint. Afterwards, he worked hard so that slint became as accessible as possible for visually impaired people.

You all know that all these years, he tried and succeeded to answer as quickly as possible to our issues and questions.

He will be irreplaceable.

…Should Have Used Challenged, Instead Of Negative Framing Term, Disabilities!!!!!

Repo: https://github.com/ctsdownloads/easyspeak/tree/dev?tab=readme-ov-file#easyspeak

cross-posted from: https://rblind.com/post/17753100

In this article, I will discuss the details of 10 innovations throughout history that were only possible through unlocking the power of accessibility and including the voices of people with disabilities. In the disability community, it is a deeply believed and often repeated fact that improving accessibility leads to innovations that improve the world for everyone. Necessity is the mother of invention is, after all, a proverb so frequently quoted that it has become a cliché. And yet, people with disabilities still find ourselves left out of research and design, and all too often we don’t get a seat at the product development table. This leaves our inventions overlooked, unrecognized, and sometimes unrealized.

Decades after her act of defiance, Rosa Parks galvanized a cadre of activists to protest their own conditions and, though the scope of her legacy for them is still coming into focus, it remains just as powerful.

They were fighting for disability access, and, like Parks, they used public transportation as a springboard.

The disability rights movement took shape against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, growing in size with each passing year. By the 1980s, it had made strides, successfully passing legislation and increasing the visibility of people living with disabilities.

But on roads and rails, small advances made in bus accessibility throughout the years did little to meet the needs of commuters with disabilities, whose use of public transportation was severely limited. Oftentimes, they were relegated to using separate services entirely, relying on transit services such as Dial-a-Ride, which required passengers to request a pickup and were frequently unreliable.

In 1984, something changed. In Chicago, about a dozen wheelchair-bound activists from the disability rights group ADAPT placed themselves in front of city buses to protest the Chicago Transit Authority’s decision to purchase more than 350 buses — none of which were accessible to them due to the city’s refusal to pay for wheelchair lifts.

The demonstration was reminiscent of Parks’ own protest that had taken place more than 700 miles south and nearly 30 years prior, when she refused to vacate her seat for a White passenger. As law enforcement officers arrived at the scene, a single sentence was emblazoned on each of the protesters’ name tags: “My name is Rosa Parks.”

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/31003562

• Of the 193 members of the United Nations, 164 signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, agreeing to provide access as a right for all people to effectively participate in society, but many fall short when it comes to outdoor spaces.
• Researchers reviewed accessibility features provided by UNESCO Biosphere Reserves for physical, sensory, mental, and cognitive disabilities.
• They found that while more than half of the Reserves provide access for people with some physical disabilities, most do not appear to accommodate sensory, cognitive, or mental disabilities.