This weekend on Mosen At Large, working with financial data in PDFs, advocacy, disability pride and Cleanfeed
Kia ora Mosen at Largers.
We have a lovely, eclectic mix of things to talk about this week with contributions from people in all four corners of the circular globe.
I am incredulous to report that a full week after Microsoft announced Windows 11, there is not one word, not a jot, not a sausage, about accessibility features in Windows 11 on the official Microsoft Accessibility site. Perhaps that’s simply because there is little that’s actually new. Nevertheless, the first insider build of Windows 11 is out, and while as you would expect it has some rough edges, brave testers are reporting that it’s performing OK with third-party screen readers. If you are running it and you want to share your initial impressions, I welcome your reports. It’s important to note that the OS is far from feature-complete at this stage, for example the Android support has yet to be introduced.
Some people are testing, testing all day long. iOS 15 is in such a solid state that the public beta is out already, complete with the absolutely epic SharePlay feature which I have to say is very well done. I welcome your initial impressions on any of the new features you like.
I enjoy it when a listener raises an issue, and our community responds either with answers or opinions. Last week, David Kingsbury posed some interesting questions about the accessibility of data in PDF from financial institutions. We have some listener responses to this issue this week, some of which discuss the state of PDF as a format for rendering more complex data in an accessible way without any sort of human remediation. If you have any thoughts on the use of PDFs, which are a common format, feel free to send them in.
We’ll hear a frustrating but instructive story about buying an appliance that turns out to be inaccessible, and the indifference and ignorance you can often encounter when trying to get the problem addressed. There’s a moral in this story and it is to stand your ground and know that your business matters.
We have more views on disability pride including a challenging and perfectly reasonable question for me from a listener. “If you’re proud to be blind, are you proud to be hearing impaired too”?
Technologies like Zoom, Teams and Google Meet have kept us connected during the pandemic. But the pandemic has also meant that radio broadcasters who usually work from a studio, or podcasters who usually get together to record in person, have had to find another way to Work. Cleanfeed is an accessible tool with a free option, and it’s my recommendation for recording with people when audio quality matters. I’ll explain what the service is and demonstrate how you use it.
And in the Bonnie Bulletin with the incomparable Bonnie Mosen, there is a major update to our Samsung smart washing machine saga.
As usual, there’s a wide array of blindness and technology topics from listeners on which you may like to comment once you hear them.
If you want to raise something new, you’re very welcome.
Getting your contributions in ahead of time leaves you free to hear the show, and gives me a chance to organise them all, so go for it. Please don’t be shy, I’d love to hear from you. To contribute, send an email with an audio attachment or just written down to Jonathan at MushroomFM.com, or call the listener line, +18646066736, that’s 1-864-60Mosen.
The best way to hear Mosen At Large is when it airs live and in full. Catch it on Mushroom FM, either on the station itself or in the Mushroom FM club on Clubhouse, the Mosen At Large YouTube channel and the Mosen At Large Facebook page on Saturdays at 2 PM Eastern, that’s 7 PM in the UK. It will then be available in abridged form on the Mosen At Large podcast, available anywhere you get podcasts. If you RSVP to the event on Clubhouse, you’ll be sent a notification when it starts, plus you’ll be helping to spread the word to your followers, so we really appreciate the RSVP there.
Thank you so much for listening and contributing to the show and see you soon for Mosen At Large.