There are bugs in software, it’s inevitable. It’s even more annoying when they occur in critical software. We end up getting angry at … the software or even the people behind it. But, what if we take a step back and evaluate how things would be without the software? In this post, I will evaluate how things could be without screen readers.

For starters, screen readers are what blind people use to access digital information. Stuffs like Facebook, amazon, Whatsapp, google, phone calls etc. When I say no screen readers, I mean no screen readers of any kind.

To be honest, I don’t really know how things could be without screen readers, I can only speculate. This is because I wasn’t there when there were no screen readers. But, Karl wrote a piece on how his experience was; Building a Talking Terminal. I’d highly suggest reading it, you won’t regret it (You might dislike the UI, but try to enjoy the content).

For context, Karl is a blind elderly man with a degree and masters in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. I say elderly, because there weren’t screen readers when he was in the university.

Before Karl had a crude screen reader, he was basically playing a guessing game while walking a tightrope. He was poking at the laptop’s memory and listening for beeps as validation for his actions. Seriously, read his article.

But, at least he tried using a computer independently. If there were no screen readers, most blind people will have to depend on sighted people to work with computers. A sighted person will read what’s on the screen to the blind person, and the blind person will instruct the sighted person on what to do. I am not saying this is a bad thing, but we’re in a way better position now.

With the help of screen readers, I am able to make and receive phone calls, I am able to write a blog post, I am able to write software, to play games, to chat on social media. This are just what I can do. There are lots of blind people are doing all sought of amazing stuffs with there computers and phones.

I think the most important thing screen readers do is to give feedback.

There is definitely room for improvement, but it’s nice acknowledging what a good piece of software we have now.

However, this mindset isn’t limited to screen readers or software. We spend a lot of time complaining and criticizing and little to no time appreciating and acknowledging.