What People Want for Christmas with JAWS, Chromie, and Talkback?

RantWoman would find it kind of easy just to lounge in a post-Thanksgiving turkey and carbohydrate fog, but RantWoman is called to attend to requests she has opted to hear as "Things people want for Christmas," including "RantWoman please tell us what YOU want for Christmas."

RantWoman sometimes takes on daily blog post marathons. This year there is a LONG time between Thanksgiving and Christmas Epiphany. RantWoman does not know whether she will manage daily posts, but she realizes she has plenty of material to spill back and forth over both her blogs. So fasten your seatbelts. Strap on your skis. Find the Chair lift. Pick the transportation pathway of choice and come along. MAYBE along the way Santa Claus will drop off some gifts.

RantWoman recently heard what she interpreted as a request for MORE blindness tourism. Actually there were two elements: encouragement to RantWoman to share more of the I didn't tell you about my day moments that usually make RantWoman REALLY glad for distractions, and a big thank you for RantWoman's whole month of disability awareness item some years back. RantWoman did not particularly hear a request for mind-numbing technological ups and downs. Tough! Those come with the territory. Over time progress DOES occur about some technological vexations. RantWoman also from time to time shares breadcrumbs along her path toward coping strategies, but  if RantWoman needs to go off on what seems like a tangent, just think of fractals, bear with the expansion and see if you can find your way back to the thread you think you are following.

Fractals, RantWoman?

Use your search bar. There is a post either on this blog or on Adventures of RantWoman that should explain the metaphor. RantWoman probably needs to know if it does not.

Back to Blindness Tourism. RantWoman appreciates the Thank you. RantWoman would not have minded hearing it A LOT sooner, like maybe right after the then Clerk of Worship and Ministry proclaimed no interest even in reading RantWoman's posts. Then W&M Clerk did earn a RantWoman lecture about various topics. Enough said for now though there is something to season in the flow, besides data point number n of a long series about why RantWoman is hyper reactive to anything that comes across as erasure, wish RantWoman would disappear, go away, just leave people alone about stuff she never gets a vacation from.

RantWoman, you are starting to froth at the keyboard....

Froth? Could we just make it a beer? Oh, wait... Surfing! That's the metaphor.

RantWoman, it's NOVEMBER. NOT surfing weather around here.

ummm, surfing the internet with different browsers and screen readers... One of the screen readers I even called JAWS. Can we do that?

Anyway, today's I Didn't Tell You About my day" moment: RantWoman is trying to read this article talking about homelessness and programs in various parts of the region.

Kitsap Sun article about homelessness
The article is in the Kitsap Sun, published in Bremerton, to the west across the Puget Sound from Seattle. The article mentions a tent city in Bellevue, across lake Washington to the east of Seattle. So there is room to argue about what it does or does not have to do with the life of RantWoman's Meeting. RantWoman has decreed that  topic too much of a digression and worthy of its own blog post(s).

RantWoman is not being very attentive, but her screen reader for whatever reason is not delivering things that make much sense and is delivering a bunch of numbers which RantWoman MIGHT be able to eliminate by adjusting some Windows screen reader software settings. RantWoman is not going to try that today. RantWoman will make a mental note maybe to post to a  blindness list and see whether people who probably read the Kitsap Sun site more often than RantWoman does have any tips.

Nor is RantWoman going to see if Chromie the gender-ambiguous Chromebook and the Chrome browser and Cromevox will do any better. RantWoman DOES mean / intend to watch some more Chromevox training videos one of these days. For one thing, RantWoman deliberately bought a Chromebook with a comparatively large screen. RantWoman deliberately ignored reviews about issues with screen brightness. RantWoman took into consideration advice from Google test administrators she sometimes consumes alcohol with not to have unrealistic expectations. But RantWoman really does need to bite the bullet about less reliance on visual info even if it means lots of email to Google on top of "whole different file system," figuring out how to use Android apps and download files...."

RantWoman did not even try on her phone partly because of some links not working issue she has not tracked down and that did not get fixed automatically with the last exciting round of updates. Speaking of updates, and expertise, and help that is or is not help, a final note: rantWoman was recently at a meeting with somewhat younger blind self-taught Technology Whiz. RantWoman was complaining about issues after she just updated her phone to Android Oreo. Self-Taught Whiz asked if he could take a look. Self-taught whiz has his own phone voice set even faster than RantWoman whose phone voice is much faster than another Android user who also needed help just turning TalkBack the Android screen reader on and off.

Self-taught whiz wanted to install an app that is supposed to help about some accessibility issues. RantWoman said okayyyy. The app seems to help somewhat but Self-Taught Whiz set up a bunch of settings RantWoman did not like so she finally just turned the app off for now. RantWoman does bless Self-Taught whiz though for showing RantWoman enough about bulk updates through the Playstore that RantWoman was able to figure out and repeat it on her own.


Oh, and RantWoman and Self-Taught Whiz BOTH talked to another person's phone. RantWoman is not sure it's a great idea for one person's phone to respond to "Ok Google..." from multiple other voices, but RantWoman has decided she is not going to fret too much about that for now.

Anyway, there. Is that the kind of tourism readers had in mind? The tour guide is a little eccentric  and customer service with snarl or smile is a little unpredictable but RantWoman means it: PLEASE ask questions.