Dear AccessWorld Readers,

Once again, it's National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which happens to coincide with Blindness Awareness Month. The statistics vary, but in almost all evaluations that I have personally seen, the employment rates of people who are blind or are visually impaired are shockingly low, even 31 years after the passage of the ADA. Employment is an area that we at AccessWorld, and AFB as a whole, care about deeply. When pondering the causes of the high unemployment rate among people who are blind, I have personally come to the following conclusions. The greatest barrier to employment of people who are blind or visually impaired remains the lack of knowledge among most employers regarding the capabilities of people who have vision loss. Thankfully, that seems to be changing. I believe I've discussed the excellent organization called Disability:IN before. They are an organization for employers interested in improving their access for people with disabilities, from hiring to long-term staff retention. I attended a couple of their conferences in the past and was heartened to see the number of major companies who actively want to employ people with disabilities.

This being said, I wonder how well we are preparing those who are blind or visually impaired for the specific intricacies of the job market. There are many organizations (including AFB) who strive to prepare young people with vision loss for their employment future, but I worry that many are being left behind. Not being involved in the education of students who are blind or visually impaired, I might not have all the information, but I would hope that learning the importance of employment and the various skills needed to successfully secure a job are being taught to students as part of their core curriculum.

I also can't personally stress how important I feel higher education is to successful employment. Not only does obtaining a higher degree allow you to qualify for more accessible job—it is much easier to compete with your sighted peers when the job is based on your brain versus your hand-eye coordination or speed in navigating complex environments—but it makes it easier to compete for jobs without these education requirements and also gives you easier access to internships that might lead to a job in the future.

When I first started working at AFB full time, my degree in History had nothing to do with my job, but in my job interview, I was able to confidently demonstrate my skills in my future job tasks since I'd been learning about and doing the same work as an intern. I wholeheartedly believe that the skills I obtained as an intern with AFB were what led them to hire me.

Outside of higher education, internships, even if they are unpaid, are extremely valuable for anyone, but especially people with vision loss. An internship allows you to learn the career you are pursuing directly but also shows your possible employer your capabilities and skills, allowing you to possibly avoid the barrier of an employer who does not understand the capabilities of someone with vision loss.

So what do you think? Do you agree with me? Disagree? If you are employed, what was your employment journey like? Do you have thoughts about the state of employment for people with visual impairments that you would like to share? We're always interested to receive your comments; you can always email me.

I'd also like to remind people of our Employment Matters series. The series includes profiles of dozens of people with vision loss who have been successful in their careers. In addition to discussing their employment journey, each interviewee describes the aspects that they think have lead them to their success. The first article in the series introduces Barry Scheur, a successful lawyer who has reinvented himself several times.

As always, I would like to thank you for being an AccessWorld reader and hope you enjoy this issue.

Sincerely,

Aaron Preece

AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. is a private, not-for-profit social enterprise providing employment, support, and training opportunities for people who are blind, deafblind, and blind with other disabilities. The Lighthouse has provided employment and support to people who are blind since 1918. Our philosophy maintains that each employee be provided with whatever supports are necessary for success in the workplace. Supports include an in-house sign language interpreting department to ensure effective communication for employees who are deafblind, staff orientation and mobility instructors to teach independent travel with a white cane or dog guide, and over 100 computer workstations adapted for use by individuals who are visually impaired, in addition to computer training to prepare employees for success on the job.

The Lighthouse Accessibility Program Services team provides the necessary equipment, human supports, information, technology, and training in the appropriate formats to meet our employees’ needs while at work. The Accessibility team also evaluates and educates both new and current employees about accommodation options, assessing workstation and/or job sites to identify barriers, research solutions to those barriers, and recommend organizational accommodations needs, such as ZoomText or JAWS version. In addition, recommendations are made for facility accessibility improvements as well as implementing best practice and policy development all with the goal of creating an accessible work environment that allow all employees full access to and knowledge of the tools needed to excel in the job, successfully positioning employees strive for roles of increased responsibility.

The Computer Training Program (CTP) exists to increase and support the independence, self-sufficiency, and upward mobility of adults who are blind and low vision in the workplace through appropriate training and access to computer technology. The course of study is highly individualized and emphasizes computer and assistive technology tools to be used in the workplace. Class structures are primarily 1:1 instructor led, with occasional small group classes.

All Employee and Community Services (ECS) programming offers each individual the opportunity to increase their skills in an environment that supports independence, choice, and control over matters impacting each participant. The Computer Training Program (CTP) offers assessment and training on current assistive technology and computer programs including typing and keyboarding, introduction to computers, Microsoft Office Suite, Optical Character Recognition reading devices, iPhone VoiceOver/Siri, Android Talkback, and refreshable braille displays.

Orientation and Mobility (O&M) instructors assist individuals who are blind and deafblind in learning skills to travel independently and safely to and from work, as well as throughout the community. Skills instruction includes white cane travel, bus and street route planning, electronic travel aid training, and supplemental guide dog training. Orientation and Mobility instructors meet the needs of numerous employees as they navigate through the ever-changing transit landscape of the various Lighthouse locations, providing ongoing route planning and safe travel techniques. Orientation and Mobility training includes bus travel, route planning, assistive technology assessment, safety techniques for low-vision travelers, relocation and route planning for new community members, and supplemental training for guide-dog users.

Lighthouse employees make aerospace parts, office products, and a myriad of other machined products for customers including various Federal government organizations such as the Department of Defense, and commercial firms including The Boeing Company, Triumph Composite Systems, Inc., and BAE Systems.

By receiving supports and services Lighthouse employees have the opportunity to build a solid foundation of successful employment, paving the way to a wide range of career opportunities and/or comprehensive training programs, like the AJAC Aerospace Joint Apprentice program, to create products of outstanding quality for Lighthouse customers.

Nearly 70 years ago, the Lighthouse machine shop began operation, having been a continual contractor with The Boeing Company since 1952. Today, The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. is an ISO9001 and AS9100 accredited and ITAR registered, employing LEAN practices in all our manufacturing processes and more than 70 machinists who are blind and deafblind. Proven through customer ratings, the Lighthouse consistently delivers high quality, on-time, competitively priced components, assemblies, and services. We utilize the latest systems including CATIA V5 3D Modeling (as well as others) and supply a wide range of products for the aerospace commercial and defense industries specializing in Precision Machining, Assembly, Injection Mold and creating products branded with the SKILCRAFT label.

We also provide managed services like appointment setting, quality assurance, account reconciliation, contract close out, and other administrative services for customers like the US Navy and the Defense Contract Management Agency.

In addition, the Lighthouse owns and operates over 14 AbilityOne Base Supply Centers located on military bases up and down the West Coast, where we sell mission critical supplies to the military.

People Who Are Blind Power Everything We Do.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Janet Ingber

Peacock is a streaming service from NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corporation. You can watch many of your favorite NBC shows and have access to other videos including shows and movies as well as original content from Peacock. The Peacock app is free from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. There are in-app purchases available to unlock even more content.

If you are only looking for titles with audio description, Peacock has over 100 titles as of October 20. They started offering audio description in June 2021. You can find a list of currently available titles with audio description on the American Council of the Blind Audio Description Project website. Peacock has informed AccessWorld that a method for accessing a list of titles with audio description from NBCUniversal directly should be available soon.

NBCUniversal made us aware that they have first prioritized the accessibility on the most commonly used devices, which are Smart TVs and streaming devices like the Apple TV, followed by the web platform. iOS and Android accessibility is the current focus for the company and they expect substantial improvements in the next few months.

Getting Help

Peacock does not provide phone support, which was verified when I called NBC in New York. They do provide chat support, which is accessible, and they have an extensive help section. I will discuss my experience with Peacock’s chat support later in this article.

Supported Devices

Peacock supports many devices including iOS 12 and above and Android 6.0 and above. They provide support for web browsers, the Apple TV, and many other streaming devices and smart TVs.

Getting Started with Peacock

You can sign up for Peacock through their app or through the website. You will be asked to enter your email address and to create a password.

Subscription Plans

Peacock offers three subscription plans. The free version has ads and content limitations. If you want access to all Peacock content, choose the Premium plan, which costs $4.99 per month or $49.00 per year. The Premium Plus plan has fewer ads and costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. If you choose Premium or Premium Plus, you will need to enter payment information.

Check Peacock’s website for a free trial and free upgrades from certain providers.

Creating a Profile on iOS

Once your sign-up process is complete, the next step is to create a profile. This is not optional and here is where accessibility issues begin. As part of the profile process, you will need to choose an avatar from numerous options, all of which are unlabeled graphics when using the iOS app. On my iPhone, I had VoiceOver Recognition enabled including image descriptions, but this did not help in locating avatar choices. VoiceOver did not say anything when I put my fingers on the avatars. With sighted assistance, I selected one. A new screen loaded with various options including TV and Movies. The only way to get back to the profile screen was to touch the avatar. Unfortunately, that did not work when I tapped in the general area of the avatar. With sighted assistance, I got back to the profile screen. VoiceOver read the basic text, but did not say the names of the profiles on the screen and associated avatars. The information was on the screen but not accessible to VoiceOver.

When I used the website on my Mac with VoiceOver, when I was asked to choose a profile avatar, a list of unlabeled buttons was presented. I randomly picked one that turned out to be a dinosaur. On the profile screen, VoiceOver did read the profile name. Selecting a profile with the usual Control+Option+Spacebar sent me back to the avatar selection screen. With the VoiceOver cursor on the profile name, I performed a mouse click with Shift+Option+Control+Spacebar. This worked. I did not need to have the mouse pointer on the VoiceOver cursor.

I contacted Peacock’s chat support on August 18 and explained about the unlabeled graphics. The agent said she would escalate the case. That night, a person from Peacock tech support called me, said he would find out about how to solve the problem, and said he would call me back. Unfortunately, the agent has yet to respond.

Whether you use a mouse click on the Mac or activate your avatar with or without sighted assistance, a new screen will load with content to watch. Once this part of the set-up is done, you should automatically end up on the main screen when Peacock is launched.

Activating Audio Description

If you have some usable vision, you might be able to activate audio description (abbreviated “AD”) independently on Apple products. Since I don't have usable vision, I needed sighted assistance. Once the feature is enabled, AD should remain on. I used the latest version of iOS 14 on three different iPhones (iPhone 7, iPhone X, iPhone XS) to check this out. I did the same test on my MacBook Pro with the latest version of mac OS Big Sur. My iPhone X did not keep audio description on, but the other devices did. In early October I purchased an iPhone 13 Mini and installed iOS 15. When I started playing described content, Peacock apparently remembered my Audio Description setting. I did not have to enable it. I selected a show I hadn’t watched and the audio description automatically worked. Also, unlike the iPhone X, my iPhone 13 mini kept the setting.

Again, I spent a great deal of time with chat support. Two different agents provided the following instructions, intended for a sighted user, which should work for activating audio description on both iOS and on the web:

1. Launch the content you would like to watch.
2. Scroll a bit down to pull up the content navigation options and you will see a rectangular text bubble icon on the left side. You will see the rectangular text bubble icon next to the "I" icon below the navigation controls.
3. Please click on the text bubble and you will see Audio and Subtitles option. Then hover over the Audio option.
4. Once you hover over the audio option, you will see two options stacked on top of the audio option: select the "English" option on top of the English AD option.

I explained to the agents that none of the graphics in the instructions are labeled. Subsequently, the agents closed the chat.

With sighted assistance, I tried to turn on audio description on the iPhone. I tried it with VoiceOver both on and off. I was instructed to perform a series of taps on different parts of the screen. A list of controls came up but they disappeared in 3 seconds. I learned from my sighted assistance that other controls including playback controls also disappeared. Both when using VoiceOver and when turning it off, controls only appear on the screen for a short time before being hidden again, meaning that they do not register at all to VoiceOver.

I also needed sighted assistance to enable audio description on my Mac.

Peacock on an iOS Device

On the app’s main screen, the easiest way to navigate is by flicking right. Although Headings and Containers are in the VoiceOver rotor, VoiceOver read a few containers and no headings. The iOS version has the same categories as on the Peacock website.

At the bottom of the screen are three options: Browse, Channels, and Search. Unfortunately, the Search button is not accessible with VoiceOver. I turned VoiceOver off, tapped the bottom right corner of my screen, and turned VoiceOver back on. Sometimes I needed several attempts for this to work.

On the next screen is an edit box for entering your query. Once a query is entered, select the Search button at the bottom right on the screen. Below the edit box are two options: Results and Clips. VoiceOver does not give any indication about which option is selected. VoiceOver also does not read the search results.

Flick right past the Clips option and then double tap. With luck, you will be on the first search result. Double tap and a new screen will load. This screen will display information for the search. Peacock keeps a record of your past searches and VoiceOver reads that information. When browsing through content using various categories, or launching the full list of TV shows or movies, individual shows/movies are not labeled when using VoiceOver.

Peacock on the Mac

In my opinion, the web version of Peacock works significantly better than the iOS version. It’s not perfect, but it is easier to use. Peacock’s main screen can be navigated with rotor options including Headings, Links, and Forms. Even with all these navigation options, I recommend using Up and Down Arrow keys to explore the website. There are links such as Channels, Browse, Movies, and Featured. Headings include Continue Watching, Peacock Picks, and Kids Corner. Buttons include Account and Search. Once you find something to play, select the link associated with the program or movie.

Once content is playing, VO+Right Arrow until you hear how much time has elapsed and how much time is left for whatever you are watching. After that is a group of unlabeled buttons. On all the buttons, VoiceOver says, “Toggle button. You are on a check box.” The buttons are:

1. Info. This gives information about the movie or TV show you have chosen.
2. Options for subtitles and languages. AD is listed here, when available. Audio description must be set up using the instructions listed above, otherwise it won't work.
3. Rewind. Goes back ten seconds.
4. Pause/Play.
5. Forward. Goes forward ten seconds.
6. Full screen or window.
7. When watching a TV show, there is a seventh button, labelled, called More Episodes.

Other Devices

As we have done for other services in this series, below you will find accessibility findings from other platforms from other authors. Aaron Preece has provided accessibility findings for using the service on Windows or on an Apple TV.

Windows

The Peacock website was tested on a computer running Windows 10 using the NVDA screen Reader with the Firefox browser. Using Peacock on Windows is similar to using the service on the Mac. The account creation process is fully accessible, and when creating a profile, the buttons for choosing an avatar are labeled distinctly, e.g., "Choose Avatar 1". Browsing and searching for content is accessible, just remember to check the entire screen if it seems that you activated something but cannot determine where the new content appears. For example, when I was changing seasons in a TV show, the list of seasons appeared above the options for Episodes, More Like This, etc.

When playing content, the playback controls are unlabeled but follow the layout listed in the section detailing using Peacock on the Mac. When opening subtitle and audio options, these buttons do have labels fortunately. In addition, if you turn off NVDA's browse mode and tab through the interface, you will be able to focus the web player and then use the following keyboard controls for playback: Spacebar for Play/Pause, Left and Right Arrows for Rewind and Fast Forward respectively, and Up and Down Arrows for volume. When watching live TV, there are two unlabeled buttons toward the top of the page. One is unavailable, but the other will mute or unmute content. Note for all playback controls, there is no change in the button's state even when the control is a toggle. The buttons are always listed as "Unpressed".

Apple TV

Apple TV seems to be the most accessible of the methods we tested for watching Peacock. Profiles themselves are unlabeled but can be activated regardless and the only element of note that does not have a label is the search option. Note that if you immediately begin scrolling through the app you may see many unlabeled options. Waiting a moment before scrolling through a category seems to allow the app to fully load the labels.

The playback controls when playing content are fully accessible, including the Play/Resume button and the options for activating subtitles and Audio Description. Note that the audio description and subtitle options seem to be in somewhat of a grid, so might be confusing to navigate at first.

Peacock on X1

The X1 platform is Comcast's cloud-based operating system, collecting television content from a number of sources onto one device or through a mobile app. We did not have access directly to Peacock on X1, but were provided a demonstration of the current accessibility of Peacock on the X1 platform by Comcast. the platform has its own screen reader called Voice Guidance, which can be activated directly with two presses of the dedicated accessibility button. In fact, pressing the button will launch the accessibility menu, while the second activates Voice Guidance, the first item on the menu. Voice Guidance functions similarly to other streaming device screen readers such as VoiceOver on Apple TV or VoiceView on Amazon Fire TV. Generally, when you navigate using Voice Guidance, you will hear your currently focused item followed by more information if it is available and information on how to navigate in the current screen. The Peacock app appears to be fully accessible using this system with one minor hiccup that stood out to us. When navigating Peacock content from the main screen of the Peacock app, the navigation instructions are read before the title of the content that you have focused. A workaround we discovered that makes the process of navigating faster, is to navigate to the end of any given content row and select the "View All" option. On the subsequent screen, the content is read first, making navigation much quicker. The only areas where this "View All" option might not be available are rows containing featured content, since they generally only have a few select content options.

Conclusion

If you are using a smartphone or tablet as your primary device for watching streaming content, we can't recommend you check out Peacock at this time as the accessibility issues make the app unusable. Though we did not discuss it above, a quick review of the Android app seemed to result in similar issues as were reported with the iOS app.

If you are using a desktop/laptop computer, particularly if you are using Windows, and are someone who does not mind navigating around inaccessible controls, you might find Peacock a good option for you.

If you are using an Apple TV as your main device for watching content, you should have no problem using Peacock.

That being said, if you encounter issues and need help, be aware that tech support staff do not seem to be well versed in access technology.

Based on our discussions with the Peacock team and the fact that the Apple TV experience is so accessible along with the partial access features on the web interface, especially the use of Aria, we are optimistic that the experience for mobile users will improve in time. This will be especially important for Peacocks success among the blindness community going forward, as often a mobile device is the primary device people with vision loss, especially those without usable vision, use for watching their favorite media. We will be keeping an eye on the accessibility developments from Peacock and will be bringing you an access update for the mobile experience when accessibility is improved.

Provider Comments

Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, offers a world-class slate current season, iconic library, and original movies and shows from across NBCUniversal and beyond, as well as live news and sports. The catalog of audio described titles available on Peacock continues to grow, currently offering more than 1,500 audio described episodes across more than 100 hit series including all Peacock Originals such as Girls5Eva, Rutherford Falls, Dr. Death, and One of Us is Lying, and fan favorites like The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Chicago Fire, and new hits such as Young Rock, Mr. Mayor, and Law & Order: Organized Crime. Launched in July of 2020, Peacock is currently available and screen reader accessible across pay-TV platforms including Xfinity X1, connected-TV devices including Apple TV, and smart TVs including Samsung and Vizio. Working closely with The Paciello Group to advance its efforts across platforms, Peacock is improving accessibility on iOs and Android devices as a priority for the first half of next year. 

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Judy Dixon

As surely as the leaves fall from the trees, Apple releases the latest updates to its operating systems every autumn. They did that this year on September 20.

This time, it was iOS 15, and iPadOS 15, and they have each come with many new and exciting features.

iOS 15 is compatible with all iPhone models back to the iPhone 6s and the original iPhone SE as well as the iPod touch seventh generation. iPadOS 15 is compatible with models back to iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 4, and iPad Pro 1st generation. But not all features will work on the earlier models because of hardware differences.

iOS and iPadOS Mainstream Features

Here is a list of major new features that have been added to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.

Focus

Focus is a new feature that incorporates Do Not Disturb. It silences selected notifications and alerts, and controls which of your contacts can reach you. You can set your focus to be triggered by a schedule, location, or app.

The default list of focus modes includes Do Not Disturb, Personal, Sleep, and Work, and you can add others. When you select Add, you can create a custom focus, or choose from four additional focus templates: Driving, Fitness, Mindfulness, and Reading.

Each one includes the following:

• Allowed people for notifications (here you can choose from your contacts)

• Allow incoming calls from your favorites

• Allowed apps you want notifications from

After your focus has been created or set up, you can change which people or notifications are allowed to interrupt you, choose specific home screen pages to show when that focus is turned on, set a schedule or automation for the focus, or delete it. Automations include your location and app usage. Focus modes can optionally inform people trying to communicate with you that you have notifications silenced. If you have selected it, when you turn on a focus, it is turned on across all of your devices. You can turn a focus on or off in Settings, from the Control Center, with Siri, or from an Apple Watch.

Notifications

Notifications now includes Notification Summaries. You can have the notifications you receive that are not time-sensitive combined into a summary, and you can schedule how many times a day and when you would like to receive the summary.

To activate Notification Summaries, go to Settings > Notifications and turn Scheduled Summary on. Once turned on, you can choose the apps whose notifications you would like included in your summary. You will be shown the apps that send you the most notifications. Then you can choose when you would like your notification summary to arrive. By default, two are scheduled, one for 8:00 A.M and one for 6:00 P.M. You can change those times or add more if that's not enough.

FaceTime

There are major changes in FaceTime. Now, at the very top of the FaceTime app, you will find a button, Create Link. This allows you to invite people who are using Windows computers or Android devices to a FaceTime call using a browser. After naming your link, you can share it with anyone through the sharing options, AirDrop, Message, Mail, etc. You can also invite people to a FaceTime call from the Calendar app. When you schedule an appointment, Location has ben expanded to Location or Video Call.

As people accept, they will be prompted to enter their name and press a Join button. You don't have to be in the FaceTime call when people begin to join, you will be notified when someone accepts the invitation and you can start the call then.

Spatial audio has been added to FaceTime. If you are talking with several people, you will be able to hear each person coming from a slightly different location in space that matches their physical location on the screen.

During a FaceTime call, you can adjust parameters of your microphone depending on what is supported by the microphone you are using. If you open the Control Center, there will be a Mic Mode button. When you select it, you will be presented with up to three options: Standard, Voice Isolation, and Wide Spectrum.

Spotlight Search

Spotlight Search has been enhanced and is now able to search the content of photos including location, people in them, live text, and any caption you may have added. If you prefer not to have your photos show up in Spotlight Search, you can control what shows up in search by going to Settings > Siri & Search > Photos.

Home Screen

If you have more than one home screen of apps, you can now hide, drag, and even delete an entire home screen and those apps will appear in the App Library. Do this by going into edit mode, then bring the focus to the adjustable screen number control at the bottom of the page. Select this control and you will hear "Home screen page hiding." Flick left or right to select the home screen you want to hide and select it. You can also drag an entire home screen, so you can rearrange your screens if you like.

Bluetooth Device Type

This feature was quietly added with iOS 14.5. Most devices do not have a Device Type specified. Apple says that if you specify the type of device you can ensure that your headphone audio level measurements are accurate.

But this feature can be especially useful for VoiceOver users who would like to control whether VoiceOver's voice stays on the phone or goes to a Bluetooth speaker.

All of your paired devices are listed in Settings > Bluetooth. If you swipe up with one finger on a device, you will find a More Info button. Selecting that brings up a screen with several options including Device Type. Selecting Device Type lets you choose among car stereo, headphone, hearing aid, speaker, and other. If you set a device type as speaker, then VoiceOver's voice will remain on the phone. If you set it as headphone, then VoiceOver's voice will be heard on the device. You may have to turn the device off and back on again before this setting will take effect.

Account Recovery

If you forget your password or device passcode, there are now new options to recover your account. You can add a recovery contact, this is someone who can verify your identity, and/or create a recovery key. Recovery contacts who are currently part of your family sharing are added immediately; other contacts are sent a request that must be approved. A recovery key lets you restore your data. If you create a recovery key, the only way you can reset your password is to use another device already signed into your Apple account or by using your recovery key. To do either of these things, you must be using two-factor authentication and all of your devices must be running the most up-to-date software.

To activate these features, go to Settings > [your name] > Password and Security > Account Recovery. Select Add Recovery Contact, and a list of those you are sharing with will be presented. If you prefer to add someone else, choosing Add Another Contact will bring up a list of all of your contacts.

By default, Recovery Key is set to off, if you turn it on, you will be asked if you are sure you want to do this and warned that if you lose your recovery key, Apple won't be able to help you recover your device. If you choose to use a Recovery Key, a 28-character code will be shown on the next screen. You will then be required to enter the key to confirm.

Voice Memos

Voice Memos has two new playback options. The app now lets you control playback speed from .5 to 2.0 of normal. You can also Skip gaps during playback.

To activate these options, open a recording and select Playback Settings. When you select these options, they only persist for the current recording. They do not affect the playback of other recordings.

Weather

In March 2020, Apple purchased the popular weather app Dark Sky, and now we are seeing new features in the default Weather app that are very reminiscent of Dark Sky. Now, you can turn on precipitation alerts by tapping the Location List in the bottom right corner. If you have cities in the location list, you can turn on alerts for each city. Select the More button in the upper right corner, then select Notifications. All of your locations will be listed here with an on/off setting for each one. When set to On, Weather will send you a notification when rain or snow is starting or stopping. These precipitation alerts are currently only available in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland. To enable notifications about your current location, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and give Weather permission to access your location.

The weather app also now has audio graphs for its next hour precipitation data. If rain is expected in the next hour, this will be indicated just below the location's name, and a graph will be displayed. To hear the audio graph, double tap and hold on the graph and move your finger around the screen. The data will be indicated with a tone that gets higher and lower following the height of the y axis. The x axis is time, the y axis is precipitation intensity.

Wallet

Wallet has several new features. People in participating states in the US can add their driver's license or state IDs to Wallet. The Transportation Security Administration is working to enable airport security checkpoints as the first place people can use their digital Identity Card in Wallet. Identity Cards in Wallet are encrypted and safely stored, using the same technology that makes Apple Pay private and secure. The states where this will be available first are Arizona, Georgia, Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah.

HomeKit-compatible door locks can now add support for digital house keys that can be used from the Wallet app. Corporate badge entry systems and hotel keys will also be supported in Wallet. Car key support has previously been added to Wallet but now this includes Spatial Awareness. Car key spatial awareness prevents an iPhone from being locked inside a car or a car from starting when the iPhone isn't inside. Wallet not only supports locking or unlocking the car, but also honking the horn, preheating the car, or opening the trunk.

Camera

A feature called Live Text has been added to the Camera app. When you open the Camera app, if there is any text in the camera's view, VoiceOver will say, "text detected." Select the Detect Text button which is along the right edge just above the Camera Mode control, and the text will be displayed.

From here, you can simply read the text or select what you want and copy it. Data detectors for Live Text recognize phone numbers, email addresses, dates, street addresses, and more in photos so you can take action on them. This also works on photos that are in your Photos app.

Siri

Siri now does much of its work to process your spoken requests directly on the device. This results in much faster responses.

You can share many types of things with people in your contacts. If you open an email, article, photo, or similar item, you can simply say to Siri "Share with [name of person] and it's done. You will be prompted to choose which of your contact's phone numbers or email addresses you would like to use. Items like images, webpages, Apple Music or Podcasts, Apple News stories, and Maps locations will share the actual content. Other items will share screenshots.

Find My

Find My has added a Left Behind feature. A new setting, Notify when Left Behind Separation Alerts, notifies a user if they leave an AirTag, Apple device, or Find My network accessory behind in an unfamiliar location, and the Find My network now supports AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.

Safari

There have been a number of changes made to Safari. Address bar has moved to the bottom. If you prefer it on top, just go to Settings > Safari. In the Tabs section, select Single Tab and this will put the address bar back at the top.

You can now add browser extensions like you can with a desktop computer. This can extend Safari's functionality to include things like ad blockers.

There is now a Voice Search button. Double tap the Address Bar and flick to the right and there will be a Voice Search button.

Hide my Email

If you are an iCloud+ subscriber, you now have the option to create a Hide My Email address, which allows you to create unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox so you can send and receive email without having to share your real email address. If anyone responds to the disposable email address, it will be forwarded to your real email address.

To do this, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Hide My Email and select the Create New Address button. The addresses are composed of random words with a few numbers so they are not too difficult to remember. You can also make a label to remember where you used it or what it is. You can delete the disposable email address at any time.

iCloud Private Relay

Also for iCloud+ subscribers, Private Relay is a new feature that hides your real IP address and browsing activity to add a level of security in Safari. To enable this, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Private Relay. Here, when Private Relay is set to On, you can choose how your IP address location is revealed. The options are: use general location or use your country and time zone.

Coming Soon

Other planned iOS 15 features have been delayed until later in 2021. There are a few worth watching for. Augmented reality walking directions will be coming to Maps. Will this have any benefit to VoiceOver users? SharePlay lets you share video content with others during FaceTime. Legacy Contacts lets you set a contact who can manage your Apple devices after your death.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Janet Ingber

After much anticipation, Apple released iOS 15 on September 20, 2021. This operating system has both new accessibility and mainstream features. This article covers the accessibility features for people who are blind, deaf-blind or low vision. Although iOS 15 can run on anything capable of using iOS 14, not all accessibility features are available on older devices. If you are using an iPhone XS or above, all of the accessibility features will work. I am using the new iPhone 13 Mini with iOS 15.0.2.

VoiceOver Quick Settings

If you are already familiar with the VoiceOver rotor, the new Quick Settings works in a similar manner. Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Quick Settings. Here you will find a long list of VoiceOver commands. Select whichever items you would like to have in Quick Settings, the same way as adding commands to the rotor. By default, the command for opening Quick Settings is a 2-finger quadruple tap. You can change this by going to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Commands. The keyboard command is VO+V. According to Scott Davert from AppleVis, “As of iOS 15.0, there is no braille display equivalent for the VoiceOver Quick Settings command, and no option to add this to a keyboard assignment.” VoiceOver Quick Settings can be invoked from most locations on your device. VoiceOver will say, “VoiceOver Settings.” There is a Done button in the upper right corner. You can have the same item in both the rotor and Quick settings.

Live Text

Although Live Text is not specifically an accessibility item, it does deserve mention. You will need a steady hand to take advantage of Live Text. Live Text does not take the place of reading apps such as Seeing AI, KNFB Reader, and Voice Dream Scanner. Live Text lets you point your device’s camera at an item or text, and VoiceOver will start reading if there is any text. At the same time, VoiceOver might speak other items that the camera sees or might give directions to tilt the camera. Flick right to the Detect Text button and select it. This will focus VoiceOver only on the text and VoiceOver will continue reading. If you are a braille user, you will need to read the text quickly before the text disappears (your other hand is holding the phone.) Three buttons (Select All, Copy, and Look Up) will be on the screen. If there is a phone number or email in the photo, the text for that item will be a link. The user can act on this link directly from the photo. The Live Text feature also works on photos.

Image Explore

Image Explore will have VoiceOver speak more information about an image than VoiceOver did previously. The image can be a photo or any other image on your device. It will give information about where people and objects are located within the photo.

Start by going to the image. Next, swipe up with one finger and VoiceOver will say “Explore Image Features.” Flick right to explore what is on the screen. VoiceOver is not always 100% correct, but you get a lot of useful information. Images can be marked up to provide even more information.

Verbosity

New options have been added to VoiceOver’s Verbosity settings. One of my favorites is the ability to inform me if my flashlight has accidentally been left on. I have been a victim of the flashlight draining my battery. Another option I like is whether VoiceOver speaks numbers in words or digits.

Grouped Navigation

If you are a Mac user, chances are you will already be familiar with grouped Navigation. It is called Interacting on the Mac. Grouped Navigation groups similar items together to make navigation within the group easier. The command to begin Grouped Navigation is a two-finger swipe to the right. Get out of Group Navigation with a two-finger swipe to the left. On a keyboard, the commands are Shift+VO+Down Arrow and Shift+VO+Up Arrow.

Per App Settings

For people with low vision, you now have the ability to customize apps so they are easier to see. This is separate from the Display Text Size option in the Accessibility menu. Customization for each app is done separately.

To customize an app, go to Settings > Accessibility > Per App Settings. Next, select the Add App button and then choose an app you want to change. On the next screen, select the app so that the Display and Text Size settings will be on the screen. The changes you make here will only affect the selected app.

You can now also adjust an app’s text size in the Control Center. Make sure the Text Size option is in your Control Center. When in an app, you can quickly change the text’s size.

Magnifier

The Magnifier is now a separate app. It is located in the Utilities folder.

Headphone Accommodations

If you are using supported AirPods or Beats headphones, you can now import your audiogram into Headphones Accommodation. You can send a photograph or scan a copy and import it. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual. The first heading is Audio. Headphone Accommodations is the first option under the heading.

Background Sounds

This feature is designed to reduce environmental noise, help people concentrate, or just relax. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual. Flick down to Background Sounds. This feature is off by default. There is a list of sounds including Rain, Ocean, and Stream. You can control both sound volume and enabling of Background Sounds.

Conclusion

I recommend upgrading to iOS 15. It offers many new accessibility and mainstream features. There are numerous security updates in this release. You can get iOS 15 by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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J.J. Meddaugh

Hearthstone is one of today's most popular mainstream online games, with millions of players from around the world battling their heroes to the death. As a screen reader user, it's a game that I largely ignored because, like most other titles, it was not easily playable using access technology. But seven years after the game's initial launch, blind and low vision players can now join the world of Hearthstone, thanks to the tireless efforts of one developer. Below I'll explain more about the game and how to join in the fun.

Getting Started

Hearthstone is a game of strategy, mental prowess, and a bit of luck. You battle your opponent with a pre-constructed deck of cards, but instead of numbers and suits, these cards are designed to battle your opponent, using minions, spells, and weapons. If this sounds a bit complicated, don't worry, as the game is designed to guide you every step of the way, and I'll explain the mechanics in more detail below. While Hearthstone is available for a variety of platforms, the accessibility features only work with the Windows version of the game. I recommend a recent laptop from the past 4-5 years for the best experience. In addition to English, the accessibility features have been translated into Polish, European Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Chinese.

Before you start playing, you will need to download a few tools. This page of instructions will give you all of the links you need to play. First, you'll need to get the Battle.net launcher, which allows you to run the game, and also manages game updates. Simply install this file like you would a normal Windows program. Once you have this installed, you can download the game itself. This will likely take a bit of time, so go make yourself a coffee while the game downloads and is setup. The last piece is the one that brings us accessibility, a program called Hearthstone Access. Once you run this program, the game will be ready to play. Hearthstone is a free game, though there are in-game items that can be purchased. But it is quite feasible to play the game without spending any real money.

About Hearthstone Access

Hearthstone Access is a project conceived by a programmer who prefers to go by the moniker of Guide Dev. As he wrote in an email, development started after a serious car accident that occurred late last year.

"I decided to use my free time to try and build something that could help someone. In the end, I chose this particular project because I've always loved making games and felt like I could not only make Hearthstone fully playable and enjoyable with a TTS, but also try to set an example that other games could follow in the future."

For Guide Dev, Hearthstone Access is a side project. He is not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind Hearthstone. As a volunteer project, he has put in several hundred hours in order to make the game playable, with hundreds more spent on regular updates and improvements released over the past several weeks. Hearthstone Access is available for free, but if you would like to support the time spent to make the game playable, the developer has set up a Patreon to accept recurring donations, or a PayPal to make a one-time contribution to the project. Game documentation and how to make a donation are available from this page.

Guide Dev feels like the contributions made so far have made a difference, and I wholeheartedly agree. He especially appreciates watching players stream games online and hearing their excitement as they discover new features and game modes.

Running the Game

To run Hearthstone, open the Battle.net Launcher. This app presents itself as a webpage. If the Hearthstone tab is not selected, Arrow to it and select it. You then will want to locate and press the Play Hearthstone button. It'll take several seconds for the game to load, but once it does, you will hear some music and a welcome to the game. At this point, you can close the Battle.net Launcher if you wish, and just leave the Hearthstone window open.

As a new user, you will want to start with the tutorial, where you will both learn about the game and the keyboard commands at the same time. Each battle is designed to teach a basic mechanic of the game. As a screen reader user, instructions and information will be spoken using your normal screen reader's voice.

One thing you may want to adjust early on is the volume of the game sounds and music, as depending on your setup, these may drown out the instructions from your screen reader. To do this, press Escape while in the game, and Arrow Down to the Options menu. From here, you can adjust the master and music volume and other game settings.

Image caption: The image shows the main Hearthstone menu. The menu is displayed In the foreground (from top to bottom in a list) where it shows the options: Hearthstone, Battlegrounds, Mercenaries, and Modes. Below this centered menu are 4 buttons. From left to right, the menu shows: Shop, Journal, Open Packs with a number denoting the quantity, and “My Collection.” At the very bottom, the menu has 3 items: On the far left, is the Social Panel button displaying number of friends online, Towards the right of the screen is the player's current gold total, and to the far right is the Game Menu button.

Hearthstone Basics

Put simply, the goal of each Hearthstone battle is to destroy your opponent's hero before they destroy yours. Each hero starts with 30 health points, and the various cards played by you and your opponent will do damage to your opponent or protect your own hero.

Your hand is composed of drawn cards from a pre-constructed deck of 30, which can include a variety of card types. Minions are characters that can attack your opponent's hero or their minions. Spells can do damage to your opponent or achieve some other effect, such as drawing extra cards or hampering your opponent. Other card types like weapons and secrets are also available.

There are ten basic classes which you can play in Hearthstone, and you choose which one to battle with before each match. The class you choose determines which cards are available for play and by extension, the type of game you wish to play. For instance, playing the mage class will allow you to use a variety of spells to damage your opponent, such as Fireball, which gives 6 damage to your opponent's hero, or Cone of Cold, which deals damage to some of your opponent's minions and also freezes them for a turn so they can't harm you. If you chose the priest class, there are several cards that allow you to heal your hero or your minions, or perform what is called a buff, adding additional strength or health to one of your minions. Naturally, the class you pick along with the class of your opponent will largely determine your best strategy for the game.

Guide Dev has put a lot of thought into creating a simple set of commands that allows for efficient navigation of the game. Each card in your hand represents a minion, spell, or other card which you can play on your turn. After pressing C to move to your hand, pressing the Left or Right Arrow keys will move through your list of cards and announce each card's title. To learn more about the card you have selected, press Down Arrow several times. For a minion, this will include the number of attack and health points, given as two numbers such as 3-2, for three attack and two health. Another important piece of information is the number of mana crystals required to play the card. Unlike other games where you play exactly one card each turn, in Hearthstone, your number of mana crystals determines which cards you can play. For your first turn, you will be given just one mana crystal to use, with that number going up by one each turn until you reach a maximum of 10. So, if you have 5 mana crystals, you can play a single powerful card with a value of five mana, or several smaller cards that total five mana crystals or fewer.

Some cards include special effects that can be triggered either when played or later in the game. For instance, playing a minion with taunt means that your opponent must destroy that minion before attacking other minions on your board or your hero. When you hear one of these words and are unsure of its meaning, pressing I will give information about the effect, if available. Each game, you start with three cards if playing first, or four if playing second. Before the first round, you will have a chance to discard, or mulligan, any of the cards in your hand if you don't want to start the game with them. One of the main reasons you may want to do this is if you are dealt a bunch of cards with a high amount of mana crystals. Remember you start the first turn with only one, so you could leave yourself stuck without a valid play if you don't discard. Once both players have completed this round, then the actual game begins. During a typical turn, you will play one or more cards to summon minions or cast spells that affect you or your opponent. If you have any minions on your board, you can attack your opponent's minions or their hero. Each class also has what is called a hero power which can usually be used once per turn if you have enough mana crystals. For example, the mage class has a basic hero power called Fire blast, which costs two mana crystals and inflicts one damage on the enemy hero. To use your hero power, press R during your turn. Again, the tutorial and your early matches will expose you to the major features of the game.

Hearthstone is a game that is simple at its core, but features a ton of strategy. Should you destroy all of your opponent's minions, or go after their hero? Should you concentrate on filling up your board with minions, or cast a spell which will inflict damage on your opponent's board? The cards you play, and even the order you play them in, can make or break your match. The good news is that Hearthstone is designed to allow for new players to get used to the game at whatever pace they wish.

After completing the tutorial, the next goal should probably be to build up one of your classes to at least Level 10. One way to do this is by playing practice matches against the innkeeper. There is no penalty for losing at this point, so you can experiment as much as you wish. As you play the game more, you will gain an understanding of which cards are most effective to use at any particular time.

Another option available to you is to play the Book of Heroes, a story mode that features several battles of increasing difficulty against the heroes of the game. As you gain levels or complete these storylines, you will gain more cards which you can use to build better and more powerful decks.

At some point you may wish to play online against other players. Luckily, Hearthstone's system for finding you an opponent is designed to pair you up with other players of a similar skill level. So, if you choose to play an online match, you will face another new player. You can also play against your friends or become a spectator for one of their matches. You do this by pressing F4 to access the Social menu.

There is a lot more to Hearthstone that I don't have room to include here, but you'll learn as you go along. You can obtain packs of cards that can be used to build new decks to fight your opponents. Play long enough, and you will enter a ranking system designed to award cards and other perks to the best players. There are some players using Hearthstone Access who have already reached the Legend rank, the highest tier possible in the game.

Image caption: The game board is seen from above with the player's hand at the bottom of the screen followed by the player's hero centered at the back of the game board just above. Above the hero are spaces for the players minions, with one currently summoned. Across the board from the player, is the opponent's currently summoned minion, followed by the opponent's hero on the far side of the center of the board. The player's minion card is selected displaying the card in full. The card reads: Primal Dungeoneer; 3 Mana; 2 3; Battlecry: Draw a spell. If it's a Nature spell, also draw an Elemental; Rare.

Some Notes on Accessibility

Guide Dev is quickly adding new features to Hearthstone Access, unlocking the opportunity to explore more parts of the game. While there are some modes of Hearthstone which will not automatically be spoken, they may be available in a later update. If you are an advanced user of NVDA, you can get an add-on called Golden Cursor and use a file to select items on the screen where the accessibility support is not available. Again, more information on this is available in the help page linked above.

Why Is This a Big Deal?

There are lots of excellent audio games, and a growing number of mainstream titles with some level of screen reader support. But Hearthstone Access is perhaps one of the biggest advancements in the history of online gaming accessibility. As opposed to an audio game that may have a few hundred or thousand users to talk strategy with, we can tap into a community of millions of users from around the world. There are sites such as the Hearthstone Wiki that give you information and strategy about any card in the game. Out of Cards includes decks that others have built along with strategies for using them. There are active forums on Reddit including R/Hearthstone to discuss the latest game trends and features. Advanced users can tap into sites that will look at your current set of cards and suggest the best decks you can build. And the beautiful thing about all of this is that it the information is the same for everyone, blind or sighted. Hearthstone Access levels the playing field and allows for blind players to waste countless hours playing one of the most popular games in the world. It's a game that's easy enough to learn, but can take many hours to master. Even experienced players will make mistakes or need to modify their strategies as new cards and game modes are introduced.

My only regret is that Blizzard is not paying Guide Dev for this amazing work that brings Hearthstone to an entirely new audience. Guide Dev has implemented easy-to-use screen reader support that does exactly what it needs to do and then gets out of the way so you can play the game just like everyone else. If one person in their spare time can achieve this after a few months of programming, imagine what would be possible if a company like Blizzard hired even a couple of full-time staff to work on this themselves. Until or if that day ever comes, we have Guide Dev to thank for opening up an entire gaming world to a new audience, and judging from the comments, live streams, feedback, and Patreon donations, the work is definitely being noticed. Hearthstone is the type of game that has a ton of replay value and will keep you hooked, perhaps even a bit too hooked. If you want to join in the fun, as the game's innkeeper says, "busy night, but there's always room for another."

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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NVDA Virtual Conference Announces Call for Topics and Conference Dates

The NVDA virtual conference is an event in which NVDA users, developers, contributors, supporters, and anyone who has an interest in accessible technology can meet to discuss and learn more about the free NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) screen reader. This year, the conference is titled "NVDA: 15 Years and Still Evolving". The conference is virtual and free for all to attend, and has previously seen presentations from individuals from all over the world including United States, Australia, Ireland, India, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, and Brazil. The conference will take place over the first weekend in December, (December 3-5) and the final schedule will be announced on the NVDA Conference website.

If you are interested in submitting a presentation topic, you can do so using this form until November 15. More information on this years conference, as well as recordings from previous conferences can be found on the NVDA Conference website.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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