DEV Community: Tatyana Bayramova, CPACC

AI in Assistive Technologies for People with Visual Impairments

Tatyana Bayramova, CPACC — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 17:07:52 +0000

The other day, I watched a report on NHK WORLD JAPAN BIZ STREAM program about digital AIs and found out about Eye Navi app, which helps people with visual impairments to see and navigate the world around them.

The app uses a smartphone camera to collect information about the environment and then processes it using AI to provide the user with an audio description:

"The system provides audible notification of the presence or absence of pedestrians, car stops, and other obstacles to walking, as well as the color of pedestrian signals."

Unfortunately, the app is currently only available in Japan, but while researching this topic, I found similar apps available in other countries:

Be My Eyes - a free app that connects blind or low vision users who want support with volunteers and companies across the world through live video and AI.
Lookout by Google - using your phone's camera, this app makes it easier to get more information about the world around you and allows you to do everyday tasks more efficiently like reading text and documents, sorting mail, etc. Lookout is available only on Android devices.
Seeing AI by Microsoft - a free app that describes the world around you. It helps with everyday tasks, such as reading, describing photos, identifying products, and more.

Image credit: Eye Navi website.

Sources

Glaucoma Awareness Month

Tatyana Bayramova, CPACC — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 16:21:31 +0000

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, affecting millions of people. It is estimated that approximately 80 million people globally have glaucoma, and the number is projected to grow to over 111 million by 2040.

Glaucoma is commonly known as the "silent thief of sight" because it usually has no symptoms in its early stages. With this condition, the optic nerve gets damaged slowly, leading to vision field reduction and, if left untreated, blindness.

High intraocular pressure (IOP) is a major risk factor for glaucoma. Elevated IOP can damage the optic nerve fibers, leading to progressive vision loss, resulting in glaucoma. However, glaucoma can also occur in individuals with normal IOP levels, known as normal-tension glaucoma. High IOP alone is not a definitive indicator of glaucoma.

Unfortunately, due to late diagnosis, one person I know lost their vision. Even though glaucoma has no cure yet, blindness could be prevented with regular eye exams and early treatment, such as applying eye drops, or performing an SLT procedure that helps lower IOP to prevent further damage to the optic nerve.

What can you do to support people with glaucoma?

Learn more about needs of people with glaucoma

Glaucoma affects the way people perceive the environment. Use vision simulators like Glaucoma Vision Simulator or NoCoffee vision simulator for Firefox to understand how glaucoma affects vision. Adapt your digital and physical projects so that they're easy to use with visual impairments.

Similar simulators exist for other visual impairments as well.

For digital content, follow WCAG and PDF/UA standards

WCAG criteria like 1.1.1. Non-text Content (Level A), 1.4.4 Resize Text (Level AA), and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) address needs of people with visual impairments, including glaucoma. This is not an exhaustive list, and you should aim to follow other WCAG criteria to ensure your digital content is accessible to people with disabilities.

To ensure PDF accessibility, follow PDF/UA (PDF for Universal Access) standard. This will help make your documents accessible by users of assistive technologies, such as screen readers.

Ensure compliance with EN 301 549 standard for a wider range of products

European standard EN 301 549 specifies accessibility requirements for a broad range of products and services, including hardware, software, websites, and electronic documents. By following this standard, you can make your digital content is accessible to people with disabilities, including those with visual impairments like glaucoma.

Complying with these standards is a great first step, but keep in mind that no guideline or automated tool guarantees accessibility. An effective way to ensure accessibility is to conduct accessibility user testing with people with disabilities.

Accomodate for people with visual impairments, including glaucoma

Adopt accessible practices in the physical world. Design physical spaces with accessibility in mind — for example, provide printed materials and signage in Braille or large print, whenever possible. To help people with glaucoma navigate the environment, install tactile paving.

Support your local glaucoma organizations

There are many organizations around the world that support glaucoma research, provide guidance and support groups for people with glaucoma. You can find a glaucoma society in your country on the World Glaucoma Association's list of member societies.

Here are some glaucoma organizations you can support:

By keeping accessibility barriers in mind, we can help ensure that individuals with glaucoma and other visual impairments can access and benefit from the great variety of products and public services.

Sources

Accessibility Testing on Windows on Mac

Tatyana Bayramova, CPACC — Tue, 13 May 2025 06:18:58 +0000

Today's note is about something that I, as a new Mac user, had to deal with while setting up my work environment.

TL;DR: To run NVDA and JAWS on a Mac, you need to install Windows 11 for ARM in a virtual machine like UTM, and map a spare key to the Insert key with SharpKeys.

Why do accessibility testing on Windows if you have a Mac?

According to the WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #10, Windows-only screen readers NVDA and JAWS are used by the majority of users. Just like browsers, screen readers have differences in how they present information, so it's always a good idea to test your website or app using different browser/screen reader combinations.

In addition, some of the styling, like box shadows, background images, and so on, is removed when Windows High Contrast Mode (WHCM) is enabled. Sadly, there is no alternative to the WHCM on the Mac.

Installation

Step 1 – Installing a virtual machine

There are multiple virtual machines available on Mac, such as Parallels, VirtualBox, and UTM. I'm using UTM, but this guide doesn't depend on its specifics, so you can choose whatever works for you.

You can download UTM for free from the official website. You can also purchase it from the Mac App Store to support the team behind the software.

Step 2 – Installing Windows

When you have got UTM up and running, create a new virtual machine. You will need a Windows installation disk image, which you can download from the Microsoft website.

Click on "Create a New Virtual Machine", select "Virtualize", and follow the wizard. You will need to specify the path to the installation ISO here.

Step 3 – Installing screen readers

Both NVDA and JAWS work on ARM-based devices now, so you can install them in a virtual machine, just as you would on a real device.

If you would like to install any other programs, make sure that they also support ARM processors.

Step 4 – Mapping missing keys

Due to the fact that Mac and Windows use different keyboards, you are not able to use the Insert key in your UTM virtual machine. (You will need it for the various shortcuts for NVDA and JAWS.)

You have to use a third-party program to remap keys on Mac or Windows level. I'm using SharpKeys – an open-source program for Windows.

Download, install, and run SharpKeys inside the virtual machine.

Click on the "Add" button. In the new window, find "Special: Insert" on the right. In the left list, select a key that you would like to act as the Insert key. For instance, if you select F1 on the left, every time you press F1 key inside your virtual machine, it will register as Insert.

Make sure to map a key that is not used in any shortcuts.

Once finished, press "OK", and then "Write to registry" to save changes – it will not work otherwise.

At this point, you're good to go and start your accessibility testing. Hooray!

Step 5 (bonus) – Accessing localhost

If you are developing a project and running it locally, you might want to do quality assurance before deploying changes. For this, you need to be able to access your project at http://localhost:port from within the virtual machine.

One way to do that with UTM is to set the network mode for the virtual machine to "Shared Network". Then, look up the Default Gateway IP address in Windows, which you can do by running ipconfig command in the Command Prompt:

Now make sure that your project is accepting requests to this IP address. For example, to run a SvelteKit project in development mode and accept connections on all available IP addresses, you need to slightly modify the default command:

npm run dev -- --host

You can find a similar command for your tool.

Extensive accessibility testing is important

Mac is a great platform for web development. However, the reality is that majority of desktop users are Windows users. Thanks to tools like UTM, we are able to run Windows and Windows-specific software directly on a Mac.

By testing on a wide range of tools and platforms, we make the Web accessible for all.

What is your setup? Share it in the comments!

Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now - Celebrating Human Rights Day

Tatyana Bayramova, CPACC — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 17:44:10 +0000

Today we celebrate Human Rights Day. On this day in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a milestone document on human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It is the most translated document in the world, having been translated into more than 500 languages.

This year's theme (“Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now”) is about recognizing the importance of the human rights in our lives. We should always remember that everyone is born free and equal in dignity and rights. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said, “Human rights are the foundation for peaceful, just, and inclusive societies”.

Let's create an accessible and inclusive society so that no one is excluded, regardless of a disability, race, gender, or anything else.

https://www.un.org/en/observances/human-rights-day

Image credits: UN website.

Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Tatyana Bayramova, CPACC — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 15:02:22 +0000

Today, December 3rd, is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the annual observance of this day in October 1992 (resolution 47/3).

Each year, this day is observed with a focus on a specific theme. The 2024 theme is Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future.

Disability impacts more people than you might think

It is estimated that 1 in 4 adults in the European Union have at least one disability (Eurostat). In the United States, the number is even higher - 28.7% of the adult population are people with disabilities (CDC). Overall, 1.3 billion people around the globe would benefit from accessible solutions (WHO).

With aging population, we can only expect a rise in numbers in the future (Eurostat).

Contributing towards the accessible future

There are many ways to improve quality of live for people with disabilities. For example, cities could invest more in accessible infrastructure, such as wheelchair ramps, elevators, or tactile pavings.

Another way is to promote use of assistive technologies, like screen readers, screen magnifiers, or braille displays. Everyday things like eyeglasses or walking sticks are also considered assistive technology.

As more and more services go online, it's more important than ever for software to have an accessible user interface. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) help developers to create web pages and web applications that are easy to use, navigate, and understand.

Enhanced accessibility is not only beneficial for people with disabilities. For example, ramps designed for wheelchair users are also helpful for people with strollers; a website with keyboard navigation support is easy to use for people with a temporary impairment as well (e.g., a broken arm).

Accessibility is a necessity, not a premium

We all can make a contribution towards a more accessible world. By promoting and implementing inclusive ideas, we make sure that each and every member
of society is able to live their life to the fullest. We need to remember: accessibility is not a premium feature, but a necessity for a functioning society.

To understand the extent of the need for an inclusive world, I invite you to watch the video below, which shows a world where the roles are reversed.