How a Completely Blind Manager - Dev Uses Emacs Every Day

Discover how a completely blind manager and developer leverages Emacs to boost productivity in this 21-minute conference talk from EmacsConf 2019. Explore the use of Emacspeak, learn techniques for making packages accessible through Elisp, and gain insights into creating accessible interfaces for otherwise inaccessible tools. Delve into the challenges faced by screen reader users, the importance of customization in Emacs for blind users, and the speaker's approach to managing tasks, projects, and team deadlines. Gain valuable perspective on the role of Emacs in empowering blind individuals to overcome productivity barriers and the potential for improving accessibility in software development.

Intro
HOW DO THE BLIND USE A COMPUTER?
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS THAT SCREEN READER USERS RUN INTO?
CAN A BLIND PERSON WHO KNOWS HOW TO CODE FIX THESE PROBLEMS?
HOW DOES THIS SITUATION AFFECT A BLIND PERSON'S PRODUCTIVITY? • Death by a million papercuts • Lack of control • Examples include IDES, JIRA, Workplace/Workchat, Trello and Google Docse
WHY DON'T WE CREATE SOFTWARE SPECIALLY FOR THE BLIND?
SO, WHAT SHOULD WE DO? • Make it easier to add accessibility to applications • Educate developers • Prioritize accessibility in companies
WHAT ABOUT EMACS? Emacs is customizable and allows developers to retrieve any kind of information.
Convey if text is bold, italicized or underlined • Play tones for different states, like when a node in org-mode is collapsed, or a checkbox in customize is unchecked • Speak indentation
WHAT IF SOMETHING IN EMACS ISN'T ACCESSIBLE? Example: org-capture
HOW ELSE DOES EMACS MAKE ME MORE PRODUCTIVE?
11.2 MANAGING TASKS, PROJECTS AND TEAM DEADLINES
11.3 MAKING OTHER APPLICATIONS ACCESSIBLE