Need a break from the gonzo politics and general bullshit? Here's a documentary about Cree fiddlers from North Ontario, Canada traveling to the Orkney Islands, Scotland tracing the roots of their music:

https://www.nfb.ca/film/fiddlers_of_james_bay/

Can't Waltz like A Log Driver

#PartnersPetPeevesAnything
#HashTagGames #NFB #LogDriverWaltz #Canada
@NFB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upsZZ2s3xv8

Free #Accessibility Workshop:
Make your Documents accessible to people who are #blind
January 28 2025, 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Eastern via #Zoom
Register at:
https://nfb.org/form/accessibility-boutique-reg
#A11Y #PDF #MSWord #GoogleDocs #NFB

Père Noël! Père Noël! (Santa Claus is Coming Tonight) (1974) [12 min] by Pierre Hébert | #Canada

https://www.nfb.ca/film/pere_noel_pere_noel/

This is going to ruffle some feathers but its my opinion. Personally, I believe its possible for #Blind people to be employed, and not just in blindness specific jobs that don't pay well enough to be worth the work, no, I believe its possible for blind people to be employed into the mainstream at high levels, and by mainstream, i mean both government and private sector, and I'm not talking 5 figures here, which isn't bad, i won't lie there, but no, 6 figures and above. I also personally believe that largely, the blind community has essentially given up. I think its a matter of 3 things, 1, learned helplessness, why try when everyone else has failed so logically, there's no point when only less than 1 percent of the community makes it to those positions? I know that's what many people think and while I'm not saying its easy to do, I believe that its not as grim as people say it is because let's be honest, blind people have skills, bline people have the same abilities as anyone to do well at very high level jobs, and blind people can live rich lives filled with great things, but its that learned helplessness holding many back. The second thing is lack of connections, while the #NFB and #ACB are good organizations in terms of advocacy, they are having problems in terms of real tangible programming that allows blind people to get into these high level positions and that's due to 2 things, scandals, and organizational leadership mismanagement. We can't have the spector of these scandals that I won't go into especially with the NFB continue to block our path to success, and its important to regain the powers we once had in the world, because right now, the blindness specific organizations are much weaker than they were even in the 70's and 80's. My dad told me of a time when the NFB had the power to attract congressional leaders and now they can't even do that for their conventions, its mostly lower level government officials now. The third problem I see is that we continue to not push the making of our own paths, business isn't taught, learning how to affectively market ourselves if we want jobs or learning how to start businesses just isn't a thing and I've seen it, how many blind business owners are there? I know of very few personally, and that's sad because if we can't get jobs, why not make our own jobs? why must some people simply give up and continue living on the government's dime when blindness is perfectly able to be dealt with, especially in 2024? I've heard some people say well, its not worth it,or, its risky or its easier not to work and get a check than it is to do any of these things and to that I say, sure, its easier but is it a better life? Who wants to live in their parents house when they're 50? I know i don't. In the end, I'm not hear to judge anyone, that's not why I made this post, I made this post to point out that its actually possible to get to where you want to go if work is put into it. Hell, i wouldn't have my job now if I didn't do anything to make it happen, that and connections help, oh, and one more thing, we need to bring Braille literacy up, I mean by a whole lot, because if you can't read braille, you can't read, end of story, and I am not budging on this point and yes, I'm a fluent braille reader. If you can't read, you'll only get shit jobs, its just the deal and nothing will convince me otherwise. WE fix these things and we'll be alright, but it starts with the mentality, first and formost because without a better outlook on things, absolutely nothing gets done and that leads to more problems down the road. We're already not taken seriously by society and I'm sorry to say but that's our fault as a populous, and not necessarily all the sighted people's problems, even though I have a lot to say about the sighted population. Thank you for reading/listening.

Are you #blind or #LowVision and live in the United States?
Participate in a 90-minute study about #CloudComputing platforms.
$275 for completing the session.

Follow this link to apply and please specify Chris Smart, SmartWebTester@gmail.com as the person who referred you.
http://link.utest.com/cloud-accessibility-refchris

An article from Federal News Network demonstrating how sadly difficult it still is for the US government to make their technology accessible to all users:

"Agencies still struggling to meet digital accessibility standards"

#blind #blindness #NFB #accessibility #disability #technology
Link:
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/technology-main/2024/12/agencies-still-struggling-to-meet-digital-accessibility-standards/

A good reminder why the blindness community needs to fight for excellent smartphone accessibility and uptake. A great opinion piece in tpday's Washington Post about how "Access to services, benefits and discounts is migrating to mobile apps — and leaving the needy behind."
#blind #blindness #nfb #Smartphones #accessibility
Link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/04/smart-phone-access-unequal/