Discord Accessibility for blind users
Gepland
Hi all,
I'm a blind discord user but the app have many accessibility issues with screen readers.
Last summer, some improvements made about it but there is a long road ahead of us.
I would like to emphasize some of them.
First and for most, the iPhone app is unaccessible with voiceover. I use the app with my computer but in mobile neither me nor my friends can not use it. Any of the buttons are labeled properly, even voiceover can not detects buttons or links.
On computer the app is better but not good for Voiceover, Jaws or NVDA.
Some buttons like mute or deff are clearly labeled but most of them are unlabeled, such as emojis, adding file, opening or closing notifications, mentions ETC...
Also sliders can not detecte with voiceover, sighted person needs to use them.
As an advice, if blind testers test the betas, it will be great up for blind community for soon.
I think if yu ask to applevis.com or audiogames.net, they will be happy to help you.
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Officiële opmerking
Hey all, thanks so much for the feedback!
If you would like to discuss your feedback with our Accessibility team directly, please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/jjpshi7n4ahenZod6 -
i really hope they get on with this soon, and i hope your post gets more upvotes. app developers in general don't seem to put any thought into how things work with screen readers, and it sucks.
79 -
They really need some help about this, if they contact with blind developers out there, accessibility issues will be solved in short time.
71 -
I have a friend who is blind and is unable to use Discord because of it's inaccessibility. Please make Discord accessible so my blind friend could join our conversations!
69 -
The only reason my community still uses IRC is because we have a few blind users who wouldn't be able to navigate the interface. We would switch in a heartbeat should this situation change. Definitely an upvote from me as someone who works as a developer for accessible web technologies.
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"I'm guessing the screenreading companies will need to reach out to discord and work with them."
There is absolutely no need for this, Discord developers should have by now every bit of knowledge how to do it. Labeling buttons isnt that hard.
51 -
I am hopeful that accessibility can be addressed as well, since it seems a lot of the D&D community seems to be moving there lately. I'd be interested to know how those who have managed to use the app on the computer have managed to get through the captchas. I tried to get an audio captcha, but it kept telling me my computer or network seemed to be sending automated requests.
34 -
My husband is blind, and he is not able to effectively use Discord either. I've been extremely disappointed in their lack of service regarding this over the years, and rarely use it because of that. Quite frankly, I only signed on today so that I could upvote this post and show my support.
30 -
I think the app took some updates but they didn't do anything for accessibility since last summer. Some new buttons have been put but they are not labeled, I learn what they are asking a friend.
22 -
How do I make these changes happen. I too have a blind friend who would like to benefit from Discord. How can I push the developers to make this app blind friendly?
16 -
I'm using discord for mac and they've made a few small improvements. For example, when you go to a server channel, the buttons to add emojis and upload files now have labels. There's also two buttons that say send a gift. One of them lets you search for gifs, while the other lets you pay for a friend to have nitro. Unfortunately I still haven't figured out how to get to the reactions.
Another thing I noticed is that when there are new mentions in a channel, voiceover reads the number of messages. One of the servers I'm in has a lot of different channels, so it's nice to be able to know which ones I need to check.
That being said, with the latest update I'm unable to switch from the server I'm currently in back to my contacts without having to close the app. The button I use to press to get back to my contacts isn't working.
Speaking of contacts, the buttons to call, add to dms, etc etc are still not labeled. I would really appreciate it if the devs could look into these issues and fix them.
16 -
Discord just released an update making it even worse, it's now really fiddly to travel between a server/channel and the home screen.
13 -
Still no luck. The web interface is horrible, the Android app is _marginally_ better, but still a real pain to use. Definitely an upvote from me, and it appears I was no. 100. ;)
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I made a post not long ago that got taken down because somehow a fix for the stuff asked for here, that had been mostly applied, was copying this post...
I didn't even get a notification about it, and i am overall disappointed in the lack of care that goes into the support section moderation.
regardless of that the fix i asked for was to make the user context menu in a voicechat have its slider fixed, and to make it so the value that the sliders change by is able to be changed in the settings.
Hopefully someone sees / cares about it here so it'll be fixed.12 -
Not to mention that an alt-text/image descriptions feature would also be incredibly helpful. For now we're just writing it all out under any images we link, but that makes our channels look really messy. If there was a way to add alt text when uploading an image that would be super helpful for our blind users.
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Even this page to post feedback in is 100% inaccessible to screen reader users. That's Discord for you.
To add to this issue, since it already gets my vote, lets talk basics.
1. When ever you look at discord tutorials and you see click on the ... symbols or gear icon to do anything, stop. Think about this. You have text labels for everything else, but pressing on icons alone is the only way to get to a menu.
2. Imagine yourself looking at just text. Say that your computer can't process graphics of any kind. Now lets take a look at the technology behind which is used to display graphics. Because that will let you know even if you knew where the supposed empty space was where the graphics should be, whether or not it will do anything when you press it.
3. Compare the two pages. One with graphics, and one without. See how well it works for you.
Now lets talk reasons.
1. Why Nitro is quickly becoming a requirement to do anything with Discord in the first place. All this hype about it sickens me, because it's becoming less usable for people who can't pay via credit card or pay pal.
2. Why discord is becoming more codependent on people to club together just to unlock shared features. And, why any feature must become a codependency to be useful at all?
I raise this last point to the screen reader users especially because Discord isn't developed by gamers. It's being managed by communists. This is clearly a communist concept, where you need so many people to stay together to enforce freedom of availability. Everyone knows that in a capitalist society, fairness relies on independent thought to make something valuable to anyone who can use it without much help. If anyone could benefit the most from this model, it's people who require their independence to function at all. This means that codependency or absolute dependency must be optional, not enforced for all that you offer. You can't offer enforced co dependency when what you are dependent on isn't available for everyone to just simply pick up and use right away.
Providing accessible or should I say, land marks to roads you expect to be traveled often, with no signs attached, will leave you feeling lost in no time. Think about this from a competition standpoint. Before you can disqualify someone for not having any qualifications to use an object, you have to ensure they know what the object even is. Just like you would not leave a baby unattended, you would not leave your child uneducated. You would not build an app that perhaps, one day, your future or current children may need to use, but could not. Until you live it, you don't know what it's like for someone else to have to bare it.
Discord is 4 years old now, and did you know that this level of service was made in the United States? You offer the app in many different languages to be used around the world, but you do not offer people to help you build a better Discord. Why is that? You offer an API, bots, plugins, and alternative clients. And yet, do not think that your own money you are making from Nitro could not go towards the development of asking skilled developers how to build something with independence in mind? That's what your country is all about with your republican president for a leader, right?
Did you know that telegram was build in Dubai and is accessible? Did you know that Amino Apps, also built in the United States, just like Reddit, is accessible? Your competition is using independence to make a stand for people who care about their lives, and want to unite because of this basic human need. Perhaps down voting issues as a way of silent protest and leaving this one standing higher in the up votes will convince you that accessibility should be your secondary priority, the first being uptime and server maintenance to keep what you do have going strong.
It is also clear to me, that there are a lot of illegal NSFW communities on discord which has also slipped your attention. Safety and security of your platform is your global responsibility to users, and any company who allows this to go unnoticed when it is required by law that it is even in your own country, may make this more clear. Users and people matter most, and when you provide a service, they are your first and foremost reason to remain a service. As such, you have a moral obligation to ensure that you have standards so that people are respected and connected better and with more reasons to stay with you, rather than against anyone because they have no means to be available to do so otherwise, when tools they rely on, don't work.
The bottom line here, is that you're improving. But it may be too little, too late for others who still use Skype as a replacement. Consolidate your resources in ways that you can easily manage, and be sure to prioritize accordingly. Know your advantages, lookout for what ails you and reward the things that drive the least complaints and the most happiness from people.
Thanks for hearing me out.
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if accessibility isn't always taught in web dev or design, it should be. that's sorely disappointing.
I agree with the earlier sentiments that Discord should implement accessibility features for blind users. the more that can use this platform, the merrier.
9 -
I may not be blind, but the text to speech option isn't very good! I've used it while cleaning my room and talking to my friend who couldn't use their mic because I couldn't see my screen, and half of the messages they sent weren't even read to me! And even a message with like. A paragraph of stuff that I had to stop everything and read, because for some reason if there are multiple passages in one message it will only read up to a certain point? Which is no fun when helping someone study while cleaning your room!
Also it'd be cool if I could activate Text To Speech on specific messages, cause sometimes reading is a challenge (ADHD/Autism) so for big paragraph text it'd be cool to have it read to me so I don't have to give myself a literal headache to understand something. Just cause I can write a paragraph doesn't mean I can actually read it, so when sharing something in a writing chat it's hard to catch typos without hearing it, I know that for school. But since it's hard to actually have it read it to you like that, it can be hard to ensure that your messages actually make sense grammatically, you know?
I'd like to be able to have long strings of messages be read to me as well, not just big messages that have already been sent. There should be some kind of accessibility more than just "oh lets read the newest message!" Sometimes I want to be read 200+ messages in a row because I can't gosh dang read it myself! Also as someone who draws a lot, it's frustrating to have to read missed messages myself when I get up to take a break or something, cause I can't hear it for a while, so I have to take an extra 10 minutes to read it myself instead of going back to focusing on the drawing, which is probably a me specific thing but it'd be nice to have a button or key combo that is just "reread recent messages" and options for changing how long ago you want it to start.
It's not just blind people who would like these features improved! They have been minimal from the start and need an overhaul! Hopefully this can get more upvotes, as it's something I think would help a lot of people, even if I might not use it all that much myself!
9 -
I think desktop accessibility is almost done, but there are some issues about admin section. There are some unlabeled buttons on the users panel.
However, İphone app is not accessible. I can not press a button, enter a server or do nothing. Voiceover detects nothing. I hope it will be also accessible soon.
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Yes, now most buttons are clearly labeled, at least on Mac version. I hope the sliders and unlabeled buttons will be fixed in short time. And mobile version is not usable, I don't know about Android version but İOS version is not compatible with voiceover.
7 -
This is super important! It's shameful that Discord has been out for so long and hasn't made their platform compatible with voiceover and screenreaders.
7 -
I am low vision and discord is often unusable. The contrast is poor, there is no alt text options, and on mobile it is impossible to use. It reads me everything except for what I need. Again, labels would be perfect, as would push to speak the message. Currently having to copy the message and put it in my notes to read it. Support ticket not much better. Somehow the text is not English text, and it makes me screen reader flip out.
7 -
as with all things, sighted people do not understand that blind people can still “use computers” because they’re convinced the extent of this technology is a white stick therefore they get lazy and assume such a necessary update is a hardship! i really hope accessibility is taken more into focus soon, it’s extremely disappointing to see from a site frequently toted as the new IRC despite IRC actually being accessible to blind people
7 -
Hey discord team please look at this!! These additions are not just helpful, they're necessary!
7 -
there's really no excuse for discord to do this. the fact we as a community have to try and make accessibility "popular" enough to implement also sucks shit. do better discord
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Yo discord support people why are you not in this thread communicating with us about your action plan to implement full accessibility features? Making your app fully accessible should be a primary goal, not an optional afterthought. Do better please.
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Let’s do this!!
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I don't know what all Discord would have to do to implement screenreading, but if it isn't fairly simple then it's certainly at least feasible. There's clearly a great deal of potential users who would love to use Discord but can't due to accessibility issues like this one; there's no reason why steps shouldn't be taken to increase usability for all kinds of people.
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there is no reason this should've been put off for so long.
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accessibility should be one of the first things on every app devs mind
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