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  • Sep 6, 2026, 1:57 PM

    I assumed that Fediverse could really be an open, progressive environment where to discuss ideas and grow up, with different points of view. But what I'm finding lately, is something different. Narration going from "pro AI / glasses" to "no AI / glasses" so if you don't maintain a position, you are just in favor of fascists or perverts.
    The last one I had a discussion with, called me "a waste of time" because I made him realize that a sighted pervert can use his own eyes, without glasses, while I fasten my shoes strings, bent over. Instead of joining me, thinking of a proposal to satisfy blind people's needs while protecting privacy, no. The problem is me.

    Same for github/codeberg stuff: do AI-built pull-requests ruin open source software? Yes.
    Is AI-generated code dirty and unreliable? Yes.
    Have hand made coders the right to prohibit automated code? Yes, of course.
    But same coders, went on for years saying "I'm an independant coder, a small company, I have no resources to make it accessible to blind, if you need it, make it yourself".
    Now, thanks to assisted coding, many of us blind are doing exactly this: trying to solve their gaps by having the bots fix the issue. Then, to help other users (and the coder himself), they place the fix in form of pull request, into the repository. And it's often refused.
    But, would the original coder ever solve accessibility? No. I'm alone, it's a small company, you're the first blind user I hear, and similar bullshit.
    What, the fuck, should, we, do?

    From far-right, I know what to expect: they're racist, ableists, and all the worst. They don't hide it. But I couldn't definitely expect such behaviours from people caring for freedom, ethics, open technologies, etc. I'm fed up of being considered an object who can gladly be sacrificed for purity of something or someone.

    UPDATE: on blindness, coding and AI, please read this story, wrote by an experienced blind guy, about the topic:

    mosen.org/ai

    And as the discussion must be complete, I also add another point of view, together with the one pro vibe-coding.

    On the link below, Robert (another experienced blind person) talks about "disability dongle", meaning those super-tech hardwares made for disability, but are more for inspirational videos than for real time usage. Expensive and uncomfortable.

    Robert talks about hardware but it can easily be applied to AI as well: it's far from affordable, not with disability in mind, it must be well trained and you use more tokens to get what you want...

    I'm not pro, I'm not against, I'm in the middle. Appreciate good, hate the bad. And want the discussion to be more balanced.

    sightlessscribbles.com/posts/d

    #ableism #accessibility #ai #fediverse

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Replies

  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:18 PM

    @elettrona Sometimes, you find that the communities who say they're the most open, most progressive, more welcoming, most inviting, most accepting, and most open minded, are actually just like the other side except these people don't think they can be ableist or otherwise wrong about anything, so instead of just plainly saying "we don't care about you", they'll say "we love you but if you use AI, you're a Nazi," or that one thing where you're disabled but somehow on the side of the people who hate you. I first found this with Linux. How can an OS that says it's "your" OS be inaccessible if it was made for me? So what people say means very little to me. What they do and how they treat me means a lot more.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:28 PM

    @pixelate The problem is ignorance. Or, better, poor knowledge.
    Not everyone is forced to be aware of everything in the world, but when lack of knowledge turns into mind's closure, that's the danger.
    Are there many companies using us blind people as a trojan horse? I think so. Meta, with its program of donating glasses to blind veterans, and other programs I don't even remember about, is gradually making blind people assume that their technology is convenient, is easy. And why getting into trouble going to search for other smart glasses? Meta solves all. And, trojan horse I mean that our accessibility needs can become like kids are, as a topic to make people accept age verification and mass surveillance. They can be used by blind, so, be careful in prohibiting camera glasses. Kids need protection, so, force adults to share their government documents on whatever site.

    I would like a better community, able to discuss and propose something constructive which could help us, together with protecting privacy. But this way, those kind of people are just entering into panic mode because someone is posing them a question they're not prepared to.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:54 PM

    @pixelate @elettrona I agree, andI have learned this the same way. I used to believe people when they said these things. Now, it's just noise, what matters is what's done, not what's said. Usually, what's done communicates that these communities care just as little as the others do, if not less.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 3:03 PM

    @pixelate @elettrona Yeah, i've seen that a lot on here and it honestly annoys me so mutch, i think you should just let people use whatever works for them and quit calling them notsies just for not agreeing

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:26 PM

    @elettrona I am looking forwards to trying to explain to my local blind society that one of the reasons why I don't want to use smart glasses is that people on the internet think that people that use them should be on the sex offender's register.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:29 PM

    @KaraLG84 @elettrona I had them on at my recent gig. Nobody punched me in the face. I posted video with them here yesterday. Nobody screamed I was up-skirting anyone, or trying to booby-snap them because I wasn't. I was a guy playing keys at a gig who wanted to film for posterity and for fun.

    I refuse to let someone ruin something useful to me, just because they're cockwaffles of the highest order and don't deserve to breathe the same air as me.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:34 PM

    @FreakyFwoof @KaraLG84 we must start screaming against those extremists, they speak the same language of far-right, and this is the reason why far-right is getting power. Because extremism is normalized on both sides. No matter the reason, if you are extremist you end up to be 99 percent wrong; however, I think for someone extreme reasoning is a sort of "comfort zone". In times of uncertainty on all areas of life, it works like this.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:35 PM

    @elettrona @KaraLG84 Yep, that's what it feels like here.
    'Oh come to fedi' they say, 'we're all about open source, being kind, tolerating people' they say.
    'But fuck AI, fuck pervert glasses' they also say with the other hand...
    Sigh.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:48 PM

    @FreakyFwoof @KaraLG84 I think no platform can be called "safe" from this point of view. Tolerance and welcoming, depend on people. And if people have poor education/knowledge, they behave exactly the same way, whatever platform they're in and whatever political/sexual/religious orientation they have.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:29 PM

    @Jeffrey @FreakyFwoof @KaraLG84 that I mean. And tech should be available to do it: smart glasses should not be on line, they should elaborate data locally and, in case, a shared table (encrypted) where community can add and edit information. Medicines expiry dates, food ingredients, all that stuff that could help. Something you save locally, then you send to community for description/training only if wanting it to.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:31 PM

    @KaraLG84 As there are many blind men harassing folks with their hands and voice, and many sighted who harass women just using their eyes, well, let's place all men claiming themselves heterosexual, into the sex offenders register. I think it would be much, much easier. "Not all men" the fuck.

    Obviously, it's an exaggeration, but many extremists on the other side, don't even notice they're reasoning the same way of my hypothesis.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 2:50 PM

    @elettrona This is a fairly common pattern. Most of the fanatics who animate all white supremacist, homophobic, misogynistic, and bigoted groups sincerely believe they're free thinkers and promote free speech...

    Unfortunately, being on the right side of history isn't enough to avoid being complete assholes... 😅

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 3:50 PM

    @elettrona 💯 I completely recognize all of this, especially the double standards across the fediverse. My wife is deafblind. AI helps her and improves her quality of life in everything she does. The assistive side, where AI is genuinely helpful, almost never comes up in these discussions.

    The same goes for the development side. I have made accessibility fixes using assisted coding that I wouldn't have gotten done otherwise, or that would have taken a year longer. The code is still reviewed by a human - it is just that the work is actually possible to finish in a reasonable time now instead of sitting in a backlog forever.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 3:54 PM

    @elettrona I am equally annoyed by the unnuanced discourse and if anything realising blind people are finally getting a better online experience puts me to deep shame. And I am one of those who cares about making things accessible to everyone else (in all meanings of the expression). In todays society we are continuously failing eachother and I find that really hard, as a softhearted person.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 6:35 PM

    @elettrona @x0 If there is one thing I learned about the #Fos community is its that they are all for ethics, all for morality and for being on the right side of history, until they have to do work to make there software accessible to people with disabilities. And yet they think there holy because of what they already believe, fuck them, I use AI and I don't give a damn.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:04 PM

    @LeonianUniverse @x0 I fear you're going in the extreme area too. What I'm trying to do, is induce people to reflect on their own actions. I wish more awareness on them, about our needs; someone blames me for the tone I use when I say that some left-extremist, like the right-extremist, discussions, are more the sound of a goose than the sound of a civil discussion. Well, honestly I don't find better terms to reply when someone comes out comparing AI usage to a murder. It's the least I can say, and from my side, talking of the goose's sound, is not to humiliate someone but to refer to what a goose noise is. Seems with no control, apparently no proper rhythm. Very, very loud. It must be like that, as it must signal the territory to others. And some debates are like that.
    What I hope from people, is to be more constructive instead, because this way, one says murderer, the other says goose, we go nowhere.
    I would like more community effort, to sit at the table (whatever it means) with us "vulnerable" people, with concrete proposes to have a more substainable, modern, technology. Because AI makes us more vulnerable. It gives us independence, but how long? How long AI companies give tokens for cheap prices to blind related software houses? What to do, to deal with biases? The fact far-right leaders have tech companies in hand, is very relevant.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:15 PM

    @elettrona @x0 Look, I get it, I once had hope that people would be able to understand the nuances of why we use tools to make our lives better, but I learned that over time, people don't care. They wouldn't bother to know that more and more, I'm using local AI so that I don't rely on data centers, they just hear AI and assume nazi, so I can't be so nice anymore.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:18 PM

    @elettrona @x0 Like, If I could find a way to run claud locally, I absolutely would do it just to be able to code without limits. I use AI because its the gap between inaccessible experiences and accessible ones, and I'm only so harsh with the fos community because I'm tired of there attitude that they believe all AI is bad when it isn't.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:23 PM

    @elettrona @x0 And your right, people in the Open-source community say to build things ourselves but then get mad if we're doing that with the use of AI, that's wrong to be sure when all we are looking for is to make experience equal for everyone, which is why I have this attitude, as extreme as it might be, because getting called a nazi just for making my life easier with AI is something I'll defend, because I'm the furthest thing from a Nazi.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:55 PM

    @elettrona @LeonianUniverse Yep. Some FOSS projects do take a better view of AI-assisted development. The biggest one at minimum is if it writes it, verify it to the best of your ability, and test it to prove it did what you wanted it to do. If someone submits a pull request to NVDA that is AI generated, for example, because NVDA's architecture is complex, the developers expect that at minimum you clearly know what you wanted when you set out to make it and tested to ensure that it behaves as you expect and doesn't introduce any side effects. This is basic code review, even if you wrote it entirely by hand the same standard applies, but it becomes a bit more prominent with AI writing it because now you can't account that the author of the code had the system and the goal properly in their head when they did so.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 8:05 PM

    @x0 @LeonianUniverse It's important to set some rules on assisted coding submissions, because unreliable as output is, who knows what can be injected there? Malwares, crashes, many bad stuff. But I think it must be a mutual job. When submitting a request, well BEFORE doing it, the blind person who uses bots to create fixes, should contact the dev then say "hey, I have this, I've done it because your program, as it is, does not cover my needs". In a way or another, try to talk to the dev/company. Collaboration must be in both ends, and if no reply comes? The person making the effort, keeps the code for themselves. Sharing is caring, if it's mutual. But if we do not hold out our hand to explain our real needs, they won't rain from above!

    I have an experience with vibe coding, I'm building a WordPress based framework for language and vocabulary management with accessibility in mind, as available solutions have always something missing. But, being conscious of disasters AI is making around repositories, I'll present it whenever I go to events as a personal experience, but never distribute it in the public plugin directory. I'm not that careless.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 6:54 PM

    @unruly See the approach? It's the same I'm talking about. You are assuming I hate fediverse, while I never said that in any line of the post. It's because I feel free to talk, and that I have no fear to be obscured or banned from here, that I took the chance to publicly share what I dislike of some noisy people in this place - that, no, it's not a place, technically it is a network where individuals and groups from different digital and real locations, connect with each other.
    I'm sure that the same folks, moved to Facebook, X, or a fake "BumFuck" forum installed into a home computer, will behave the same way. An extremist, right or left, won't become neutral if they change the platform where they share their content. And I'm worried of increasing extremism on all sides.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 10:02 PM

    @elettrona

    I don't assume you hate the Fediverse. Someone who hated the Fediverse wouldn't be on it unless they came on just to bash it.

    I happen to really like the Fediverse because it's not commercial and not run by some algorithm.

    I would not equate the Fediverse with extremism on any side. That's not the Fediverse. That's more like the algorithm places, like X🚽.

    :mastodon:

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 10:12 PM

    @unruly thankfully it's not made of extremists. But the ones who are on fediverse, are definitely noisy.
    True, I could report them to the mods, but not every sentence annoying me, should deserve a lecture, or even a suspension, or more drastically a permanent ban.
    One thing is saying "you're always victims, you're useless, we are tired of you" - some words that a user wrote me some days ago. That one is pure offense so I reported it.
    But I didn't find appropriate to report the person saying "a murder should never be tolerated, no reason" - the post was referred to what I said about AI used to describe images for visually impaired people.
    I did feel offended, yes, that annoyed me, I blocked the person as I don't want to discuss in those terms with anyone, even if it's a metaphor. Same for those saying "perverts glasses" and similar.
    Nothing that triggers me, should be considered trigger for the whole fediverse. Discuss positions till possible, then act individually.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:04 PM

    @elettrona This is the kind of.perspective I come to the Fediverse for. I'm sighted, and I often forget the issues that others deal with daily.
    It shouldn't be your job to educate the rest of the world, but I am glad to have the chance to hear your voice

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:33 PM

    @Dtraslerwriting It should not be my job to teach others, but every single day I have to. Every single day I have to be considered a pervert (in general debates) only because my eyes are a camera installed on glasses. No one would consider me a violent because I walk with a cane, but how many people in the world have been harmed or even killed by someone grabbing a branch or a whip? Something rigid and long (no double meaning, please!) Or wheelchairs - how many wheeled vehicles have killed people?
    Someone should breathe, and reason a little bit.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 10:17 PM

    @elettrona Absolutely.
    Back to your original point - I'm anti AI use in my field, but it kills me that there are so many potentially great uses to aid people that are ignored because they're not moneyspinners. Yes, you can make the current AI stuff do useful things, but it's not being DESIGNED for that and why the hell not?
    I can only imagine the use of being able to ask questions or request functions with natural language and getting worthwhile results.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 10:32 PM

    @Dtraslerwriting You shared a very good point. Designed.
    I don't do graphics as I am totally blind, but I'm into a designers company. Because "design" goes beyond images. It's ergonomics, it's interface and elements position, it's the coherence between inputs and outputs.
    And talking as professional not as user, I have always said that disability-related benefits actually exist, many of us blind users are experimenting, studying when and where to use it, optimizing its usage - of course I don't play with it to write useless stories, or sterile conversation, aware of damages data centers are creating.
    But, besides disability, AI creators have not humanity well-being in mind. They have automated processes, so that users have not to work. Or chiefs can save money on workers for a 24/7 slave.

    About accessibility and design for AI I have a video content, it's called "accessibility isn't built into AI and that is a problem" on Underrepresented In Tech youtube channel. You could search the channel to get the content.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 10:58 PM

    @Dtraslerwriting Another key point you used: "I am anti-AI in my field". It's so damn important! You can recognize the benefits in an area, while opposing the damages in another. It's so complex and impacting technology! The center of all my post is, "pro and no AI, means basically nothing. It's sort of umbrella term". It's like saying "I'm against politics". Which kind of politicians, which tone do they use, which country, etc.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:43 PM

    @elettrona I quite agree with you! The "center" left is just as bad as the right for disabilities. I have no issue with assistive technologies and see that as one of the main ethical uses of LLMs and "AI" devices. There can be a balance reached especially with smart glasses. Possibly strict regulations on what information can be collected and retained. As for Codeberg I thought there should have been a way for people with disabilities to use assistive LLMs without allowing vibecoded slop.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:50 PM

    @kittyjynx You know what's the problem? No one of these rulers (be it software, be it politicians) ever listened to every voice seriously. Consequently, they take decisions on a quite standardized range of case studies / personas, and this is the result. We can't even go on accusing someone of deliberately ignoring needs; we can't continue with the victim narration as well.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 8:33 PM

    @elettrona I'm an anarchist so I really agree with you there! If there was not a police state and society functioned at human scale again this technology would not be nearly as controversial. Also, bad actors use encryption but it does not mean that technology is inherently malign. You are right I don't think people actively think about disabled people when they construct their views around LLMs. The disabled community here has radically changed how dogmatic I was against LLMs.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 7:57 PM

    @elettrona

    so this is where I think more care needs to be taken, and I suspect that the reason the walls are so high is because a lot of human systems and behavior are open to abuse instead of genuinely helping people.

    so I suspect that a reduction to things like accessibility are seen as good things by more conservative tech folks because of the fact that there is worry about the fallout of mass adoption of technology, sort of like what many of us on that side of the fence are concerned about regarding AI.

    the truth is, the system rewards attending to the average more than the special cases, so that logic is baked into the design. the desire for standardization in order to manage scale doesn't prioritize this.

    under this system where you have the most selfish and cunning making the rules instead of the most empathetic, it is almost always assured that the abled get first picks because often they are already built for the existing standards and process.

    it leaves those with different standards and use cases out of it, which makes it a bad time if you're not in that group.

    for many STEM folks it is a legitimate blind spot and one that is encouraged because it is seen as out of scope.

    it ultimately creates new problems for those who don't fit the logic of the "average"

    you would either need to codify and ensure resources are put into special accessibility cases so that users like you aren't excluded, or make the case that its financially lucrative to do so in the current system.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 8:17 PM

    @cyberquixote "average" means control. You can put a mass of people in a box, making others' needs silent. But if I expect it from far-right and ultra-conservative people, I would not expect it from the other side!
    Then, speaking of "conservative" I'm harding using this term directed to far-right only, because those so-called "left" who tell me "and what did a blind person do before glasses?" are using the same philosophy of "and what did gays do before same-sex marriage? They lived their life anyways".
    I feel very irritated when I hear people talking that way, because they talk from a privileged point of view, whatever "privileged" means. Be it sight, money, a more "socially accepted" condition, and so on.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 8:30 PM

    @elettrona many people are happy to go along with it and accept the average, because from a harm reduction standpoint it looks like good metrics.

    if we had a system that didn't just work for convenience but worked to actually help people, I suspect all these hoops wouldn't exist for those of us who aren't able to be sold to according to "the standard"

    you always need a human to ensure these cases are handled properly and not overlooked, and this is where I fear unchecked usage of AI stuff can be the problem, not that disabled people shouldn't benefit from technology, cause I know I do to some degree. we all do, really, even if the convenience can lead to other unforseen consequences. i know as someone on the spectrum I benefit cause I have extreme anxiety in social situations.

    we should find a way to raise the standards enough so that we're not just leaving the more vulnerable out to dry, this is where tech can sort of help, but really you need policy and programs that are going to prioritize it...otherwise its crowdsourced good will which as we know is very precarious and fickle.

    that requires people who aren't totally in it for themselves though, and given the current economic situation...I see why it is very discouraging, it also does devastate those who are disabled without a safety net.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 8:49 PM

    @elettrona As a sighted person, thank you for this excellent post and the nuanced conversation you're keeping up.

    While I'm trying to write software accessibly by adhering to practices I've picked up, you inspire me to be a lot more thorough, vocal to peers and read more material by, and engage with, the people who actually use these features.

    I don't believe in the sustainability of genAI (glasses) but I can't fault anybody who uses them for accessibility. We have to listen and do better.

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 8:50 PM

    @gins It's what I attempt to do: between the noise, some smart people understanding what's wrong, should be around!

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  • Sep 6, 2026, 10:14 PM

    @VE3RWJ Being a complex discussion, I had to take care of it to be as complete as possible. I don't want to polarize it like the ones I'm criticizing.

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