Visually impaired programmers help make Internet more accessible to all

Bringing his phone close to his ear to listen to prompts, Wang Mengqi, a visually impaired young man, swipes his thumb across the screen and, in a few moments, hails a car via a Chinese car-hailing app. In this way, the man can enjoy car-hailing services just like “normal” people do.

Wang surfs the Internet using a screen-reading app, a software program that allows individuals with visual impairments to read the content on a phone screen by way of a voice synthesizer.

Wang is also a member of a group of visually impaired computer programmers at the Information Accessibility Research Association in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province.

Over the past years, these special programmers have written codes and have helped to test mobile apps to find faults in their accessibility programming and have assisted in optimizing them. Through their efforts, they have helped to make the Internet equally accessible to the visually impaired, including clinically blind and low-vision individuals, lighting up their lives through the application of technology.

Photo shows Wang Mengqi. (Photo courtesy of the Information Accessibility Research Association in Shenzhen)

Eight years ago, Wang was a senior student at Henan Vocational College of Tuina in central China’s Henan Province when he found an internship at a message hospital in his hometown of Xuchang. He had originally intended to take up work as a massage therapist at the hospital close to his home, a common job for many blind and visually impaired people in the country.

To his surprise, Wang’s life plans were changed after encountering a recruitment advertisement from the Information Accessibility Research Association for visually impaired computer engineers. The association has taken the view that visually impaired people have a better appreciation of the needs and habits of individuals in their group and therefore are well-placed to contribute to improvements in information accessibility for this group. According to the latest data from the China Association of the Blind, the visually impaired population living in China has reached 17 million.

After seeing the advertisement, Wang applied for the job and got an offer after completing an interview. Since then, he has taken on responsibilities for testing the accessibility of apps and summing up his testing methods. With the help of his colleagues, Wang has also learned how to go about capturing screenshots and labeling data to visualize his solutions.

Liu Biao records the natural sounds of rain. (Photo courtesy of the Information Accessibility Research Association in Shenzhen)

As for Liu Biao, Wang’s colleague, who is also visually impaired, his primary role is to write programming codes. Sitting in front of a computer with his headphones on, Liu taps on the keyboard, even though his computer screen appears completely black.

Liu learned how to program with the support of his younger sister. “My sister read out textual materials to me and I recorded what she read,” he said, revealing that it was not easy for him to master the skill.

Liu pointed out that he had worked as a massage therapist for eight years before joining the Information Accessibility Research Association. In the past, he had trouble shopping at brick-and-mortar stores given his visual impairment. Liu now often shops online and enjoys car-hailing services, thanks to improvements in information accessibility.

Photo shows Zhou Fugui engaged in coding. (Photo courtesy of the Information Accessibility Research Association in Shenzhen)

In addition to programming, Liu also loves to record different sounds, like wind, rain, and vehicles, and to rearrange these sounds into musical compositions along with his friends.

Zhou Fugui is another visually impaired computer programmer employed with the association. Zhou joined the association in March 2020. Before that, Zhou had developed an app, which was the first app developed by a visually impaired programmer, later being launched on Apple Inc’s App Store.

Over the past two years, visually impaired programmers from the association have also come forward to share their stories across China.

Photo shows Wang Mengqi (C) talking with a colleague. (Photo courtesy of the Information Accessibility Research Association in Shenzhen)

“At first, I felt that I was pretty cool when I was interviewed by the media. But gradually, I felt a greater sense of responsibility to enable more visually impaired individuals to access information on the Internet,” Wang Mengqi said, hoping that more people will work together to make Internet products more accessible to people with visual impairment.