Accessible Reading discussion

Hello everyone. Just thought I'd say hello to all active members of the group. I'm Neil, I'm visaually impaired and from the UK. Getting back into reading/listening to audio books.

Hi Neil,


Originally I'm from Hungary, but I'm going to move to the UK. I'm an avid reader, and I'm very passionate about English. Nothing is better for me tan sitting down and listening to all kinds of novels and poetry from different periods. I'm hoping to study English language and literature at Oxford.

I'm not visually impaired, but I write suspense fiction with a blind main character (and several scenes written from his perspective) and I've been reviewed favourably by, among others, Hannah Thompson on her blog Blindspot: http://hannah-thompson.blogspot.nl/20...

I'm currently putting the finishing touches on the third book in the Amsterdam Assassin Series and I'm looking for both beta-readers and ARC reviewers.

Since most of my beta-readers and reviewers tend to be sighted, I'm looking to expand the pool with people who can properly assess the 'disabled' characters.

If you feel up to that, you can reach me at katlasieltjes@yahoo.com

Hi,

It's always interesting to read about blind characters. I wouldn't presume to beta when I haven't read previous books in the series but will certainly bump a title of yours to the top of my list to read next.

Sean wrote: "Hi,

It's always interesting to read about blind characters. I wouldn't presume to beta when I haven't read previous books in the series but will certainly bump a title of yours to the top of my l..."

Hi Sean,
Thank you for your email. I sent you an epub of Reprobate, which I offer free in return for reviews. If you like Reprobate I can put you on the beta-readers list if you want.

Beta-reading, to me, is if you read a manuscript and offer feedback that allows me to tweak the manuscript before I publish it. That means that spotting typos is secondary to spotting 'boring scenes' or 'confusing dialogue' or anything else that distracts from a smooth reading experience.
So, any experienced reader can beta-read for me and provide me with feedback about what they liked or disliked about the story.

Martyn wrote: "I'm not visually impaired, but I write suspense fiction with a blind main character (and several scenes written from his perspective) and I've been reviewed favourably by, among others, Hannah Thom..."

I'll send you an e-mail right away.

Hi, I'm Stephanie and I'm visually-impaired. I got my first pair of bifocals at 33 and have multiple sclerosis. I experienced bigotry for the first time(in relation to my vision) in a different group and decided to look elsewhere. What's ironic is the fact that this person is in two minority groups herself. I'm new to Goodreads and don't know how to report this moderator.

Hi yʻall,

Iʻm Anna. I live in Texas, and Iʻm learning Braille.

I can speak, read, and understand spoken versions of several languages, but currently I have no access to any accessible format of reading - argh...

So would anyone have some ideas to get me started?

I have all my life had some vision related issues, BUT now that I can read and write in Braille, I donʻt think vision should really matter. I would love to become e.g. a Braille literature (or even movie) transcriber in a few years, so Iʻm working towards that goal.

So please show and tell me how you get your accessible reads and where in the world you live. :)

I would LOVE to have my hands in many accessible reading things in many languages, like

- Old childrenʻs and fairytale books in Braille (in languages that have a Latin-based character set in use in Braille)
- Old mathematics books
- Old school books for kids
- Any other easy reader braille book :)

I can read in US Braille level 1 (so any international Latin-based stuff works), AND my comfort for good long reads would include:
- English (level 1, to soon expand to UEB and level 2 US) - Italian - Finnish - Spanish - Brazilian Portuguese
- For childrenʻs books that are really simple: also Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Greek

I would also love to try some books in Daisy-format, and maybe get a Daisy reader. But itʻs very hard to find any reading material in Daisy; the public library does not have it, and most publishers limit it to only those who canʻt see anything... Iʻm about to contact Learning Ally to see if they could help me - so Iʻm both interested in trying different books in Daisy, AND in telling stories in that format once Iʻll get up to speed with the system.

Meanwhile... have any of you found any ways to share Daisy format books? Are there any advanced reader books ever in Daisy? Where do you get them where you live?

And for other formats... my local library offers ebooks and audiobooks in Overdrive, so I can use that with my library card and iPhone and iPad. But those books are so slow, and itʻs quite tiring to play with VoiceOver (although it can be done), so... what other formats do you use and how?

Would Kindle or Kobo allow any ebook to be read aloud and listened to with headphones?

The easier and cheaper the solutions, the better :) - and if any of you would have some Braille materials to get rid of, Iʻd love to provide them a good home, and lots of learning...

Iʻve tried some (ebooks and iBooks with VoiceOver on OS X and in iOS); they work to some degree but itʻs not ideal yet. But worth trying and experimenting!
I added you - Iʻll have a lot of questions. :)

I'm not visually impaired, but I do have some free vouchers available from Audible for a current book, and will soon have some for my next book.
The book available at the moment is Where Angels Tread. It is religious/inspirational fiction and is a novelette. The vouchers I have at the moment are mostly for US readers. If this is your type of genre and you would be interested in a free voucher for an audio book, let me know and I will message you with the voucher codes.
I will be producting more audio books this year and am very willing to give free vouchers away here, if any of you are interested. I have a book of religious inspirational short Christmas stories (lol, I know, wrong time of year, haha) out in a month or so, and non-Christian historical fiction set in 1191 towards the end of the year if I can find a narrator, plus a book of short stories (not specifically Christian) with twists also awaiting the right narrator, so there will be quite a few vouchers to give away, as each one is published.

some nice updates: Iʻve got way more accessible formats to read now.
BARD.
both as a reader and app - and comsidering Victor Stream.

OverDrive audiobooks allow to change the speed by the way - from 0,75 (or slower?) to 2x.
So does Learning Ally app;.

I also am using VoiceDream app with built-in and additional voices.

Hi everyone, I'm Mark and also live in Texas. I became passionate about making books more accessible in 2013. I launched a website called Custom Book Scanning and we offer book to audiobook services with different voices and speeds. If anyone's interested I'll can set you up with a discount code.

Hello, I opened this account over to years ago. There's not a lot going on in my life since then.
I moved here to St. Louis, Missouri 15 months ago. I was born with retinitis pigmentosa, and had high partial vision until 2005.
By the time 2007 came, I really started to see no pun intended a drastic drop in my visual acuity. 2012, I got my first iPhone which was an iPhone 4s.
I read braille, Bard, learning Ally, VoiceStream, butcher, you name it I read it.
Apologize for my dictation, I'm learning how to use a Bluetooth keyboard but my typing is not real great.
I enjoy very much helping new people that have iOS devices get started using iPhones, iPods, iPads and like that. As far as my reading preferences, I have so many. Too many to name out here.
I like to think you for starting a group like this so all of us vision. People can have a refuge from other groups that might not be very friendly towards us. That's what a terrible shame. Everybody have a good day and hope to hear back.☺️

hi, my name is rachel and i am from the uk. i am married to damien, we;ve been married ten years. i have only ben on goodreads a couple of months butt i love it. i have had an iphone for a few years and absolutely love to read. i think i would read in my sleep if i could,,hahah. i mainly use the overdrive service on my iphone which works ok but isnt perfect. i also have kindle and ibooks wich i read occationally. i love to read most kinds of book from paranormal romance and historical fiction and romance in general. i am always looking for good books to read and love seeing what other people like to read too.

hi, my name is rachel and i am from the uk. i am married to damien, we;ve been married ten years. i have only ben on goodreads a couple of months butt i love it. i have had an iphone for a few years and absolutely love to read. i think i would read in my sleep if i could,,hahah. i mainly use the overdrive service on my iphone which works ok but isnt perfect. i also have kindle and ibooks wich i read occationally. i love to read most kinds of book from paranormal romance and historical fiction and romance in general. i am always looking for good books to read and love seeing what other people like to read too.

Does anybody have any good tips or tricks on how to use the good reads website and application for iPhone? I have a iPhone six that runs I was 8.3. Thank you in advance for any help with the situation.

Good to see several new members to this group including someone from the UK. so hello to all.

Hey, Im from the UK originally, a quick question I'm on VISTA and still with samsung devises... but I love reading (well listening) to audio books, I so want to be able to take part in reviews and discussions but I find myself far behind the times waiting for the audio book to be made or come out.... grrr! does anyone know of any free reading programs I can use on Windows/VISTA?

Hi everyone,

My name is Jena, and I am from Texas.
I have been totally blind all my life, and I am a voracious reader.
It was difficult early on, because there was no way the National Library Service could keep up with my desire for books, but I read all that I could.
These days, the bulk of my reading is on my IPhone.
I enjoy Audible and NLS Bard.
I read books from Kindle and IBooks.
I also read from Bookshare, using the VoiceDream app.
Recently, I have started using an app that has all the Librovox recordings too.
I still read Braille, and I love it.
My favorite genres are historical fiction, paranormal romance, nonfiction animal books, Southern stories, history, etc. I will read pretty much anything at least once.
I am so glad to find a group like this, and I look forward to learning from everyone.

Hi, everyone! I normally go by Dom, or Dommie, as my nicknames. I am highly visually impaired, but I am still am able to see. However, I require a high font size. I suffer from a rare eye disease that affects 1% of the population, as well as other visual impairments. I am legally blind.

I have been on a break with reading for quite awhile now. I mainly read all eBooks now because print books are impossible to see any longer. I'm hoping to find a way to make my print books accessible; possibly with some type of magnifying software. :)