Meet Hasmukh: a blind cricketer and screen reader user
Posted on by Henny Swan in User experience
Meet Hasmukh, a talented blind cricketer with lots of patience and determination.
Hasmukh shares his experience using the web with a screen reader and highlights the importance of accessible emails, forms, language, and prioritising content within a web page.
Tell us about yourself
My name is Hasmukh. I'm visually impaired. I do need to explain however that even if someone is visually impaired, there can be varying degrees of vision. In my case, I have no vision at all. I depend on a keyboard and browsing with a screen reader to access the web. I use a desktop computer and a smartphone for some apps.
My interest is walking and playing cricket for Metro Blind Sports Club. I'd always had a passion for playing cricket but never played much when I had sight. When I gradually lost my sight between the ages of 25 to 30, I went to a rehabilitation centre, and it's there I met someone who used to play blind cricket. He was amazing and put me in touch with the secretary of the club. And that's how I got involved.
It's a great game, in the UK we play with a softball that rattles because there are ball bearings in it, so we can hear it. It's almost the size of a football. International cricket uses a cricket ball.
I'm a people person, so initially I didn't want to learn about computers. But just before I was going to retire from my job as an operator, my manager, who was very nice, advised me to learn computer skills. He gave me a day a week off work so I could do a three year course at the College of Northwest London.
What barriers have you experienced using the web?
This is a very interesting question because I face challenges every day, but I don't give up. I'm very patient and want to complete the task, but sometimes I get stuck, so I have to get help from somebody to carry on.
The main challenge is when apps I am familiar with get updated, and suddenly I can't use them anymore! People who design websites need to include people like us so that they understand what works for us. Unless they watch how we use things, how will they know?!
Other challenges can be simple things. For example, an email with graphics with no text descriptions means I can't use it! This is a big problem with meeting invites. I've actually missed a few meetings because I can't read the time or date or find the join meeting button. Sometimes I have to ask somebody for help and wait for them to have the time to help me which is frustrating.
Are there any websites you find especially accessible?
I do volunteer work for a small charity called Middlesex Association for the Blind and their website is good because it's simple.
Otherwise, I'm struggling to be honest because even simple things can make it difficult when you have no sight. If you have a little vision, maybe you can see an icon, click on it, and be on your way. But without any vision, simple things like filling in a form can be really hard. One recent example was selecting my age from a dropdown. I selected "75 and above" but when I clicked on it, the cursor jumped onto the "16 to 25" age group. But I didn't know this when I submitted the form! So should I go back and double-check everything?
Another thing with forms is sometimes I don't know what the question is because I can't find a form label. If I get really stuck, I use an app called Be My Eye. This app has volunteers who can tell me what the question is. Even consent forms can be hard to sign especially if they are protected. Sometimes I can't win.
Overall these kinds of issues are getting better and better, I must say. You know, it's improving all the time. But the problem is it keeps changing as well!
What features or improvements would you like to see on the web?
Making things easy to find on a page. For example, when I click on a link and go to a new page, I expect the information to be right on the top or under a heading. Otherwise, I spend so much time looking for the information that should be just there. It can really waste my time because websites can be so complicated with lots of information you have to go through. Mostly I will find it after a while, but sometimes I can't.
I must say that skip links are excellent because you pass all the other bits and get straight into the content. But whether I get into the content that I'm looking for depends on how it's designed.
The last point I want to add is language because English is my second language. Keywords are important. For example, I was on a website for a train station and looking for a café where I could have a cup of coffee. I searched for "R" for restaurant, "C" for café, and "F" for food. But to my surprise, after spending so much time looking for this information it was under "R" for retail. Now, retail, I think, is a shop like Debenhams, Marks and Spencer's, or Primark. I would never think to look for a café under "retail".
I'd like to see better alternatives for maps which are not accessible. I was looking at a PDF of a map the other day where they listed the names of the shops next to the map. But they didn't say where on the map the shops were located, so it wasn't really very useful.
Finally, I want to say, while initially I wasn't interested in technology, it is so important to me. Email in particular has allowed me to find so many opportunities and stay in touch.
Next steps
Find out more about how people experience the browsing with assistive technologies or how to include people with disabilities into your product development through Agile User Experience Testing.