Getting Involved

[Bridger Reed-Lewis]

Shervin, thank you for sharing this with us. I am now very very interested
in getting a separate computer to try these out. At the moment, I have a
steam deck, but I do have plans to purchase a used Thinkpad x1 carbon 10th
gen. Once I get that, which will be a few weeks. Let's chat more about
these programs because it seems like things have changed since I last
really dived into linux. I guess if they're available, I'd like to see
about working with KDE to develop a standard for prepackaged accessibility
tools, even if that's through a third-party. What do you think?

On Tue, Jun 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM Shervin Emami <shervin.emami at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Benson,
>
> For around 8 years now I've been using speech recognition for many hours
> per day to control KDE desktop, since that is my main way of working
> despite having chronic RSI. Since my background is in robotics & AI, I've
> tried many different alternative interfaces, and gave a talk specifically
> for Linux (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aQfwS5pyrg)
>
> If you're mostly interested in dictation, you should consider OpenAI
> Whisper, because it's possibly the most reliable ASR engine at the moment
> but also importantly it has very good ASR support for many different
> languages and dialects and accents, whereas most ASR is targeted for USA
> and UK English.
>
> Whisper doesn't have an interface for directly dictating into applications
> though. And it's not able to do any commands. I currently use the
> open-source Faster-Whisper for dictation (with my own code for typing into
> applications), and the open-source Kaldi-Active-Grammar + Dragonfly for
> typing commands including for programming / typing things on the terminal
> or controlling the mouse. (
> https://dragonfly.readthedocs.io/en/latest/kaldi_engine.html)
> It's not a clean solution though, the interaction I've set up between
> Kaldi and Whisper is quite hacky. But proves that it is very possible!
>
> Talon ASR (free but closed-source at https://talonvoice.com/) has a
> community that have been slowly working towards better interaction with the
> desktop by voice, they are making excellent solutions for Windows & Mac
> where user interface elements have a standardised API. But they say Linux
> has been a nightmare to have anything close to a standardised way of
> knowing which UI elements are on the screen. And Wayland pretty much
> doesn't allow interaction with the screen at all! So unfortunately
> Talon has a community of eager developers that want to improve usability of
> speech recognition on Linux, but they have basically given up on Linux
> recently due to these 2 issues.
>
> Cheers,
> Shervin Emami.
>
>
>
> On Wed, 4 Jun 2025 at 16:38, Bridger Reed-Lewis <
> bridgerreedlewis at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> K I’m going to get those setup, should I only do one or all?
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 3, 2025 at 22:23 Benson Muite <benson_muite at emailplus.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 4, 2025, at 9:09 AM, Bridger Reed-Lewis wrote:
>>> > Thank you, I wasn't aware of those barriers. While I am aware that the
>>> > university has strict rules around applications. I believe there could
>>> be a
>>> > way to get around it, if it's used in an educational and
>>> > collaborative environment. The person I need to check with about this,
>>> I am
>>> > going to send them an email tomorrow since it's pretty late. Oh, and I
>>> > tried accessing the IRC and Matrix but the channel isn't accepting
>>> anyone
>>> > else, is there a way for me to get around that? I think it'd be a lot
>>> > easier then email
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> For Matrix, accounts on other servers will allow you to access rooms on
>>> the
>>> kde matrix server. In addition to
>>>
>>> https://matrix.org/docs/chat_basics/matrix-for-im/#creating-a-matrix-account
>>> ,
>>> you could also make an account on one of the servers listed at:
>>> https://servers.joinmatrix.org/
>>>
>>> https://apps.kde.org/neochat/
>>> maybe helpful, in addition to other Matrix clients.
>>>
>>> For irc make an account at http://libera.chat
>>> https://apps.kde.org/konversation/
>>> maybe helpful, though there are many other choices for IRC clients.
>>>
>>> >
>>> > On Tue, Jun 3, 2025 at 10:03 PM Benson Muite <
>>> benson_muite at emailplus.org>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >> On Wed, Jun 4, 2025, at 8:49 AM, Bridger Reed-Lewis wrote:
>>> >> > Well I don’t think it would be useful particularly for UAA, it’s
>>> just I
>>> >> > feel a collaboration could be set up depending on the person. And
>>> with
>>> >> > everything going on federally, a lot of folks at my work are pretty
>>> mad,
>>> >> > it’s the reason why I got my article. What I’m going to do is reach
>>> out
>>> >> to
>>> >> > the engineers/tech departments, to see if anyone is interested in
>>> working
>>> >> > on this project. Along with connecting with student clubs, I am also
>>> >> going
>>> >> > to install and test what I can with the applications you sent.
>>> >>
>>> >> Thanks.
>>> >>
>>> >> >
>>> >> > Oh, about the mentoring program you mentioned. I don't think it's a
>>> good
>>> >> > fit for me since I have dyscalculia. I've tried with no luck to
>>> learn
>>> >> > coding. It's just not my thing, what it would be testing along with
>>> >> setting
>>> >> > up times to chat around ideas, along with networking which i am
>>> scary
>>> >> good
>>> >> > at.
>>> >>
>>> >> We do use mailing lists, apps also have chat channels, typically on
>>> Matrix
>>> >> or IRC.
>>> >> For Season of KDE, making students and people new to open source
>>> aware of
>>> >> it
>>> >> would be helpful.  It provides a structured way for people to
>>> contribute
>>> >> improvements
>>> >> to software that they use, these need not be limited to coding
>>> >> contributions.
>>> >>
>>> >> In the US, many applications require accessibility testing reports
>>> before
>>> >> they can be
>>> >> used in an institution.  This can be a barrier to adopting open source
>>> >> software since
>>> >> the administrative burden of procuring software which has
>>> accessibility
>>> >> testing done
>>> >> is low compared to getting open source software and improving it to
>>> meet
>>> >> accessibility
>>> >> standards for which the financial cost would likely be ultimately
>>> lower,
>>> >> thereby allowing
>>> >> institutions to make more effective use of their limited funds.
>>> >>
>>> >> >
>>> >> >
>>> >> >
>>> >> > On Tue, Jun 3, 2025 at 21:37 Benson Muite <
>>> benson_muite at emailplus.org>
>>> >> > wrote:
>>> >> >
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> On Wed, Jun 4, 2025, at 7:58 AM, Bridger Reed-Lewis wrote:
>>> >> >> > I have heard of him, and it’s one of the reasons why I want to
>>> get
>>> >> >> > involved, at the moment I don’t think the university allows
>>> Linux to
>>> >> be
>>> >> >> > used, but I could be wrong. At the moment, I am running KDE on my
>>> >> Steam
>>> >> >> > Deck. But I’m planning on purchasing a think-pad x1 carbon Gen 10
>>> >> soon.
>>> >> >> One
>>> >> >> > area I’d like to see get added is dictation. There's an abandoned
>>> >> project
>>> >> >> > here --> https://github.com/abb128/LiveCaptions that could be
>>> forked
>>> >> >> into a
>>> >> >> > simple dictation tool, it's surprisingly, very accurate.
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> This seems to build on another library which maybe worth
>>> incorporating
>>> >> into
>>> >> >> KDE applications:
>>> >> >> https://github.com/abb128/april-asr
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> There are ongoing discussions withing KDE about using tools
>>> trained on
>>> >> >> data of unknown origin.
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> >
>>> >> >> > Outside of that, I would need to look because right now there's
>>> not a
>>> >> >> lot,
>>> >> >> > and disability itself is a spectrum. without seeing what you are
>>> >> already
>>> >> >> > working on, giving feedback might be hard. But I am more than
>>> willing
>>> >> to
>>> >> >> > test anything you can give me, as long as you make the install
>>> process
>>> >> >> easy
>>> >> >> > or give me command props.
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> KDE applications are listed at:
>>> >> >> http://apps.kde.org
>>> >> >> Some will work on Windows and Mac. Applications that might be
>>> useful in
>>> >> a
>>> >> >> university
>>> >> >> setting include:
>>> >> >> - https://apps.kde.org/labplot/
>>> >> >> - https://apps.kde.org/ktechlab/
>>> >> >> - https://apps.kde.org/accessibilityinspector/
>>> >> >> - https://apps.kde.org/krita/
>>> >> >> - https://apps.kde.org/okular/
>>> >> >> - https://apps.kde.org/kdenlive/
>>> >> >> - https://apps.kde.org/digikam/
>>> >> >> - https://apps.kde.org/glaxnimate/
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> It seems there are faculty members familiar with open source
>>> software:
>>> >> >> https://pradeeban.github.io/
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> Maybe you could contact them to see if there are ways to also
>>> involve
>>> >> >> students in
>>> >> >> improving software accessibility?  Season of KDE (
>>> >> >> https://mentorship.kde.org/sok/)
>>> >> >> would be one structured way to do this for KDE software that is
>>> useful
>>> >> at
>>> >> >> UAA.
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> Krita, Kdenlive and Glaxnimate may also be useful to people in
>>> your art
>>> >> >> department:
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >>
>>> >>
>>> https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-arts-and-sciences/departments/art
>>> >> >> and to the student clubs in the art department:
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >>
>>> >>
>>> https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-arts-and-sciences/departments/art/clubs/
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> Finally, in terms of testing, is there a KDE application you use
>>> and
>>> >> would
>>> >> >> be willing to help
>>> >> >> test? One-off contributions are welcome, but sustained involvement
>>> is
>>> >> most
>>> >> >> helpful.
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >> >
>>> >> >> > On Tue, Jun 3, 2025 at 20:28 Benson Muite <
>>> benson_muite at emailplus.org
>>> >> >
>>> >> >> > wrote:
>>> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >>
>>> >> >> >>
>>> >> >> >> On Tue, Jun 3, 2025, at 11:15 AM, Bridger Reed-Lewis wrote:
>>> >> >> >> > Good evening, I am interested in becoming a tester, and help
>>> >> >> collaborate
>>> >> >> >> > together on ideas to ensure accessibility in future kde
>>> iterations.
>>> >> >> Nate,
>>> >> >> >> > one of the board members, let me know about your sub-group,
>>> and I
>>> >> >> >> emailed a
>>> >> >> >> > few folks listed as contacts. Just didn't hear back, figuring
>>> >> reaching
>>> >> >> >> out
>>> >> >> >> > directly to this email would be more effective.
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >> > Before getting involved though, I should introduce myself. I
>>> am the
>>> >> >> >> > disability advisor for The University of Anchorage Alaska, and
>>> >> while
>>> >> >> I am
>>> >> >> >> > doing this on my own time. I do hope to get the university
>>> involved
>>> >> >> since
>>> >> >> >> > we have a very active disability, and accessibility work
>>> groups at
>>> >> >> UAA.
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >> > Recently, the university wrote a article about me which goes
>>> in
>>> >> detail
>>> >> >> >> > about myself you can read about it here...
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >>
>>> >> >>
>>> >>
>>> https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/news/archive/2025/05/chd-disability-advisor-bridger-r-reed-lewis.cshtml
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >> > I'm very passionate about what I do, and I believe Steam OS
>>> as a
>>> >> whole
>>> >> >> >> > could be a massive benefit to ensure a better market share,
>>> this
>>> >> comes
>>> >> >> >> with
>>> >> >> >> > some challenges though because while steam os is great for
>>> gaming,
>>> >> >> once
>>> >> >> >> > it's released to the masses later this year.
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >> > The OS as a whole will have some disadvantages mainly the
>>> lack of
>>> >> >> >> > accessibility tools, which as someone with a disability has
>>> been
>>> >> the
>>> >> >> >> > largest reason they haven't moved fully to linux. Ended up on
>>> Macs
>>> >> >> >> because
>>> >> >> >> > of how much i hate windows, but once thing apple has about
>>> them is
>>> >> >> there
>>> >> >> >> > gold star for supporting disabilities in there OS.
>>> >> >> >>
>>> >> >> >> Thanks for your interest. Are there any KDE applications that
>>> you use
>>> >> >> where
>>> >> >> >> support could be better?  Do you have any computer labs where
>>> linux
>>> >> is
>>> >> >> used
>>> >> >> >> or KDE applications are used?
>>> >> >> >>
>>> >> >> >> KDE e.V. recently appointed Ritchie Frodomar as accessibility
>>> >> engineer:
>>> >> >> >> https://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-community/2025q2/008193.html
>>> >> >> >>
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >> > I also want this in Linux, and I'm here to help along
>>> >> >> >> > with assisting with networking with professionals to ensure
>>> >> >> >> communications
>>> >> >> >> > and collaboration with developers/companies alike. Let me
>>> know if
>>> >> you
>>> >> >> >> have
>>> >> >> >> > any questions, and I hope to chat with you soon.
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >> > Sincerely,
>>> >> >> >> >
>>> >> >> >> > Bridger R. Reed-Lewis
>>> >> >> >> > Disability Advisor | Advocate | Speaker
>>> >> >> >> > He/Them
>>> >> >> >>
>>> >> >>
>>> >>
>>>
>>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kde-accessibility/attachments/20250603/7c50755f/attachment-0001.htm>