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   Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Sunday, 08-Oct-2023 20:15:52 JST Aral Balkan

   Programmable keyboards with free and open firmware are not just geek toys but an accessibility tools.

   I was just able to create a new layer in Vial that moves the arrow keys to the left side of the keyboard and maps them to s/z/x/c to make them easier to use in some keyboard shortcuts after breaking my right hand.

   #accessibility #a11y #keyboard #qmk #via #vial

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:05:37 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Peter Gassner

     @peter Hey Peter, I did try that for a bit yesterday with a new layer but not sure my brain’s wired that way. Might give it another shot if I find the alternative too tiring :)

   • Embed this notice
     Peter Gassner (peter@mastodon.gassner.io)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:05:38 JST Peter Gassner

     in reply to

     @aral Something to try also: while keeping space pressed, flip the keyboard to write one handedly. This worked surprisingly well for me when it was necessary! It was amazing to see how the brain can adapt.

     An example that might be easier to achieve with your hardware: https://apps.apple.com/ch/app/keyb-the-one-handed-keyboard/id1588579580?mt=12

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:11:11 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Tim Lavoie

     @tim_lavoie Thank you :)

   • Embed this notice
     Tim Lavoie (tim_lavoie@cosocial.ca)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:11:12 JST Tim Lavoie

     in reply to

     @aral Very cool! Sorry about your hand, though.

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:12:33 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • jotbe

     @jotbe Thanks 💕

   • Embed this notice
     jotbe (jotbe@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:12:35 JST jotbe

     in reply to

     @aral Get well soon!

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:14:05 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Megan Lynch (she/her)

     @glightly Thank you. And yes, inclusivity is a core tenet of Small Tech :)

     https://small-tech.org/about/#inclusive

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     Megan Lynch (she/her) (glightly@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:14:06 JST Megan Lynch (she/her)

     in reply to

     @aral I hope you heal swiftly and completely! And I hope you remember the things (and processes) that weren't designed so accessibly even after it's healed.

     Thanks for talking about it.

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:14:45 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Steven Bodzin

     @guacamayan Thanks, Steven :)

   • Embed this notice
     Steven Bodzin (guacamayan@journa.host)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:14:46 JST Steven Bodzin

     in reply to

     @aral get well soon!

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:17:36 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Irenerd

     @irenerd Any external keyboard that supports QML/Via/Vial should work on Windows. I’m using a rather inexpensive one made out of lego bricks :)

     https://kbdcraft.store/products/adam

   • Embed this notice
     Irenerd (irenerd@col.social)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:17:37 JST Irenerd

     in reply to

     @aral I’ve been trying to do exactly this since I’m in the middle of a tendinitis in my left hand, and it seems to be imposible in my windows11 computer 🫠

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:18:15 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Irenerd

     @irenerd Also, hope your hand feels better soon :)

   • Embed this notice
     Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:19:16 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Peter Gassner

     @peter Yep. It’s always been my approach to design but always good to have personal reminders, painful as they may be :)

   • Embed this notice
     Peter Gassner (peter@mastodon.gassner.io)'s status on Monday, 09-Oct-2023 16:19:18 JST Peter Gassner

     in reply to

     @aral Yeah, if it clicks, it clicks, and if it doesn't there's other things to try :) The main thing I took away from all this was to stay humble and really understand that we're all just temporarily abled, as Cindy Li put it.