The (emotional) Journey to Finding Accessible Kitchen Appliances!
The (emotional) Journey to Finding Accessible Kitchen Appliances!
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VIDEO SECTIONS:
15:50 – Research
18:08 – My Concerns
WRITTEN ON SCREEN:
9:45 – I had a lot of blind friends reach out during this journey and share similar struggles to mine, so I hope this helps
13:54 – IN EPISODE TWO I WILL SHARE THE OPTIONS!! Sorry – when
filming it was intended to be all in the one video!
17:55 – The CNIB SmartLife team is SO kind and they just launched a new program to research more about smart appliances, so if this is something that interests you please look into joining!
22:28 – AND PART TWO!
Learn about smart homes and disability: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-assistive-smart-home-technology-for-disabled/
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I’m Molly, a typical sushi, makeup, and fashion loving millennial girl who just so happens to be blind! I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at just 4 years old and began public speaking at age 5. I started just doing motivational speaking, but now I make videos and even model! Even though I can’t see, I know that there are bright spots in everything we face. Let’s find them together. 💕
Molly, your additional text is too small and flashes on the screen for too short of a time to read it. Just thought you’d want to know.
THIS! Is why we need to do more for the blind community 😭
Your videos look great God bless you ☺️
Molly a minute in and I’m crying my eyes out! I just recently went trough surgery and had to use an electric shopping cart, it was terrible! I rather walk slow than having to struggle with people who just don’t care. One use, one day an a guy ended up crashing with me cause he was looking at his phone. I admire and love you so so so much, more than I already did. You are an angel in this world and keep speaking up!! Never give up!
I think it is APPALLING that modern appliances are excluding blind from being a customer..this is terrible. It is the opposite to inclusivity for sure. I hope the big companies see this.
Your feelings are the feelings of an entire community. I am autistic and I have chronic pain (currently trying to get a diagnosis) and for me, accessible gadgets are the ones I can use without hurting myself (hypermobility issues as well), without leaving me exhausted and in a lot of pain, that I can use when I’m in a low muscular tonus day, and that is easy and doesn’t have too many steps. Most of my solutions aren’t perfect, they look more like improvisation, but that’s what I could find in my budget (also in brazil it’s even harder to find anything, but the good thing is that a lot of stuff aren’t touchscreen yet, so it’s good for blind people)
Is there no chip and pin in the US?
You just tap your card on the machine… ( I’m in the UK)
All the good stuff is in Europe only! Do they think all disabled people live there?! Maybe their governments help pay for it…so frustrating
My washer/dryer combo is touch screen and it is a pain. I appreciate the time and effort that you have taken to show your journey through this
Good point on making products for disabled people more affordable. We can’t eat dairy or gluten. A gluten free loaf of bread is extremely expensive.
you are such a doll sweetheart I know it can be frustrating 💕 I’m here with you baby girl 🙌
I’m not knowledgeable on smart appliances and curious what they do to help. Guessing that’s in part 2?
I have an iPhone but I would have no idea how to use those smart appliances nor do I know how to even pay on my iPhone I don’t hardly know technology at all and 61 high am visually impaired I’ve never had anybody to teach me so there’s a lot I could do on my phone but I don’t know who can help me with that so you seem very knowledgeable on technology and smart phones and all of this and I think that’s wonderful. A lot of us have no place to turn when we need help. There’s a lot of apps for blind people but I don’t know how to use them I wish I had somebody they could sit down and help me so that I could get everything out of my iPhone that would make my life easier as a visually impaired person it’s super frustrating to me
FELLOW BLIND AND/OR DISABLED FOLKS: Please comment your experiences with appliances, what you’ve found is more accessible to you, and any other information you think could be helpful for others to know. <3 We can’t address the issues and create change if we don’t talk about it. We need to share the knowledge and information we have with each other to help make the journey a little easier! 🙂
Thank you to anyone who shared information with me and helped in any way! PART TWO WITH BRAND RECOMMENDATIONS COMING SOON! XO
I’ve been trying to find accessible kitchen appliances for my blind partner and I completely understand your frustration, we have to buy tactile machines and he has to learn how many "clicks" or "beeps" until he gets the right settings or I have to use braille stickers but he shouldn’t have to live like that, if someone like Samsung can make a fancy touch screen washing machine which is stupidly over priced they can make one that’s tactile and talks, it would literally give them stupid amounts of profile but also do so much for those who can’t see and even those with dyslexia who may struggle to read settings on a machine
This is exactly why I am planning on taking what I can do (software engineering) to make an accessible virtual world for those who need it
Half of the video is her overexplaining x.x
I just use whatever I can that is accessible and the other stuff I either get help with or i braille. I braille a lot of things with help. My oven and my ninja foodie things like that my microwave so that I can use all of them. And then sometimes if I need help like on my ninja to know where the time and temperature are I call aira. Maybe we shouldn’t have to but that is life and if I can make something I want accessible myself then by all means I will
I may not be blind but I have autism and adhd. I have difficulty communicating in all areas of life and I struggle with sensory issues (particularly auditory). I can exist in the world, but when it comes to employment or interacting with a lot of people I become a liability or a charity case. When I can’t communicate what I need to assist me, when I can’t process where to look for help, when people can’t see my disabilities I get bullied by the people who should be supporting me. As for appliances I feel like there needs to be settings. Like I want to be able to turn sound off and there be a visual click down timer so I don’t get jumpscared by my microwave or toaster and stuff up for the rest of the morning because my focus is extra off or sprain my ankle because my anxiety is subsequently up and my spacial awareness is thrown off.
I work in the smart home industry. I would highly recommend contacting a local automation specialist. We have more experience and resources of what can and can’t work well together. In regards to hacking they also can make your system extra secure. I would not focus on that risk as it is relatively low.
So I got diagnosed at 26 in 2020 with ADHD. Now that I’m 29 I’m realizing that I am part of the disabled community. It’s been a journey that your videos have helped me with so much. I’m trying to learn how to make my life easier, at least at home, and it’s overwhelming. I think these corporations can and should hire disabled people to understand our needs, because they are so vastly different. I need to be able to see everything so I remember it exists and you need to be able to use an oven with voice over features. I feel like they can add these to the touch screens and it would be so much better!
Companies are capitalists they will never act in a moral way.
Oh my, I didn’t think about Hacking, would be scary if someone could turn on your oven while you aren’t aware of it.
I’m able bodied and I hate touchscreens. The hospital I work at recently switched to touchscreen controls for the hospital beds and the entire nursing staff HATES it, they’re so hard to work and there was NOTHING wrong with PLAIN OL’ RELIABLE BUTTONS
My mom had horrible arthritis. At one point, we got her a smart tv so she could easily watch Netflix with the push of a button. She could barely use it because the remote was so small and the company doesn’t sell larger ones. We tried several "universal" remotes, but they almost always have something that isn’t compatible (a menu button not working, no pre-programmed buttons, etc). It sucks getting something thinking it will improve someone’s quality of life, only for them not to be able to use it easily.
i would definstly forget to turn of our oven if it diddnt have nobs
Also set up a separate wifi network with a good firewall between the smart home wifi and your normal wifi. This prevent a hacker from using your "smart whenever" as a point of entry to then hack your computer or phone.
So I don’t own most of my appliances (I rent an old apartment and the fridge is from 1998. The oven is even older), but of the ones I do own, none are touch screen. My microwave has buttons (you can’t feel them, to which I understand Molly’s frustration with those and I consider putting little velcro rounds on it every time I have to heat my hot water bottle in the middle of the night because of period cramps), my washing machine has buttons and it beeps when you press it and my instant pot has buttons. That one remembers the last settings which can be annoying. I might be wrong, but I feel like cheap appliances have buttons and dials. They are not smart appliances, but they don’t have a touch screen. I am not actively shopping for appliances, so I might just not know the current market.
I myself am not blind but my grandfather was. His job was actually to help build and test items to help the blind. He devoted his life to make things to help the blind do every day tasks.
My dad passed a few years ago, but he was in a wheelchair and when I tell you the amount of houses that we couldn’t live in simply because the hallways were not wide enough for his wheelchair or the landlords were unwilling to install a ramp for him or the bathroom didn’t allow him to be able to turn around in it or have enough room for someone to help him!
It is absolutely unreal on how unaware people are of the most simple things. Make hallways big enough for wheelchairs.. not hard!
Molly you need your own appliance line or a collab with a brand
I’m actually learning how to make tech more accessible as part of my web dev degree. We were taught that around 10% of the population has some kind of disability that impacts the way they interact with tech. Google says it’s even higher than that. That’s a lot of people, especially if you include elderly people. Grandma needing to use a screen reader or zoom is no than a blind person needing it. Accessible tech is not a niche market. It’s good design. Like you said, it’s still an inconvenience to anyone even if they aren’t disabled, and they can and should choose to recommend something that works better. It’s a bad trend to be more concerned about a sleek look or half-baked gimmicks instead of usability.
16:00 it should be the companies forget or doesn’t know the existence of blind people haha, kidding aside, I’m also blind and it’s really a big, huge struggle living independently with no accessible appliances under your care.
16:00 it should be the companies forget or doesn’t know the existence of blind people haha, kidding aside, I’m also blind and it’s really a big, huge struggle living independently with no accessible appliances under your care.
Hey y’all I’m savanna I have cerebral palsy so I’m in a power chair I’m 22 years old and I still live with my parents but what has helped me was my smart lights in my room that connects to Alexa
This sounds like the video I just made on my YouTube channel
I don’t know the brand or my appliances but they are new (2020 built house). They are not for blind people, they are touch screen but they come with a timer. Both oven and the top part can be set with a timer so that they shut down by themselves. Learning to use them was hard though. I never thought about these things before, Ibä just thought that I don’t have a choice. If I could, I would take a quieter fridge and change the lighting setup as an autistic.
I moved into my first apartment three months ago. I was told this place would be super accessible since it was built two years ago. My wheelchair doesn’t fit anywhere, I get stuck in doorways with lips, the laundry room is too difficult to navigate, and the whole city is poorly built for those with disabilities
Google wants you to think that the only blind chef is Christine Ha
Also it sucks but I have one of those stoves where it has a flat top and you can heat one part of the burner or the whole Burner and you can do High low and med on each one it’s so confusing and I cannot do it by myself and I cannot figure it out I had to buy my own little plug-in burner because that’s stupid thing is so complicated. What a stupid concept!
I dont work with in home appliances, but I do work for TruAudio/VSSL (AV integration and speaker manufacturer) and im gonna ask the VP if our app is accessible with text to speech. I wish this was something more people considered. Im sorry dear. ❤️
Edit: fixed a spelling error
For four years I have had a chronic undiagnosed dizziness condition and when i walk I get very dizzy when I have my own home I will have storage for stools built in to cabinets and stuff so I always have a seat.
I didnt realize how inaccessible my apartment building is until I was on crutches/wheelchair. I’m absolutely frustrated for the disabled community with my apartment building
You are an incredible person for being so emotionally raw for us. Allowing us to see how you struggle with things sighted people take for granted, really makes me value accessibility more than ever before. Thank you for showing us everything you do.
don’t feel bad but theres hope just pray that god will make it possiable you look really nice make up looks great i love your top those are your colors
I’m currently writing about inclusion in the hospitality industry. Disabled are very underrepresented in the industry but there is an influx of us looking into making the industry more accessible for the whole. Shocked when i found out that my idea to make a retailer of disability kitchen aids was ‘unique’ and had absolutely no other competition.
I love your top it looks great and never thought about any of this and you’ve changed my mind and I will now think about accessibility and how useful they will be. This video was very informative and interesting thank you so much for sharing this video and letting us know
im not very techy either but maybe a vpn if your worried about hacking also our keetle has noises it makes when its changed temp and boils so if i can find out what its called i will add it
I know this is none of my business and please don’t take this wrong but burning candles are a major cause of fires. I know 5 people, myself included, who have had fires due to a candle. One fatal. As the candle burns down the container can explode which spreads burning wax all over. This happened to me and the whole top of my dresser caught fire. Obviously there are many other ways candles cause fires. Animals knock them over, people forget they’re there and throw something on them etc. Sorry for the nagging. I just always feel compelled to warn people about how dangerous they are.
I don’t even have any accessibility needs and I hate using touchscreen appliances.
Honestly, I don’t think it is because it’s fun and modern. They will market it as though it is, but I strongly suspect that it’s actually cheaper and easier with current technology to throw on a touchscreen and create all the user interface digitally, than to create a physical user interface with mechanical controls.
Much the same as how increasingly everything is connected to the internet and comes with a matching app, and has no user interface on the actual appliance or device at all. They would like you to think that it’s for your benefit, but actually it’s just easier for them.