Operating systems

You probably already have a favorite operating system, that's fine. I am going to give you advice from an accessibility standpoint.

If you are starting out, you are learning a lot. My advice is to take the easiest route and switch when you need it for a project. Linux is useful for a whole lot of reasons. Fast, a good shell, open-source. Just to name a few. But most visually impaired people use windows. I am not talking about developers, just people in general, the people who do not know that they are even using windows. If something is wrong with an app, you will not be alone on windows.

If you are on arch linux unstable on arm64 with a vim-based screen reader, a tiling window manager and you cannot read your email anymore... Good luck, You have to figure it out yourself.

My advice is to use the most popular option for VIP (visually impaired person/people). If you become better at using your tools, you can consider switching to linux for example.

First you should be able to write a program. If you succeed, consider switching tools.

So back to operating systems, here's a overview of what I think of each operating system from an accessibility standpoint.

Windows

Pros
  • a lot of users
  • most applications are accessible out of the box
  • popular screen reader options
Cons
  • Bad shell
  • Blue screens
  • Closed source

MacOS

Pros
  • VoiceOver is fast to use and easy to pick up, especially if you know how VoiceOver works on iPhone.
  • Almost all apple products are accessible
  • A terminal that works with VoiceOver
  • VoiceOver is on every mac
Cons
  • you need a mac
  • closed source
Linux

There are a lot of linux distributions, some of which focus on accessibility. I've never used a linux distribution with no sight, because I could not set it up on my own.

If you want to use linux, do not dual boot. Start with a virtual machine in an operating system that you can use.

This way you can learn tools in the VM and use your browser outside the VM for reading documentation for example. When you are ready to use linux, you can dual boot if you wish.

You can also ssh into a virtual machine. I believe linux has the best tooling for developers. Sadly it is hard to use from an accessibility standpoint.

What do I use?

I use MacOS with Nix darwin as my package manager and build system. VoiceOver is easy to pickup and I have a terminal.

I recommend starting out with windows or if you can afford it MacOS. You can always try Linux after you wrote your first application with your eyes closed.

Next up, lets talk about screen readers!