How A Blind Developer Uses Visual Studio

Coding Tech
14 HN recommenders · recommended in 10 months, 2018–2026
YouTube
156K views · 8 years ago · demo · evergreen

A short talk by Saqib Shaikh, a blind developer at Microsoft, showing how he writes, navigates and debugs code in Visual Studio using a screen reader and audio feedback.

HN people share it as a concrete demonstration of an expert doing everyday developer work by ear, especially for developers who are losing their sight.

“This presentation by a blind software engineer at Microsoft has always stuck with me”
AccessibilityTools for thought & programming UX
#screenreader#blinddeveloper#visualstudio#assistivetechnology#texttospeech#accessibility

24 comments from Hacker News

T
@Tijdreiziger2020 · in “Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?”
This presentation by a blind software engineer at Microsoft has always stuck with me: ▶ this video
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a
@asimovDev2026 · in “Apple unveils new accessibility features”
▶ this video my go to example of this is this talk by Saqib Shaikh (a blind software engineer at Microsoft) giving a talk about Visual Studio. Link is timestamped
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g
@gjvc2026 · in “How A Blind Developer Uses Visual Studio (Microsoft Build 2017) [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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h
@haiku20772024 · in “Apple announces new accessibility features, including eye tracking”
Here's a great demo by a blind software engineer that explains some of it: ▶ this video
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c
@cosmodisk2021 · in “A Blind Developer Uses Visual Studio”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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l
@lzybkr2021 · in “How does apt render its fancy progress bar?”
Saqib Shaikh, a blind developer at Microsoft, gave this short talk on using Visual Studio: ▶ this video I realize this isn't a console, but I think it is a good demonstration of an expert doing typical developer activities.
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t
@tapoxi2021 · in “How A Blind Developer Uses Visual Studio (2017)”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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s
@slivanes2021 · in “How a Blind Developer Uses Visual Studio”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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m
@malkia2020 · in “Dear ImGui – Bloat-free graphical user interface library for C++”
Please watch this - ▶ this video
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C
@ChrisRR2020 · in “Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?”
I'm reminded of this short video of a blind software developer using Visual Studio. Maybe it'll give you some idea ▶ this video
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D
@DCRichards2020 · in “Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?”
I recommend watching (and listening to) this talk by Saqib Shaikh, a blind developer using Visual Studio and how we codes and debugs with his screen reader ▶ this video
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3
@3boll2020 · in “Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?”
Hey, there you have a few references that could be of some help! Google: link Visual Studio: ▶ this video Forzano (Amazon) link link Wishing you the best, J
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