Hi R/Guitar

I have been around for a while but do not post often, as there is such a wealth of great knowledge on this subreddit that I am often too late. But I do have a comment/question which affects me, as a guitar player, and thousands of others who play all around the world. I am completely blind, and have been from birth. This has never stopped me picking up a guitar (thanks, Jose Feliciano for the inspiration) and I love performing. But I can’t drive, and I cannot cart a 4x10 and an amp head, a few guitars and a pedalboard around very easily. The only real recourse there is to ask a bandmate to drive everywhere, which, as an independent blind person, is something I really hate to do. The other obvious solution is to use a grab-and-go system like the Affix or the Helix. Unfortunately, these systems are entirely inaccessible – I can’t read the screens, and, more frustratingly, the PC editors and IPhone apps which would otherwise control them are in accessible to screen access software.

This brings me to the main point of this post - a question for anyone at r/guitar who may have any connection with companies like Line6, Bias, Kemper, Fractal, 2Notes, or any of the other digital providers who are doing such incredible things in this space. It is quite easy to make apps accessible – providing an API, so that blind programmers could then code an interface, would be enough to get the ball rolling. But every time I have attempted to get in contact with one of these companies through their website, I have been stonewalled. I understand why – I’m just one player and maybe the size of this market is not enough to pique the interests of the department heads who are needed to make decisions about things like this. But there are loads of us who really just want to get out there and play – and are hamstrung by these limitations. And I am frustrated beyond all belief by this situation, so I wanted to vent, and maybe someone will be able to put the word in the right ear.

Until then, I’m still playing, and I’m still loving it. I just wish I had the same level of access as my sighted musical contemporaries – that is all.

Thanks for reading

Matt