Regarding blind accessibility, I did very strongly consider Samsung's equivalent FL model before finally settling on this one. I believe the LG's have a better track record for reliability which is the main reason, among others, why I went with this machine in the end. But I even had the Samsung in my cart and everything, was so close to picking that one but a little voice in my head was telling me to do this instead. So, I listened. Will it matter much in the long run? We shall see.
Anyhow, yeah Chris's suggestion above is a good one. The software is probably already there to do exactly what Samsung has done with their machines as far as different tones for cycle modification. Samsung's interface isn't perfect though. The cycle knob doesn't have different tones, just the modifiers, one still has to learn/memorize the cycle dial and where everything is. For the LG, before it arrived, I actually wrote up a document for myself detailing the default parameters of the cycles I figured I would use most often, so I would have it to refer back to if I ever forget. But not everyone is going to do that, in fact very few people are willing to put forth that much effort, they just want to use the machine as is, so something like voice control or vocal feedback is crucial. True accessibility is reached when the disabled user doesn't have to employ workarounds to use the machine completely independently, like everyone else. So yes, reaching out to LG with my suggestions wouldn't hurt at all.
There is a blind lady on Youtube who was able to get quite a long way in getting LG to improve the usability of the phone app and how it works in conjunction with screen reading software. I haven't attached the washer to WiFi yet, so I can't try the app. I've always been a bit of a curmudgeon about that sort of thing, appliances don't need apps and blah blah, but perhaps I'll have someone help me set that up so I can try out the app. If it does indeed make the machine more usable, that would be a win for me. I just never thought I'd see the day when I would even think about controlling my appliance with an app on my phone, that still kinda makes me itch a bit, LOL
John, what do you mean the SQ has one keypad for everythihng? Do you mean there's one button for soil, one button for temp, etc? Because if so, that's a great start, but in addition to braille overlays, the blind user would need a mechanism to keep track of where they are in the menu in order for the machine to be considered truly accessible. For example, if normal wash always starts at warm, that's good to know but if the temp button has the same beep every time it's pushed, the blind user could still easily lose their place and have to start over. So maybe SQ could incorporate ascending and descending beeps when the keypad is pressed so the user knows what's going on. The higher pitch the beep, the heavier soil, higher temp, or faster spin speed. A lower pitch beep would indicate lighter soil, cooler temp, slower spin. Does that make sense?
