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Ask Slashdot: What Tablet and Software For a Partially Sighted Person?
RobHart (70431) writes My friend has had both retinas detach, twice. He is legally blind but partially sighted. He has a number of devices that help him read (either by magnifying the text or as text to speech) — but none are really portable. What do Slashdotters recommend (if anything) in terms of a tablet and software that will make it possible for him to do email and read at least some web sites?
iPad / iPhone. Their accessibility support is top-notch, and you can walk into an Apple store and ask an employee to walk you through it all.
Love Apple or hate Apple, they do accessibility well.
Apple's included support in iOS devices is outstanding, and has been for years. Advocacy organizations have given them awards over this, which AFAIK has happened to no other mass marked vendor. Google David Woodbrige and Vision Australia - they have extensive write ups on technology use for vision impaired users, including OS X and iOS.
Connect laptop or desktop to a large TV and put a high-contrast scheme.
My wife had both retinas detach also (due to uveitis), lost vision completely in one eye due to scarring in the re-attachment surgery, had to have DSEK on her only good eye, and she's currently legally blind too (20/200). She's been using an iPad as her "main" computer since the 1st gen iPad (currently on a 3rd gen). The fact that she can pinch-zoom almost every website/email up to whatever zoom level is necessary has been a life-saver for her. For websites that have 'mobile' versions that disable pinch and zoom, the new Mobile Safari now has an option to "Request Desktop Site", which mostly works to request a zoomable, desktop version of the website. Dictation has also worked well for her when she had a flare and her vision was almost nil. On top of that, there's some other accessibility features like VoiceOver and 'hardware' zoom through a triple-tap that she has not needed to use, but they're there if push comes to shove.
I have Note 3 and Note Pro 12.2 both have voice read mode and high contrast mode. D ont know if is standard on any other android.
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The one thing that most annoys my client with low vision is updates that cause things to be in different places or look different. Like a touch typist, he relies on memory much more than people with normal sight do. He CAN put his nose to the screen and find the icon for ____, but it's much easier if it's in the same place it has always been.
As others have said, iOS has very good accessibility support. I am developing a system for visually impaired (VI) people to give them contextual awareness in their community. As part of this development process we engaged the VI community to have them test and provide design and testing feedback. Their first piece of advice was that iOS is the preferred platform due to voice over and other accessibility options. So, our system's mobile support is starting with iOS.
I'm a frontend web developer and absolutely *not* an expert on accessibility in any way. Some quick thoughts in case they may be of help.
- Some browsers can apply responsive or rewriting CSS and "reflow" an existing page (this is how some "make my site mobile" tools work more or less). I imagine that there may be (1) Some precustomized browsers for people like your client (2) A way to customize existing browsers and (3) Possibly some browser add-ons/plugins for this need. I would look at Chrome and Firefox (on mobile or variants thereof). This is sort of like a text reader, but different in that it tries to reformat the page.
- You mentioned that your client relies somewhat on memory. Depending on the type of web site; it may have an RSS reader. RSS feeds vary a bit, but they are basically simple text and images. Both RSS readers (Google reader clones) and some browsers have methods to automatically discover and load a site's RSS feed. Combined with some text/accessibility configs., maybe that's an option too in some cases.
- I know a technology startup in my city that is creating a method where a person's phone (screen) can map better to a person's sightedness. Maybe there are some similar technologies out there already.
- the WCAG (web accessibility working group) probably has some recommendations and exemplars, it's worth checking out their site as well as other resource/tool lists put together by accessibility working groups and/or advocates for people with impaired vision.
- Some apps do a nice job of reflowing / reformatting web sites into a predicatable interface. These apps are *not* designed for people with sightedness differences, but maybe they are worth checking out. For example "Pocket" (formerly called "Read it later" allows you to save articles and pages on the web and read them inside *their* app). There are a lot of these types of apps out there for a lot of different use cases. Some are better than others, but they do make a site UI more predictable.
I hope at least something there is helpful. There are definitely some true *experts* on this issue, hopefully one of them will see your post and chime in. I haven't seen that yet, so I thought I'd share the little info I have for now.
I work in IT for an institution that deals with the visually impaired and wight now at work we are about to start testing some windows 8.1 tablets, a good 10 inch one should work well with the popular screen readers and enlargers (Jaws, NVDA, Zoomtext).
Apple vs Android Apple still has a slight advantage but Android has been making some nice gains, but our partially or completely blind people still prefer Apple devices, but I've got a feeling a Windows tablet might drag a few of them away from their ipads.
I recommend you take them and TRY different solutions. What works for one person will not always work for another.
Try your local Foundation for the blind, or equivalent for local suppliers, they will know who is helpful and they may also have people
who are willing to bring their gear in for trial and talk about what they found good/bad.
There is however no one perfect solution.
the va gives the blindish vets ipads.
lose != loose
I always wanted to try to get Eldy on an extra android tablet I have and see if it would work for my gramps. Obviously cant tell you if it works well but might be worth a shot.
I have a friend who's been legally blind all of her life. She has a Kindle and finds it very easy to use and read because she knows how to adjust the text size to what she needs. I have a high-end Nook that I'm very fond of. I've let my friend experiment with it and she told me that if she didn't have a Kindle, she could get along just fine with my Nook. Depending on just what you need, either one may be the right answer for you.
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...and has never been able to use an iPad or iPhone comfortably. Her favoured devices so far have been her Samsung Note Pro 12 tablet and Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. Her reasoning has always been that apple devices aren't flexible "enough" for her. She needs to customise her usage based on what she's doing on the device, not use what apple decide she needs as they rarely work well enough for her. Android has never let her down and having the ability to do essentially whatever she wants has made her life so much better.
On the other side I am aware of people with even worse sight than my wife who prefer iOS devices. So I think the device needs to be one that's right for the person. It's a personal, individual choice. No one device fits all.
Many thanks for all the feedback. I will talk to the Blind Association here in Australia and then take my friend to try out a few tablets. For software reasons, I am hoping that Android will do enough on a large tablet (there's an app that doesn't run on IOS that I know he would like to have access to), but we'll go and look at iPads as well!
If there are any more comments, please do post them - I'll check back several times over the next few days.
Again, my thanks!
Robert Hart
Off to the incinerator already. We don't have the resources to mollycoddle the cripples anymore.
A lot of people have mention brands - like ipad, but there's surely more to it than that - not all ipads are the same.
A large high resolution display is better able to clearly display a reasonable amount of text at a higher zooms.
You may want to check your state government for assistance. In VA, we have a Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired (http://www.vdbvi.org). A representative will provide home visits to make suggestions for dealing with everyday living challenges, will arrange a free eye exam with an optician who specializes in defining the patient's type and degree of impairment, and will arrange for the patient to try a variety of reading assistance devices at home before buying anything. The services are all free, except the reading assistance devices that the patient decides to buy. These may be free or subsidized by the state, depending on the patient's financial situation.
In addition to the OS X/iOS accessibility support, there are some Apps that can provide help with certain vision problems.
A problem that we have to overcome is technology illiteracy and intimidation. I think this will have to solved, at least initially, by a non-family member.
It may not be the sole problem, but turning off 'style' in the
browser makes most webpages much more readable.
Try the firefox 'Read Easily' extension.
There needs to be a yearly list of the most unreadable websites.
Places you shouldn't waste your time trying to read.
Your friend is not the only one that finds many webpages to be
a strain on their reading ability. I can somewhat understand the
motive for advertising that blocks content, but why does anyone
use fonts and font colors that minimally contrast with background.
The obvious reason is that they have little content to offer. Instead,
they are praying that their "graphic art" will produce the cool shock
and awe to keep you clicking. Forget them and go somewhere else!
I was wondering how one could be Partially Slighted, until i re-read the title. :(
I suck at reading
You mentioned something about your friend not having any retinas. The new iPads come with retinas. Problem solved.
Slightly off-topic, but I am working with a totally blind lady who uses a desktop. There are various screen reader programs out there, with the leaders being quite pricey. But Microsoft teamed up with the current owners of Window Eyes last year to allow a free installation of Window Eyes (full version) if you have a qualifying copy of Office installed. Qualifying copies include practically any version of 2010 or newer - see windoweyesforoffice.com for full details.
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there's an app that doesn't run on IOS that I know he would like to have access to
So the real question is, what is that app and are you SURE there's nothing like it on IOS?
There are a LOT of tablet specific apps, and many of them integrate well with iOS accessibility.
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