Hi! I probably forgot to wish everyone a happy 2020. A belated welcome to the year that has inspired interest in vision issues the world over! [Lin/Linda: I apologize. Sue wrote this at the end of January! I admit that I lost track of it.]
February 12, 2020 will also end my fourth year as an official, legally blind person. Time certainly does fly. [You can read about her journey starting In the Beginning.]
Lin asked me to do another page on the “toys” I use regularly. The truth is I have really pared down the number of toys I use. I will tell you what they are in a moment, but right now I want to theorize why I am using less technology. [I’ve put links to Sue’s prior pages – 2016 & 2018 – about her ‘toolkit’ at the end.]
My theory is this : I have been adapting. I have realized that more recently. I am now pretty much able to put a plug in an electrical outlet on the first try. I am also much more successful in zipping my own coat. They sound like small things but for a while, in my life, they were huge! I have now fairly mastered those skills and probably many more.
I guess what I am saying is don’t give up on learning how to deal with your vision loss. Human beings are very adaptable creatures. You will be amazed what you can do when you try.
That said: what “toys” do I actually use these days? LED lighting is the first thing I would recommend. You need good lighting to accomplish anything visual. I have Ott lights next to the bed, on my ironing board and in the office. My LED lights are the first things that get turned on in the morning.
I just got a new computer at work. I prefer Mac products but the center where I work has PCs. If you have a PC, you will pretty much need ZoomText. I just purchased a one-year license for the application. You can get a one-year, home-use license for $80. I could not work well or easily on a PC without ZoomText. [ZoomText is a screen reader & magnifier. There’s more about that on their website.]
If you are “Mac by religion” as yours truly describes herself, you don’t need to install anything else. The iMac I have came with magnification capabilities, it is in accessibility in the system menu. I simultaneously hit two keys and then one alone and the screen image expands. iMacs are costly but it is an operating system I “grew up on” and that I prefer. Either PC or iMac, though, I could not work efficiently without magnification.
Bringing me to the “workhorse” of my visually impaired world, my CCTV magnifier. It is on my CCTV that I take notes at work, pay bills, read mail, and do just about anything that requires central vision. The value of my CCTV to me is immense.
And one last thing: my iPad. I love my iPad. Last evening I was watching my TV app on one iPad. I play games on it. I write on it.
I have apps on my iPad that allow me to access my world in other ways as well. It is on my iPad that I have my BARD app. Getting free audio books through BARD is just about the best thing about being visually impaired.
My KNFB Reader does not get used much, but it is on my iPad as well, as is my NaturalReader, a text-to-speech app. Need your emails read? How about a web-based article? As long as it is a pdf file, a text-to-speech app can do the job.
So, those are the winners by attrition in my life. Those are the things that have stood the test of time. I do not expect the things you find useful to be exactly the same, but this might give you some places to start.
And again, welcome to the year of vision, 2020. Ain’t it cool to be trendy?
Written January 26th, 2020; reviewed March 10th, 2023.