Apple products are renowned for having fundamentally accessible interfaces as well as a wide range of applications designed for people with sight loss that can be downloaded onto the device via the App Store.
The iPhone also contains built in zoom and voice over features which make it a conventionally suitable product for blind and partially sighted people.
Alongside these existing features and accessible applications I would like to share with you a few additional ways in which I utilise the existing features of the iPhone to aid my visual requirements.
Using the built in Camera feature
The touch screen camera feature is very accessible and easy to use. As well as taking photos of family members and friends on special occasions I use this feature on a day-to-day basis to help with small or inaccessible text, for instance bus or train time tables, instructions on food packaging and packaging on technology devices. Once I have taken a photo of the text I want to read, I can zoom the image until the text becomes a good readable size on the screen.
The camera app is located on the main screen of the iPhone so I can access it instantly without having to trail through pages of apps or type in key words on the search feature of the phone.
Using the built in Map Feature
The map feature is one of my favourite built in features of the iPhone. Why, do you ask? Because with this feature, wherever I am in the world, even if I have never been there before, I am never lost.
It allows you to plan routes from one location to another, whether you're walking, driving or needing to enquire about public transport routes. It also enables you to drop pins on various locations which are useful for recognising familiar places you have visited or creating points of references when exploring new places.
Having access to such a facility in the palm of my hand has increased my confidence and independence with travelling and finding new places, and has opened doors to new experiences that I wouldn't have had the confidence to do otherwise.
Using the light generated from the screen
This tip may be particularly useful for people like me who have light processing problems with the eye. When it is dark and there is little or no street light available, I use my phone as a torch when I am walking and it helps me find my way to where I need to be.
Also, if you are anything like me, you might have a tendency to be a little clumsy at times and you could benefit from using the light for another purpose! I often drop items or knock things off surfaces and due to my sight loss; I have trouble finding them again. In the past I often resorted to a tactile way of feeling around to find what I have lost, but now, instead of fumbling around for something I can not see, I use the iPhone's light to help locate these items.
There are various types of 'torch' applications readily available that you can download from the app store, which turn the screen into a bright white light, or failing that, I find the backlight that is generated from the screen itself acts as a good light if you don't have a specific torch application readily installed.
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