Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Christmas gifts that assist with reading for my Dad (partially blind) (self.Blind)
submitted 8y ago by UniversalOrbit
Hi everyone, I hope these kinds of posts are cool here I've never been to the sub before, but my Dad had a stroke 5 years ago that while medically was considered fairly severe, only impacted his vision. He has little to no peripheral vision now, and has to stop and focus on one thing at a time for them to become clear.
Thing is, he used to be an english teacher and has a bigger library of books than anyone else I've ever met, and for the past half decade I've felt really bad that whenever I visit they're just sitting in their shelf collecting dust. He's found a compromise in coffee table books with short descriptions of photographs of things like nature and history, but I know it's not the same.
Is there anything that I could get him as a last minute extra gift, or for his birthday next month that would help him read actual paper books again? E-books and audio just aren't the same.
Thing is, he used to be an english teacher and has a bigger library of books than anyone else I've ever met, and for the past half decade I've felt really bad that whenever I visit they're just sitting in their shelf collecting dust. He's found a compromise in coffee table books with short descriptions of photographs of things like nature and history, but I know it's not the same.
Is there anything that I could get him as a last minute extra gift, or for his birthday next month that would help him read actual paper books again? E-books and audio just aren't the same.
impablomations 1 points
I have exactly the same condtion as your dad - only happened to me 3 months ago. It's called a Hemanopia or Hemanopsia. Mine only affects one side, and top/bottom a little - I'm guessing your dad's affected both sides.
I use something like $1. A large magnifying glass that stands on the table with a movable arm. Good for reading newspapers or magazines
Now this won't be any good to you so close to christmas, but $1 is fantastic for book reading.
They aren't cheap - but to me at least, they are worth the money. I've always loved reading and couldn't bear to lose the ability to read books.
These might not be much use to you now, but they could be ideas for your dad anyways - I'm sure he'd be over the moon to be able to read again.
Any chance you could list a couple of things or tips your Dad discovered while adjusting? I'm still getting used to it.
I use something like $1. A large magnifying glass that stands on the table with a movable arm. Good for reading newspapers or magazines
Now this won't be any good to you so close to christmas, but $1 is fantastic for book reading.
They aren't cheap - but to me at least, they are worth the money. I've always loved reading and couldn't bear to lose the ability to read books.
These might not be much use to you now, but they could be ideas for your dad anyways - I'm sure he'd be over the moon to be able to read again.
Any chance you could list a couple of things or tips your Dad discovered while adjusting? I'm still getting used to it.
UniversalOrbit [OP] 1 points
He says one side is worse than the other but both are effected. He's always been kind of a simple life quiet introvert type of person, and he's retired so he just does things slower now really.
I pretty much forced him to buy a bigger monitor when he upgraded his computer, he's really happy about that, I showed him the accessibility magnifier in windows (also on macs and I'm sure someone's put something together for linux), then I went through the cleartext font calibrator built into windows with him to make sure everything was as dark and sharp as possible for him.
I also found and recommended some grocery delivery services since I live in the Canadian prairies and it's very cold/icy here right now, walking kind of worries me with some high traffic areas around the area and I don't live in the same city to drive him.
Really he lives a surprisingly normal independent life, when it happened I was 17 and really worried that living by himself would be an issue, but he lives close to everything, is enjoying finding new hobbies that don't rely so much on vision that he may not have considered before. He's even looking at moving to the west coast for some milder temperatures to do more in the winter.
I'm driving back tomorrow , so if he mentions anything else i'll come back and update you. Sorry this is kind of a lengthy reply, out of curiosity does anything like bolding or underlining the text help? And do you find that you read white on black, or black on white better?
I pretty much forced him to buy a bigger monitor when he upgraded his computer, he's really happy about that, I showed him the accessibility magnifier in windows (also on macs and I'm sure someone's put something together for linux), then I went through the cleartext font calibrator built into windows with him to make sure everything was as dark and sharp as possible for him.
I also found and recommended some grocery delivery services since I live in the Canadian prairies and it's very cold/icy here right now, walking kind of worries me with some high traffic areas around the area and I don't live in the same city to drive him.
Really he lives a surprisingly normal independent life, when it happened I was 17 and really worried that living by himself would be an issue, but he lives close to everything, is enjoying finding new hobbies that don't rely so much on vision that he may not have considered before. He's even looking at moving to the west coast for some milder temperatures to do more in the winter.
I'm driving back tomorrow , so if he mentions anything else i'll come back and update you. Sorry this is kind of a lengthy reply, out of curiosity does anything like bolding or underlining the text help? And do you find that you read white on black, or black on white better?
impablomations 1 points
For reading websites - white on black is definitely better, I use Nightmode in RES and a Chrome plugin called $1 for other websites that forces white/black.
>walking kind of worries me with some high traffic areas around the area and I don't live in the same city to drive him.
I don't know if he already has one but, but a white cane is a great help. I baulked at the suggestion first, thinking "I'm not THAT blind!' - but it is really useful. I can walk while looking forward, instead of my chin on my chest looking at the ground in case I trip.
>walking kind of worries me with some high traffic areas around the area and I don't live in the same city to drive him.
I don't know if he already has one but, but a white cane is a great help. I baulked at the suggestion first, thinking "I'm not THAT blind!' - but it is really useful. I can walk while looking forward, instead of my chin on my chest looking at the ground in case I trip.
thatsnotgneiss 2 points
I am in the same boat of "I'm not THAT blind!" before I got my cane. I bought mine from Ambutech, which is a Canadian company. They were AMAZING and make canes custom. You will have to do a bit of measuring to get the right fit, but it's worth it.
http://ambutech.com/
http://ambutech.com/
I_want_to_paint_you 1 points
Audio books aren't the same, unless you take a recorder and read them yourself. Take an hour or two and read his favorite book for him. He'll love it.
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