Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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People with low vision, how do you manage in office spaces? (self.Blind)
submitted by enygma2126
Hey everyone, my girlfriend has a morning glory syndrome and she has very low vision. She is working in an office but she is struggling with computers and neck aches. How do you manage in offices, do you have tips for her?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Ramildo 2 points 6y ago
Back when I had sight my vision was enough for most tasks as the only thing wrong with it was its acuity of 10% or 20/200. I could see contrast, color, and brightness just fine, but I had to get closer to the screen in order to read without magnification. I never had the neck pain, but I remember that using a laptop was extremely discomfortable, so I just connected mine to a big external low-DPI monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I only started to use accessibility options when I bought a Mac and found that the built--in accessibility zoom addressed my two biggest grips with the Windows magnifier: it allows zooming using the scroll gesture on the mouse or trackpad and centering the mouse cursor on the magnified screen, and this eliminated my problem with laptops completely.
KillerLag 2 points 6y ago
There are some sunglasses that help with monitor glare. She should talk to a low vision specialist about those. For the neck-aches, she might be craning her neck in a weird way to look at the monitor. The monitor may need to be repositioned to help her see easier, usualy by having it raised. Check with HR regarding ergonomic accomodations.
snow671 2 points 6y ago
The monitors at my work are connected to adjustable arms that are anchored to the desks. I highly recommend these! She will be able to pull the monitor closer and keep the keyboard and mouse in a comfortable position.
Terry_Pie 2 points 6y ago
I strongly recommend this too. Because they're mounted on arms, you can shift the monitor closer without taking up desk space that the keyboard should be occupying (your entire forearm should be resting on the desk).
I also recommend high contrast schemes for everyone. The trend of of light text on blinding white backgrounds is not healthy for anyone, and in the case of people with low vision, is extremely difficult to use. Black on LCD monitors isn't true black (it's black light rather than the absence of light), but it's much easier on your eyes that blinding white.
Edit: Also, because a sore neck is really a desk setup/posture thing, not something unique to low vision, your girlfriend should advocate for a proper workplace assessment by an occupational therapist. I work in government and we're supposed to review our workstation setup every 12 months and get an OT in as required to ensure an optimum (i.e. least amount of harm) set up.
I also recommend high contrast schemes for everyone. The trend of of light text on blinding white backgrounds is not healthy for anyone, and in the case of people with low vision, is extremely difficult to use. Black on LCD monitors isn't true black (it's black light rather than the absence of light), but it's much easier on your eyes that blinding white.
Edit: Also, because a sore neck is really a desk setup/posture thing, not something unique to low vision, your girlfriend should advocate for a proper workplace assessment by an occupational therapist. I work in government and we're supposed to review our workstation setup every 12 months and get an OT in as required to ensure an optimum (i.e. least amount of harm) set up.
tymme 1 points 6y ago
There are screen covers to help with glare. Also, just atlking with management can help. I had larger monitors combined with Windows Magnifier, and monitor arms. Also had my desk positioned to avoid a lot of overhead light and outside windows. (They were willing to shut off the one light above me if I needed, but it wasn't that bad.)
Veron4ica 1 points 6y ago
Agreed with the magnification comments. She's likely putting additional strain on her neck from leaning in to see the computer. If there is any way to raise the monitor so it is closer to eye level, this would help reduce the pain. Also using a neck support pillow for about fifteen minutes every other hour can help to release tension.
Cherveny2 1 points 6y ago
One thing also to try, Windows has built in support for magnifying portions of the screen. This can help ensure she doesn't need to lean in so close to see clearly.
zerosledge 1 points 6y ago
When I'm in my own office, I either use a big (say 50") monitor like the previous poster or a monitor arm to move the screen up to right in front of my face. I use Apple's Accessibility Zoom feature too.
When I'm working at a customer office on my laptop I use zoom and/or set a timer to take a quick thirty second stretch every fifteen minutes. If you don't do this, hunching over to get close is going to give you an injury.
Other programs to try are text editing programs that can go full-screen but you can blow the text up and it wraps properly. Ulysses for Mac is good for this, and exports good looking docs to Word. But you can also shrink a window and zoom in on it to get a similar effect.
When I'm working at a customer office on my laptop I use zoom and/or set a timer to take a quick thirty second stretch every fifteen minutes. If you don't do this, hunching over to get close is going to give you an injury.
Other programs to try are text editing programs that can go full-screen but you can blow the text up and it wraps properly. Ulysses for Mac is good for this, and exports good looking docs to Word. But you can also shrink a window and zoom in on it to get a similar effect.
enygma2126 [OP] 1 points 6y ago
>monitor arm to move the screen up to right in front of my face
What does a monitor arm look like? Is it one of these things:
http://www.ergomart.com/images/SAA7000-1.jpg
What does a monitor arm look like? Is it one of these things:
http://www.ergomart.com/images/SAA7000-1.jpg
Cherveny2 1 points 6y ago
Exactly. They come in many different form factors too.
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