Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Occupational Therapist looking for phone help for my patient (self.Blind)
submitted by iwannabanana
I'm sorry if these types of posts aren't allowed here, delete if that's the case.
I'm an OT working in an inpatient rehab and a patient recently came in who is newly blind. Besides the vision loss, she has no other functional issues. I learned some basics about low vision techniques in school but am by no means an expert. I obviously plan on referring her for more specialized services when she leaves, but while she's at our facility I want to give her a good start.
Her main concern at the moment is using her phone. She's unable to answer calls, texts, etc. We turned on the voice command so she knows who's calling, but is having difficulty answering because she can't find the proper place to swipe on the screen. Is there an app that can set up more voice commands that go beyond what the phones accessibility features will do? She has a Samsung phone.
When I search for apps online, a lot of them are geared more toward people with some functional vision, but these unfortunately won't work for her. Any help or recommendations of websites to check out would be greatly appreciated!!
I'm an OT working in an inpatient rehab and a patient recently came in who is newly blind. Besides the vision loss, she has no other functional issues. I learned some basics about low vision techniques in school but am by no means an expert. I obviously plan on referring her for more specialized services when she leaves, but while she's at our facility I want to give her a good start.
Her main concern at the moment is using her phone. She's unable to answer calls, texts, etc. We turned on the voice command so she knows who's calling, but is having difficulty answering because she can't find the proper place to swipe on the screen. Is there an app that can set up more voice commands that go beyond what the phones accessibility features will do? She has a Samsung phone.
When I search for apps online, a lot of them are geared more toward people with some functional vision, but these unfortunately won't work for her. Any help or recommendations of websites to check out would be greatly appreciated!!
jrs12 4 points 5y ago
There is internal accessibility options in the phone you can turn on. If it's iPhone it's called Voiceover if it's Android it's Talkback. Both these programs change how the phone works. You basically swipe or use a series of gestures to navigate the screen them double tap anywhere on the screen to select when the desired button is announced. There is a large learning curve to it, but it's super helpful.
BARDLover 2 points 5y ago
No idea on her phone, but IPhones are extremely accessible.
Best in class.
Best in class.
Itsthejoker 2 points 5y ago
Hi! Is your patient using an iOS device or am Android device? Both operating systems have fully fleshed out assistive systems that completely change the way the phone works in order to make it usable without sight.
For Android phones, this service is called TalkBack and can get reached through settings > accessibility. For iOS phones, it's called VoiceOver and you can read all about it here: https://www.apple.com/accessibility/iphone/vision/
Both options are initially very frustrating and will likely annoy your patient even more starting out because they will have to effectively relearn how to use their phone. You do eventually get the hang of it (I did, and I'm sighted) so give it a try yourself. Best of luck!
For Android phones, this service is called TalkBack and can get reached through settings > accessibility. For iOS phones, it's called VoiceOver and you can read all about it here: https://www.apple.com/accessibility/iphone/vision/
Both options are initially very frustrating and will likely annoy your patient even more starting out because they will have to effectively relearn how to use their phone. You do eventually get the hang of it (I did, and I'm sighted) so give it a try yourself. Best of luck!
margaret0203 1 points 5y ago
My friend who is blind uses an iPhone. We put little red "dots" at the beginning and end of the "slide to answer" bar and that made all the difference. He can feel where to start and end the slide. He does not use VoiceOver yet ... it's very confusing. He uses Siri for text messaging and dialing. Oh, and she can disconnect from a call simply by pushing the button on the right side of the phone once.
AllHarlowsEve 1 points 5y ago
In the accessibility settings, she should be able to do a tutorial as well, the talkback one is pretty great. One of the few things I think they do better than iOS.
Ramildo 1 points 5y ago
If the phone is an iPhone she can just double-tap with 2 fingers anywhere on the screen with VoiceOver enabled to answer and hang-up calls. No need to search for the slide bar.
bradley22 1 points 5y ago
As people have said, there's VoiceOver for Apple devices.
Go to settings/general/accessibility/VoiceOver then turn it on, after that the user will be able to swipe, left and right, through her phone, double tap on buttons, edit boxes, icons and more to access the features of the phone and she will be able to type too.
If you want to find out more; click on this link. https://www.applevis.com/new-to-ios Or this link. http://macfortheblind.com/Getting-Started-With-iOS-and-VoiceOver
I can't help with Android but having a look on google for talkback with android should help.
Go to settings/general/accessibility/VoiceOver then turn it on, after that the user will be able to swipe, left and right, through her phone, double tap on buttons, edit boxes, icons and more to access the features of the phone and she will be able to type too.
If you want to find out more; click on this link. https://www.applevis.com/new-to-ios Or this link. http://macfortheblind.com/Getting-Started-With-iOS-and-VoiceOver
I can't help with Android but having a look on google for talkback with android should help.
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