There are so many things that can help her! You can make her phone accessible today. Go to settings, general, accessibility then it will be VoiceOver for iPhone or Talkback for Android. Once on, swiping will tell her what is on the screen, and double tapping will select it.

I would also recommend visiting the Independence Market at $1 to see the products they have. Best of luck!

She can attend one of the NFB training centers to learn how to live as a blind person. There centers are very good.

In addition to the good suggestions here, I also recommend getting an Amazon Echo. It's got no visual interface at all once it's set up, so she'd have no more disadvantage than you in using it.

where do you live roughly , US? if so you can get in touch with your local vocational rehabilitation offices or blind services in your state and there are a great many things they can help her with

There are two main places in the Us for blindness products. LS&S, and Maxiaids. They may also have a manual for using iPhone or android accessibility features.

There's a ton of things that can be done, yes. A few of those:

* Cheap screen reader, try NVDA for Windows, or VoiceOver for the Mac. NVDA is free and VoiceOver comes built-in with the OS.
* Both iPhone and Android come with screen readers. It tkaes a bit of getting used to (I don't really like touchscreens myself) but a lot of blind people use their phones a lot. There are tutorials around but I wouldn't know what to recommend.
* There are a lot of talking devices: scales, thermometers, etc. I'd strongly recommend pricing comparisons. Very often the specific blind products are very expensive and one can get cheaper on Amazon or wherever.

I'd recommend the NVDA screen reader. It's completely free. It's for laptops/pcs' running windows.

You’ve gotten great responses but I just thought of a tool that might be worth checking into. It’s called a PenFriend and it allows you to label anything with your voice on a sticker. You touch the pen to the sticker and it says whatever you recorded to that sticker. I’ve used them with older students on grocery shopping trips. They’ll go through the store with an employee to assist in getting their items and as they get each item, they label it right then and there. It’s a really neat tool that might help your mom more functional and comfortable in the kitchen.

If she can get an iPhone, applevis.com is a good resource, and there's also a facebook group called iPhones and iPad Apps for the Blind and Visually Impaired, I believe. The group is really good for shooting questions off of.

If you'd like, I can grab the keyboard and touch gestures for the iPhone, since that's my primary device.

There's also a Blindfold Gesture game on iOS that has been used to train people new to Voiceover in using some of the lesser known gestures.

I'm somewhat anti-NFB because of their mentality, but they do have free canes and slate and stylus... styluses? Styli? I don't know the plural. But anyway, you can learn Braille using the slate and there's lots of videos out there.

If you can help her with it, signing up for classes through Hadley would be pretty good for her to learn new things.

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For me, I use the Tee-Fal Opti-Grill and a Pen Friend to cook most things, or the crockpot and just remember which is which setting.

I learned some methods to cook and clean better at the Carroll Center in MA, and I highly recommend them.

I also recommend checking out blindmicemart.com or blindmicemall.com I always forget which is their website: They have a lot of smaller shops, and, if you make an account, you can download movies and shows on your computer for free, although they're only the audio file with descriptions.

I personally exclusively use Apple products because they're all accessible out of the box and use the same gestures and keys to do the same things, with most of the base apps being very accessible.

I definitely recommend something like the Amazon echo or Google home, as they are solely voice controlled so she can use them to do a number of tasks. Also, though there is much debate over the philosophy of the national Federation for the blind, they still have excellent resources for people who are adjusting to blindness. NFB.org
It’s unfortunate that your voc rehab agency won’t work with you, but they are often slow and unreliable even for the people they do work with, at least here in Texas.
Best of luck to you, and her.

Hi, I won’t duplicate any of the previous answers, you’ve got yourself some good advice here, though I am not a favorite of the NFB or the ACB. I just got the adaptive devices and went with it. There are also local agencies that can come to your home and work with you in terms of independence training, and there is no need to go through the NFB crapshoot!!!! I’ve managed without either organization pretty well. If you need to talk this through, I’d be happy to help, I am a very independent blind person who can give you more guidance. I am usually asked for advice on this stuff anyway.

As to your phone voiceover works phenomenally if you can learn how to use it, mostly of course, I’ve found a few minor hiccups, but nothing to effect daily use unless you were a student trying to. Sight out of ibooks. Or something like this. You don’t even have to work off of a screen, but for this to work you’ll have to learn some extra stuff. I work a lot off of a bluetooth keyboard with the phone, especially typing long explanations like this. The keyboard and iphone screen. Itself are both excellently accessible. I say the iphone is much more accessible than the android. Apple has done such a great job at designing this screen reader and it cost just about zilch dollars after you buy the unit. In my experience apple devices last a while. The mac is a good choice. I have a 4 years old computer and it is like I just purchased it yesterday. I mean the screen is a bit dusty the unit has been here but the workings is still great. My friend has my 6 years old or nearly that macbook pro I bought for 1500 I believe but it’s 2018 and the mid 2012 model still works like it was new! He was just telling me how well it stil works in gratitude, but the point here I am trying to make is this computer is so worth your investment. I don’t think Joel’s computer my old computer will break anytime soon. 5 years and still counting!!
! It just made up for the 1500 dollars that was invested in it. The better news screen. Reader is free, plus you have excellent hardware. Besides that, windows has NVDA as mentioned. Windows can be an expense because after a few years you need a new unit. I have old windows pcs and they need replacing desperately, but fortunately my main OS is Mac. So I am not too worried at this point. NVDA is good for windows if that’s how you choose to go though.

I do like maxiaids I have bought things from them and the NFB has nice free canes and slates so that’s very helpful. Their canes are not too bad either for purchase. I’ve done this as well, but as stated before I won’t join them.


I would say to a certain degree the homepod is a good device too, but the other ones such as alexas and google home can do more.

The answer to all your questions is yes! There’s SO much out there for your stepmom to mitigate the deficits from her vision loss.

I’d check out $1 and see if she’s interested in engaging services in the blindness community.

There are 4 types of certified therapists for adults with vision loss. Low Vision Therapist (help maximize use of functional vision), Vision Rehab Therapists (teach daily living skills), Orientation and Mobility Specialists (teach using long mobility cane and how to move safely and independently in familiar and unfamiliar environments), and Assistive Technology Instructional Specialists.

There are several sites that sell “stuff” for vision impairment. LS&S, Independent Living Aids, Maxi-Aids, American printing house, blind mice mart. If there’s something specific you’re looking for I can suggest a site or products.

This is what I do for a living and love it. Feel free to pm me of you need more specific guidance or have questions.

iPhone has VoiceOver which can be found in accessibility settings- You can adjust the speed of it as well. Basically whenever you use your fingers and hover over something on the screen it'll read out what that item is and then if you double tap to confirm, it'll open the app/link/whatever

Hi, /u/Menelly! To add onto these comments, if you ever needed some “from a live person” help, feel free to shoot me a DM. I work for an organisation for the blind and hang out with lovely people like your step-mom on the daily for stuff like this.
Personally, I think iPhones are an incredible multi-tool for the visually impaired. If she gets more comfortable with VoiceOver, check out some apps like Be My Eyes and SeeingAI!