Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Thoughts about setting up a service to distribute used iOS devices to the blind (self.Blind)
submitted by fantasy53
So I'm thinking about setting up a service which would distribute used iPads and iPhones to the visually impaired, but since the idea is only in its infancy, i'd be grateful for any ideas on how it might work.
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This all came about when a visually impaired friend applied for a grant to cover the cost of an iPad, only to be told that they don't fund mainstream technology, they were willing to provide her a magnifying glass A hideously expensive text-to-speech machine and many other separate products to do things that a much cheaper iPad could do.
It occurs to me that there are many people who have old iOS devices lying around, perhaps theyre hidden away in a drawer or maybe people just haven't got round to throwing them out yet but visually impaired people could certainly make use of them.
They wouldn't have to be in pristine condition, if the buttons were sticky or screens cracked or even if the battery life was Rubbish, at least blind people would have something to use that would give them access to the Internet and help them make calls and keep notes et cetera.
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But how could such a service work?
Marketing: I would have to find a way to encourage people to donate old devices firstly, perhaps by going on the radio or Internet advertising that would be quite expensive.
Website: I don't have any technical expertise and I would have to make a website that is accessible to the visually impaired, and store data so that the devices could be distributed.
Then theres also the cost of postage and packaging.
Is there already a service that does this, or how could one be set up?
​
This all came about when a visually impaired friend applied for a grant to cover the cost of an iPad, only to be told that they don't fund mainstream technology, they were willing to provide her a magnifying glass A hideously expensive text-to-speech machine and many other separate products to do things that a much cheaper iPad could do.
It occurs to me that there are many people who have old iOS devices lying around, perhaps theyre hidden away in a drawer or maybe people just haven't got round to throwing them out yet but visually impaired people could certainly make use of them.
They wouldn't have to be in pristine condition, if the buttons were sticky or screens cracked or even if the battery life was Rubbish, at least blind people would have something to use that would give them access to the Internet and help them make calls and keep notes et cetera.
​
But how could such a service work?
Marketing: I would have to find a way to encourage people to donate old devices firstly, perhaps by going on the radio or Internet advertising that would be quite expensive.
Website: I don't have any technical expertise and I would have to make a website that is accessible to the visually impaired, and store data so that the devices could be distributed.
Then theres also the cost of postage and packaging.
Is there already a service that does this, or how could one be set up?
KillerLag 2 points 3y ago
Here in Canada, CNIB has the Phone it Forward program, which does pretty much that. Their partners are able to get some repairs done and provide a tax receipt as well. The postage is covered
https://www.phoneitforward.ca/
https://www.phoneitforward.ca/
80percentaccurate 2 points 3y ago
In the US there are a number of different programs that pay for iOS devices. TechOwl provides access to phones for people with disabilities who are low income. iCanConnect provides them for people with hearing and vision loss. OVR will pay for a device if you can manage the wait list and have job goals. The group that misses out on these services are the rich old people or people who don’t have career goals for one reason or another. While I agree with you that a phone can do many of the things that these other more expensive machines can do, I’m finding that the older adults that I work with really prefer one device that does one thing. That is a generalization of course, but I’m finding many people are picking the CCTV with OCR if they have the choice even if there is an app on the phone that does the same skill for free. I would love another program that got iPhones in the hands of people who could use them, but there is still a place for the stand alone devices.
CloudyBeep 2 points 3y ago
I've heard of such services for deaf-blind people.
SLJ7 1 points 3y ago
There's a place for standalone simple devices among older people, but it's insane for a company to refuse to fund an iPad but happily fork over thousands of dollars on a proprietary device with a fraction of the functionality. Where are you located? As others have said, these services do exist but definitely not everywhere. Another thing to consider is that usually you can find used devices on something like Craigslist, and they're often surprisingly cheap'. Obviously, it's great if people can get these for free considering the use case, but if the Craigslist solution works for this one person, it's something to consider. Thanks for thinking of us in such a mainstream way; I can't count the number of times people have tried to literally invent a device that is obsolete before it even lands on Kickstarter. Apple really does do the best job in making their tech accessible to us.
bradley22 1 points 3y ago
This sounds cool but as others have said, these kind of services exist in some countries.
I don’t think they exist in the UK though.
I don’t think they exist in the UK though.
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