Not sure if this is available to you, but see if you can get your dr to refer you to an adaptive technology specialist. You should be able to see someone if your condition impacts daily life, regardless of whether or not you have vision. They know the tools that would best help you for your particular condition and what you need to do day to day. If not, try an occupational therapist, they may have ideas as well (like type of lightbulbs you use, screen filters, or other things that may reduce eye strain).

For studying your college or university should be able to provide a (human) reader or a scribe well they should for VI, severe dyslexia and other disabilities. They should also offer the exams in formats suitable for you. Bring dictaphones to class so you can play back the lesson. In ireland you can also get a grant for hiring someone to come to work to read for you, if you are visually impaired that is, you might be suprised what assistance is out there once you start searching

Using any of the aforementioned screen readers will be helpful, you can teach yourself or hire a trainer. In some countries you can get a trainer through the government if the training is needed for access to education or employment. Another thing that can help is TalkBack on android. It’s the closest thing you’ll get to a screen reader on android phones. It’s not as clean or robust as apple’s VoiceOver, but it works

https://www.reddit.com/r/blind/wiki/faq/sighted#wiki_q.3A_how_do_blind_people_use_computers.3F

> Some blind people are not totally without sight, and can read print just fine, if it's enlarged. Depending on how much vision they have, they may choose to use software like $1 on Windows, or the magnification software built-in to OS X and Linux, to help them magnify the screen. They may also enable whatever high-contrast settings the OS they're using provides.
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> People who are completely without vision, however, use screen-reading software. Many people with some vision also choose to use screen-readers instead of magnification as well, in order to prevent eye strain, to work faster, or for many other reasons. This software reads out the contents of the screen using synthetic speech. On Windows, this software may be $1 a free and open-source screen-reader for the Windows platform. On mac, a screen reader is built-in to every OS X computer, all the user needs to do is press command f5 (or command + Power Button (where the touch ID sensor is) on a mac with a touchbar) to turn it on. Screen-readers like $1 are available on Linux, as well.

Do you qualify for disabled student services maybe asking them what they can provide you is a good idea.

I use Voiceover on my Mac and iOS devices. I use Jaws from freedom Scientific or NVDA on Windows 10.

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The majority of computers, tablets, and smart phones have built in accessibility features these days, or, there are free apps/affordable apps you can download for the device in question. I wish that software developers would have a basic understanding of how a screen reader works, bothered to look at accessibility guidelines, and perhaps actually implemented them! I've lost track of the number of times I've contacted companies or tech support and was simply told "Oh, we can't do that." or, "We don't understand how your accessibility software works so cannot provide a solution".

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Up until I lost my sight as a teen, I used the magnification utility on the Macintosh called Close view. (This was back in the mid 1990s to late 1990s so it would have been on my Mac running the classic Mac OS.) Once I lost the rest of my vision in a very short time, I had to re-learn how to use the computer with a screen reader. The screen reader I used back then was called Outspoken from Berkeley systems.

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I used that all through high school. I used an Apple and a Mac in school, had my Mac at home, and while I had used a pc with ms dos and a pc with Windows once in a while, I never really spent much time with either. When I got to college, I had to learn how to use Windows from scratch with Jaws. Hello frustration and a whole load of problems I simply didn't have with my old Mac! I started with Windows 98 and then went through Millennium, xp, 7, and now 10. (I'm glad I skipped right over vista and 8.) I will say that Windows 10 is certainly a step in the right direction in terms of stability and accessibility!

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As far as the transition from a visually impaired computer user using magnification to a blind computer user having to use a screen reader, here are the things that took me a while to get under my belt:

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1. Synthesized speech. Audio books were one thing but learning how to understand a speech synthesizer was tough for quite a while! It was so bad that my pet turtle complained that I was too slow! (Which hurt my feelings!) It got better though just like learning touch typing. All of the sudden it clicks and you progress to the next challenge.

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2. Spatial orientation. This wasn't so bad on my Mac but with windows, I was lost for quite a while. Learning a new environment with new terminology and commands etc can be difficult for a sighted user but try it wearing a blindfold and using a screen reader. You'd be tearing your hair out in less than ten minutes I'd bet. It was confusing for a long time because without seeing the screen, I wasn't really sure where I was. You get used to that though and learn to work around it. For example, if I'm exploring a new program, I'll make sure that Voiceover cursor wrapping is turned off so I'll know when I'm starting at the top of a window and when I'm at the very bottom.

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OCR can be a life saver sometimes for finding text or controls that are not accessible to a screen reader although this can be very hit and miss. Sometimes the results are neat and tidy, sometimes it's a jumble but you can figure things out via trial and error, and sometimes you end up with an empty window. It's really a crap shoot...

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Before I lost my sight, I loved computer games and drawing/painting on the computer. With a screen reader, you don't have any really good accessible alternatives for any of those sort of applications. (Although audio games/accessible games are beginning to make their way into the iOS universe. This is a good thing but they really need to step their game up; no pun intended.)

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Anyways, I hope that helps a bit!

It really depends on what you're looking to do. I use jaws as a screen reader, 4 different web browsers for different sites and microsoft office. My biggest issue is with security software.

I use FUSION

Hi! I’ve been diagnosed with convergence insufficiency too, and I wondered if you’d found anything that helped? I’ve increased the text size on my phone but the eye exercises I was given to do haven’t improved my symptoms (double vision when reading screens or books).

It only came on six months ago. At first I was hoping it would be treatable but now reading your post it sounds like maybe it could be more permanent?