Uncategorized – Blind Resources

The Importance of Accessible Instructions

Recently it was announced that Lego would be releasing it’s instructions in both braille and audio forms thus opening up their line of products to the blind community.

According to an article from Washington Post all this came about because Matthew Shifrin lobbied Lego to add more accessible instructions. Before he started working with Lego Shifrin apparently ran a website where he made custom instructions for pre-existing sets with a close friend.

Though Lego instructions are nothing compared to how difficult Ikea instructions are, they’re still pretty taxing for those who can’t see very well. I used to have to pull the instructions up on my phone or computer and zoom in (A LOT) to properly read them. So I appreciate Lego stepping up and making their products more accessible so that those who struggle with low vision or those who are blind can enjoy them.

Thanks for reading, if you have a suggestion for what we should cover next feel free to leave a comment. And if you liked this post please leave a like as it helps put us on the map.

Sources Cited:

(Natanson, H. (2019, August 28). Lego just released audio and Braille instructions. They did it because of a blind man who never gave up. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/08/28/lego-just-released-audio-braille-instructions-they-did-it-because-blind-man-who-never-gave-up/)

10 IOS Apps for the Visually Impaired

Despite smartphones being a huge part in our everyday lives not a lot of people realize that there are a ton of helpful apps for the visually impaired. With that being said here’s our list of the 10 best IOS apps for the visually impaired.

10. Vhista

Seller: Juan David Cruz Serrano

Price: Free (In-App Purchases)

Stars: 5/5

What It Does: Vhista is an object Identification app that uses machine learning and your phones camera to narrate your surroundings. The app is also capable of describing other peoples appearances and can even predict emotions.

9. Color Inspector

Seller: Aaron L’Heureux

Price: Free (In-App Purchases)

Stars: 3.8/5

What It Does: Color Inspector is a color identification app meant to help those who are color blind differentiate between different colors.

Image result for prizmo pro scanner

8. Prizmo Pro Scanner

Seller: Creaceed SPRL

Price: $9.99 (In-App Purchases)

Stars: 3.6/5

What It Does: Prizmo is a document scanner app capable of scanning and recognizing text based documents, business cards, and images. The app uses voice guidance to help those who are visually impaired properly position their phone to scan the document. Once scanned the app is capable of recognizing the text and reading it back to you.

7. AIpoly Vision

Seller: AIpoly Inc

Price: Free (In-App Purchases)

Stars: 3.6/5

What It Does: AIpoly is an object and color recognition app that identifies and narrates objects in the environment to those who are visually impaired. AIpoly can recognize over 1,000 items without the subscription and does not require an internet connection to function.

6. Talkler

Seller: Talkler Labs, LLC

Price: Free (In-App Purchases)

Stars: 4.5/5

What It Does: Talkler is a free app that lets you control your email via voice commands. The app can read your email to you, mark emails as unread, record a response, and delete emails.

5. TapTapSee

Seller: Cloudsight, Inc

Price: Free

Stars: 4.3/5

What It Does: Taptapsee is an object identification app where you tap anywhere on the screen to take a picture and then the app’s AI will recognize the object and speak the identification back to you.

4. Be My Eyes

Seller: S/I Be My Eyes

Price: Free

Stars: 4.8/5

What It Does: Be My Eyes connects those who are visually impaired and volunteers via video call, where the volunteer can provide assistance in completing simple tasks.

3. NantMobile Money Reader

Seller: IPPLEX Holdings Corporation

Price: Free

Stars: 3.7/5

What It Does: Nant is a currency identification app that is capable of identifying 21 different currencies and then speaks the denomination back to the user.

2. Seeing AI

Seller: Microsoft

Price: Free

Stars: 4.5/5

What It Does: Seeing AI is an identification app that utilizes AI to narrate the world around you. The app is also capable of recognizing text and people.

Image result for bard mobile

1. BARD

Seller: Library Of Congress

Price: Free

Stars: 3.6/5

What It Does: BARD is the national library service for the blind and physically handicapped, which provides over 100.000 free, downloadable books and magazines, as well as musical scores to those who qualify.

An Introduction to Blind Resources

This site is intended to be a tool for caretakers and/or people who have lost their vision partially and/or fully and who are looking for helpful resources to make their life simpler.

Blind Resources was started by Patrick Lennon back in 2017, as a way to help simplify the search for resources for the visually impaired. In early 2019, the site was revived to help increase the resource information and develop a community that can make a difference for those with a visual impairments. This year, the site has grown considerably, but we still has a long way to go. Currently we have information available for states located in the american southwest. We look forward to adding more states in the coming weeks and months, as well as a variety of other content like monthly interviews, assistive technology information and reviews, and top 5’s.

If you know of a resource that you would like to share with the community, please click here.

eSight Eye Wear

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to let you all know about eSight, which is a huge breakthrough for the legally blind. eSight is a versatile, wearable, hands-free solution that provides sight, without the need for any surgery. Recently, a good friend of mine, Andy Ogg, went and tried the glasses out, and was able to successfully able to read a 20/20 line with the zoom function of the glasses, which when you are low vision/blind is something you can’t even imagine doing again. He documented his journey and has shared this video with me, and I am honored to be able to share it with you all! If you would like to learn more about Andy, and his journey, he also has a blog, As The Light Dims.

eSight is doing some incredible things in the advancement of technology. If you would like to learn more about them, I encourage you to check out their website here and schedule a time for you or your loved one to go trial the glasses. Please know, they do not work for everyone depending on levels of vision, however, there have been many success stories.