@mothninja
She lived on her own till the end, but she could no longer operate her induction hob, since she couldn't see the tests. We had the small see-through stickers that you use to protect walls from doorknobs and we sticked one just under the on-off button, so she could feel where it was.

@mothninja she also used google-nest. She was very interested in the world and she could let Google explain everything she wanted to know. She also used it to play all her favourite music.

@mothninja This is a huge topic, but as a blind accessibility specialist, I can be of help.
Recommendations in no particular order.
1. First of all, blindness is not an emprisonment sentence. His life will not be easy, — I'm not part of those people promoting blind pride, — but if helped correctly, he will continue living a full, prosperous life. Nothing is ending, he is not doomed. That can be obvious or not obvious, but I really want you and him to understand it firmly.
2. Start now. While he still has eyesight, let him start learning his screen reader. TODAY! (Sorry for yelling, but it's really important and I cannot put text in italics or bold here). Why? Because if now he gets lost, if something is not accessible, he can still look at it and find or ask for a solution.
3. The best screen reader. It's a huge holy war, like Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux, iOS vs. Android, PlayStation vs. XBox, etc., etc. but no matter what, Windows is the easiest and by far the most accessible platform out there. I don't know about your attitude towards that open-source fever of today, but if you really want your father to thrive, it's Windows on PC and iOS on the phone. I recommend JAWS for Windows, the screen reader I've been using for 28 years now. It's kinda expensive, but might be gotten by means of the country aids. However, I don't know his background. If he doesn't do anything super sophisticated, maybe it's worth to begin with NVDA, a free and open-source one. The main particularity of NVDA though is that it basically is a lego: you have quite a simplistic screen reader, but there are many addons (plugins) out there that solve many tasks. JAWS is far more powerful out of the box. But expensive. But powerful out of the box.
4. Accessibility. Not everything is accessible in our world, unfortunately. Tell him that, if something doesn't read, if he can't navigate past this link, the chances are very high it's not him, it's app or website developers who made it inaccessible to the blind.
5. Ask for more, I'm glad to help!

@mothninja Re screen-reader, what computer/phone is he currently using? That will change the response. I am a screen-reader user myself.

@FreakyFwoof aaah yes, excellent point, thank you - iPhone and iPad

@mothninja In that case there's only one option and it's already built-in. VoiceOver.
Settings >Accessibility >VoiceOver.
Or ask Siri to 'Enable VoiceOver'

@FreakyFwoof great, thank you!
Do you think there are better tech providers than Apple for accessibility, that might be worth looking into?

@mothninja Well unless you want to upend his entirely life and make him switch to Android when he's already comfortable with Apple and has not one, but two devices, no. I wouldn't recommend that.
I can use both platforms and daily drive an iPhone. Android is pretty much there in terms of parity but if you're losing your sight, the last thing you want to do is A, learn a new phone/tablet, and B, learn a new screen-reader on top of all that. it's a bit much.

@FreakyFwoof yes you're absolutely right, changing would not be a good idea. He was a die-hard PC fan back in the day, but switched to Apple about a decade ago, and switching again at this point would not help matters at all.

@mothninja @FreakyFwoof I can second how good apple devices are. there are many levels of visual aid before full use of the voiceover screenreader, and voiceover often works in conjunction with other visual aids to afaik. https://support.apple.com/en-us/111779

@mothninja Virginia has this resource: https://www.virginia.gov/agencies/department-for-the-blind-and-vision-impaired/ and they were immensely helpful in finding things that helped my mother see better when she went through this. I hope your state/area has something similar.

@DaleOh thank you! I'm really glad they were able to help your mother :)

@mothninja I forgot to mention: in Virginia, this service is free.

@mothninja I am also vision impaired, and I’m disabled in the way that I don’t walk as well. So one tip I have is getting a walker with a seat. I like to put stuff in the seat to carry with me, but I use the walker instead of a blind stick. As we get older, we need a little bit more help walking, and I found that this was my favorite accessibility device.

I saw you’re using iPad and iPhone, which is in my opinion much better than android. I am currently on an iPad and I have some vision so I find talk to text works better for me. But I think that’s because I have some vision left. I also have an android and talk back on the android has not been easy for me.

@NinjaNia very useful to know about Apple vs android, thank you!
I actually got my father a really cool walker, with a seat and a basket, because he also has balance issues, but he has so far been very reluctant to use it :( hopefully he will change his mind because I think it's awesome. I'm glad you're enjoying yours! 💚

@mothninja I am now in a wheelchair (unrelated) so now when I bump into things and people I do it with gusto! 😆

I also was hesitant but I found as a woman I felt safer being in public. I had to walk with a regular cane for mobility issues and I would look down. I had a few instances with men waving their hands in my face or waving them around and I found the walker put some raming distance between us.

My mom just broke her foot and is using a walker with a seat and she said she thinks she wants to keep using it. It is too handy and safe to give up. Once you go walker you don’t go back? 🤭

@mothninja perhaps the eyesight of your father is already worse than my mother's but she can still read on her Ipad using some settings that magnify all the letters. Also she uses something like this for her books and old diaries: https://vanlentsystems.com/slechtziend/beeldschermloep/met-spraak/i-see-speech/

@Antke ooh this looks very cool, thank you!

@mothninja @troublewithwords is he getting the shots? IIRC, they don’t often reverse it, but they can halt it or slow it down quite a bit. Bill (my husband) did it for a number of years before other reasons required him to stop.

@octothorpe @troublewithwords turns out there are two types of AMD, called "wet" and "dry" for some reason, and only one of them responds to the shots, and dad has the other one :(

I'm glad they were helpful to Bill! And that the condition hasn't worsened too much without them.

@mothninja @troublewithwords Ach! Bummer your father is in the latter camp. It did seem to help, and indeed he was one of the few where it reversed the damage. Unfortunately if you stop the shots, it all eventually goes back to where you were.

@mothninja my father (91) has dry macula and uses "AREDS2". vitamin supplement. Maybe an option? (there is also a lot of other information in the article)

Al the best for your dad and you!

https://www.nei.nih.gov/eye-health-information/eye-conditions-and-diseases/age-related-macular-degeneration/nutritional-supplements-age-related-macular-degeneration

@octothorpe @troublewithwords

@ginkka oh interesting, thank you! I will get in touch with the eye doctor and discuss. 💚

@mothninja My mom has this as well. She has a smart speaker in about every room for listening to audio books and podcasts. She also pays a neighboring school girl to come over in the afternoons and read things to her (things like medicine bottles, old letters, anything.)

@kralcttam smart speakers are going to be the way to go I think. And great idea to look for a helpful neighbourhood reader, thank you.
Best wishes to your mom!

@mothninja how about using a video projector to project a giant screen on a wall?

@sbj that's a great idea, thank you!

@mothninja JAWS is the go-to screen reader on Windows. https://support.freedomscientific.com/Downloads/JAWS

On Mac and iOS, the built in reading and accessibility tools are pretty good, and there's no 3rd party making anything better. Here's an introduction to the built-in tools and how to set up and use them: https://www.blindios.uk/navigation-page

@troublewithwords oh this is suuuuper useful, thank you so much! 💚

@mothninja @troublewithwords Jaws is also hugely, hugely expensive for people on a budget.
NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access) is free and used by people all over the world (including myself) and it's very powerful as well.
https://www.nvaccess.org/

@mothninja

https://www.macularsociety.org/research/now/stem-cell-therapy/

@amiserabilist
!!!!

@mothninja my blind friend is very happy with Apple VoiceOver screen reader. And I tried it by myself for curiosity (I am not blind) and I must say it is impressive, works on iPhones, IPads and Mac computers, it describes the screen and have gesture control, I would give it try.

@mothninja My late father had severe macular degeneration. He was a WWII vet; the VA provided him with a reader similar to the one that someone posted earlier. He used the reader daily for the morning paper. He also had a large lighted magnifying glass with a handle, which he sometimes used at home and often took to restaurants. Didn’t have the patience for audiobooks, which was too bad. Hope your dad finds ways to adapt.

@mothninja my mother in law had severe macula degeneration. We lost her last year when she was almost 102 years old. Things that helped: she used a Walker. My husband stickered it with red/white striped tape so it would resemble a walking stick for the blind. She couldn't recognise people anymore and people didn't realise that she was practically blind. She would always tell people "I cannot recognise you, please tell me your name". We had a button made with that text.

@Marlike @mothninja

Here the Guide Dogs provide "I am vision impaired" badges.

@mothninja Not sure which country your Dad is in, but many countries have statutory low-vision services who can help with everything from daily living to tech, or link you up with local charities and peer support.

Some of the best technologies are the simplest.

AbilityNet a UK charity have a "built in assistive options howto" at https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/

Apple has https://www.apple.com/uk/accessibility/features/ with deeper dives.

I'd say start small, build confidence, pick quick wins at 1st.

@mothninja @lydiaschoch my mum had a similar eye problem and we were astonisbed to find that a dyalexic font, with white text on black, large size,.suddenly helped her see whole words, where she'd been seeing fragments!
Both Kindle and Libby (the library e-reader) have dyslexic font options!
Best of luck 🙏.

@mothninja I helped my late father in law with similar issues. On Windows he found Magnifier very useful for reading. You can also globally increase the UI scale (Settings -> Display -> Scale), or the system font size (Settings -> Accessibility -> Text Size), to make reading easier.

The inbuilt screen reader works ok but can be a kinda rough adjustment. JAWS can be better, but comes with a bit of a learning curve.

@mothninja

I spent some weeks earlier this year almost blind after eye surgery in my working eye.
Now I have a screen reader and voice to text configured properly.
As he still has some distance vision I thought my adaptations might help for now?
My eye with refractive amblyopia is long sighted although even that is very fuzzy. As a fix, a friend colour coded all my meds with a large print sheet in the same colours so I knew which to take when.
I already use a walking stick so used that to find bumps and steps outside.
And I already use a couple of sites that offer free audiobooks for anyone with a relevant disability.

If he has to get his own meals then you can in the UK buy a gadget to read labels or get an app.

https://www.rnib.org.uk/

@mothninja

My wife uses:

Fusion screenreader: speech to text, and magnification, for her computer.

A white cane (with training from Guide Dogs). When I'm guiding her I often hold her white cane so people realise she's vision impaired (they tend to be more helpful if they know).

Here, Vision Australia (used to be the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind) has a library of ebooks for free (she listens to them on her iPad).

@mothninja My Dad has macular degeneration. He made his life easier by buying a brand new Chevy Impala. 🙄

Sorry, I know that's not helpful, but it is true. Maybe what I'm saying is that old boomers going blind have a tendency to justify whatever they want by leveraging their diseases in anti-social ways, and maybe be on the lookout for that.

I'm sure your Dad isn't like that though. Just mine. 😬

@mothninja My dad lost his eyesight due to glaucoma. He became depressed, and suffered from dementia (this was back in the 1990s). What helped him was music; he used to be a musician, so listening to music made him happy, even if he wasn't making it himself. Also, we didn't have it then, but if your dad's hearing is still functioning, try audio books, or audio anything. Also some health and veteran's organizations offer workshops and retreats to help people deal with vision loss.

@mothninja www.visionaware.org www.hadleyhelps.org also, if you are in the US, search for independent living older blind and the name of your state. Every state has a program that helps older people to maintain their independence following vision loss. I am the vision services manager for Ohio if you happen to be here, but I’d be happy to do my best to direct you to resources in your state as well.

@technocounselor that's such a kind offer, thank you 💚 and that's awesome work you do. We're in Europe not the US, but I'm going to assume there are similar schemes here, will have a search. Thanks again!

@mothninja

VoiceOver (Apple) and TalkBack (Android)

full screen readers already on any iPhone/iPad/Mac or Android device, no purchase needed. Also worth knowing: iOS/macOS have separate Zoom and Magnifier features that work alongside VoiceOver rather than instead of it, which suits someone with retained peripheral vision better than a pure audio-only screen reader.

Seeing AI (Microsoft, free, iOS) points a phone camera at printed text, documents, or products and reads them aloud; also does currency and basic scene description. Genuinely well-regarded and free is a big deal here.

Be My Eyes (free) : connects to sighted volunteers or an AI assistant via video call for anything the automated tools can't handle, reading a label, checking a stove dial, sorting mail.

@tuban_muzuru really helpful, thank you

@mothninja if magnification doesn't work, a screenreader would be the best longterm solution. It depends on the operating system what the best screenreader is, but for windows, nvda is very capable, and for linux, orca is very good, even if it's the only option for now.

If he is at that point where he has to use a screen reader, start him off with this series. https://hadleyhelps.org/workshops/getting-online-screen-reader-series @mothninja

Looking at some of the replies, I'd suggest this getting started Apple series. https://hadleyhelps.org/workshops/listen-with-voiceover-series @mothninja

@WeirdWriter great links, thank you so much!