When the thought of doing something different or learning something new is daunting, think small. Breaking down changes into mini or bite-size increments is an easier route to long-term success. Implementing this concept for adjusting to progressive vision loss, or low vision, is tried and true. Let’s explore ways to get things done in minutes instead of hours. Breaking up monotony and boosting efficiency will help restore our sense of stability.
Woman looks at her thumb and index finger making symbol for small
The One Minute Rule
An easy and effective way to keep your home or office in order. Don’t put off anything you can do in 1 minute. Hang up clothes, fold laundry, answer an email or pay a bill. Don’t think too much about it, just do it. It becomes habitual, in a good way. And, no need to time yourself, the one-minute rule works beautifully even if it takes 2 or 3 minutes.
Ten Minute Rule
Tackle a time-consuming task or project in 10-minute sessions. Organize the kitchen, one drawer, or one cabinet at a time. Clean a closet in small sections, place an order online or check in with a friend. It’s perfectly fine if it takes 15 or 20, the goal is to get things done.
Micro Learning
The pandemic also showed us the essential nature of technology. It would be hard to imagine independence without it. In terms of manageability, micro-learning is the way to go. That means advancing your ability one skill at a time. No need to put that off or wait for it to be developed, it’s already available whenever you want it 24/7 at HadleyHelps.org and at these Accessibility Support Phone Lines. Devote a few minutes a week to improving your tech ability.
Exercise Snacks
Recharge with a few minutes of exercise several times a day. No need to change your clothes. Can be indoors or out. Grab some weights or exercise bands. Do jumping jacks, squats, or wall push-ups. Put on some music and dance or just run in place. Make it your own or try something like this: The Standing 7- Minute Workout. More about these healthy snacks from Cleveland Clinic.
Thinking small is ultimately a better way to think big!
Post originally published Jan 22, 2021 and updated Feb 22, 2024
It is a great pleasure to attend a world-wide conference dedicated to developments in accessible technologies for people who are visually impaired or blind. Quite possibly the most inclusive conference you’ll ever attend because it’s literally open to everyone. There is no registration fee, no travel expense, no airports or hotels to navigate. The venue is virtual, so you can attend whenever you wish, selectively and on-demand.
The annual Sight Tech Global Conference is a production of the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, founded and executive produced by Ned Desmond. The conference is beautifully accessible. Browse the 2023 Agenda and select the sessions of interest to you and click to watch. Right below the 2023 Agenda, you can even select past conference agendas starting with 2020, it’s all there, a complete reference. This year, it came as no surprise, Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominated the conversations. Speakers talked about how AI influenced and improved their products. They discussed the upsides and the downsides of AI, the magnificence and the maleficence. They shared their hopes and dreams and they marveled at how fast it is moving. How far it can go, no one really seems to know.
Here are some highlights from Sight Tech Global 2023:
Where will AI take accessibility? A conversation with Mike Shebanek – As the Head of Accessibility at META, Mike shares his unique perspective on inclusivity with an emphasis on universal design. Sounds like we can look forward to, accessibility out-of-the-box for, the META Quest 3 AV/VR headset and the Ray Ban META smart glasses.
Andrew Leland on his instant classic, “The Country of the Blind” – The interview, moderated by Daryl Adams, of intel, is more of a sweet conversation between two people with the common experience of progressively losing sight to retinitis pigmentosa. Andrew Leland describes the ambiguity many experience in adjusting when you are “too blind to be sighted and too sighted to be blind.”
Waymo in San Francisco: A lesson in public advocacy for AI – It’s wonderful to learn of the driverless taxi service now operating in San Francisco by Waymo, thanks to the advocacy and partnership of the local Lighthouse and NFB organizations. This might be coming to a city near you.
Why did the AI cross the street? The OKO app story – Learn from co-founder, Michiel Janssen, how, where and why this innovative app was created to help people with vision loss make crosswalks accessible.
The abundance of health benefits derived from regular exercise are well known and become particularly evident as we age. Engaging in aerobic activity on a consistent basis, is good for the heart, brain, bones and muscles, but it is less often discussed in relation to ophthalmic health. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, studies have shown a link between exercise and disease prevention. Physical activity may help promote healthy blood vessels in AMD patients and it can help patients better control diseases like diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Exercise is shown to reduce the risk of developing age-related cataracts and physically active people have a lower incidence of dry eye. So while we’re waiting for the miracle cures to all these conditions, it’s best, if we can, get up and get moving!
How much exercise?
Reaping the rewards of regular exercise actually requires much less than you might think. The standard recommendation by the American Heart Association and the World Health Organization, among others, is 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per week, or 30 minutes five days a week. The more vigorous the workout, the less time commitment, running instead of walking, can be satisfied with 75 minutes per week, or 15 minutes 5 days a week. It’s never too soon, or too late, to get started. Build your activity around something convenient and enjoyable. Consider cardio workouts including, walking, dancing, swimming and biking, indoors or out. Keeping it consistent will compound the benefit, long term, to your overall health and wellness.
Feet in white sneakers walking on treadmill
Exercise is the gift you give yourself. Make room for it in your schedule or incorporate it into daily activities, like replacing a bus, train or car ride with a brisk walk. Meet a friend for a fast walk around town or through a park. If a gym is comfortable and convenient, get on a treadmill, elliptical machine or stationary bike and move at your best pace. Put on some music and dance or do an aerobic workout. Take your dog out, exercise is great for their fitness too, and they’ll love you even more for it!
Adjusting to vision loss always means accepting that some things will be different, and that very likely includes the speed at which you get things done. It doesn’t mean you can’t, it just means you need to allow more time. Personal and professional skills and abilities are not less valuable at a slightly slower speed. If you make an amazing omelet, or write beautiful poetry, or negotiate incredible contracts…don’t let vision loss stop you.
Giving up is never the best option. Learning a new way to do something independently, feels better than depending on others to do it.
Be patient with yourself and consider these practical tips to help you keep it moving.
Get Organized.
Whether it’s a closet, kitchen, or bathroom — everything has its place. Being able to reach into a utensil drawer or a medicine cabinet and find what you’re looking for, because it’s exactly where it belongs, is priceless. Time to Get Organized.
Leave Extra Time.
It is no longer feasible to operate by the seat of your pants. Giving yourself a cushion in terms of time is the smart way to proceed.
Manage Expectations.
Don’t overestimate how much you can realistically get done in any given time period. Re-evaluate, prioritize, and acknowledge accomplishments.
Use Magnification.
Make sure you have the right tools to magnify the text you encounter each day. Magnifiers Are A Must
Listen.
Consider transitioning some of your daily reading to listening. There are numerous ways to utilize audio for books, newspapers, and computers.
Set up online banking and eliminate the arduous monthly hell of writing check and balancing accounts on paper. Your balance updates automatically online and your bills are paid with the press of a button. No envelopes, no stamps, no snail mail. 6 ways To Make Bill Paying Easier.
Practice.
Learning something new requires practice. Don’t give up on anything until you’ve repeated it 20 times. By then you will have totally adjusted over to it. And, once you know it, you know it. Learning at Any Age with Vision Loss.
Post originally published Nov 21, 2017 and updated Nov 9, 2023
The Ai-powered smart camera app is a must-have accessory for people with vision loss because it endeavors to provide the visual information inaccessible to impaired eyes. The first of its kind, Seeing AI, is a collection of text and image recognition channels developed by Microsoft for an Apple iPhone. Next Google created Lookout to provide a similar suite of features for Android users.
The Envision app also reads text, scans documents, scans product barcodes, identifies objects, colors and faces. The app is free for everyone, as is Seeing AI and Lookout. The Envision app is available on the App Store and on Google Play.
The Glasses
An intriguing factor that distinguishes this app, from the others, is it can be used on a smartphone or with Envision Glasses. Schedule a free personalized demo to help decipher the many options available in glasses, including renting for $150 per month, as opposed to owning for upwards to $3,500. The choices are yours.
People with vision loss are closely watching the category of smart glasses. The Envision Glasses do not improve your eyesight, but they do translate the information your eyes are unable to process, into spoken words, using an integrated camera and speakers. What this says is, while there is no vision correction, information is the next best thing.
Watch video of Envision Glasses in use
Translate Text
Instant Text mode reads any text the camera is pointed at, great for signs, labels, price tags, mail, and product packaging.
Scan Text is the mode for longer, denser text. It includes a magnifier that reads text and can be used to zoom into a section or paragraph on a page. In this feature, the camera takes a photo of a single or multiple page. The image appears on the screen in a text format that can be read, saved, copied to a clipboard, shared, or translated to another language.
Describes Scene, Identifies Color, Scans Barcode
Capture a photo of the scene in front of you and Envision will describe it and allow you to save the description text with the photo, to your library.
Envision detects and identifies colors in two modes. There are 30 colors described in Standard mode and 950 color names in the Descriptive mode.
Scan product barcodes for the name of the item and tap more information for product details.
Find People and Objects Around You
Teach Envision to recognize people by taking 5 photos of a face and adding a name to it. Find an object you are looking for by selecting it from a list, for example: backpack, cat, wallet, keys, mobile phone. Create a list of favorites and suggest items to add.
Find an Ally
The Envision app and glasses can connect you to family or friends for visual guidance.
Man reading restaurant menu options to his dinner companion
One of the most frequently asked questions from people living with low vision is: How do you read the restaurant menu? There are many good options for accomplishing this task depending on the degree of visual impairment.
This is all about making adjustments, and accepting that picking up a menu and reading it the way you once did, may not be something you can reenact. Keep in mind, the goal is to select food you will enjoy, not to read every dish on the menu.
Here are some of the ways we can successfully overcome the challenges of menu reading and return to savoring the culinary and social experience.
Flashlights & Magnifiers – It is not at all unusual to see people in dimly lit restaurants pull out their mobile phone flashlight and point it at the menu. The same goes for magnifiers, sometimes on the phone, sometimes on their own with the light built in. So no need to feel weird — everybody’s doing it.
Online Menu – Making a menu selection in advance will allow you to relax. Google search “menu” + the restaurant name to review choices. (With iPhone use Speak Screen or VoiceOver to read the menu aloud, on larger screens increase the text size.)
Ask – It is perfectly fine to ask a companion to read some sections from the menu to you, but try to ask for specific categories like, “What are the salads or soups?” Also, ask if there is a large print menu.
Specials – Asking the wait staff to read you the menu is not realistic, but do ask for the specials of the day or for their recommendations in specific categories.
Seeing AI – The popular iPhone app from Microsoft has Short Text and Document channels that can be useful for menu reading. A recent update to the Document channel (version 5.2) takes a picture of the menu and reads it back or allows you to ask questions like, “What are the seafood options?” Seeing AI Gets Upgrade
The QR Code Menu — When it’s available, use your mobile phone to scan the code and the menu is instantly available on your screen. Make it a talking menu using accessibility speech features like VoiceOver and Speak Screen in iOS, or TalkBack and Select to Speak in Android. Listen to the menu options privately with your ear buds.
In essence, finding a new approach to reading menus will get you back to enjoying the food, the company, the conversation, and the atmosphere. It’s even okay to just say, “I’ll have what she’s having.”
This article was originally published January 24, 2018 and last updated Oct 20, 2023.
A diagnosis that involves an eye disease or uncorrectable vision loss is very often hard to wrap our brains around. We may exit the doctor’s office with more questions than when we arrived. Sometimes we just assume, if the doctor did not broach a subject, there is nothing to discuss. And very often we hear, there is nothing we can do, and we accept that as fact. But the real fact is the patient must take an equal and active role in decisions that effect health and functional well-being.
The National Eye Institute’s guidance for Talking With Your Eye Doctor, begins with, “It’s okay to ask lots of questions, remember it’s your doctor’s job to answer them.” They say, “Ask questions and keep asking until you get answers.” Here are their informed suggestions.
DIAGNOSIS?
– What condition do I have?
– What causes this condition?
– Will it affect my vision, now or in the future?
– Do I need to make any changes to my everyday life?
– Are there any symptoms I need to watch for? What do I need to do if I notice those symptoms?
– Can you give me some information about my condition to take home with me?
– What are vision rehabilitation services? How can I get them?
TESTS?
– Do I need any tests?
– What do you want to find out from the test?
– When will I get my test results?
– Does the test have any risks or side effects?
– Will I need more tests later?
TREATMENT?
– What treatment do you recommend for me and why?
– When will I start treatment and how long will it last?
– Are there any side effects?
– What are the risks and benefits of this treatment?
– Are there other treatment options?
KEEP TRACK.
– Take notes during your appointment. You can write down your notes, or record your conversation with your cell phone so you can listen to it later.
– Ask a friend or family member to come with you to the appointment. They can take notes, help you ask questions, or just be there to listen and support you.
– Ask your doctor to write down the main points from the visit. They may also be able to print instructions or other important information for you.
After five months of beta testing with 200 Be My Eyes app users, the virtual volunteer has been reintroduced as a visual assistant with a new name, “Be My AI.” The beta is now rolling out to more iOS testers. Beta testing for Android will begin soon.
The program designed for visually impaired and blind users is powered by Open AI’s, now infamous, Chat GPT-4. Michele Paris, Marketing & Communications Manager wrote in a blog post, “We’re committed to moving thoughtfully and listening intently, while prioritizing safety above all else.”
Woman using Be My AI app for image-to-text translation
Be My AI provides image recognition, you take a picture and it describes the picture in detail. The process is quite simple. Tap the Be My AI tab on the bottom of the BME app, and the camera opens, point it in the direction, or at an object, you wish to learn about and tap “Take Picture.” I point straight at a small section of my desk and in just a few seconds it delivers and reads this thorough description.
“The picture shows a desk with various items on it. In the foreground there is a white keyboard with square keys. The keys are labeled with letters, numbers and symbols. The keyboard has a sleek design and appears to be for a Mac computer, as it has ‘command’ keys.
“Behind the keyboard, there is a white case for wireless earbuds, probably Apple Air Pod, with a charging cable attached to it. Next to the case, there is a black pen with white text on it, lying on top of a blue notepad. The notepad has some writing and a phone number on it, and it’s labeled “Montauk Manor.”
I was impressed and thrilled with the incredible detail because my own eyes no longer work that way. The Welcome to Be My AI message reminds us not to expect 100% accuracy and to remember we can always call a live volunteer if we have questions. Don’t use the app for crossing streets, medical use, or sensitive information. It can analyze faces but not identify people.
A visual impairment does not stop a woman from applying makeup, but it could prevent her from seeing clearly, how the makeup looks. Now there’s an app for that and it fits neatly into her smartphone’s accessible app collection with many other accessibility apps she uses daily. The inclusive beauty technology is developed by one of the biggest players in the world of cosmetics, the Estee Lauder Companies.
The ELC Voice-Enabled Makeup Assistant was awarded Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards, winning in the Beauty and Fashion Category and as a finalist in the Artificial Intelligence category. And we’ll give it a prize for inclusion. The Virtual Makeup Assistant works with all makeup brands, it is not restricted to people with vision loss, or women for that matter, everyone is welcome!
It’s good to have the objectivity of AI give you an individual scan to review makeup on face, eyes and lips, then say if blending or touch up is needed. And it’s utterly affirming to hear you look “Fabulous!” The VMA uses the phone’s camera for face scan, directing the user to position face properly. The app assesses the makeup uniformity, boundaries and coverage. The assistant makes specific touch up recommendations, if applicable, then it reassesses.
Woman checking makeup application with the Estee Lauder virtual Makeup Assistant. Image credit: Vogue Business.
The assistant is completely voice-enabled and talks you through the process each time. As the app opens the VMA says “Welcome back, to begin checking your makeup, say “start.” Next question is, “Should I check foundation, eye shadow or lipstick first?” When there is a pause, the assistant will turn off the camera and say to tap the “Continue” button at the bottom of screen when ready to resume. With each scan the voice provides guidance, for example: “Look to the right for 3 seconds, then to the left for 3 seconds, or tilt your head up slightly. Feedback includes specific description and location of area that needs attention. Positive feedback tells you the makeup looks “Beautiful!,” and you’re good to go. It sure beats walking out the door and having someone inform you there’s a smudge on your face.
The app works automatically with or without a screen reader. Change the voice speed or submit feedback about your VMA experience by saying, “Open Settings” and selecting Voice Speed or Feedback.
The VMA is compatible with iPhone 8 and iOS 14.1 or later, currently available in the UK and US. Coming soon to other markets and to Google Play.
On February 17, 2023, the FDA approved the first-ever treatment for advanced dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), also known as geographic atrophy (GA). In clinical trials, the drug SYFOVRE slowed the progression of GA with an increasing effect over the course of treatment. The drug from Apellis is approved for all GA patients and allows for flexibility in dosing from 25 to 60 days. The treatment demonstrated a high safety profile following 23,000 injections over 24 months in clinical trials. The most common adverse reactions, affecting about 5% of patients, were ocular discomfort, floaters, and broken blood vessels. However, a safety update was issued by Apellis a few months after the drug became available.
On August 23, 2023, Fierce Pharma reported that Apellis flagged needle problems related to the administration of Syforvre injections. The advisory is in response to a rare but potentially blinding side effect of retinal vasculitis, which blocks blood flow to the retina.
Advanced dry-AMD / GA affects approximately 1 million people in the U.S. and 5 million worldwide. It is a continuation of the dry form of macular degeneration, where there is a loss of retinal cells, resulting in blind spots. These blind spots usually develop just outside the center of your vision but may progress to involve the center over time. Progressive vision loss can lead to legal blindness, impacting independence and quality of life.
Alternative views of photo through the eyes of patient without and with GA
Patients and healthcare providers can call Apellis Assist at 888-273-5547 for information and support. Prior FDA approved treatments in use were developed for advanced neovascular or wet-AMD in which abnormal blood vessels develop underneath the retina and cause bleeding and swelling of the macula. This happens in approximately 10% of all cases of AMD. Common symptoms include blurriness and waviness or loss of central vision.
On August 4, 2023, the FDA approved a second injectable treatment for advanced dry-AMD. The drug, IZERVAY, from Astellas Pharma Inc., was shown to slow disease progression in global Phase 3 clinical trials. IZERVAY treatment will be available, in the U.S., September 2023. SYFOVRE became available, in the U.S., March 2023. It is under review by the European Medicines Agency for 2024 and an application has been submitted to Health Canada.
Please note: OE Patients receives no compensation from products or brands mentioned in this publication.
Post originally published Feb 28, 2023 and most recently updated Sep 12, 2023.
Technology overwhelms most of us to some degree. A visual impairment and an aging brain can most certainly compound the problem. The endless stream of messages, notifications, alerts, sounds and haptics disrupt focus and elevate angst. But the upside, so far, still outweighs the downside, and life without technology presents many other difficulties. There are ways to meet it in the middle while maintaining a sense of control.
The truth is, technology can help us compensate for vision loss in many ways. Take charge, prioritize the apps and programs used on a daily basis. It’s impossible to know everything because it’s not always intuitive and it is always changing, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. It’s all about adjusting. And don’t forget, learning new things is good for the brain.
Giving up technology is never the best option, consider these steps to keep tech in check.
Accessibility Support by Phone.
This is the #1 tip, don’t hesitate to use it. Call for expert assistance to personalize vision settings and help resolve other issues, such as issues with changed interface and navigation. Here is OE’s coveted list:
Accessibility support specialist helps customer with vision settings.
Embrace Small Changes.
Inertia is the enemy of automation, there is no freezing it in place. This is why, allowing small, incremental updates will avert an eventual and painful total shutdown, resulting in changes that are never small. It’s not worth the risk: Don’t Avoid Software Updates.
Learn One Thing At A Time.
Practice is key to learning, the more we do the better we get. It’s important to be very selective about the tech that touches every day. Learning new skills is, in fact, essential exercise for the brain. Here’s how to approach the process of Learning At Any Age With Vision Loss.
Reduce Digital Clutter.
We tend to carry a lot of unnecessary data that will never be accessed again. It’s like keeping a storage locker filled with garbage. Yes, this too can become overwhelming. Cleaning it up is actually cathartic and it may also help everything run smoother. Clean Up Your Cluttered Phone.
Minimize Chronic Distractions.
Digital messages incessantly hijack our attention and break concentration. The very creators of this problem, Apple iOS and Android, now offer ways to take back control. Read this and Reclaim Your Digital Focus.
By now we expected smart glasses to be all the rage. They’d be on lots of faces, in the same way smartphones are in (just about) every hand. Actually, they were predicted to replace the smartphone, providing the wearer with voice access to information and apps. And, of course, they’d be accessible to visually impaired or blind users, because smartphones are. It would be wonderfully inclusive and normalizing, glasses that made information accessible, whether you could see the screen or not.
Apple’s Rumored Glasses Are Unveiled
For years the rumors abound, with stories of Apple’s smart glasses in development. They would somehow replace iPhone, and they would be accessible, of course. Years of gossip on the subject, should have taught us not to believe everything we read. Nonetheless, the rumors continue. According to Bloomberg, and published on Apple News, “Apple’s long-anticipated mixed-reality headset is an ambitious attempt to create a 3D version of the iPhone’s operating system, with eye- and hand-tracking systems that could set the technology apart from rival products.” Now said to be launching in early 2023 at a price of $3,000, they also report, Apple decided to offload the battery pack, roughly the size of 2 iPhones, to rest in the users pocket, at the end of a cable, which sounds rather antiquated.
The Apple vision Pro was officially unveiled in June, but it will not be unboxed until early 2024. It doesn’t look like the smart glasses of our dreams, but hey, who are we to naysay? Apple’s track record in Accessibility is as good as it gets, no one else has come close, so let’s wait and see. In Forbes, Gus Alexiou asks, Could Apple’s Vision Pro Significantly Augment Sight for people with vision loss? He notes this has been “a long held aspiration within the field of assistive technology,” that has failed to materialize. “This could well be about to change” when Apple’s Vision Pro launches, “though,” he says, “the price point of the $3,499. Mixed reality spacial computer doesn’t exactly scream out accessibility.” But actually, the assistive low vision head mounted devices he mentions have been sold at a similar price point. So it’s hard to complain about the price, hopefully this one will be worth it.
Google’s Early Glass
It was the anticipated, but short-lived promise of Google Glass. Launched in 2013, with a $1,500 price tag and the intention to create a ubiquitous computer whose wearers would communicate with the internet via natural language. An excellent idea, but failing to reach critical mass. Google discontinued its public product in 2015, re-introducing Glass for enterprise in 2017. Was the technology not quite ready, or was it the customer who was not in sync?
Person wearing Apple Vision Pro (image credit: apple.com)
Wearable Low Vision Devices
If anything has taught us to manage expectations, it is the classification of Wearable Low Vision Devices, also referred to as Electronic Glasses or Smart Glasses. These are head-mounted devices that enhance vision, predominantly through video magnification for people with central vision loss, or field expansion for those with a narrowed visual field, while others offer non-visual assistance. Low vision devices have also been in development for more than a decade with improvements in technology and price.
Visual assistance comes mainly in the form of Trekkie-looking headsets that are slowly coming down in size and weight. Some devices are not designed for mobility and all should be carefully evaluated for specific applications that include reading, watching TV, movies, theater, cooking, crafts, card and board games. IrisVision, Eyedaptic and eSight may serve the need at prices ranging from $2,000 to $6,000.
Non-Visual Low Vision Options
People with uncorrectable vision loss want to see better; no question about that. However, when artificial vision from clunky headsets does not do the trick, there are non-visual options. The OrCam MyEye, at $4,500, reads text, identifies colors, products, and faces. OrCam is not technically smart glasses; it’s a talking camera that clips quietly to the arm of any eyewear. Aira’s visual interpreting assistance can also be access through Envision Glasses for $3,000 plus the monthly service fee, now starting at $50 for 30 minutes.
No smart glasses are needed to magnify images, read, convert text-to-speech, recognize objects and faces, read barcodes and handwriting on an iPhone or most Android phones. Some people consider it less convenient as it requires holding a phone and tapping the screen.
First published Jan 31, 2023 and updated Aug 25, 2023
