A few years back I tried to set up Android’s TalkBack for my 90 year old blind grandmother, but unfortunately it was impossible to use. Even as someone who’s very familiar with the Android UI (and can see what I’m doing) I found it very difficult. I’ve heard iPhones are a million times better for blind users, but is their accessibility technology good enough that I could teach my grandmother to use them?
The problem is that she has very little tech experience, so things are confusing. Imagine being 90 and blind and feeling your way around a brand new user interface, full of acronyms and words you don’t understand. What’s a SIM or a VPN or a JPG? Then again, all she needs to do is send texts, Google things, and make calls. Taking pictures would also be nice.
If anyone here has a similar experience helping an old blind person with tech, I’d love to hear it.
One time I broke my iPhone screen but the digitizer was still working so I used it like a blind person would for a few weeks. It's definitely far ahead of android or anything else in that regard.
Check out the older videos of Tommy Edison on youtube
(https://www.youtube.com/c/TommyEdisonXP). He's been blind since birth and put out a few videos many years ago on how he uses an iPhone.
An Alexa or similar device might be a good option. I got one for my nearly blind grandma and she got some use out of it. There's a learning curve but I think it's a lot less steep than using a phone OS.
The problem is that she has very little tech experience, so things are confusing. Imagine being 90 and blind and feeling your way around a brand new user interface, full of acronyms and words you don’t understand. What’s a SIM or a VPN or a JPG? Then again, all she needs to do is send texts, Google things, and make calls. Taking pictures would also be nice.
If anyone here has a similar experience helping an old blind person with tech, I’d love to hear it.