Even without sight, I can still be independent, Here are some useful tools I use

Accessibility is something that is important to a blind person. This helps me to navigate a new normal without vision and allows me to do everything I need to do. Here are some of the tools that help me.

Audio description for movies and tv shows. This reads what is happening on the screen, so I know when someone is walking in a room or dancing or whatever. It’s a switch available to everyone in the set up and works with most new movies and TV shows, especially on Netflix. My husband who is sighted finds it enhances the experience for him as well because on the screen things can happen faster than the eye can register them and hearing what is going on helps.

Jaws is a screen reader used in computers and various devices which allows me to hear what letter I am typing or which key I use to type or edit my documents. It also helps me to move around the computer without being able to see what I am doing (but I can hear where I am).

Apps such as Be My Eyes that allow me to call a toll-free number and have a volunteer from anywhere around the world pick up and with a glance at my camera can tell me what I am looking at.

My rainbow reader helps me read the color of clothes or paints, so I am somewhat put together without just grabbing something out of my closet and looking wacky!

I have put little plastic bumps on my microwave oven and the dishwasher and laundry machines which allow me to use these items even if there is a flat screen on the machine. My bumps for the microwave tell where the 30 second and clear buttons are (as well as the microwave popcorn button!). These buttons help me to run the dishwasher and laundry machines and gain much needed independence.

I use a mobility cane that has a roller ball on the tip which allows me to walk around my neighborhood and feel the sidewalk bumps and cracks and curbs. I can walk quite far using my cane plus the bonus is that it tells people why I am walking more slowly or crookedly than others.

I am so thankful and could go on with the various tools and apps that have helped low-vision people like me. The time and energy talented people have put in to create all these amazing items is so appreciated. I would encourage anyone interested in this field, especially software developers, to reach out to the Oregon Commission for the Blind or other organizations to see what you could invent to help with accessibility.

All the tools take time to learn but they are worth every minute to give me independence and let me be involved with my community.

By Rebecca Piros, a member of the Beaverton Committee on Aging. Learn more about the BCOA by visiting us at www.beavertonlibrary.org/BCOA.