But first a confession. I actually already have a step counter, and I use it all the time. My iPhone has a step counter, a good one too. The screen is large, bright, and easy to read. Using it, however, means keeping the phone with me at all times. I even bought a holster that clips onto my jeans pocket to host my iPhone, keeping it with me every step of the day.
There’s a problem. The iPhone is heavy. Add the weight of the holster and it really is a drag to carry around all day every day. After months of doing so, decided I need a tiny gizmo to count my steps. My phone can stay in my purse or at my desk, or wherever and just be my phone.
Pictured: Tiny MP3 player by Wiwoo about 1.5 inches square that includes a pedometer.
I studied the market. I need a simple step counter that is small, lightweight, and can live unobtrusively in my pocket. I finally selected a tiny MP3 player that includes a pedometer, made by a company that calls itself Wiwoo. The screen is clear, and backlit, and the whole thing is less than two inches square. I soon learned, however, that the screen is too tiny to read and getting into the pedometer part of the gizmo is a major hassle. So I returned it.
Pictured: Talking pedometer by VoiceZone, about 2 inches tall.
Next I tried a talking pedometer by VoiceZone. With that, I don’t have to worry about screen size. After all, the gizmo will read the step count aloud to me. Since that is all this gizmo does, it appeared to be easy to operate. It disappointed me big time! First, it was difficult to hear and understand, especially outdoors with street noise, or even indoors with the TV on or a pot boiling on the stove in the next room! The screen (no backlighting) is impossible for me to see. Finally, it did some crazy step-counting! I could easily reach 5,000 steps in about an hour with this thing. So I returned it. This company, by the way, doesn’t accept returns, they were quick to tell me. When I responded that I understood and would simply write an honest review on amazon, they immediately granted me “an exception” of a full refund.
Pictured: A pedometer by Omron, about 2.75 inches long, with tiny screen and no speech.
Finally, I ordered a small pedometer from Omron, a healthcare company. They offered free shipping and promised accuracy. Remarkably it turned out to be the least expensive of the three gizmos I tried. And I love it. So I have to hold this pedometer close, up to my nose, and then squint to read it. I can do that!
Ordinary things do extraordinary things! In this video, we talk about how to slice fruits and vegetables easily and uniformly. With today’s simple tip, people who are blind or visually impaired can master this kitchen task safely and easily, and with a very simple and inexpensive tool.
When I want to see things, I hold them close, very close. Reading is possible if the letters are big enough and held close enough. But how long can I stay hunched over a book or a chart, or whatever? How long until my wrists and shoulders ache from holding up a heavy book or even a one-page instruction sheet? Not very long! It takes just minutes, sometimes just seconds, before my neck and especially my back start to ache unbearably. So I have found ways to hold things close, and at just the right height and angle.
So here are 9 ways I have found to hold things close.
Pictured: Silver phone stand by Belkin – one position only, but folds compactly for portability.
I bought this Belkin cell phone stand in 2012 and I still use it frequently. I like to keep my phone propped up with speakerphone turned on, especially for group conversations. There are times when I use it to support my iPad for skype chats. It is very small, just 3” x 5”. It folds up compactly and is easy to carry with me. I don’t think this particular one is still available, but you get the idea.
Pictured: An iPad held by a flexible black metal arm that is clamped to a table. The arm can move in any direction side-to-side and up and down.
I use this for applying my makeup, and fixing my hair. I use an old iPad that is no longer supported by Apple and so I can’t download any of the newer software. It has become my grooming station. I use a magnifier app to help with makeup, and the camera to snap selfies that I then enlarge (a lot) to check out the results. With this iPad holder, I can move the arm up, down, this way or that – exactly where I need it with just a light touch.
Pictured: Belkin tablet stand for great support of heavier tablets and more. It can be easily positioned up and down to any angle, including parallel to the table.
The tablet can be moved up and down to almost any angle and the tablet is always held securely. I like to place the iPad parallel to the table. Then I hang just the camera end over the side. I can capture documents by photo or scan and send them to my computer for enlargement and manipulation. This stand is sturdy enough to easily hold my iPad Pro. It also supports my big whiteboard (16″ x 20″) while I write notes and reminders.
Pictured: Bamboo book stand has 4 tilt positions and strong metal arms that can be positioned to hold your book in place with pages held flat.
I love bamboo because it is ecologically friendly. This book stand is super sturdy and holds even large or heavy books open so that the pages are flat. I prop this up to where it works best for me.
Pictured: Bamboo lap desk. The main section of the top can lie flat or be raised to tilt in 4 positions with ledge to keep a book or laptop from slipping. About 1/4 of the table remains flat to hold additional materials. A side drawer pulls out to store small stationary supplies.
More bamboo, and still loving it.
This bamboo laptop desk can be placed over he lap when seated on a chair or couch, or even sitting up in bed. I love the look and feel of this, its versatility, and its small convenient drawer. It can be used as a flat table or angled in four different positions.
Pictured: A lap table with 4 height positions and 4 tilt positions. It has guards to prevent items from slipping off the tabletop. Extra wide surface and super sturdy, yet very lightweight. Here it is on top of another table, where I like it best.
I call this my Tabletop Table because I use this versatile table on top of another table. I use it for close work, like drawing, or projects that will take me some time. With this, I have less bending forward to see what I am doing. I am more comfortable and I can work for longer periods of time. It sure saves my neck and back from aching. It has a large writing surface. This one measures 20″ x 12″ and there is a larger version also available. The legs can be extended in a choice of heights, bringing the material closer and closer to me as needed, and then the table can tilt to four different angles. This has become my favorite accessory.
Pictured: A small silver tablet holder. The base is flat on the table and rolls around the back and up in a fixed position to support the flexible area that actually holds the tablet. This part easily moves to angle the tablet.
My newest addition. This is a small tablet stand that I use to hold my smaller whiteboard which measures 11” x 14”. I keep it next to my computer. It makes jotting down notes or reminders easy-peasy. Plus, it is portable and adjustable and I can easily carry my whiteboard and stand from room to room as needed. This small tablet stand works great for me most of the time, and is one-quarter of the price (under $15) of the larger Belkin tablet stand I talked about above.
8. Recipe Holder
Pictured: A white plastic clothes hanger with 2 binder clips clamped on holding a large print recipe. It is hanging from a kitchen cabinet knob. This recipe is for homemade Play-Doh (for the kids to play with).
We used to call this a “Rube Goldberg” machine. It is a simple DIY, and one of my favorite things. It is a plastic (or wire) clothes hanger, like the ones you get free with purchase from department stores. Just clip your recipe to the hanger and hang in your kitchen work area from a cabinet knob or handle. If you don’t have a hanger with clips attached, how about using a couple of binder clips clamped onto a hanger you already have.
9. Arms
Pictured: The hug! Here the author is hugging a man. Okay, my husband.
When you want to hold a person close, it is your arms that are most appreciated. Hugs, everyone!
I received a message from a reader, Eyal, about the development of an app for android phones called Speak. Eyal states that this app is different because it is totally free, no purchase required, no subscription required.
I developed an app for Android only. There is currently no version for Apple.
It reads text caught on camera, identifies products by reading barcodes and detects objects and colors. It also reads pdf files and text from images stored on the device, and translates text.
The app is quite similar to Envision AI, if you know it, the main difference and my main incentive was to provide a free app. Envision AI costs 5$ a month, the subscription fee is completely justified since they use cloud services which are not free. I did the best I could with free technology for the benefit of those who cannot afford the cost.
Please take a look (if you have an Android phone) the link is below.
1. Good lighting. Everything starts with good lighting. Use room lighting, spot lighting, and even motion sensor lighting in dark areas, like inside cabinets.
Pictured: Motion sensor LED light. The light comes on when the door is opened and stays lit for about 60 seconds, longer if more motion is detected. Rechargeable, and requires charging about once a month with average use.
2. Food Prep Tray. Place cutting board, utensils, and foods on a food prep tray, a tray with a lip around it. You will spend less time searching the floor for things that bounced, rolled, or fell.
Pictured: Orange plastic tray with lip around edges sits on countertop. On the tray are knife and fork, spices including salt, garlic, and paprika, 3 whole eggs and a stainless steel mixing bowl.
3. Stainless steel drinking cups. Instead of glasses that are easily tipped over and too often shatter, use stainless steel drinking cups. They are just a little more expensive up front but last and last without needing replacement, so quite cost effective in the long run. As an added bonus, they keep cold drinks naturally colder.
4. Two-sided cutting board. A cutting board with a black side and a white side provides contrast. Use the side that has the most contrast with the food you are cutting or chopping or dicing or slicing.
Pictured: An admittedly difficult-to-see 2-sided cutting board. The white side is shown. The black side is face down.
5. Sauce pans. Sauce pans contain food and spatter better than fry pans. The end result will be the same, but less food will slip, slide, or spatter over the sides.
Pictured: Sauce pan on stovetop containing a large slotted spoon for stirring, and the ingredients for “Thunder & Lightning.”
6. Oven-cooked bacon. Lay strips of bacon in a single layer on the bottom of a roasting pan. Place in a 400-degree oven for 22 minutes. Perfect bacon every time – and without the hot grease spatter. Google will suggest you use a cookie sheet. No! That hot grease will splash about when you remove the tray from the oven. Use a roasting pan. It is deeper and will contain the grease better. Trust me on this one!
Pictured: Cooked bacon on baking sheet fresh out of the oven.
7. Mandoline. Keep your fingers safe from sharp blades by slicing with a mandoline. Not only will your fingers and fingernails stay protected, but you will end up with uniform slices of fruits and vegetables, and more.
Pictured: A mandoline for safe and uniform slicing and its food holder. The food holder has a large knob for holding the food firmly in place for slicing.
8. Spice jar labels. Index cards (cut to fit) with spice names written with bold markers can be wrapped around spice jars and secured with a rubber band. See blog post “Spice Things Up” for details.
Pictured: 3 spice jars boldly labeled for curry, cinnamon, and cumin. Rubber bands hold the labels in place.
9. Bump dots. Place bump dots on microwave and oven and other appliance buttons to easily identify the location of buttons you use frequently. This ensures that you will consistently press the desired button, and you will also do so in less time. Bump dots are available in many sizes, shapes, and colors. If you know any people who are blind or visually impaired, odds are they have bump dots to spare. You only need a few.
Pictured: Assorted bump dots including flat felt dots, round cork dots, raised round orange dots, raised black round and square dots, and clear round raised dots. Many other sizes, shapes and colors are also available.
10. Spice ladles. Spice ladles can be dipped easily into spice jars and other condiments for removal of just the right amount. Avoid spills and waste. See blog post “4-Inch Ladles” for details.
Pictured: A jar of paprika with 3 spice ladles, a soup ladle, and a teaspoon.
11. Double spatula. A double spatula makes turning pancakes, french toast, hamburgers, and more, an easy task.
Pictured: A double spatula – 2 spatulas with a nonstick finish that are connected in order to work together as tongs or flippers.
12. Silicone trivets. Multi-purpose silicone trivets, typically 8-inches in diameter, can be used as hot pads, potholders, coasters, and more. They can easily be trimmed, if desired. Because of their nonslip properties, I find them most beneficial as nonslip pads for mixing bowls, hot pots, serving bowls, cups, etc.
Pictured: An 8-inch diameter silicon trivet that has been trimmed to 5 inches. The cutaway ring can be used under mixing bowls, etc., to prevent slippage.
Bonus
Your personal assistant – Alexa, Cortana, Siri, etc. Ask your personal assistant to set a timer for you, read a recipe, or suggest substitute ingredients.
Pictured: An iPhone. Siri ha set the timer and it is displayed.
_________________________________________
Links of products and information related to the above blog post. Note that the links showing items for purchase are for information only and are not specifically endorsed.
Pictured: A braille book with small binder clip marking the page at about 1/3 of the way down the page.A print book with a small binder clip marking the right-hand page about 2/3 of the way down the page.
Do you ever get lost? In a book, I mean. Do you read a bit and take a break and go back later to continue? Where did you leave off? How do you know where to pick up your reading? How long does it take to find your place? Where is that word or phrase you wanted to look at again, but later?
When I took my first braille course at Hadley (Braille Literacy 1, uncontracted braille), I was given sheets of sticky felt circles to use as place holders, – bookmarks, if you will. I found them to be somewhat of an annoyance. They seemed to stick to my fingers more often than the page. They were not removable and so added bulk to the book. And because I have some vision, I found them to be distracting on the page.
It was not long before I stopped using those sticky dots and started using Post-It Notes. Maybe I should have tried the name brand and not the generic, because they seemed to fall off the page all too often.
And then I found my problem-solver – binder clips! I place a small binder clip at the edge of the page at the spot where I left off. The binder clip stays put. It is easy to relocate, and I always know exactly where I left off – instantly.
Pictured: Five binder clips in assorted colors and positions. The top 2 are each about 1-1/4 inch wide and the bottom three are each about 3/4 inch wide.
I bet sighted people would benefit from these handy-dandies too.
What do you use to help you find your place in a book?
Pictured: Three watches are shown. Top: a smart watch, unknown manufacturer; Middle: An iPod Nano with elastic band crafted as wrist band; and bottom: a man’s talking watch with stretch metal band by Tel Time.
Years ago, my mother bought a cuckoo clock for her home. She hung it on the wall in her living room and every hour the cuckoo called out the time. One loud cuckoo at 1 o’clock, 3 loud cuckoos at 3 o’clock, and so on. And if that were not enough, it bellowed another cuckoo to mark every quarter hour, as well. At 4 A.M. everyone knew the time because you could not sleep through it.
Well, I am not a fan of clocks that announce the time. I think a cuckoo clock is a novelty, and as such, it should be heard once, maybe twice, in a lifetime and that is enough. I feel the same way about talking watches. Remember the crowing rooster watches marketed for the blind?
Talking watches got smarter. Most no longer crow but actually announce the time. “The time is 5:17,” the robotic voice declares. I do not want everyone in the movie theater to know I am getting impatient for the movie to end. I do not want a busload of people to know I have just checked the time. I do not even want that time announcement to talk over the sound of the TV I am watching. I do not like talking, crowing, or cuckooing clocks!
I want a watch I can wear on my wrist that tells me the time when I look at it. I like the clock face to be big with bold hands and high contrast. I do not need to see the numbers – I know where they are. Just give me one indicator at the 12 o’clock position and everything else is relative; no clutter needed!
I have an old iPod Nano that I used for a timepiece for many years. It came with a bunch of clock faces for me to choose from. It had a pedometer and a stopwatch. It even had a radio if I wanted to connect earbuds or headphones. That little thing would even read a 500-page book to me, if I so chose. I hung it on a chain around my neck for a long time and later crafted my own elastic band for it and wore it as a wristwatch. I loved my iPod Nano – until the battery recently lost its oomph.
So I decided to try out a smart watch. They can be quite pricey, so I started at the low end, the very low end. I bought one from amazon for $22.
The smart watch does a lot. It has one clock face (no choice), and it has a pedometer. I can add a SIM card and pretend to be Dick Tracy talking through my wrist for phone calls and texts. It accepts a memory card so I can snap pictures from my wrist. It even sounds an alarm if the watch thinks I have been sitting too long and need to get up and move about. It does even more, more than I care to give much thought to. Notably, however, the band is peculiar, to put it nicely. It takes quite a bit of manipulation and gymnastics to get it around my wrist and locked in place, although I do not feel that it is ever securely fitted in place. Removing it is a dance of its own. The watch is fairly heavy for my small wrist and so when at rest, my wrist is turned to the side.
For $22, this smart watch is truly amazing. Change the band and add a few faces to choose from and I am in! Until then, it is time to keep looking.
Do you see what I see? Can you see what you can’t see? What is it, and how do you know?
Assistive devices for vision impairment can be very helpful, and very expensive. CCTVs, braille writers, magnifiers, and audiobook players cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars, to name just a few things that could help blind and visually impaired people. Even audiobooks can be beyond our budget. Too often, even tools that can help us with our daily activities and special needs are not even made available for us to try, or even know about. And then, can we afford them? We must rely on word of mouth, and even then the results can be disappointing. It is not like I see what you see, or that you see what someone else sees. With vision impairment, we all see (or don’t see) the same things differently.
Talking about different devices can often lead to success. Even better, there are so many common household items and stationery supplies, and even things we never gave much thought to that provide so much benefit. Sometimes we just have to think outside the box.
For example, did you know you can cook perfect bacon in the oven instead of a fry pan and avoid all the hot oil spatter? Did you know a child’s whiteboard can be the perfect tool for your notes and reminders? Did you know you can easily connect your tablet to your computer screen or TV so you can benefit from greatly enlarged print and images? Did you know there is an online group that gives away used audiobooks and braille books, magnifiers, and more?
We have a lot to talk about. So let’s explore together.
Legally Blind 