It is incredibly tough to get through modern life without some sort of smart device, be it a phone or a tablet. It’s the primary way we stay connected to the world and the people in our lives. One problem: these devices are essentially just giant screens. They don’t even really have buttons for people to differentiate through feel. However, Apple has made quite the effort to make portable screens quite friendly to those with various levels of visual impairment.
Depending on how impacted your vision is, having a large iPad screen where text can be a lot larger, and icons spread further apart makes it easier to navigate than something where everything is so close together. Beyond the size of the device, though, are the built-in accessibility features. For instance, there’s VoiceOver, Apple’s screen reader. Not only can it read text on the screen, but it can also do things like tell you how much battery power is left, which app icon your finger is on, and audio notifications for phone calls.
Beyond VoiceOver, iOS also has a feature that speaks aloud the letters and words you type to make sure they are what you want, as well as a speak-to-text feature. For movie watching, you can automatically have on audio description mode for the visuals. Plus, you can change text size and use a magnifier if that’s what you struggle with in your vision. For being a giant screen, an iPad is surprisingly helpful for those who can’t see well.
