Low cost aids for VISION
Quick suggestion #1: you can make any web page (like this one)
use more space on your computer monitor by pressing the F11 key on your keyboard.
To go back to normal
web view, just press the F11 key again.
Quick suggestion #2:
press and hold Ctrl and + keys to make everything larger
press and hold Ctrl and - keys to zoom everything smaller
Sections of this page:
Easier to See, Brighter Light,
Lenses, Computer
Easier to see
 |
Black/white dot to mark the top side of
electronics/electrical plugs $0 Note: not all homes
have AC outlets which are uniformly polarized, |
 |
Put colored markers of different shapes on TV remote
controls, microwave, etc. $0 Highlight just the few frequently used buttons The button which goes back exactly 10 seconds and starts playing again. |
 |
Wrap day-glow tape around bottom end of cane -others can see you and you can find your own cane easily $0 |
| Put bright labels on stapler, wallet, or other things which are hard to see/find $0 | |
| Put bright label on cell phone with a number to call when it is lost $0 | |
| Large print books and audio books from library $0 | |
| Slow-down CDs, MP3. And video
files on computer (example: Enounce) 7 day trial for Windows Media Player and Real Playerand $30 http://www.enounce.com/products.php It is neat what technology can do now. |
|
 |
Playing cards with large numbers and symbols < $4
over 15,000 suppliers http://www.google.com/products?q=large+playing+cards&btnG=Search+Products&hl=en
|
| To find items dropped on floor: shine flashlight along carpet/floor $0 | |
|
Task illumination: bullet light fixture with 100 watt compact fluorescent bulb $10, floor lamp $40 (Ottlight is much more expensive - might get at garage sale), battery powered light to illuminate keyboard $10 |
 |
Jewelers headset – Optivisor $25 http://www.google.com/products?q=optivisor&btnG=Search+Products&hl=en&show=li
The headset comes with a lens of fixed magnification, |
 |
Monocular – like opera glasses, but for a single eye $30 one of many stores http://www.handiworks.com/pd_panaview.cfm |
 |
Telescopic glasses – to see things from 4’ to infinity $35 |
 |
Improve contrast while driving at dusk with yellow or light
amber clip-ons $20 These have been used for decades by hunters and pilots. |
| Two pairs of mono-focal glasses are far less expensive than a single pair of bi-focal glasses. |
| click here to find out how | Larger icons, larger pointers, larger scroll bars, text and graphics by
setting browser and other options We changed about 12 features in XP and
Internet Explorer. $0. FireFox 3: cntrl+ increases both text and graphics magnification cntrl- decreases both text and graphics magnification Note: FireFox 3 works with all recent Windows operating systems, MAC X, and Lunix
|
| See your incoming e-mail in a large font (method different for each e-mail software) $0 | |
 |
2X electronic magnification of anything near cursor,
After rejecting a few we found Zoommy Win98 thru Vista. Has a 30 free trial $20 http://zoommy.mutexdevelopments.com/ Also, there is a shareware clone of Zoommy which we
have not tried,
|
 |
Normal keyboard with 3X larger letters on the normal size of keys $100 |
| Text-to-voice software reads highlighted text. NaturalReader
$40 Sounds great and can speak at any rate (we use 100 words per minute). http://www.naturalreaders.com/ Note: the voice quality of their free demo was not very good |
|
| click here for details | Large screen monitor: TV, Computer, DVD, and electronic
magnifier $400 Try to get a monitor like Olevia Syntax LT26HVE LCD which enhances contrast |