Apps for the Blind & Visually Impaired

[Haoleguy]

New iPad user here. After about a year of looking into hand held devices for my brother-in-law I purchased an iPad because of its VoiceOver capability. You see my BIL has macular degeneration that hit him in his early 60s and his eyesight progressively got worse to his current age in the late 70s. He was a highly active man until the past 6-8 yrs and his loss of eyesight has cut him off from things he loves to do. The iPad I think has promise to get him connected into people & former interests again. Upfront I can tell you that books don't float his boat. Now to my question. I have noticed that the applications I have downloaded so far(NPR, LA Times, Golf Channel) do not work, or, work poorly with VoiceOver. From what I can tell there is no mention of compatibility with VoiceOver in the app description in iTunes. I figure that more experienced iPad users of this forum could point me to national news, sports(golf, football), travel, cars, and entertainment news and trivia apps that work well with VoiceOver. Many thanks for reading this and offering suggestions.........Gary

 

[appsmonkey]

I went through my apps in VoiceOver mode and like you said, most of them function very poorly (if not at all). There was, however one app that worked excellently was a fun app called 10,500 Cool Facts (it's free). It simple enough you can navigate it with 2 taps. After you open the app, you just tap once and VoiceOver will read the fact to you, and then you double-tap to get the next fact. The letters are even huge enough to probably read.

(tap once to read)

(double-tap to get next fact)

Also, I know you said he doesn't like books, but for anyone else who is interested, VBookz is a nice accessibility-friendly audiobook app with text-to-speech built in, so you don't have to rely on the VoiceOver feature. You can download as many books as you want for free from their database of 30,000 books from the public domain (the public domain = non-copyrighted material). Some titles include:

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Gulliver's travel by Jonathan Swift
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas Pere
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

 

[Haoleguy]

Re: Apps for the Blind ....

Thanks Appsmonkey! I will try both of those suggestions and take a close look at the book selections. Thank you.

 

[Kim54]

I am a school teacher and will be using an ipad with a visually impaired student. The student is middle school age and having difficulty with math. Looking for apps that would provide matching, quantity assessment, and assistance in one to one correspondence activities. The student continues to struggle with basics concepts. Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[juniebug]

I am the parent of a visually impaired child and this is not an app but it has helped him a great deal. The site is Khan acadamey. Use of the site on the ipad is wonderful. Please try it.

 

[iPad4blindkids]

I am also the parent of a blind child. He is 2.5 years old and has light perception only. I write a blog about my son and a lot of it focuses on his use of the iPad. For a toddler, he really gets a lot out of his iPad. He has some e-books, and games. I use it for learning Braille with the Braille Driller app. Several apps for young children are good at teaching finger isolation which is a necessary pre-braille skill. If you have a young blind child or teach blind/vi kids take a look at my blog.

It won't let me post the link because I am new. Google - Thomas Marshall Does It All - to find my blog.
Thanks!

 

[skimonkey]

I am also the parent of a blind child. He is 2.5 years old and has light perception only. I write a blog about my son and a lot of it focuses on his use of the iPad. For a toddler, he really gets a lot out of his iPad. He has some e-books, and games. I use it for learning Braille with the Braille Driller app. Several apps for young children are good at teaching finger isolation which is a necessary pre-braille skill. If you have a young blind child or teach blind/vi kids take a look at my blog.

It won't let me post the link because I am new. Google - Thomas Marshall Does It All - to find my blog.
Thanks!

Please read the rules-personal blogs, emails, Facebook accounts are against forum rules.

 

[domiha]

Voiceover compatible apps

I realize this thread was started long ago. For those who may be new and just coming across it, if you google "voiceover compatible apps ipad" you will come across several links that give lists of apps that are known to be compatible with Voiceover. Also, whenever you use an app that is not completely compatible with Voiceover, I would encourage you to send a comment to the author of the app and let them know you would like it to be compatible. If they receive enough feedback, perhaps this will lead them to make the app compatible.

I have worked with several blind users of the iPad... and Voiceover is an incredible tool! Bravo Apple!!!

 

[Midranger4]

VoiceOver is a wonderful tool.

Another thread on this subject below:


http://appadvice.com/applists/show/apps-for-the-visually-impaired

http://www.ipadforums.net/new-member-introductions-site-assistance/70108-ipad-laptop.html#post498881

 

[col.bris]

The decision to create a special needs forum was only made in the past week. I moved threads that users had submitted some time back to this new forum so they would be in one place. We welcome new posts and in addition for any one to create new threads that may assist any one with special needs..... If you have any suggestions or feel we can expand on this area please send me a private message. Thank you

 

[skimonkey]

I realize this thread was started long ago. For those who may be new and just coming across it, if you google "voiceover compatible apps ipad" you will come across several links that give lists of apps that are known to be compatible with Voiceover. Also, whenever you use an app that is not completely compatible with Voiceover, I would encourage you to send a comment to the author of the app and let them know you would like it to be compatible. If they receive enough feedback, perhaps this will lead them to make the app compatible.

I have worked with several blind users of the iPad... and Voiceover is an incredible tool! Bravo Apple!!!

VoiceOver is a wonderful tool.

Another thread on this subject below:

Hi Folks-

Thank you for your interest in the Special Needs Forum-As Col stated, we are very excited to get this Forum going to help members with physical disabilities find apps that can help them in their Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). We would love to hear from you and share ideas/apps with this Forum.

We have just created a Voice Over iPad Tutorial. Our Super Moderator, Gabriel1, created this Tutorial to help members understand all the functionality of Voice Over. As you already know, this feature on the iPad is a very powerful feature for the Visually Impaired. With it has some settings that requires a bit of learning curve--so these instructions should be very helpful.

Voice Over Link is: http://www.ipadforums.net/help-ipad-special-needs-users/72320-how-guide-using-voiceover-ios-5-1-a.html

Thank you for your responses and looking forward to more,

Skimonkey

 

[Hayz]

I think this section is great, my mum is dyslexic and I am hoping the iPad apps will help her with her dyslexia, with this part of the forum, I am able to see if there is apps/advise etc, I am also blind in one of my eyes, and have found the iPad better then other tablets, to help me see letters etc.

 

[col.bris]

Thanks for your response. I created this forum to assist any one whom have special needs. The response is amazing. My suggestion is ask what type of app you are seeking and we will endevor to find an answer for you.

 

[allenr]

Hey all,

I just got a ipad3 and I am also the parent of a deaf/blind child and was looking for apps or suggestions on how I can utilize the iPad to increase some interactivity or entertainment. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Temp72]

Thanks for sharing App Advice's list of apps for the visually impaired. It is nice to see so many wonderful apps for people with special needs.