How to Choose Technology
With all of the options for assistive technology for people with a visual impairment out there at the moment, you would think it would be easy to find a device which works for you. All you want to be able to do is read the paper, that should be easy!
Unfortunately that isn’t always the case. When choosing technology to meet your needs there are a lot of questions that you need to ask, starting from the ground up. So you want to be able to read the paper? What paper?, how large is the paper?, what parts do you want to read?, do you want to read it yourself or have it read to you?, what is your comfort operating technology?, does your vision fluctuate on a daily basis?, are there other things you would like to be able to read also?, where do you want to read the paper? The list goes on!
Selecting an appropriate technology to meet your goals requires taking a holistic approach which considers not only the task at hand and the devices designed to assist with that task, but also your personal circumstances, psychological makeup and motivation. So, maybe not so easy after all!
The good news is that that is why assistive technology professionals exist. We can help guide you through the questions that you should be asking yourself, and then demonstrate the technologies which meet the answers to those questions. Through this process we aim to provide the best match between user and technology, helping to ensure that when a person takes a technology home, it meets all the needs which they envisioned it would.
There is very likely a technology available out there that will allow you to meet your goals. The only thing you have to do now is find it! Let us at Vision Forward help you out with that. Call us at 414-615-0103 to discuss all things assistive technology, or reach out via email at infocus@vision-forward.org.