Ask HN: How should I setup a phone for a newly blind relative?

- All used iPhones (Check out https://www.apple.com/accessibility/vision/ )

- Disable passcode if he's okay with it

- Enable VoiceOver (Settings -> Accessibility) and learn how to enable/disable it (triple-tap the side button. Might be difficult for elderly) - Apple video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDm7GiKra28

- Having a learning partner really helps the blind person. Try to learn to use a phone blind with him, it will allow you to help debug his (most definitely occuring) issues

- Watch some videos on how blind people use the iPhone, lots of tips there. For example Molly Burke, or even simple ones like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FVjLXIaBC4

- For elderly, an iPad is really nice. Especially as dexterity gets worse it's easier to use blindly. Also usability between iPhone and iPad is almost the same, so easy transition between both (i.e. on the go)

- For movies, check out Greta. It plays the AD in parallel with a movie via the iPhone - so they can watch movies together with the family, without everyone listening to AD https://www.gretaundstarks.de/starks/GretaAndStarks

And bring lots of patience :)

What is really amazing is how fast people tend to improve: VoiceOver lets you adjust the speech speed etcpp, and so it "grows" with you

So you may just have to read on what his existing phone can do and turn it on for him.

Does this newly blind person have any sight?

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/seeing-ai/id999062298

For android I do the following things: 1. assign swipe with 4 fingers left and right to FirstItem and LastItem on screen, respectively, in talkback settings > customize gestures

  a. download labels and icons so unlabeled buttons with icons can be guessed and spoken

  b. in advance settings, choose typing preference as hold and double tap (any key). Also turn on "speak passwords"

3. turn on google assistant by tapping and holding the home key

  a. setup your voice by saying ok google and following the prompts to train on your voice

  a. in its settings > preferences, turn on number row (show always)

  b. make sure suggestion strip is not off in text correction as it won't longer show voice input on the keyboard as well0

  c. make sure in emojis, stickers and gifs, the predictive suggestion content is off

  a. download food labels/images caption/currency (for your country)

Also must learn and practice gestures in the tutorial app.

Additionally, I keep screen lock turned off and instead use Secure Folder (Samsung) for critical apps like banking, though I wouldn't recommend this unless you are sure that you have no prying eyes around at all times.

3 months ago, 133 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37293002

8 years ago, 81 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9546311

My mom never got the hang out of using her iPhone with VoiceOver, but she uses Siri regularly ("Hey Siri, send a new WhatsApp message to Tom"). Siri is sometimes annoying because it will answer "this is what I found, take a look" which, unfortunate wording aside, is difficult for her to follow because (again) she never really got the hang of touch-only iPhone and therefore cannot scroll well through the options. It depends on how technical your grandfather is.

I wanted to set an Alexa as a music+podcasts+audiobooks station but the awful integration between Alexa in Spanish and Kindle cut that short. But you may have better luck.

If you are in the Bay Area, an organization like lighthouse for the blind would be a good place to start: https://lighthouse-sf.org/about/getting-started/ -- there are many regional organizations similar to this filled with good people who want to help.

Or: https://nfb.org/programs-services

Organizations like NFB and Lighthouse for the blind offer rehabilitation services and training, and might be able to provide some recommendations as well.

Also, you likely already know this, but there are many degrees of legal blindness, so the technology tooling varies based on specific challenge to overcome, and only 10% of the blind population knows braille.

If you really want to go down the technology rabbit hole, the CSUN conference in March is like the CES for assistive technology: https://www.csun.edu/cod/conference/sessions/

Assistive tech is a pretty fascinating area. I expect this area to grow as we have more aging tech savvy folks who want to keep using technology as they age.

Recalibrate your culture: live with (or very near to) family so you can help your family. We see concerns like these often enough about complex technological solutions to help lonely, elderly, and otherwise impaired family members, and the tech suggestions are nice, but there is no substitute for actually being there for someone, no substitute for actually being a family member in the traditional sense, i.e. to be physically available free of charge, no strings attached, and without technological limitations, to almost immediately help a kinsman, your blood, with whatever it is they need.

Modernity has dealt a serious blow to the traditional family, Anglo cultures in particular. What used to be provided with tender love and care for free from one's kinfolk is now packaged and sold to you as a variety of products and services. I think it's a bad thing for everyone involved, on many levels, financially, liberty-wise, and socially.

I realize this solution is likely an unfeasible change for you, for many, but it really ought to become the norm again, for our children's sake.

[1] https://www.loc.gov/nls/

[2] https://nlsbard.loc.gov/

[3] https://www.loc.gov/nls/how-to-enroll/sign-up-for-bard-and-b...

Another good one is Seeing AI. This one is from Microsoft, and it has all sorts of useful utilities inside it, including a way to tell how bright a room is (helps to know if you left lights on or not), a barcode scanner that gives you product info (it beeps at you faster or slower to let you know you're getting warmer), a color analyzer that kinda' works sometimes, a document reader with voice guidance to help you get the camera lined up, a currency reader, and I think a few more goodies.

Many countries also have a library service for the blind. In the United States, it's called the National Library Service for the Blind. Definitely get him setup with them, or your other country's library service. The one in the U.S. let's you download an app and download tens-of-thousands of audiobooks for free. They also have a few magazines that they record each month. It's pretty amazing, and all available from his phone. The app is called Bard Mobile in the U.S.

I happen to be blind myself, so feel free to ask anything else you would like. I've been doing this for a while, and there are several more of us here as well.

They are roughly identical in a11y, there is no point in switching. Apple got there first, and they had full-time blind developers on staff working on it first, so they got first mover a11y advantage, but mostly now it's a wash between the two.

> Does anyone have recommendations for how to help set this up?

If "holidays" mean the weekend, anything more than getting Siri turned on is probably pushing it. If "holidays" mean through New Years, then you have a much better chance of being useful.

Unless you are going to be there in person long-term to help him, you are better off getting him connected with someone that will, preferably a family member close by or an organization dedicated to the blind, that can help him adapt his life.

Otherwise just https://www.apple.com/accessibility/vision/ and turn those things on that make sense for him, make sure he knows how to talk to Siri and access to audiobooks/podcasts, etc.

In addition to the usual programs of people reading newspapers and magazines to the blind, it had programs to help blind people use technology. The program I stumbled across was specifically about how to use an iPhone as a blind person. I think it was a daily program.

I don't know if it's still on in Houston, but if it was a national program, you might be able to find it online somewhere.

My dad’s phone is set up to announce callers and auto answer. Hanging up is a bit of pain. You can set siri to listen to ‘siri hang up’. I think there’s an option to use the side button too.

There’s also a new more accessible home screen in ios 17 that I was going to try setting up for him which might work better with voiceover.

I also tried a bluetooth controller with him instead of the touch screen but at this point he thinks Siri is easier than any option that requires him to touch the screen or use a controller to move through options.

My grandmother went blind in her old age. She is pretty intelligent and wanted to learn new things so I thought I'd try to set up VoiceOver and similar things mentioned in this thread - various assisted screen technologies. Unfortunately it was a complete failure. I think that for whatever reason, in general trying to teach new things to an elderly person who's newly blind is an uphill battle. If you don't think he'll be able to hack it I wouldn't try, it's somewhat demoralizing to fail at something at any age. My grandmother dealt well with it but it was clearly somewhat upsetting to fail to learn something, especially as she was proud of learning other things quickly throughout her life (for example learning to drive, where she passed her test the first try with minimal prior instruction.) If you do think he has a decent chance at learning it I would start slow and build your way up.

What did work was Siri, an audiobook player, and a Google Home connected to speakers. The one she uses most of the time is the audiobook player, it's a large chunky machine that takes CDs that she gets in the mail. Every so often she gets a menu of new available audiobooks and someone sits down with her to pick out which she'd like. The next most used is Siri on her iPhone. I set up her contacts with various easy-to-say names and now she can call whoever she needs whenever. She uses Siri 95% just to call people, the other 5% she occasionally does look something up or ask the weather but it's mostly just calls. The least used is the Google Home, which she uses to play classical music through the speakers.

One thing that's not technology related is that being blind is lonely. The biggest thing that helps with this is regular small interactions. Any way you can facilitate more short visits is good, for example with the mailman, neighbors stopping by, family, et cetera. Even short phone calls help. The best are the visits that happen "automatically" so they don't slow over time. For example if you plan a phone call once a week to pick out some new audiobooks or podcasts to put on his device of choice.

Good luck!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8177117

Advice in this thread will be helpful but a person who can come to his home on a semi regular basis to help continually train will be far more beneficial. Additionally they can assist with a broader range of tasks like caning, adaptive equipment for meal prep, braille instruction, etc.

This is a prime example as to why it is not. High quality voice interfaces are a life changing revolution for people like this.

To me, that’s the place to start because they are often familiar with bespoke technical solutions.

Also they are more likely to be around year round.

I’d put it this way, if your grandfather decides to learn braille in six months, the occupational therapist can help if they are involved to a degree you probably can’t.

They can also adjust a phone solution without family dynamics resisting complaints.

Good luck.

[0]: healthcare systems vary so I am being vague, but your grandfather is already navigating it.

https://www.facebook.com/francis.ching.731/videos/1646247715...