A Day Through The Eyes of A Low Vision Person: Part 2

In part 1, we saw how Marvin, a guy with low vision, starts his day, goes to school and does the typical tasks of a student. We saw how he uses technologies to help him do the stuff he would otherwise find very difficult due to his low vision.

Let’s now follow him as he continues his day at the university.

Lunch Time

The bell rings, signifying the end of the first part of the day. Carrying his bag, Marvin steps out of the room and tries to search for his friends. They find him first and ask him where he’d like to eat lunch. Marvin and his friends normally eat lunch at the cafeteria but today they wish to eat outside in a nearby restaurant.

Since the restaurant is relatively large and well-known, it presents Marvin with a very useful service: large print menus. These are menus that have particularly large text. Since they have this service, Marvin happily reads the available food and drinks without using any technology. After having lunch, they decided to go back to their university.

Back to School

Marvin and his friends enter the university. He uses his reading glasses to check his schedule. Ah, there are only two subjects left: French and Biology.

Marvin finds these two subjects quite interesting, so the hours passed by quickly. Whenever necessary, Marvin uses the devices we saw in the previous post. It is still early when Marvin’s last class was dismissed. So he decides to go to the library.

In the Library

Marvin enters the library and finds a seat. He remembers the assignments given to them in his subjects today. Finding that there’s still much time, he decides to work on his assignments in History, French, and Biology.

He is glad that they are allowed to submit these tasks in electronic format. So he takes out his notebook computer and browses the Internet via the university’s wireless network. Marvin uses a notebook computer that is quite similar to those owned by other students. The only difference is that he uses a screen magnifier to make the text and graphics much larger.

He googles the keywords relevant to the information he needs for his assignments. His screen magnifier lets him quickly scan the pages he visits so that he can find the information at once. He works for an hour or so to finish his assignments. After which, Marvin shuts down his computer and spends several minutes resting his eyes. While doing so, he takes out his iPod and listens to an audio book about, what else, but science fiction. The accessibility features of iPod for larger fonts and the high-contrast screen are very useful to Marvin.

He finishes a chapter and decides that he should be going home. Marvin heads on to the bus stop. Using his glasses, he makes sure he has the right amount of money for the ticket as he waits for his ride home.

Before Going Home

The bus ride was relatively quick. Upon reaching the bus stop near his home, Marvin decides to pass by his favorite food shop which is also near his house. He plans to buy something for his dinner as similar to other college guys, cooking is not exactly his best skill.

He enters the store and prepares the device he needs. He goes to the section for the microwave dinner. He uses the magnifier which has a pair of glasses connected to it. This device can project magnified images even in curved areas, so it is useful in reading labels of round containers and bottles. Marvin pays for his dinner and heads home.

At Home

Marvin checks his mailbox for newly delivered letters. After changing his clothes, Marvin uses his desktop CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) to read his mail. He focuses each letter on the device’s lens and reads through the screen the magnified projection of the text.

Marvin sends a quick text message to his friend to ask him about the dates when their favorite band would perform in their city. Marvin uses a regular cellphone. The only difference is that he has installed a screen magnification software on his phone. This is very similar to the screen magnifier he has on his computer. After several minutes, his friend sends him a message containing the information Marvin requested.

Dinner and Checking Emails

Now feeling hungry, Marvin takes his dinner and warms it up in the microwave. His microwave has a large display to make it easier for him to read the timer and other options.

After finishing his dinner, Marvin decides to check his email. He uses the same screen magnifier on his computer. While reading his emails, he sees one from his friend that is particularly long. He chooses to use a screen reader to read this message. This is a software which obtains text content on the screen and reads it in a semi-human voice. Through this program, Marvin is able to hear the long message without straining his eyes.

Off to Bed

Marvin cleans up and prepares to go to bed. He charges the batteries of his assistive devices to ensure he could use them tomorrow. After a few final checks around the house, Marvin goes to bed to have a long relaxing sleep.

Next, read about a day of a deaf person