How to Continue Using The Computer When You Are Losing Your Vision

I have worked with many people who started losing their vision but still wanted to be able to use the computer. It is not to say that it is an easy task, but it is definitely possible to go through this challenge, and keep using the computer. Actually, the computer can be great to perform tasks which you were able to do with perfect vision.

Losing your vision is understandably a frustrating experience, so the goal is to transition into it so that the quality of your life does not decrease, rather, remains the same.

First, you may have noticed that it was enough to enlarge the fonts in your browser or in your word processor. However, especially on the internet, there are many sites which do not allow you to make the fonts larger, which is an accessibility problem with the site, and not a problem that you have with your system.

It is recommended to get a screen magnification system, which will allow you to magnify portions of the screen up to 16 times larger. This sounds much better, right? And these magnification systems work across the whole system. Windows has a magnifier glass built into the operating system, which does this job to some extent, but when you rely on the computer a great deal, it is recommended to install a software which is more advanced, you will definitely see the difference. For more information, read how visually impaired people use the computer which explains different scenarios.

In many cases this solution will be sufficient to compensate for your sight loss. However, you might find that it is becoming more difficult to read as much as you used to on the computer, or reading becomes much slower.

To maintain the level of your reading speed, it is recommended to install a screen reader, which is able to read text from your screen. Again, Windows comes with one by default, but it is a very low quality and very machine sounding. There are very advanced ones with great, almost human sounding voices. This will allow you to perform functionalities on the computer using your screen magnification system, while you can read longer texts with the screen reader. Once you get used to it, it is very comfortable just to lay back and listen to a book or a news article, or to read instruction manuals for new appliances you have just purchased. These days, there are more and more applications which contain both the screen magnification and the screen reader.

In some cases the vision can decrease to an extent that it will be hard to use the screen magnification system. If this is your case, by the time you get to this point, you can become comfortable using the screen reader on a level that you will be able to rely solely on it, using the computer at a speed you were used to with acute vision. You can read more about how blind people use the computer.

There are millions of people in the United States who use some kind of technology to access their computer. The transition is definitely not easy and it has a learning curve to it. It is especially difficult not because of learning to use new technologies, but because of the emotional factor, namely that you will have to deal with the loss of your sight. You should know that it is possible, and there are many people and support groups you can turn to who can help you with advice and by sharing their own experience with you.