‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year’ as the song goes and Christmas is fast approaching so it’s time to tick off those Christmas lists!
I thought I’d give you a helping hand and give you some gift ideas for those of you that have someone with a visual impairment in your life. You may even get some ideas for people who don’t have a visual impairment.
Top of the list has to be an Amazon Echo. For those of you that don’t know, Echo is the collective name for the devices commonly called Alexa by many people. They come in different sizes and different prices but they all do similar things through speaking to them. With the Black Friday deals they are an absolute bargain too. They work through your WiFi and you would need a smart phone for set up purposes.
The Echo is a larger device and has a better quality sound to the smaller Echo Dot. Both devices can be used to play music and if you are already subscribed to a music streaming service such as Spotify or Apple Music you can link it to that or alternatively you can subscribe to Amazon music. You can use them as an alarm clock, timer, medication reminder or even compose your shopping lists on them. With compatible devices such as WiFi plugs or bulbs, you can control your lights, TV, make phone calls and they can also tell jokes or say what the weather is doing. These can be paired with Echo Buttons which can be used to play games or used to control Alexa compatible devices.
Talking Button Clock— Really simple easy to use button clock, suitable for any age. Press it once and it will tell you the time, press it twice and it will tell you the date and day.
Introducing the Tile Mate — If you are prone to putting things down and then can’t find them again then this is one for you!
These are small square discs that can be attached to keys, wallet or whatever you can think of. A free app can be downloaded onto your phone or tablet which can be triggered and will then trigger the tile to make an audio sound allowing you to find it. Alternatively if you can’t find your phone you can double press the tile which will then make your phone ring even when its on silent.
Synapptic Phone — Synapptic is speech input / output software suitable for Android phones which can be operated through touch. It is also accessible for people with low vision that can read print and would prefer not to operate their phone through audio but using their residual vision. Synaptic also offer android tablets and have recently released the Synapptic TV. The Synapptic TV box plugs directly into your own TV. It has a built in screen reader so you can access your TV guide as well as voice control.
Synapptic website — for prices of tablets and phones refer to website – http://bit.ly/2QYyFjQ
IPad — This can be used using the accessibility functions including voice over, zoom or magnification to access the device as well as Siri. Current prices start from £349.00
Please note all of these prices were correct at time of publishing.
Hopefully you now have a few gift ideas for your Christmas shopping. Of course there are many more items available and if you are unsure about accessibility then please do feel free to drop me an email if you wish to discuss any items prior to purchasing.
