<p>I am acquainted with a 93 year old whose macular degeneration has now reached the point that he can no longer read.</p>
<p>He is not so concerned about reading printed materials as he is about reading emails, writing emails and documents and being able to review them, recording his blood pressure and other such daily tasks.</p>
<p>Can anyone make some suggestions?</p>
<p>His mind is still very clear and he has the funds to implement whatever will work.</p>
<p>As an aside, are services available to help a person like this set up their home situation so that it is easier to navigate – recommendations for being able to easily prepare simple meals, for example.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about blindness, but if I were you, I’d get on the internet and see what services his state has to offer. I’ve been impressed in Maine at the services available for people with disabilities. It’s not a matter of whether you can afford it or not - they WANT to help people who are disabled. </p>
<p>I agree with setting up the state services. They will pay for these things. There is technology that blows up documents onto a computer screen and that allows you to enlarge text on a screen. There is also technology to have that text read to you by the computer.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, a lot of that technology already exists on smart phones and tablets. My brother is using his iphone and ipad almost excliusively because Siri can read things to him and take dictation and it’s easy to enlarge text.</p>
<p>We found much help from our local Society for the Blind. In our state they had so many “gadgets” (that posters are desscribing) that helped the seniors in our family with macular degeneneration that extended several years there ability to use tools to read and communicate before the blindness was complete. They were also a great resource for “work arounds”…like voice recognition technology that we were able to purchase in the normal marketplace.</p>
<p>He could scan the documents and then use OCR and text to speech to have the text read back to him. I do this for me grammy. You also probably already know that Windows has task driven and text driven speech operations.</p>
<p>Eventually, google Glass, with specialized apps for object recognition, text to speech, remote pathfinding and nagging – but that’s science fiction for now.</p>
<p>fendrock: Start Button > All Programs > Accessories > Ease of Access > Narrator.</p>
<p>There’s also other applications in that menu, including powerful speech recognition thingies that most people I know don’t use. Windows 7 and 8 have more elaborate programs, but XP had them also. If your version doesn’t have them all, I think they can be downloaded free from Microsoft.</p>
<p>If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro, it does OCR of scanned page documents, and then it can actually read them back to you. I enslave my kid to scan journal articles for me (well, actually, I pay him $10 an hour), and then record the read back and I listen to this in my car. I also self-enslave myself to do this for older family including me grammy. Pro is pricey but if you have an academic position you can usually get one “free” through your institution.</p>
<p>I used to work for my state’s library for the blind. Call the one in your state. They’re a wealth of information. </p>
<p>Most phones and computers now have text to speech software. There’s also JAWS for computers. It’s rather expensive but IMO worth it if you can afford it. There’s a free trial online at freedomscientific.com. </p>
<p>I’d highly suggest registering with the library for the blind in your state. That often makes you eligible for additional services and discounts on products. </p>
<p>I will be looking into them – not sure what version of Windows this gentleman has, but I am envisioning a new computer for him with all the bells and whistles.</p>
<p>I tried that narrator thing, pretty cool.
For a senior who is struggling to type on a Windows machine using Live mail, is there a simple dictation option?</p>
<p>My best friend is a woman who is completely blind. She uses JAWS text to speech software and loves it. I agree with other posters and encourage you to contact State agencies for any offered assistance but there are also some things you and others might do to help your friend. You can label canned goods and boxes of food with something that is tactile that tells him what is what. He probably doesn’t know braille but stick on letters or raised painted letters work. Use felt pads (the kind you stick on the bottom of things to protect furniture) on the START button of the microwave, washing machine, dishwather, TV controller, etc. You can help him identify certain credit/debit cards in his wallet by punching a hole(s) in the corner of certain cards that tell him which is which. </p>