My disabled son has just gone blind, what equipment is available?

batmummykerry

hello my disabled son has just gone blind ,ive also just started home schooling him ,what equipment is out there to help him with reading and doing work ,some people have mentioned a talking computer ( dont know proper name of it sorry ) . 

Blue Frog

Hi @batmummykerry I am sure one of the advisors will be along soon and they can answer better than me! Just some ideas for now....

The RNIB are very good and have lots of info on their site, about talking books and things like computers.  Henshaws Society for Blind People are good too. There is also SENSE who do family days and have advisors who might know about equipment. 

Does your son have a teacher of the visually impaired? We have one, she is wonderful she visits every fortnight and works with my little girl for an hour or so, and she recommends educational resources for us.  

If you are anywhere near Manchester this equipment event is on 26th September

http://www.walthewhouse.org.uk/

batmummykerry

Hi blue frog he had a visual impaired teacher when at school ,but now nothing no one wants to know , In Truro Cornwall they have isight so I'm taking him there next week to look around some of there gadgets n have a chat with them .

Ajk110

Okay so this post is a few weeks old now but the talking computer you have heard about probably refers to screen-reading software which, when installed, reads a computer screen aloud. Apple products have one built in called Voiceover which can be turned on in settings. Windows PCs work with a couple of screen-readers, the most popular being called JAWS.

There are also electronic braille note takers which are effectively computers but where the keyboard and screen is Braille: very expensive and probably not the path I would go down especially as I assume he doesn't know Braille. I would try to encourage him to learn at least the Braille alphabet: you could do this by learning with him. My mum practiced by getting very easy-to-read children's books and brailling the story on clear card which was stuck over the print. It could be something fun that you learn together.

Sorry to input in to an old post but I thought it may or may not be helpful.