Blind People Use Phones Too

Hello Everyone,

I hope you're well. 

I'm surprised that in 2024, a post like this needed to be written. For context, a friend of mine sent me a reel on Instagram. Both the content and the comments inspired me to share some clarity on the situation.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Screenshot of a TikTok video, which sows a woman in a red coat walking on the street with a white cane, using her phone. The text in the video says "What in the universal credit is going on here". 

What's Wrong With The Video?

My main issue with it is the caption "What in the name of universal credit is going on here", which is written both in the video itself and above it with a crying emoji and skull emoji. Those two indicate the caption is saying "What in the name of universal credit is going on here" (crying/dying at this). 

It suggests the person being filmed is faking their disability, just to claim benefits from the government. It implies that's the ONLY logical reason WHY someone blind is using a phone. Afterall, most people think the white cane means someone can't see anything at all. It highlights a stereotype that people who are blind and visually impaired CAN'T do things like everyone else. 

In reality, it's actually quite complicated to apply for benefits. For example, with personal independence payment, you have to describe how your disability affects you in a number of categories like cooking, travel, getting dressed. Then you are scored on it. Plus, there's an in-person assessment that's done. RNIB shared a sample case where 20 blind and partially sighted people were initially rejected PIP, but were offered the higher rate once they appealed. If you need it, there's a PIP toolkit on the RNIB website to help you with the application process. 

What's Wrong With The Comments?

Yes, there were some completely ignorant comments such as "Most likely illegally claiming thousands of pounds of tax payers money in benefits", and "she's only blind on Wednesdays". However, there were a lot of comments about how the lady may be partially sighted, or have peripheral vision, or some useful vision to see her phone. In other words, she CAN see something, so CAN use her phone. Sight loss is a spectrum, not everyone who is registered blind, or severely sight impaired is unable to see anything at all. A lot of people actually have some form of useful vision. However, this doesn't mean that someone who is totally blind is unable to use technology like everyone else.

It's 2024 guys....blind people can use phones too!

How Do Blind People Use Phones?

According to google accessibility is defined as "the quality of being easily reached, entered, or used by people who have a disability". To put simply, it's about making a product or service something that people with a disability can use as well. Today mobile phones do this with built in accessibility features, which allow people with disabilities to use them the same way as everyone else. Here's a list of accessibility features blind and visually impaired people use. 

IOS Accessibility Features:

IOS has a number of accessibility features for people with disabilities. Here are the ones for visual impairments:

• VoiceOver: Apple's built-in screen reader that reads what's on the screen. Users navigate t he phone with gestures, connected keyboard or braille display.
• Speak on screen Text: If VoiceOver isn't enabled, usrs can still have their phone read the text on the screen.
• Audio Description: Users can enable audio description to be automatically played on films and TV shows that have it.
• Siri and Dictation: You can access the phone features and type messages faster
• Read aloud texts and labels around you: Users can point at text with their phone and have the labels, household appliances and information on ATMs be read out.
• Live Descriptions and Visual Information: Users can use their camera to get descriptions of their surroundings. 
• Get a closer look: Users can magnify on objects around them to get a closer look.
• Zoom: Users can magnify and zoom in on the screen to make it easier to see. Either enlarge the entire screen or part of it.
• Enlarge Text: Users can make the font size bigger on the phone and make it bold.
• Enlarged Typed Text: Users can make the text they are typing bigger as well.
• Reverse Colour Contrast: Users can use inverted contrast, or smart inverted contrast to change the display colours on the phone. 
• Dark Mode: Users can change their phone display to dark mode to have white text on a black background. 

Android Accessibility Features:

Android has a number of accessibility features for people with disabilities. Here are the ones for visual impairments:

• Reading Mode: You can use this feature to read long articles on websites and apps. Customize the contrast, colour and font size of text without changes to the content. You can also use the read-aloud feature to have the content read out for you.
• Talkback: Android's built-in screen reader that reads the information on the screen. Users use gestures, braille displays, braille keyboards to navigate. 
• Low vision tools: Users can adjust to font-size to enlarged text, make it bold, use high contrast mode, inverted colour contrast, dark mode.
• Magnification: Users can zoom in on the entire screen, or a window that zooms in on a portion of the screen.
• Look Out: Users can use their phone camera  camera to identify nearby objects and get things done faster. From sorting your post and unpacking groceries to exploring social media, Lookout uses AI-powered computer vision to get more information about the world around you with sound.
• Jieshuo: is a screen reader available on some Chinese Android phones.  It includes a timer, translation feature, media playback controls, object and text recognition supporting multiple languages, current lighting detection, and much more. This article compares it to Talkback. 

Final Thoughts:

It's frustrating that in today's day and age misconceptions like this still exist. Accessibility is a niche topic that the general public don't know much about. Unfortunately, it's not mainstream. You only know about it, if you study it, or if you know someone that uses them. This is the reason why people are so clueless of how blind and visually impaired people live our lives. It's also the reason why, accessibility is seen as an add-on, afterthought that's done at the endo of the development stage. In reality, it's something that you need to be aware of at the very beginning. Situations like this, are an important reminder that we still have a long way to go. 

Feel free to share y our thoughts on this. 

Nanjiba