Dear AccessWorld readers,

Occasionally, we need to take a step back and look at the big picture, so to speak. This is true in our personal lives, professional lives, and even in our relationships with technology. Everyone who experiences vision loss and uses technology certainly has a love-hate relationship with it at times. I know I do. Both mainstream and access technology have changed radically over the past several years. Even the past two or three years have brought about substantial changes and improved access for people with vision loss.

Reading back issues of AccessWorld chronicles this evolution. For example, in the June 2011 Editor's Page devoted to cell phone accessibility, I wrote:

We all know the cell phone commercial where the guy with the glasses asks, "Can you hear me now?" With the constantly shifting sands of the cell phone industry, including the introduction of new technologies, mergers of cell service carriers, changing rate plans, and the appearance and disappearance of specific cell phone models, a better question for those of us in the vision loss community may be, "Is it accessible now?"

If you're looking for a cell phone that is completely accessible "out of the box," good luck. At this moment, AccessWorld is aware of two—that's right, two—cell phones that provide built-in speech output support for all the phones' features. Those two phones are the Haven, a clamshell-style feature phone offered by Verizon Wireless, and the iPhone, offered by Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

In the rest of the cell phone market, many models do not offer the ability to adjust display font size or to use speech output at all. Others offer adjustable display fonts and partial speech output. However, you look at it, real built-in cell phone accessibility is hard to come by.

It's very disappointing and frustrating to me that at this point in time there is such a lack of built-in speech output functionality for mobile devices. By law, telecommunication devices must be accessible to people with disabilities, but in practice most simply are not. When cell phone manufacturers don't include accessibility features in the designs of their products, they are overlooking millions of potential customers. Likewise, when cell service providers sell inaccessible cell phones, they perpetuate this disservice.

That excerpt from June 2011 reads like it was written a lifetime ago, but it wasn't really. At that time, AccessWorld could only identify two accessible cell phones, and now there are numerous choices for those looking for speech output. I don't know of any current cell phone models that do not offer adjustable font size and display options to assist people with low vision, nor do I know of any models without volume enhancements. In 2011 tablets barely existed, so true mobile productivity was almost non-existent for people with visual impairments. Today, whether you choose Apple or Android, there is no question that you can accessibly make and receive calls, use text messaging, send and receive emails, surf the Web, check your stocks, check the weather, download and listen to music, read a book, and take a picture and share it with friends. You can make purchases from your phone, check your newsfeed and post to Facebook, tweet, and catch up on the latest political goings on around the world as they happen with your news organization of choice, just to name a few. So, just think "big picture" for a moment and consider how improvements in technology have literally changed our lives for the better. Technology has increased opportunities in education, employment, and independence, and is helping to create a more interactive, engaged, and inclusive world.

As technology changes and evolves, so do the devices we use to access it. Feature phones, for example, with a clamshell design and tactile buttons are all but gone from store shelves, and it won't be long until they are but memories. Touchscreen phones and devices with elevated capabilities and means of access are here now, and they are the way of the future.

I know some people, visually impaired and fully sighted alike, who hold tightly to older technologies and form factors. I write this message as a way to encourage these readers to embrace the future of technology and all the possibilities it has in store. Moving away from older, more familiar form factors can be challenging and yes, there is a learning curve, and yes, sometimes the learning curve is quite steep, and yes, you can master it. By doing so you will become more efficient, gain more independence, and reap countless personal, social, and professional benefits.

My advice, when you start on your transition to updated technologies, is to plan smart. Make sure you have your data backed up securely. You may need to investigate and invest in some formal training, you may need to find sighted assistance, and you may need to blow off steam when things get frustrating, but the frustration will pass as you gain proficiency. My best advice is to never stop looking for the next best thing, and never allow yourself to get too far behind the ball. Technology builds upon itself, so don't allow yourself to get three or four versions behind, or to keep relying solely on devices or technologies that are no longer supported. This will only increase your learning curve and frustration when you're finally forced to use something new. When you wait too long to upgrade your technology, you are, in fact, placing limits upon yourself. Stay current!

In addition to working to stay current with your access technology, it is just as important to have more than one tool in your tool box. By that, I mean that it is important to have the ability to use more than one technology to access information. Don’t allow yourself to fall into the rut of only using one screen reader, for example.

As Jamie Pauls described in his May 2019 article, Getting the Job Done with Assistive Technology: It May Be Easier Than You Think:

Gone are the days when I must limit myself to only one screen reader and one program to get a task accomplished. If a website isn't behaving well using JAWS and Google's Chrome browser, I might try the same site using the Firefox browser. If I don't like the way JAWS is presenting text to me on that website, maybe I'll switch to NVDA. If the desktop version of a website is too cluttered for my liking, I'll often try the mobile version using either Safari on my iPhone, or Chrome on my BrailleNote Touch.

Jamie’s words demonstrate how being able to switch among screen readers and Internet browsers, for instance, can make a world of difference in whether you achieve access, or you don’t. Being able to move to a mobile version of a website can dramatically simplify browsing that site or purchasing its products or services.

If you haven't tried Firefox or Chrome, download them, give them a try, and keep them at the ready for when you experience access challenges using your current Internet browser. Likewise, if you have not worked with NVDA, try it! And while you're at it, check out how far Narrator, Windows built-in screen reader has come recently. The more options you give yourself, the better your results will be.

There will be pitfalls, of course, and unfortunately everything may not always be fully accessible. However, more is at the fingertips of people who are blind or visually impaired than ever before, and more access is on the way. Efforts by consumer and grassroots groups, advocacy, and legislative action have all come into play to bring about the access we have today, and these efforts are on-going. The American Foundation for the Blind and AccessWorld do our best to help keep you informed and up-to-date on information and technologies that will have a positive impact on your life, but it remains your responsibility to seek out the information and to keep learning about technologies, devices, apps, or techniques that will work for you.

I challenge all AccessWorld readers to seek out, embrace, and use the best in newer technology to the best of your ability, and to join the American Foundation for the Blind in our vision of a world with no limits! At AccessWorld, we know that a world without limits starts with education. We also know that pursuing a good education can be particularly challenging for people with vision loss. In the upcoming July issue, the AccessWorld team will again turn our focus to providing valuable information and resources for students, parents, teachers, and professionals in the vision loss field to help make educational pursuits less stressful and more enjoyable. Be sure to check back in July for our Back to School issue.

With best regards,

Lee Huffman

AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief

American Foundation for the Blind

Janet Ingber

In late 2018, Verizon Fios launched Fios TV One, which provides accessibility improvements for people who are blind or visually impaired. There is a new cable box plus a new remote control with voice command and the ability to find the remote by sound if misplaced. The remote is voice activated and provides an easy way to access video description and text-to-speech.

Remote Layout

The new remote is smaller than Verizon’s previous remotes and has fewer buttons, but the buttons are cleverly designed. Many buttons have logical tactile features. The top right button turns on the TV and cable box simultaneously. The slightly lower-in-height top left button is used to choose input such as TV or HDMI 1. Below these buttons is a straight horizontal row of three buttons: Rewind, Play/Pause and Fast Forward. The Play/Pause button is slightly depressed in the middle. The next buttons down are a curved row (forming the top of a circle) of three: Guide, Menu, and Exit. The Menu button is slightly above the other two buttons.

Lower on the remote is a large ring button approximately one-inch in diameter, with nibs at the top, bottom, left, and right. The ring is used to go up, down, backward, or forward. In the center of the ring button is a raised round button that is labeled OK.

Below the ring are three buttons, the bottom section of a circle. The middle one is the Voice Control button, which is raised and larger than the other two. On the left is Arrow Left, and on the right is Last. The Last button brings you back to the previous channel.

Below these three buttons are a Volume rocker button on the left, a round Mute button in the middle, and a Channel rocker button on the right.

Near the bottom of the remote are four rows of three buttons. These are the number buttons plus “info” and “rec”. The first row is 1-2-3, the second row is 4-5-6, the third row is 7-8-9, and the bottom row on the remote is info-0-rec. The 5 button is indented. The 0 (zero) button is between the info and rec buttons.

Voice Commands

To execute voice commands, hold down the Voice Control button and speak your command. Then, release the button. I searched online without success for information about commands that are useful for someone who is blind. There was information about using the feature, but it did not include the command for activating descriptive video or turning on text-to-speech. I quickly figured out how to execute these commands (by telling the Voice Control to turn those features on or off), but they should have been in Verizon’s basic documentation.

Tech Support

I called Verizon tech support and the first person couldn’t help me. The second person read me what was online and I explained that I’d seen that. She was astonished and found better documentation that included commands to activate descriptive video and text-to-speech, which she emailed to me. She added that she was going to suggest Verizon make this information more easily accessible.

Some Useful Commands

• Text-to-Speech: "Turn on TTS," "Turn off TTS"
• Descriptive video: According to the instructions, you say, “Turn on descriptive video” to hear description. On my sets, this command did not work. “Turn on SAP” worked. Turn it off by saying, “Turn off” followed by whatever phrased you used for turning on the feature.
• Channel: Say the name or number of the channel.
• Guide: "Go to the guide."

Find the Remote

If your remote gets misplaced, Verizon has a "Find my Fios TV Voice Remote" feature. On the top of the cable box is only one button, located near the front right. Press it twice and the remote will start beeping. Press any button on the remote to stop the beeping.

For more information about Fios TV One, visit the Verizon website

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Deborah Kendrick

What do you do when you’ve had your 50th birthday, you've devoted your career to executive management and sales, and you're going blind? What do you do when your daughter has to tell you whether the traffic light is red or green, you are tripping over objects, and bright light creates a total vision whiteout?

Well, if you are Kelly Egan, here’s what you do.

You stop driving. You get yourself into a six-month training course to learn blindness skills. Oh, and you start a company or two. And you get a new job!

All of the above was Kelly Egan’s story about ten years ago. While some might see vision loss as a reason to drop out of the workforce, Kelly Egan says it simply never occurred to her that she would not have a job. Today, she is a customer relations manager for Sprint, responsible for expanding the company’s accessibility efforts to include customers who are blind or visually impaired. She says that, like so many challenges, blindness has simply presented her with interesting opportunities to learn.

Before and After Blindness

For some people with disabilities, there is a clear line in memory, a milestone of sorts, when they crossed from the land of abled to disabled, or, in this case, from sighted to blind. Kelly Egan’s memory doesn’t seem to work that way. Losing her sight was a process, and she remembers many of the signposts involved in learning to be blind, but it doesn’t seem to be a yardstick she uses for measuring other events in her life. She was always near-sighted. Cone rod dystrophy meant a gradual decline in vision over several years – loss of central vision and color identification mostly, and an extremely high sensitivity to light. To use what remaining vision she has, she wears sunglasses most of the time.

In 1999, before identifying herself yet as a person with a disability, she helped launch a company called Hire Potential and served for a time as its CEO. The purpose was to tap the disability community, which she and her business partners perceived as a rich and under-utilized resource, for staffing solutions. Later, she started another small company, Wine Veil, as a creative and decorative solution to enjoying wine outdoors without inviting insects to the party. (She and a friend designed these whimsical accessories for wine glasses and bottles which are, essentially, colorful fabrics that breathe with silver charms at all four corners to prevent them from blowing away.)

In fact, she says that the only time in her adult life when she was not fully employed was the six months in Colorado when she was learning to use a white cane and other techniques that blind and visually impaired people master in order to lead independent lives.

Every day, she took the bus to the training center, worked hard to learn those blindness skills, and took the bus home again. Shortly after completing her blindness training, she was accepted into training by Guide Dogs for the Blind of San Rafael, California, and, somewhat metaphorically, received a sweet black Labrador named Hope.

Through a blind friend, she learned of a possible job opportunity at Sprint, and Kelly Egan was once again using her talent and creativity to explore new territory.

Back at Work

Initially, Egan’s job with Sprint was a contract position where she went to trade shows and introduced potential customers to Sprint. After a year, the company hired her into a permanent position. Today, she is full-time customer relations manager with five contract employees (all of whom are blind or visually impaired) on her team. One of the largest mobile networks in the country, Sprint has a long history of providing services to deaf customers and wanted to expand its accessibility efforts to extend the same courtesy to customers with visual impairments. Who better to spread the word about a company’s accessibility than a team of individuals who are themselves blind or low vision?

Now living in San Diego, Egan and her guide dog travel to conferences and shows around the country to tell people about Sprint Accessibility. This past year, she or one of her team attended some 40 events throughout the country where large numbers of attendees were people with visual impairments.

In addition to making presentations and developing marketing materials for blind customers, she hosts “Lunch and Learns” at various retail locations, providing opportunities for other Sprint employees to learn about blindness. When presenting at an event where there will be a large number of blind attendees (such as events for the American Council of the Blind, National Federation of the Blind, Blind Veterans, and the like), she always invites staff from a local Sprint store to join her at the conference table. Inevitably, she says, those Sprint representatives encountering blind people for the first time are impressed and amazed. They come away enthusiastic and energized to learn more.

Working Mindset

Recalling those days a decade ago when it had become clear to her that she needed to learn some new ways of doing things because of vision loss, she says it never occurred to her that she would stop working.

“I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t get another job,” she says. “In my mind, going blind never made me think I wasn’t smart or couldn’t work.” From her days at HirePotential, she was “already brainwashed” as she playfully expresses it. She had come to know and believe in the capabilities of people with disabilities. “So what if a person needed this or that,” she says, “a wheelchair or a scooter or a white cane? … They could still get the job done.” If others could, then she could, too.

Egan uses an inverted screen with magnification along with VoiceOver to use her computer. She wears sunglasses and keeps the office fairly dark. She uses her Guide Dog, Hope, for safe and independent travel, and she has a part-time assistant to help with some administrative tasks.

Asked to name three things that have enabled her to remain in that 30 percent of blind people who are gainfully employed, she cited a positive attitude, persistence, and creativity. “I love creating programs,” she said, “and I’m good at building relationships and strategic planning.”

Growing the 30 Percent

I also asked Egan if she had any advice for those who are blind or losing vision and who are not yet among the 30 percent of blind and low vision people who are working, or who are worried about losing the work they have.

“For many,” she said, “the fear of losing benefits is a definite deterrent, and I understand that. … But I would ask them, ‘Are you content living a life by default, or would you prefer to design a life that is suitable to you, a life you love? … Be brave. Employers will hire people with disabilities; I know—because I am hired and I am blind!”

To learn more about Sprint’s accessibility efforts for blind and low vision customers, visit the Sprint Vision site or find Kelly Egan or one of her team members at the next blindness-related conference in your area.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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J.J. Meddaugh

We've published many articles in AccessWorld over the past few years that address the emergence and advancement of a new category of services called crowd assistance apps. These apps allow a user to connect to a remote volunteer or professional to accomplish tasks from the most basic, such as locating a desired type of coffee, to the rather advanced, such as deciphering a complex spreadsheet on a computer. It is this latter category that has become easier over the past year with the introduction of a variety of free offers from both Be My Eyes and AIRA. For this article, I tested a variety of these free offers to learn about their strengths and weaknesses and to determine which may be the best fit for a variety of situations.

If you are new to these services, you can check out part 1 and part 2 of Janet Ingber's series on AIRA from 2017, or Bill Holton's introduction to Be My Eyes from 2016. While some of the details may have changed since these articles were written, the basic premise and service remains.

It's worth noting that all of the services described in this article, including those provided by AIRA, are completely free, regardless of whether you have a paid account. Simply download the desired app and sign up for a free account to get started. Be My Eyes and AIRA are available for free for both iOS and Android devices.

Specialized Help With Be My Eyes

Be My Eyes includes a feature called Specialized Help, which currently offers customized support for a small amount of companies. As of this writing, this extends to the disability support teams for Google and Microsoft, as well as Lloyds Bank in the United Kingdom. The idea is that these specialized help services will cover situations where volunteers may not be suitable, such as obtaining software technical support or reading sensitive information on a bank statement.

Google Support

Google's Disability Support Team is currently available weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm Pacific time and aims to help with support for just about any Google product.

I made a test call to inquire about a bug with Google's Backup and Sync app, which syncs files between a Google Drive and a Windows computer. When attempting to access this program from the Windows System Tray, the items in the menu do not speak.

My test call was answered within a few seconds and I was able to efficiently talk the technician through the call. They had a Windows machine in front of them and proceeded to duplicate the issue I had described and offered to file a bug report on my behalf. The entire call only took a few minutes. An email regarding the filed bug report was sent to me shortly.

Google's support is intended to help troubleshoot technical issues, guide users through software features, and navigate potentially inaccessible screens. For tasks that include reading information, such as determining the temperature on a Nest Learning Thermostat, a volunteer may be more suitable.

Microsoft Support

Microsoft was the first company to offer support on Be My Eyes, and has since become the first Specialized Help service on the platform to offer 24/7 help. Microsoft support extends to help with their software products including Windows and Office. I especially think their support can be useful to help configure a new computer, or in situations where Windows needs to be restored from a crash, or when Narrator or other speech options may not be available.

For my Microsoft call, I found a simple bug in the Windows Calculator app, which I wanted to verify and report. Essentially, there is a mode in the calculator that lets you find the time between two dates. When selecting a month using the Previous and Next keys, focus will revert to the current month when pressing Tab. Unfortunately, it took me several times to connect to an available agent using both an Android phone and an iPhone. My first call was disconnected after about a minute due to poor network connectivity. Several additional calls either went unanswered or ended with an error message. It's possible that Microsoft was short-staffed during the evening of my tests, and your experience may likely vary.

Once I connected with an agent, I explained the problem I was having with the Windows Calculator. It took them several minutes and at least three different explanations to understand the problem. To their credit, they were patient and willing to take the time to understand the situation. They offered an alternative to select a date that I was able to use successfully. But I also wanted to see if they could file a bug for me to help get the issue resolved. After several minutes, I was told this was not possible and was promised an email with information on how to report the bug. So far, that email has not arrived.

To be fair, this could very well be an isolated incident, and your experience will depend on the type of question you have and the person on the other end of the call. A simple question, such as reading text on the Login screen, would be much easier to manage.

AIRA Free Offers

AIRA has expanded their selection of free access offers, which allow users to gain access to agents without paying for minutes. In addition to being able to use AIRA in a growing number of airports and stores, AIRA offers free access for small business tasks (sponsored by Intuit) and specialized software help for software products including JAWS and QuickBooks. To access these offers, select the "Apply a Free Offer" option after opening the AIRA app.

Vispero, Including JAWS

If you use one of Vispero's screen access products including JAWS, ZoomText, and MAGic, AIRA can help in cases where your technology is not working as expected. Some examples that are given include reading form controls when JAWS does not properly interpret them, solving issues with screen reader authorizations, and cases where the magnification in Zoomtext is not working.

For my test call, I found a PDF file that was not reading when I used the Arrow keys. JAWS just spoke "blank". The agent offered to connect to my computer using TeamViewer, a free Windows app that allows a remote agent to temporarily control a customer's machine. Once they connected, they were able to read the document that was on the screen without issue. Obviously, if I was calling because I could not hear speech output or read my braille display, then other means would likely be necessary to complete the task.

QuickBooks Support

One major difference between AIRA and Be My Eyes relates to who answers the call. For Google and Microsoft on Be My Eyes, representatives from the respective company took the call. For AIRA, their professional agents still answer the calls for specialized help requests. AIRA has talked about offering agents trained for dedicated tasks in the future, which may be of benefit here.

This fact may need to be observed when calling for help on a specialized product such as QuickBooks or QuickBooks Online. I wanted to get assistance with an invoice template that was not reading properly with NVDA. Again, the agent connected to my machine using TeamViewer, and we were able to complete the task. The success of this call was aided by my knowledge of QuickBooks Online and a Google search I made prior to the call, which described how to fill edit an invoice template. AIRA agents are excellent at interpreting the screen and knowledgeable about computers but may not know minute details about the ins and outs of advanced software such as QuickBooks. While agents would be willing to help you research the solution if needed, a little bit of preparation can go a long way toward making a call like this a success.

AIRA also includes support for a popular foreign language elearning platform called Vista Higher Learning, used by many high school and college students. This is an excellent way to provide an additional level of accessibility for a complex product. Care should be taken, however, to ensure that no company use a service like AIRA or Be My Eyes as an excuse to forego built-in accessibility for their software.

AIRA agents are also now available 24/7, so these and future offers can be accessed any time day or night. If you have a paid plan, using one of these offers will not count against your allotment of minutes.

Conclusion

The expanding array of specialized help options available from AIRA and Be My Eyes are enabling a wide variety of computer and other tasks to be completed with ease. While the preference should always be for true built-in accessibility, it's nice to know there is a fallback in place for those times where there are gaps in the technology we use. Expanding this service to other industries and providing specially trained agents and helpers will go a long way to further increase the viability and utility of these services going forward. I encourage everyone to install and set up both of these apps, so that free help is only a double tap away, practically whenever you need it.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Janet Ingber

With summer approaching, I want to lose about 10 pounds. I decided to try Weight Watchers, because of its television commercials with Oprah Winfrey talking about the success of its new Freestyle plan.

Weight Watchers, now called WW, has a website and apps for iOS, Apple Watch, and Android. For this article, I used a Mac running the latest version of Mojave, an iPhone X running the latest version of iOS 12, and an Apple Watch Series 3 running the latest version of WatchOS 5.

WW considers itself a lifestyle program, rather than a diet. Every food has a SmartPoints value. On this program, each participant is given a certain amount to eat per day and extra points to use throughout the week. There are now over 200 ZeroPoints foods, and that certainly got my attention. You do not need to be a Weight Watchers subscriber to access this link.

WW encourages you to be active and has an extensive list of things to do. You will also have access to a group of audio workouts specifically for WW members created by Aaptiv. You do not need to go to the gym to find an activity.

The WW iOS app makes it easier to keep track of your food intake, physical activity, and weight. Although this can be done on its website, for me, the app is more convenient. There is a watchOS app, but you must have the iOS app installed first.

Getting Help

WW has an accessibility link on its homepage that takes you to information about using various screen readers. For example, it explains how to set tab navigation in Safari.

The homepage also contains a Contact Us link and provides answers to frequently asked questions. There is also a search form for your query. Results display below the search form. WW also has live help that can be reached at 800-651-6000.

Getting Started

Once you have decided to join Weight Watchers, you will choose one of three available plans. Each plan has different features and pricing. I chose the digital plan, where in-person workshops are not included, and you do everything online and on the honor system. (Workshops were formerly called meetings.) The digital plan costs less, but you must be honest with yourself! If you choose one of the other plans, you go to workshops where you will hear presentations, participate in discussions, and get your weight checked privately. If you need a talking scale, they are available through Amazon and other retailers.

You will need to create an account before having access to WW materials. You can sign up through the website or iOS app. If you chose to sign up on the iOS app, WW will be a subscription through your device. You will not have to enter billing information. The app is more accessible than the website.

If you are more comfortable using your computer rather than an app, go to the WW website to select the plan you want.

On the website, although all edit boxes are labeled, I needed to make sure I was in the edit box and not on the label. In addition, if I did not finish typing in a very brief time in each box, I received an error message.

On the form, there were several check boxes. With the VoiceOver rotor set to forms, not all the check boxes could be found. I had to go line-by-line to find some of them.

Once you complete the registration process, you will receive a welcome e-mail and a receipt for your membership. If you have checked the box for receiving WW e-mails, you will receive useful information about the program. E-mail topics include the importance of tracking activity and weight and the list of ZeroPoints foods. The Welcome e-mail suggested that I download the app.

The WW website contains a great deal of information, including articles, recipes, and your stats. The website and app automatically sync. The best way to navigate the website is by links.

Using the WW App

The WW iOS app is free and available for iPhone and iPad. Once the iOS app is on your device, you can download the app for the Apple Watch. Install the Apple Watch app by going to the Watch app on your iPhone or iPad. In the My Watch tab, locate the WW app and select the Install button. Open the WW app on your iPhone or iPad. Both the iOS and watchOS app are discussed in this article.

The easiest way to track your weight, food, and activity is through the WW iOS app. The app is accessible and you can dictate your search queries into the appropriate edit boxes. You can use the website, but you are probably more likely to have your device with you throughout the day.

VoiceOver names the app “WW Mobile” when it is on your device. When you open the app for the first time, you will be asked several questions including your weight and weight goal. Based on the answers to these questions, you will receive a daily Points number and a weekly Points number. These can be used throughout the week.

The WW app has five Tabs at the bottom of the screen: My Day, Journey, Add, Connect, and Coach. When selecting the Add tab, VoiceOver will say, “Tab.” The actual marker for that tab is a plus sign. Many features including your list of favorite foods and an extensive list of activities are found within this tab.

My Day

This is the app’s home screen. At the top left corner is an unlabeled button. Activating the button loads a new screen with notifications. The Close button is in the upper left. At the upper right of the screen is a Profile button. In this section, you can set up Siri Short Cuts, create posts, and change settings. The Back button is in the upper left.

If you are swiping right on the screen, VoiceOver will ignore the Notifications and Profile buttons. The first option you will hear is called Food. By default, this is selected. The second button is Activity and the third button is Profile. Next is a search box for searching foods or activities. After the search box is a button for a barcode scanner.

Next is a weekly calendar with the current date highlighted. The first day is your weigh-in day. The calendar and weigh-in day can be changed in the settings section of your profile. Swiping up or down on the calendar will let you check what you ate on a specific date.

Below the calendar are the number of Weekly Points remaining and the number of Daily Points remaining.

Next are foods that you ate for meals and snacks and how many points were used.

Below the tracking portion of the home screen are recipes, articles, meditation activities from Headspace, workout routines from Aaptiv, social media posts, restaurant information, and more.

Searching for Foods

You can either type or dictate your query into the edit box near the top of the screen. A Search button is in the lower right corner. Once the Search button is activated, a list of foods matching your criteria will be displayed. Each result has the name, serving size, and number of points. There is a See More button at the bottom of the list. If activated, more results are displayed. Under the results are WW recipes that are related to your search.

Once a food is selected, a new screen will present an option to add that food to your Favorites. This is a quick way to keep track of foods you eat regularly. The next item on the screen is serving size. You can modify the serving size and unit by double tapping on the serving. Pickers will be available to choose serving size and unit of measure.

Below this is the option to track your food. There are four options: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks. Select the appropriate button and then swipe down to the Track Food button. If you are just checking the points value of a food, once you find your result, activate the Done button in the upper right corner. Under the Track Food button is a form to add a food. There are several edit fields that need to be completed including calories and sugar. Once the form is complete, WW will give you its point value.

Below the tracking portion of the home screen are recipes, articles, meditation activities from Headspace, workout routines from Aaptiv, social media posts and more.

Activity

If you select the Activity button, type or dictate your search term into the edit box, and select the Search button. When you find your result, select it and a new screen will load. There is an edit box where you enter the number of minutes you participated in the activity. The app will then tell you how many FitPoints are earned for that activity. You can set a weekly FitPoints goal. You can also use FitPoints as SmartPoints for food. In your profile, go to settings and select Swap. In Swap, there are three options for deciding what to do with your FitPoints.

When I was tracking my activity, an article was displayed on my screen explaining how I could sync my fitness tracker with WW. Potential trackers include Apple Watch and FitBit. For instructions, go to Profile > Settings > Activity Settings and select the Device button. When navigating in the Settings section of your profile, you may need to slide your finger on the screen instead of flicking right.

Once synced, information from your device will appear in the WW app's Activity section.

Journey

This is the tab for tracking your progress. WW sends messages and advice.

Add

The heading for this screen is Track. This tab provides convenient ways to keep track of your food, activity, and weight. Some of these features also appear on the Home screen.

There is a search box at the top of the screen that is used for tracking food. The Barcode Scanner follows this. Next is the Favorites button. All foods that you have saved to your Favorites will be here. Favorites provide a quick way to track items that you eat frequently.

The next option is My Food. This is where you can create a recipe, food, or meal. The app walks you through this process. For example, if there is a food combination you eat frequently, you can create a name and number of points for the meal. This makes it easier to track because you do not have to enter each ingredient or food separately.

Activity is the next option. There is a search box at the top of the screen and an extensive list of activities. Not all are standard exercise activities. There are 296 listings including playing with animals, housework, and gardening. Select an activity and a time edit box will appear.

The next option is Track Weight. Enter your weight in the edit box. There is also an edit box for writing notes.

Quick Add is the next option. There are edit boxes for the food’s name and points value. Then select the meal or snack and then activate the track button. I have found this useful if I consume half a serving.

The final option is the Calculator. Enter information about the food including calories, saturated fat, and sugar. The result is near the top of the page.

Connect

This is the tab for WW’s social media and where you can create a post. The Groups option displays an extensive list of WW groups. There is a Trending section and more.

Coach

This tab lets you chat with a WW coach. Below that is a Get Help link that loads a screen with Frequently Asked Questions.

Apple Watch App

Periodically you will be asked to log into the iOS app to use the Watch version. The home screen has your remaining daily and weekly points along with how many FitPoints you have earned. Double tapping on the screen brings up options to view recent foods and favorites and options to search for foods or activities.

Once you have made your selection, lists are displayed for recently added foods or favorites. If you have searched for food or activities, results are displayed. Either way, once you have made your food or activity selection, a new screen loads where you are given the option to track a food or activity. I was not able to choose whether I wanted to add the food to a meal or snack. The app assumed where I wanted to put it.

The Bottom Line

The WW website contains a lot of useful information. The registration process was not as easy as it should be. Although it was accessible, it needs improvement. The app works well and is very accessible. The Apple Watch app is good for checking how many points are available. I prefer the iOS app. It is nice to see that WW has specific information about accessibility. Overall, WW has done a very good job.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Scott Davert

I used my first pair of programmable hearing aids in 1998. These allowed audiologists to use computer software to tailor programs to meet patients' specific needs. Using a remote control, users could select the program best-suited to their current environment, adjust the volume, turn the built-in t-coil on or off, and mute the hearing aids. Today's hearing aids are adjusted using buttons on the hearing aids themselves, which isn't the most discrete method, or by using a mobile application, if available. In the 1990s, the slightest of adjustments to a program required a trip to the audiologist. There was no way to hear audio from external devices directly through your hearing aids, individually control settings such as whether the t-coil and microphone were active at the same time, or adjust the volume of active components. The only way to connect to external devices like telephones and radios was by using an FM system, placing the telephone up to your ear when connected to the t-coil, or putting headphones over your hearing aids. With an FM system, all sound was mono and fidelity was quite poor. A t-coil had limited range, and the sound quality wasn't good for anything other than an audiobook or phone call. Headphones produced a lot of feedback when placed over hearing aids.

In 2012, hearing aid manufacturers began using proprietary technology to achieve a more direct connection to external devices. One such option, reviewed in AccessWorld, was the ComPilot, which allowed Phonak hearing aid users to receive a direct signal to their hearing aids from various devices. It provided excellent fidelity and offered stereo sound, making listening to music a pleasure. Just as when using a Bluetooth headset to listen to a screen reader, keeping an active Bluetooth connection with one of these devices is challenging, as the connection drops after just seconds of inactivity. If you are using the ComPilot or devices like it to listen to your screen reader over Bluetooth, this means missing words until the connection is reestablished. A Bluetooth connection is very sluggish, and there are often delays of up to one second between the signal leaving the iOS device and reaching your hearing aids. Connecting a 3.5 MM cable meant almost no latency, and made for a much smoother experience. The disadvantage, of course, is that a wire is required for a signal to travel from an external device to your hearing aids. You also have to wear this type of device around your neck.

Audiologists now have the ability to do the things mentioned above, filter out certain sounds, and amplify certain frequencies more within the audiological spectrum to offset a loss. Hearing aids connect to external devices more directly than ever before, providing a much clearer sound. Premium hearing aids from some manufacturers offer audiologists the ability to make adjustments remotely, as long as the hearing aids have an active connection to your iOS device. Hearing aid manufacturers can also push software updates to your hearing aids, eliminating the need to visit an audiologist. A user can adjust many levels and settings with the use of MFi support and applications developed by the manufacturer. A mobile application is always required for an audiologist to make adjustments remotely. All of the applications I have tried present various accessibility issues to users of VoiceOver and braille. However, many options can be configured by using Apple's built-in accessibility settings.

Are My Hearing Aids Supported?

Many manufacturers have models that are MFi-compatible. Check Apple's official support page to see if your hearing aids are MFi-compatible. This support article was last updated in October 2018, so it might not list all supported models. You must have an iPhone 5S or later to use supported hearing aids. If in doubt, consult your audiologist, or complete the steps in the article to learn if your hearing aids are compatible.

Getting Connected

MFi hearing aids are paired using the MFi Hearing Devices option within Accessibility settings. Before pairing your hearing aids, turn them off and back on again. After doing this, double tap on the hearing aids you wish to pair, and then confirm the pairing request. A second pairing request will come through your hearing aids if you have VoiceOver running. After confirming this request, your hearing aids will be paired, and VoiceOver audio will come through them, softening all other sound. When VoiceOver finishes speaking, your hearing aids will be return you to your normal sound settings. Until speech is muted, the screen is locked, or audio routing is changed in Control Center, you will remain cut off from everything around you whenever VoiceOver is speaking. To continue hearing speech through your iOS device, bring up the Control Center, select Routes Available, and choose the iOS device.

After pairing your hearing aids, the Accessibility Shortcut will include the option of MFi Hearing Devices. If VoiceOver is set as your Accessibility Shortcut, you will be presented with multiple options when triple clicking the Side or Home button. If you want to quickly launch the MFi Hearing Devices menu, and want VoiceOver to be your only Accessibility Shortcut, you can go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut, and choose your preference accordingly. If you still want a quick way to access hearing devices, you can do so by adding it to the Control Center. To add items to the Control Center, go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls. Under the More heading, select Hearing to add this menu to the Control Center.

Setup

After pairing your hearing aids, there are numerous user-customizable options. Many of these are independent of hearing aid manufacturer or model, though some options are dependent on how the manufacturer has configured the hearing aids to work with MFi support. After connecting my ReSound hearing aids, I have the ability to specify whether I wish to stream to one or both hearing aids, as well as whether I would like to control them through my iOS device independently. I can also adjust the volume of the hearing aids’ internal microphone along with the level of any connected devices. I'm shown the programs my audiologist set up, and can select one by double tapping it. To adjust the audio levels, flick up or down with one finger on the touchscreen. Some hearing aid manufacturers have chosen to put an equalizer in this group of settings, so you can control the bass and treble of your hearing experience.

Near the bottom of the screen Live Listen is found. This turns your iOS device's microphone into an assistive listening device (ALD). With Live Listen, someone speaks into your iPhone, and the audio is sent to your hearing aids. Some who have used this feature report a delay of up to three seconds between when the person speaks and the audio reaches your hearing aids. I experienced little delay using ReSound hearing aids unless multiple Bluetooth devices were in range, which resulted in a choppy connection, though the person using my iPhone was three feet away.

After activating the Back button, you are shown options that are not specific to the manufacturer. The first option, enabled by default, is to play ringtones through your hearing aids when a call comes in. The next option is Audio Routing. This allows you to specify what type of audio is sent to your hearing aids. The first setting controls call audio routing. Selecting this allows you to choose whether call audio goes to your hearing aids Always, Never, or Automatically. Choosing Automatically means that if a call is answered with the phone to your ear, audio comes through the earpiece instead of your hearing aids.

The other option in this menu is Streaming Media. The settings are the same as those found under the Call Audio Routing submenu. This controls where VoiceOver will be heard. There is no way to configure VoiceOver and other media separately.

The next two options are works in progress. If all devices are signed into the same iCloud account and on the same WiFi network, supposedly it is possible to control your hearing aids on iOS devices not paired to them. Sadly, no one I have spoken with has gotten this to work successfully. Handoff does not function reliably either. In theory, you should be able to start audio playback on an iOS device not paired to your hearing aids, and receive that audio through your hearing aids, as long as both devices are signed into the same account on the same network.

Though Apple says pairing your hearing aids with multiple iOS devices is a seamless process, I did not find this to be so. In an ideal situation, my hearing aids played the audio from one device in my left ear, and the other in the right.

Some hearing aid manufacturers allow control of your hearing aids from the Lock screen. The only thing displayed on my Lock screen is the battery status of my ReSound hearing aids. Unfortunately, the reading is inaccurate. My hearing aids always show 100% until they beep, and suddenly drop to 10%. This problem is not specific to VoiceOver users, but seems to only affect those with hearing aids from certain manufacturers.

The Menu Accessed Through the Control Center or Accessibility Shortcut

After activating the Hearing Devices menu, you can adjust the volume level of any of the active audio devices, or adjust the bass and treble on hearing aids that support this feature. In this menu, you can also switch programs, and turn Live Listen on or off. Any adjustments made are immediate. This can come in handy if you are listening to something using an assistive listening device and do not want to hear anything going on around you. Setting the internal microphone’s volume to 0% will allow you to hear only audio sent through the ALD. You can listen simultaneously to your environment and audio from a connected device, or turn the volume of the connected device down all the way. You can adjust the level of the internal microphone using your iOS device, but will need to adjust the iOS device’s level using its volume buttons.

VoiceOver Specifics

There is one option within VoiceOver settings that some may find helpful. Navigate to Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Audio, and scroll down to the bottom. You will find the option to control whether VoiceOver comes through the right, left, or both hearing aids.

How Well Do They Function?

One of the challenges I mentioned in my introduction was latency. With my ReSound hearing aids, and many newer models, this latency is down to less than a quarter of a second. Typing on a touchscreen with VoiceOver has become a more pleasant experience than when I last tried it using a ComPilot in 2015. One of the challenges I faced, though, was having several Bluetooth devices connected to my iOS device at once. If my hearing aids are connected, my braille display will not auto-connect as quickly. Some Bluetooth keyboards struggle more than others to keep up with typing when the hearing aids are paired. When setting up a new iPhone and using Bluetooth to transfer settings from an older device, the transfer failed repeatedly until I unpaired my hearing aids.

If you are composing a document on a Bluetooth keyboard or the touchscreen and pause for more than a second, the Bluetooth connection stops to conserve battery. This can be very disruptive to a VoiceOver user's productivity, especially with hearing aids that do not preserve the second or so of audio between when the connection resumes and audio is once again being transmitted to your hearing aids. One way to prevent the connection from dropping is to start audio and leave it playing quietly in the background. Another option is to record silence and play it as long as you need the constant connection.

When I first paired my hearing aids, music sounded horrible through them because the MFi support respects the currently active hearing aid program when the connection is established. My audiologist worked with me to customize a hearing aid program specifically for music, which I switch to before listening to an audiobook or music to ensure the best sound.

The Bottom Line

Hearing aid technology has evolved in the last two decades. The ability to have control over one’s sound environment on demand is a very liberating thing. In many instances, the more simple adjustments that a user may want to make no longer require a trip to an audiologist and can be done on the fly. It would be helpful if Apple offered the option to have VoiceOver stream independently of other media.

The biggest concern for a blind hearing aid user is the inaccessibility of applications provided by hearing aid manufacturers that offer access to even more features for sighted users. I have tested applications from Oticon, Widex, and Phonak in demo mode and found several accessibility issues that others have confirmed exist when using hearing aids from these companies. One feature that is consistently inaccessible irrespective of manufacturer is the equalizer. It is my hope that hearing aid manufacturers will begin taking this feedback from blind users more seriously. I further hope these manufacturers will begin to utilize tools in the way Apple suggests, so that blind users can have equal access to all of the great options our sighted counterparts do. We are also paying customers and deserve nothing less than everyone else. Alternatively, hearing aid manufacturers can offer a discount to those who are prevented from taking full advantage of their products. As the prices for these hearing aids can be over $3,500 per ear, a discount wouldn’t be unappreciated.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Deborah Kendrick

I had owned my first iPhone for about a week in 2011 when someone showed me a bit of magic that convinced me that this was a tool I was going to love. That experience was downloading two iPhone apps designed with blind people in mind. One was a light detector. The other (and this truly seemed like a miracle in 2011) could tell whether a piece of paper currency was a $1 or a $20. Blind iPhone users were posting like mad to Facebook and email lists, practically delirious with the newfound freedom of being able to quickly identify the money in your wallet without special folding or mnemonic gymnastics. One friend talked about a staff meeting where people were practically throwing money around on the conference table, giddy with the stunning success of this iPhone app to announce denominations, regardless the condition of the bills, with speed and accuracy.

A year or so later, there was even more buzz from the blind iPhone population when an app called TapTapSee was released. This one could tell you if a shirt was red or blue—or that it was a shirt for that matter. It could tell you that there is a vase of pink and white flowers, there a black and white cat on the sofa, or identify any other random object whose image you captured with your iPhone’s camera. Since that time, like everything else in the world of technology, those apps designed to provide visual assistance for blind people have evolved with the proverbial speed of wildfire, and many are accentuating independence and efficiency for blind and low vision people in ways we only fantasized about a decade ago.

Today, there are so many apps in the visual assistance category that knowing about them all or identifying which ones are the most appropriate match for your needs is next to impossible.

Once again, Judy Dixon and National Braille Press have solved that problem for the rest of us with a book that explores and evaluates many of the current visual assistance apps, guiding us through the process of choosing and using the apps that will best suit our individual needs.

What Visual Assistance Apps Can Do

If you are new to the realm of visual assistance delivered by your iPhone, here are some of the kinds of information you can get. You can find out what an object is (is that a tree or a car sitting in front of your house? A blue tie or a brown one in your closet?) Or, if you just want to know the color of something, there are a multitude of apps for that as well. You can identify money, packages, business cards, and bar codes. You can get a description of the scene around you (waiting room with upholstered chairs) and even a bit about a person sitting across the aisle from you on the train (boy with dark skin, about 10 years old, smiling).

If you need a bit more information, you can talk to a live human being. With just your iPhone’s camera, you can get help finding that blueberry you dropped on the rug, assembling a color coordinated outfit, reading the instructions to start using your cool new headset right away, or locating your own luggage on the airport carousel.

These are just a few of the skills and just a few of the apps available to make life easier for blind and low vision iPhone users. To explore them all would be a daunting, if not impossible, task, yet that is exactly what Judy Dixon has done and done so well for us in this new book.

All In the Details

In her typically thorough-yet-concise style, Dixon has assembled an excellent sampling of the visual assistance apps currently available. For each app, she tells you the name, the developer, the price, the amount of space it requires and, best of all, a basic step-by-step tutorial for using it. She uses consistent testing methods to keep her evaluations as fair as possible. For example, she uses the same three objects to test several apps on color identification accuracy, for example, and the same physical items for comparing apps that identify objects. Every blind iPhone user knows the time involved in learning each new function with VoiceOver. Here, the author saves the rest of us countless hours by doing the exploring for us and identifying exactly what can be found on a given screen. She tells you that a given button is in the lower left or upper right corner, for example, so that you already have an idea of an app’s layout before you even give it a try.

She provides clear explanations of the two popular apps that offer interaction with live agents (Be My Eyes and Aira), and gives some guidance from personal experience on using them effectively.

What Is Not Included

New apps providing visual assistance may well be emerging minutes after you buy this book. One category of apps, those for scanning documents, for example, are deliberately not included. Many of the apps that are included, however, have the capability of capturing and interpreting short bits of text such as package labels, business cards, addresses on envelopes, and handwritten notes, but not larger documents. The author explains that a more detailed exploration of scanning apps was beyond the intended scope of this book.

Who Should Read This Book?

If you are just curious about apps that provide visual assistance to blind iPhone users, you will find this book incredibly informative. If you are a new iPhone user, just beginning your exploration of the power of apps, this book will be your indispensable guide. Even if you are an experienced iPhone user, you may find some surprises in Dixon's book.

Did you know, for example, that there is one money identifier that can identify up to 42 kinds of currency? And did you know that there is a money identifier the names currency with vibrations as well as spoken words, enabling those with hearing difficulties to “read” their money? Have you wondered which of the many apps that proclaim to recognize color are actually reliable?

I’m not going to tell you the answers to those questions here, but you will find them and many more amazing facts in this book. You will find a brief but compelling discussion of how visual assistance apps merge with every philosophy of blindness, and why Judy Dixon has a pet hippopotamus.

Sure, that last bit was a wee bit of humor. Read this fabulous little book and you will get the joke! Even better, you will get a clear and informative guided tour through the many available apps that offer visual assistance.

Getting Visual Assistance from Your iPhone, by Judy Dixon, is being released for sale on Jun 15. Get it in hardcopy braille, one volume, or as a download in BRF, DAISY text, or a Word document. For information or to purchase contact National Braille Press, 88 St. Stephen Street, Boston, MA 02115; Visit their website; or call 800-548-7323.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Garrett Swan Receives 11th Annual Envision-Atwell Award for Low Vision Research

At a May 1 gathering of the Low Vision Research Group held during the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), Garrett Swan, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston, received the 11th annual Envision-Atwell Award for outstanding efforts in low vision research. Swan studied the different ways in which individuals with complete hemianopic field loss scan on their blind and seeing sides to detect potential hazards. His findings could help improve training in compensatory strategies for vision loss and suggest improvements to assistive technologies. Named in honor of long-time low vision research supporter Constance Atwell and consisting of a $1,000 stipend and a trophy, the Envision-Atwell Award recognizes an ARVO presenter who is currently a student, post-doctoral researcher, or junior faculty member and earned his or her most recent professional degree within the past five years. Swan’s abstract, “Predicting early hazard detection from head scanning magnitude in individuals with hemianopia,” described a study in which, by tracking both eye and head movements as subjects with complete hemianopic field loss (HFL) drove along virtual routes using a high-fidelity driving simulator, he determined the different ways in which such individuals scan on their blind and seeing sides to detect potential hazards. His findings could help improve training in compensatory strategies for vision loss and suggest improvements to assistive technologies. To learn more about Envision and the award, visit the Envision website.

NV Access, Creators of the NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) Screen Reader, Requests User Feedback

NV Access has created a brief satisfaction survey for users. The company seeks feedback on what they are doing well and areas where they could improve. The survey is three questions long. To learn more about the NVDA screen reader, visit the NV Access website.

Developers of Image Recognition App TapTapSee produce Advanced Image Recognition API for Developers

The developers of the popular TapTapSee image recognition app have created a more advanced image recognition application programming interface (API) available to third party developers. Based on the numerous images recognized by the TapTapSee app, the company has been able to significantly increase the accuracy of the image recognition. For example, when recognizing a book, the system can recognize the author and title. When recognizing a watch, the system was also able to determine brand and style.

This system could be invaluable to people with visual impairments but also can be helpful to the mainstream technology industry in applications like automatically detecting inappropriate content. The company also notes that the system can recognize videos that may pave the way for automatically generated audio description in the future. To learn more, visit the CloudSight AI site.