Seeing with an iPhone

Austin Seraphin got an iPhone. Since he is blind, the first thing he did was activate VoiceOver, which reads text out loud. Then later, he tried the Color ID app, which identifies colors picked up by the camera.
I have never experienced this before in my life. I can see some light and color, but just in blurs, and objects don’t really have a color, just light sources. When I first tried it at three o’clock in the morning, I couldn’t figure out why it just reported black. After realizing that the screen curtain also disables the camera, I turned it off, but it still have very dark colors. Then I remembered that you actually need light to see, and it probably couldn’t see much at night. I thought about light sources, and my interview I did for Get Lamp.  First, I saw one of my beautiful salt lamps in its various shades of orange, another with its pink and rose colors, and the third kind in glowing pink and red.. I felt stunned.

The next day, I went outside. I looked at the sky. I heard colors such as “Horizon,” “Outer Space,” and many shades of blue and gray. I used color queues to find my pumpkin plants, by looking for the green among the brown and stone. I spent ten minutes looking at my pumpkin plants, with their leaves of green and lemon-ginger. I then roamed my yard, and saw a blue flower. I then found the brown shed, and returned to the gray house. My mind felt blown. I watched the sun set, listening to the colors change as the sky darkened. The next night, I had a conversation with Mom about how the sky looked bluer tonight. Since I can see some light and color, I think hearing the color names can help nudge my perception, and enhance my visual experience. Amazing!

Technology is a wonderful thing. Link -via Metafilter

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Lots of people who can't see can play the piano and type because they learn where those keys are. In fact, I've heard that there are sighted people who can type without looking at the keyboard! I envy those folks...
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How would you go about using an iphone if you're blind? No offense, but it just seems like you would need to be able to see the icons on the screen to touch them.
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My mother is blind and just got her iPhone. It's the first truly accessible phone she's had, and she loves it. If she finds an app she wants that isn't accessible, she emails the app store and they figure out how to make it accessible. I'm not a big Apple fan, but kudos for them for getting this right. Finally. Now if they'd only bring their prices down so the other half could afford it...
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