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LED Flash for Alerts

Did you know that on most devices there is a feature hidden within the accessibility settings that can either flash the camera torch or briefly flash the screen whenever you receive a notification? The notification could be anything: a text from a friend, an incoming phone call, an email, a social media message or even a game update. The type of notification doesn’t matter. You didn’t? Well, you’re in the right place to find out more. Let’s take a closer look. What Are LED Flash Alerts? LED flash alerts are an accessibility feature designed to provide a visual notification when your device receives an alert. Instead of relying solely on sound or vibration, your device uses either the camera flash, the screen, or both to get your attention. For many people, this feature is simply a useful alternative notification method. However, for Deaf, hard of hearing and Deafblind users, it can be an incredibly valuable accessibility tool. Why Is This Feature Beneficial? Being Deafblind, it can som...
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Orientation and Safety at Home

Your home is meant to be your sanctuary. This is especially important for those of us who have any kind of disability, not just a hearing or visual one. However, this only works if your home meets your personal needs. So how can we ensure a home meets the needs of a DeafBlind individual? Let's imagine for a second, dear reader, that you are in our shoes. Put on a blindfold (more extreme, I know) and some ear defenders or earplugs, then try to navigate your home. Do you realise how much you rely on cues from those senses? Was an object in your way? That's what it can feel like for many of us. Unpredictable. Especially if there are other people in the home. Toys, furniture, shoes and bags all seem to magically grow legs and position themselves perfectly for us to trip over. For many of us, these seemingly simple things can make navigating our own homes feel startlingly similar to navigating busy public streets. The good news is that simple tricks and habits can dramatically incre...
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Making Board Games Accessible for Visually Impaired Players

I recently came across an interesting statistic in an article. Apparently, by the end of 2026, the board game market is projected to reach $17.45 billion. Yet despite this growth, many accessible games for visually impaired players still stick to the more traditional options: Chess, Monopoly and card games. Often, these adapted versions are also significantly more expensive than the standard editions. So how do we play typical editions of board games? Well, the good news is that there are several tools and techniques that visually impaired players can use to make many mainstream board games more accessible, often without needing to buy specially adapted versions. Let’s go through some of them. Magnification Tools Often the simplest method is additional magnification for players with some usable vision. Portable electronic magnifiers, phone cameras or dedicated accessibility apps on mobile devices can help players zoom in on playing cards, boards and game instructions. Even something as...
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Be My Eyes: A How Too

Have you ever been trying to do something only to need some extra help of the visual kind? It could be reading a label, trying to use an unadapted appliance or even to access the treat behind that pesky advent calendar door. Good news. There's a multitude of tools that can help. One of the most known and widely used is Be My Eyes . This guide will explain what it is, how it works and how to use it. What is Be My Eyes? Be My Eyes is a free accessibility app available on iOS, Android and Windows devices designed to connect people with visual impairments to sighted volunteers via live video calls. There is an additional AI powered feature allowing users to take or share a photo and receive a detailed generated description. You can even ask specific follow up questions to the AI about the photo. How it Works Be My Eyes offers two main ways to get help depending on the situation. Calling a V olunteer Open the Be My Eyes app Select the option to call a volunteer Wait to...
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Assistive Tech or Spy Device? Let's Talk About Rodger

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If you've ever seen me place a small device in the middle of the table, or set up a lanyard microphone, you may have wondered what on earth I’m doing. No, I’m not recording you. No, I’m not spying. And no — it’s not some secret gadget. These devices are part of the Phonak Roger System lineup, designed to support people with hearing loss. More importantly — they help me hear. What is Roger? Roger is a remote microphone system which streams sound directly to my cochlear implants. I wear the Advanced Bionics Marvel processors, and Roger can connect directly to them without any additional connectors. Instead of sound travelling like this: Speaker → Room air → Background noise → My implants → My brain It travels like this: Speaker → Microphone → My implants → My brain That difference might look small on paper — but in real life, it’s huge. It removes distance. It reduces background noise. And it makes speech much clearer and easier to follow. Why That Matters Even ...
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The Tricks for Cooking With a Visual Impairment

Cooking with a visual impairment isn’t about mastering every available low-vision gadget or doing things “the correct way”. For me, it’s about finding strategies that build confidence through familiar methods. Knowing where tools are stored, how they feel in my hands, and trusting touch rather than relying solely on visual or audible cues. For important context, I still live at home with my family and share cooking responsibilities. In an average week, I typically prepare one or two evening meals, most lunches, and some baked goods. The adaptations I use with confidence aren’t about tackling everything alone. They’re about being able to prepare food safely and calmly, reducing stress and the risk of injury. Most importantly, they make cooking feel not only enjoyable, but doable. Over time, I’ve learned several dependable habits that make a meaningful difference — rather than forking out money for expensive, specialist low-vision aids that don’t always meet my needs. Below are the one...
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Why I Use High Contrast Mode on Windows

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An overview showing the standard High Contrast settings menu High Contrast Mode on Windows 10/11 wasn’t a feature I discovered for fun, but out of necessity. I first used it years ago to make the platform I sat my A-level exams on accessible, as there was no way to invert the brightness. At the time, it was a temporary solution — something I enabled when I needed it. More recently, though, I had to make a permanent switch. A screenshot of the Deafblind Techie Blog viewed using Windows High Contrast Mode The Day My Setup Broke One morning, I logged onto my PC and almost immediately had to pause. The text wasn’t white — it was grey. Flatter. Darker. Harder to identify, and simply exhausting to look at for more than 30 minutes at a time. Up until that point, I’d had no issues using dark mode with large text. But on that day, I knew. My sight had declined overnight. Why a Screen Reader Wasn’t the Answer I needed an alternative. Something that would allow me to continue working at a comput...
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