Types of Disabilities: Low Vision Flashcards
Low Vision
A broad category encompassing many different conditions, with varying degrees of vision impairment. They can’t see well enough to read small fonts or to clearly discern details without enlarging them.
Types of Low Vision
Some types:
- Blur
- Blur with Low Contrast
- Cataracts
- Diabetic Retinopathy
- Glaucoma
- Hemianopia
- Macular Degeneration
- Retinal Detachment
Blur
Faces and objects appear blurry; it is difficult to distinguish specific features. In websites, foreground elements may be difficult to see from background elements. May be able to see large text like headings, but smaller text may be hard to read.
Blur with Low Contrast
Blur + everything tends to appear about the same brightness, which makes it hard to distinguish outlines, borders, edges, and details. The text colors and background color may be difficult to see.
Cataracts
Blind spots in the eyes; a person who has cataracts may see innumerable dark gray spots that can cloud their vision and make objects on a website extremely difficult to see.
Diabetic Retinopathy
Another eye condition that causes people to see floating dark spots.
Glaucoma
Can see only a small area, and have no peripheral vision. The edges are heavily darkened or vignetted. It is like looking through a narrow tube.
Hemianopia (or Hemianopsia)
Another eye condition that limits vision to a smaller area. Vision loss occurs on either the right or left side of both eyes.
Macular degeneration
An eye disease where there is a loss of vision in the center of the eye, the field of vision. While people with macular degeneration have peripheral vision, the deterioration of the macula can cause either blurred vision or a blind spot to occur in the central vision.
Retinal Detachment
Vision can be affected in multiple ways. Some may experience flashes of light in their vision field, while some “floaters” in their vision, which can appear as dark debris floating in front of them. Another major symptom of retinal detachment is when a dark shadow covers a significant portion of the field of vision.
Assistive technologies for low vision
Screen magnification
Screen readers
Color customization
Enlarged Text
Enlarged Yellow Text
General Challenge: Small text can be hard to read.
Solutions:
1. Screen magnifiers can enlarge the items on the screen to make them easier to read.
2. Utilities to enhance contrast, change colors, or alter other aspects of visual appearance can improve legibility.
3. Screen readers can supplement screen magnifiers by reading interfaces and content out loud, but only if the digital information has been designed to be accessible.
4. Self-voicing interfaces (on ATMs, kiosks, transportation systems, etc.) and apps can communicate to users without the need for a screen reader, but these are mostly for broadcasting info because they usually do not interact with the interface or content as screen readers do.
5. Alternative large print versions of small print text can make printed materials easier to read.
6. Alternative digital versions (web, mobile apps, etc.) of printed materials can give users the ability to read the materials using their own assistive technologies.
General Challenge: Low contrast text can be hard to read.
Solutions:
1. Software or hardware options can enhance the contrast of digital text.
2. Interface designers and content creators can choose color combinations with high enough contrast to easily read.
ICT Challenge: Text, images, and page layouts that cannot be resized or lose information when resized.
Solution: Ensure that graphical interfaces allow for magnification.
ICT Challenge: Websites, web browsers, and authoring tools that do not enable users to set up custom color combinations.
Solution: Allow for custom color combinations so that users can choose what is most easily visible to them.
