The latest YouTube star is Virginia Campbell, a 99-year-old Lake Oswego, Oregon resident who’s in love with her iPad.
Campbell suffers from glaucoma, which makes it difficult for her to read. Now, with the help of the iPad, she’s reading books and writing limericks.
“The thing that’s so neat is there’s nothing between you and the screen,” said Ginny Adelsheim, one of Campbell’s daughters, in an interview with Oregon Live. “You can enlarge the print, and it has a much brighter screen so you can read on it more easily than with a regular computer screen.”
What’s more, Campbell never owned a computer prior to the iPad, so it’s fascinating that she’s already become comfortable with the device.
The iPad also features a tool called VoiceOver, which reads any text out loud that you place your finger on. The feature works for reading e-books as well. The National Federation of the Blind has applauded Apple for including VoiceOver in the iPad.
Campbell’s incident highlights a lesser-seen facet of technology, in which data can be used to compensate for people’s handicaps. Wired.com last year reported on three blind photographers using technology to help them snap photos. The most interesting example was Alex Dejong, who uses assistive software on his Nokia N82 to translate sounds into visuals in his mind, as well as his iPhone to snap and edit photos.
See Also:
- Blind Photographers Use Gadgets to Realize Artistic Vision …
- Eye Spy: Filmmaker Plans to Install Camera in His Eye Socket …
- Apple’s iPad Will Read Books Out Loud, Support Free E-Books …
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