Assistive Technologies for Visually Impaired Individuals in Turkey

ABSTRACT

A phone survey was conducted with 80 visually impaired people in Turkey to understand what types of assistive products are used and to what extent. The perceived utility of selected products and reasons for nonuse were investigated. Descriptions of products that would be useful for the participants but may not be available on the market were also obtained. The three most used assistive products were found to be computer screen readers (46%), talking watches (26%), and screen readers for cellular phones (21%). Cellular phones with screen reading capability are the most desired assistive products among the visually impaired community, but their high cost is a major barrier. Most of the relevant technologies are available but some product development, such as adaptation to the Turkish language, is necessary. The three products most frequently requested are bus station/destination announcement systems, devices that warn the person about barriers, and devices that read printed documents and signs.

KEYWORDS:

• assistive technologies
• blind
• Braille
• visual impairment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Research assistant Sinem Peker (Yasar University) assisted with the statistical analysis and is gratefully acknowledged. Many thanks to the Alti Nokta Society for the Blind and to the Society for the Contemporary Visually Impaired for their cooperation in this study.