Vision loss is common and is highly likely to impact you or someone close to you in your lifetime. The World Health Organization estimates that 2.2 billion people worldwide have a near- or distant-vision impairment. Around 12 million Americans aged 40 years and up have some vision loss today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 4.2 million of those have uncorrectable vision impairment (1.02 million are blind), a number that the CDC expects to double by 2050, due to the rise in diabetes and other chronic diseases.
Whether you struggle to read distant signs or find yourself squinting to decipher small print, you probably have a gadget that can help. Too many of us ignore accessibility features, assuming they are only for the blind or severely vision-impaired, but they can also help folks with a wide range of vision loss issues.
I've highlighted several smartphone features I tested with the help of family and friends with varying degrees of vision loss. I also spoke to Apple and Google to learn more about these features in iPhones and Android. Both companies claim they work with blind and vision-impaired communities to gather feedback and new ideas.
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