American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Special Issue on Technology GETTING STARTED
Early Exposure
by Anne Westbrook
From the Editor: Whether a child is sighted or blind, many parents feel uncomfortable with the early introduction of electronic gadgetry. In this article, Anne Westbrook admits her initial reservations and explains how some simple electronic devices have enriched life for her blind daughter, Lizzy.
“Alexa, what’s the weather in Chicago today?” “Siri, send a text message to Patti.” “Hey Google, add bread and apples to my shopping list.” “I scanned the QR code to read the menu on my phone.”
These are phrases heard around our home every day. Within our multigenerational household, three of the four family members are blind or have progressive eye conditions that eventually could lead to blindness. Accessible technology is woven into our daily rhythms and routines.
Ten years ago, however, it was a very different story. From the moment I learned that my daughter, Lizzy, was blind, I understood that Braille would be her primary modality for reading and writing. But during Lizzy’s infancy, I didn’t think much about accessible technology. In fact, I was drawn to educational and parenting philosophies such as Montessori, Resources for Infant Educarers®, Waldorf, and trust-based, relational, intentional, and conscious parenting. Many of these pedagogies limit or thoroughly discourage the use of computers, tablets, and smartphones during early childhood. As a result, I did not seek out battery-operated toys or gadgets with flashing lights, beeps and buzzers, or apps.
When early intervention teams started to visit our home each week, they often walked in the door with tote bags full of cause-and-effect toys that beeped and booped with a cacophony of sounds. They introduced Lizzy to a tablet with accessible apps that were simple enough for her to engage with through basic gestures. They also brought more adult-led options that played real animal sound effects or musical instruments. I was resistant at first, but the early-intervention team taught me about the importance of building Lizzy’s skills with accessible technology. I began to find ways to integrate small doses of technology into our daily lives.
During the 2017 NFB National Convention, Lizzy and I participated in a raffle sponsored by the NOPBC (National Organization of Parents of Blind Children), and Lizzy won an Amazon Echo Dot. At the time, the Echo had only been available for about a year. Lizzy was only three years old, and I didn’t know how much she would use her prize. I asked some of the other parents of blind children and the blind parents I met how they used the Echo at home. I was surprised by the many ways it could be used to access information, including NFB-NEWSLINE®. It could play music and assist with daily tasks. We took the Echo home and set it up.
At first, we only used the Echo Dot to play music and set timers. Quickly, though, Lizzy learned to request her own music or sound effects options. It was nice to have a device that afforded her greater independence as she played.
Within a year, we added a second Amazon Echo device to our household. Somehow Lizzy learned to drop in from one device to another, creating an echo of whatever she said. As an only child, she found this endlessly entertaining. She could pretend she was talking to other kids while she played by herself.
Over the next several years, we expanded our skills using the Echo devices, which piqued Lizzy’s interest in more advanced technology. When Lizzy was eight years old, she picked up her grandmother’s phone and said, “Siri, call Uncle David.” The phone began to ring, and when her uncle answered, Lizzy was delighted with her success. She happily chatted with her uncle on the first phone call she had ever made on her own.
Now, at the age of ten, Lizzy seeks out accessible technology to meet her needs. Using the Amazon Echo linked to AnyList, Lizzy is our family’s primary keeper of the grocery list, and she is delighted to manage her birthday wish list, too. She accesses audiobooks on an iPod or Victor Reader Stream. Her grandparents use magnification apps on their phones to read text that is in a small font. We navigate our TVs with voice features and enjoy audio description on family movie night. Our pharmacy adds RFID stickers to our prescription bottles so the instructions can be read aloud using a ScripTalk device.
In our community and on family vacations, we also have found accessible technology to be a helpful tool for engaging with resources. It has fostered a sense of independence, freedom, and self-advocacy that has bolstered Lizzy’s confidence. At local restaurants that have touchscreen kiosks, Lizzy is learning to ask for a headset so she can use the audio description to navigate through the menu. She used audio description headphones at Disneyland to hear a description of the storybook rides as we moved along the tracks. We also discovered that the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum has a sensory bag, audio description for exhibits, and interactive sports activities, including a virtual goalball game visitors can play.
As technology evolves, it is exciting to see the many ways we are able to integrate accessible technology into our daily lives. More and more businesses are integrating options into their shops, devices, and websites, opening doors of opportunity that were never available before. Over the years, I have come to appreciate the value technology adds to our lives and the ways it empowers Lizzy to engage with the world.