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Accessibility Life Living with Sight Loss

Blind and Low Vision Gift Guide – Fall 2024

Finding gifts is hard, it is even harder when buying for blind and low vision friends and family. The Blind and Low Vision Gift Guide is here to help with some inspiration.

Cards

Most cards have fancy fonts and poor contrast, making them hard for blind and low vision recipients to enjoy, that’s where specialist cards come in.

Hayley is visually impaired with a rare genetic condition that runs through her family. Hayley set up Dotty About Braille to provide custom handmade cards for low vision and blind recipients at a price comparable to sighted recipients. Check out the amazing range of cards at Dotty About Braille – Personalised Braille Greetings Cards, Labels & more

Hayley from Dotty About Braille stood behind a market stall that has braille greetings cards, letters from Father Christmas and a Perkins Brailler displayed.

Blind and Low Vision Gift Guide

Gifts over £500

Apple iPhone

For many, the Apple iPhone is the ultimate accessibility tool, it provides access to the internet and a range of apps that remove daily barriers. The iPhone range provides a suitable phone for most budgets. Apple Intelligence is the latest feature Apple is rolling out and it promises to help remove more barriers for disabled people, including integration with AI models and Visual Intelligence. If this is important, you need to ensure the phone you buy is capable of supporting it.

Apple iPhone SE 2022 – ~£430
The back of 3 iPhone SE in Product Red, White and Black followed by the front of the iPhone SE with the familiar home button at the bottom centre.

The Apple iPhone SE 2022 is the most affordable phone in the iPhone lineup and has been a favourite for many blind and low vision users. The screen is the smallest in the range with a 4.7 inch screen. It still has finger print recognition loved by many. The SE is due to be replaced next year and doesn’t support Apple Intelligence in the current version. While the base model comes with 64gb of storage, I would recommend a minimum of 128gb of storage. The iPhone SE doesn’t include the U1 chip which means it can’t do precise finding with AirTags. The AirTags work, but you can’t get any more precise than the room you are in.

Buy the iPhone SE 2022 128GB on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Apple iPhone 16 / 16 Plus – ~£799 / ~£899
iPhone 16, all five finishes, Black, White, Pink, Teal, Ultramarine

The iPhone 16 is a 6.1 inch screen and the 16 Plus as a 6.7 inch screen. Both phones support Apple Intelligence and come with the new Camera Control button to make it easier to take photos. The difference between the 16 and 16 plus relates to the screen size, and with a bigger screen comes more space for a battery and therefore a longer battery life. Both phones support the full functionality of AirTags.

Buy the iPhone 16 128GB on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Buy the iPhone 16 Plus 128GB on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Apple iPhone 16 Pro / 16 Pro Max – ~£999 / £1199
iPhone 16 Pro, all four finishes, Black Titanium, White Titanium, Natural Titanium and Desert Titanium

The iPhone 16 Pro is a 6.3 Inch screen and the 16 Pro Max has a 6.9 inch screen. The Pro phones have a 5x optical zoom camera and LIDAR. LIDAR can be used to accurately determine distances and objects. Both phones support the full functionality of AirTags.

Buy the iPhone 16 Pro 128GB on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Buy the iPhone 16 Pro Max 256GB on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Gifts between £250 and £500

Meta Ray Ban Smart Glasses – ~£300

Meta Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses on a man's face. The camera is on the right edge of the frame with an indicator light on the right keeping the frames balanced.

Meta Ray Ban Smart Glasses are taking the blind and low vision world by storm, the ability to make hands free video calls, take photos and ask Meta AI what you are looking at make them a useful addition to our toolbox. See my Blind Meta Ray Ban Review post for a more detailled review of them.

Buy the Meta Ray Ban Smart Glasses from Meta

Apple HomePod – £299

Apple HomePod 2nd Generation in Midnight

The Apple HomePod is a high quality smart speaker with fantastic sound. It is integrated with the Apple ecosystem allowing easy control of Homekit devices and access to Apple Music. The HomePod is best as a pair linked to an Apple TV 4k Box, providing Dolby Atmos sound for shows and movies. I have two of these paired with my Apple TV 4K and love the quality of the sound and accessibility of the Apple TV 4K. The Apple TV 4K also works well with the HomePod Mini’s for rooms where you don’t need the full cinema experience.

Buy the Apple HomePod from Apple

Gifts between £100 and £250

Apple AirPod Pro 2 – ~£230

Two Apple Airpod Pro 2 ear buds overing just outside of the airpod case.

The AirPod Pro 2 in ear headphones are ideal with their transparency mode allowing for high quality audio while still hearing surroundings for navigation. Apple recently updated the software to allow them to act as hearing aids, analysing your hearing and tuning the audio output to fit your needs.

Buy Apple Airpod Pro 2 from Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Hable One – ~£175

The Hable One is black with buttons on one side. It is about the sixe of a pack of playing card. There are 6 white buttons in two columns of three. Next to each column is a black busson.

The Hable One is a Bluetooth controller for phones. It has a simple eight key layout that allows users to easily navigate their phone and type in braille. This allows the phone to be left in a bag or pocket, while operating the phone. It also provides a convenient way to enter text that can be difficult with dictation or using the onscreen keyboard. The Hable One can be purchased from the Hable One Website.

Buy the Hable One from Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Apple TV 4K – ~£169

Apple TV 4K box in black next to an aluminum remote control.

The Apple TV 4K is arguably the most accessible TV streaming box. I switched from Amazon Fire TV after trying the Apple TV 4K, the experience is significantly better. Accessing the interface and all apps are accessible, with tight integration to your Apple iPhone allowing you to control the Apple TV from the physical remote, Siri or your phone. Make the most of your Apple TV 4K by connecting it to a pair of HomePod or HomePod Mini smart speakers.

Buy the Apple TV 4k 128GB from Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Stand – ~£140

Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charing Stand. A black base with space for AirPod Pro's to be charged, with a metal bar raising to a T shape with a phone on the left and an Apple watch on the right.

Charging cables can be a real pain, from getting tangled up to loosing them down the side of the bedside table, this is where the Belkin 3-in-1 wireless charging stand comes in. The stand provides magsafe charing for the iPhone 12 and above, along with wireless Apple Watch charging and space for Apple Airpods to be wirelessly charged. This is all from a single power cable and adapter, reducing clutter and making life easier. The phone can be positioned in landscape and with standby mode enabled, turns into a large clock display. I have had the previous version a few years now and wouldn’t be without it.

Buy the Belkin 3-in-1 Magsafe Charger from Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Gifts between £50 and £100

Apple HomePod Mini – ~£99

HomePod Mini's in White, Navy, Orange, Yellow and Midnight.

The HomePod Mini is a great sounding smart speaker with integration to the Apple ecosystem. The speaker allows you to control your home, send messages and make calls via your iPhone. When you combine two of these with the Apple TV 4K, you get a fantastic TV experience.

Buy the Apple HomePod Mini from Apple

Lego Braille Bricks Set – ~£80

Lego Braille Bricks box placed on a whie table at an angle

Lego have released a set of their Braille Bricks that will make the ideal gift for Lego lovers. I reviewed the set in my Lego Braille Bricks Review post. The set provides all you need to start playing and learning braille. The set is great for playing with the family and sharing your braille knowledge.

Buy Lego Braille Bricks from Lego.com

Gifts between £25 and £50

Bluetooth Sunglasses – ~£35

Ruimen smart audio sunglasses. Black sunglasses with polarising lenses. Magnetic charging connection and button under each arm.

I use Bluetooth sunglasses whenever I leave the house. Apart from shielding the sunlight from my eyes, they also allow me to listen to my phone while still being able to hear my surroundings. I now use Meta Ray Ban’s predominantly, but prior to purchasing them I used the Oho Sunshine Smart Glasse,s available for around £35. The Oho Sunchine smart glasses are well made and great for audio books and text to speech, but don’t expect great sounding music from them.

Buy the Oho Sunshine Glasses on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Apple AirTag – ~£29

Apple AirTag - a small roung object with one white plastic side and one metal back with an etched Apple logo.

If your loved one is always losing things, Apple Air Tags are ideal for helping them find things themselves. The tags are slightly bigger than a bottle top and you can get a range of accessories for attaching them to items from keys to boxes.

This small device works on iPhone 7 and above, but to get the magic you need an iPhone 11 or above. The AirTags can be pinpointed precisely with the new iPhone’s Ultra-Wide Band chip, therefore making them ideal for the visually impaired. Please note that the iPhone SE 2022 does not support Ultra-Wide Band and Air Tag Precise locating features.

James Rath demonstrates Apple Air Tags from a Visually Impaired perspective.

Buy an Apple AirTag on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Gifts less than £25

Pot Watcher – ~£20

A ceramic cream coloured coin shaped pot watcher. The coin rattles when in boiling water.

Cooking often involves knowing when a pot is boiling and stopping it boil over, the pot watcher is a ceramic coin that is placed in the pot with the water or food, it will rattle when the liquid begins to boil helping to keep you safe.

Buy the Pot Watcher on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

TableCoaster – ~£15

A picture oft two black table coasters. The first in the foreground on the left contains a mug with a hot drink, the one in the background on the right contains a can.

Knocking drinks over is common for most people, but when you are blind or low vision, it is easier to do and more troublesome to clean up, that is where the TableCoaster comes in. The TableCoaster is a tall sided coaster that you can insert your cup on can into, it has a tacky bases that sticks the coaster to the table top. I have two of these and love them, no more searching for where I put my drink, and reassurance that I will not knock the drink over.

Buy the TableCoaster on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Phone Lanyard – ~£10

Orange lanyard connected to an iPhonee with black clips. Additional black clips for glasses or another device are position further up the lanyard. Clear plastic tag to place in the iPhone case with a tab to stick out through the charging port hole. the tab has a hole in it for the lanyward to connect to.

Using a phone while trying to use a white cane can be challenging, that’s where a lanyard can help. I purchased the Orange Cobee Lanyard from Amazon and use it with my iPhone 14 Pro Max and Hable One. The lanyard is long, so I put a knot in the lanyard to shorten it.

Buy the Orange Phone Cobee Lanyard on Amazon (Affiliate Link)

Abutech Grippit Cane Holder- ~£5

Abutech Grippit Cane Holder. A black plastic box shape with a U channel that has a rubber gripper that folds into the U channel to secure the cane.

White canes can often have a mind of there own, especially when stored at home, from unfolding to falling across the hall. The Abutech Grippit cane holder helps tames a cane, securing it to a wall of cupboard ensuring it is ready for next use.

Buy the Abutech Grippit Cane Holder from RNIB

Loc Dots – ~£4

A loc dot stuck to the letter F of a black keyboard. The Loc Dot is a small clear round sticker dot.

Loc-Dots are the ideal stocking filler at under £5 per pack of 6 in clear or orange. They are small, raised stickers that can be applied to computer keyboards, TV remotes, heating controls or even on keys to help identify the key you need. I personally use them to mark the capslock key on my keyboard, identify the front door key and to identify the power button on my CPAP machine by touch

Buy Loc-Dots from RNIB

Concluding the Blind and Low Vision Gift Guide

That completes my blind and low vision gift guide, I would love to hear your ideas and add them to the list for others.

Tell me what you think in the comments below or on X @timdixon82

By Tim Dixon

Tim Dixon has worked in IT for over 20 years, specifically within the Testing Inspection and Certification industry. Tim has Cone Dystrophy, a progressive sight loss condition that impacts his central vision, colour perception and makes him sensitive to light. He likes to share his experience of life and how he navigates the abyss of uncertainty.

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