VisionOS - Enhancing Accessibility for Individuals with Visual Impairments

Hello,

I am reaching out because I believe your product, the Vision Pro, could significantly improve the quality of life for individuals with visual impairments, and I thought my personal experience might be of interest to you.

We could discuss this in more detail, but to respect your time, I’ll get straight to the point:

I have retinitis pigmentosa, a rare retinal disease for which there is currently no treatment. This condition causes a progressive narrowing of the visual field (potentially leading to blindness) and a deficit in photoreceptors (let’s just say I’m not exactly a night owl). In my case, it has become impossible to go out alone in the dark or even see in dim light. (Goodbye evening parties—I can’t even find the entrance to a nightclub, let alone navigate the dance floor!). However, I’ve discovered that sometimes, simply looking through my phone screen and using its brightness helps me see much better.

Over the years, I’ve imagined how amazing it would be if a pair of glasses could simply display the image my eyes are supposed to perceive, but with enhanced brightness. It would allow me to live my life as freely as others, whether that’s venturing out at night or finding that elusive pen lost in the depths of my apartment. I initially looked into the Google Glass project, for example, but it pales in comparison to what Apple is now creating, don’t you think?

What amuses me most is that what some see as a tool that isolates users from reality could actually become an inclusion device for people like me, who would use it to go out and engage with the world. (I can’t count how many times I’ve gone home early in winter because of the anxiety caused by the early darkness, or turned down after-work gatherings with my DevOps colleagues.)

The Vision Pro could simply restore reality for us by enhancing what has been progressively lost.

And that’s just for nighttime! I can only imagine how helpful it could be during the day—for instance, by detecting obstacles or highlighting dangerous zones in a person’s limited field of vision. One could even use OCR technology to map the results of a visual field test and provide tailored assistance. What incredible potential…

I dream of a day when ideas like these become a reality, and I wanted to share them with you. This wouldn’t just help me—it could help many others as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message. I would be delighted to contribute in any way, should these development directions resonate with you now or in the future.

Wishing you an excellent evening, Hugo Bled

Hello there,

I just stumbled upon your post while looking how I can improve my visionOS app's accessibility. Unfortunately it's just a small card matching game, so it won't help you much, but it's fully accessible and I just tried it again with VoiceOver on the Vision Pro and saw, that it's not possible to jump to the Immersive Content once it's in Full Space. Not sure if it's a bug from Apple or on my side, but I have to fix it. In case you are interested to give it a try, it's called Ploppy Pairs and is available on all Apple platforms except the Apple Watch. (Link: https://apps.apple.com/developer/michael-temper/id1676934134)

Anyway, sorry for drifting away haha, it's always very interesting to read about the experiences of visually impaired people to get a feeling of how we as developers can help to make our apps better for everyone, so thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Do you actually have a Vision Pro? Because for your impairment I was wondering if you heard about the app Magic Room? (Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magic-room-lidar-environment/id6477834941) I never tried it myself as it costs around 18$, but I think it uses environment tracking to put overlays onto your real surroundings. Maybe this can help you seeing your surroundings better in the dark! The developer is also quite active on X (Link: https://x.com/wenbq_me), so I guess he also responds to feature requests if you have any!

Best Regards, Michael

VisionOS - Enhancing Accessibility for Individuals with Visual Impairments
 
 
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