The second session of training on smartphone apps operation for the visually impaired was held by Center for the Visually Impaired

Living in today’s world of high level of technical development, we must give credit to smart phones for making our lives greatly convenient. Various apps not only help us solve practical problems in food and clothing, but also has infinitely expanded the scope of information and knowledge available. Especially for our readers who are visually challenged, smart phones, with their unparalleled advantages, have become a necessity for them to travel, shop, and learn about new information. Therefore, responding to the needs of the visually challenged, the Center for the Visually Impaired of Zhejiang Library held the second session of smartphone app operation training which lasted for four days in late November. The training started from exemplar demonstrations in using apps to teach the general operations of the similar apps, with its content covering various aspects including socializing, reading, shopping and travelling. It was participated by in total seventeen visually impaired readers.

This session of training has learnt from the experience in the first session, and, taking the practical needs of the visually impaired readers, has put an emphasis on the operation of various apps.

The lessons were taught by Zhao Cheng, one of our visually impaired readers, who introduced Wechat, Wechat Read, Ximalaya FM, NetEase Cloud Music, Alipay, Taobao, Meituan Waimai, Didi DaChe, Hangzhou Gongjiao, Map, and China Train 12306. During his teaching of the operation methods of the apps, he also integrated the short-cut operation of the smart phones and even the page layout of similar apps, so as to enable the visually impaired readers to learn the operation of not only one app, but also similar apps.

At the beginning of the training, the learners were quick to set a Wechat group to facilitate their communication. After each lesson, Zhao Cheng would send the key points of the class that had been edited to audio files or texts to the Wechat group for the learners to review what they had learnt. The mode of offline learning in conjunction with online communication helped the learners deepen their understanding and improve their memory of the learnt knowledge.

At the end of the training, Xiang Shimei, a learner in the training program, expressed her gratitude to the staff of Zhejiang Library movingly. She said her eyes were almost totally blind and this training was very timely to her, and that she had never thought the smartphones could have so many functions. She had lost her faith in life before the training, but now she was filled with hope toward life again!

The Center for the Visually Impaired will continue to organize similar skills training programs in the future to help the visually impaired to learn new technologies and new skills, fill the gap between them and the digital time, and improve their abilities in information acquisition.