Listen to the text of this lesson via human narration; click or tap the audio track below:
Find the recommended writing products used in this lesson:
- Bold-Line Paper, in Multiple High-Contrast Colors and Line Widths: If you have low vision, you can select a color, line thickness, and line width that works best for you. Click or tap to find bold-line paper online
- Folder-Style Writing Guide: Similar to a signature guide, a full-sized writing guide enables you to create a list or letter while staying in the lines. Click or tap to find a writing guide online.
Photo of a man’s hands signing the bottom of an official, legal-like document.
Video: Writing Tools & Techniques, Part I
Click or tap below to play the video and listen to the lesson.
Transcript
In this lesson, we are going to learn some helpful tips for writing. On your screen, there’s currently five different writing pads, and each pad is a different color.
The one on the right on top of your screen is yellow. Below, that is green. And below that is pink. Then we have pale blue, and the last pad is white. These are the five different high contrast writing pads, and each has a nice, bold black line to help you stay on the line when you are writing a note.
If you have low vision, it really depends on what color contrast works best for you.
So, for example, if you are writing a grocery list, you can practice writing on each pad to see what color works best for you.
On each pad, I am writing the word “milk” to give you an example of which one stands out best for you to use. If you need additional help, please reach out to us, and we’ll be happy to help you and assist you with testing out each pad.
In addition to writing pads, there are also writing guides. So, on your screen, I have about three different writing guides. The first guide is rather small and mainly used for a grocery list, or if you’re going to take a phone message. Just something small when you need to make a quick note.
This is the writing guide, and it’s fairly easy to manage. You can open it like a folder and insert your sheet of paper. The nice thing about these writing guides is that you can use scrap paper, so you don’t have to worry about having paper specifically for these guides.
So, let’s go ahead and write a small grocery list. I am going to write “milk,” “napkins,” “strawberry,” “onion.” Currently, I have milk, napkins, strawberries, and onion on my list. When I remove the top part of my writing guide, everything is nicely written and lined up in a form that someone could read it, or potentially, I can read it myself with a magnifier.
Now, we’re going to look at a bigger writing guide. It’s similar to the grocery list writing guide and opens right up so you can slide a sheet of paper in there. And, you could also use this for a grocery list, but you can also use it if you’re going to write a letter or you have something that requires you to have a longer written note.
So, I’m going to write a couple of things like “Braille Institute.” And this writing guide gives you more room to write longer words. So, all I wrote was “Braille Institute” and “Understanding Vision Loss.”
When you remove the top part of your writing guide, you can pull your paper out, and everything is written in a nicely straight form, and your words are not going to go on top of each other or slant.