I live 400 miles from my father – who, due to advanced Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is struggling with his eye-sight – but his mind is as sharp as ever. Having recently lost my mother to Alzheimer’s, who he cared for at home for over a decade, he is now living alone. I feel guilty that I don’t spend enough time with him – and that’s before Covid stopped me travelling to see him. I’m not naturally chatty and there’s only so long you can discuss the weather.
Dad struggles to read text – even at maximum size – on his smartphone and laptop. He recently upgraded to a 60 inch TV – to let him see the on-screen text menus and program names better.
During the 2020 lockdown I’d started playing Scrabble on my iPhone and found it fairly addictive – but also felt it was probably doing my brain more good than endless scrolling through news and social media sites. I also found it quite rewarding as my average scores grew over the course of a few hundred games.
On a recent visit, I saw that Dad could still read – at least when a manageable amount of text was present on his huge screen. I wondered if using that huge display area might open up some possibilities. I knew his latest laptop also had a touchscreen… so maybe he could see massive letters on the TV screen and be able to touch the same relative position on the laptop screen even if he couldn’t read the text there?
I had a look online for Scrabble for the visually impaired but drew a blank. (Please let me know of anything I missed. I am now aware of Wordvoyance but that’s aimed at the totally blind). A basic online scrabble designed specifically for one player being visually impaired felt like a manageable background task. By keeping the scoring and checking of moves manual for starters at least, I was able to, fairly rapidly, develop a playable version. The UI needed a few tweaks to help Dad see what was going on and be able to submit his moves but, to my delight, he is able to play it!
Dad says:
Since my wife of 60 years passed away almost a year ago, I have not only been bereft of her company but struggled to fill the day. I can no longer read normal sized print and I can no longer do many other simple things that I used to.
Being able to play Scrabble online with you has made a big difference to my life.
A new challenge every day: I become absorbed in each game for its own sake. Every game is unique and new words are learned.
Keeps my mind active: The daily challenge has kept my mind active and more alert. I haven’t kept a record of my scores but I’m fairly sure we have gradually improved since we started playing online.
Becoming Closer (to my opponent): You and I have become closer since we started playing regularly.
Regular comuinication: Our games typically are spread over a couple of days during which time we text one another or talk about each move. A pandemic has made face to face meetings much less frequent but we talk together more frequently than before.
Desmond Blair, 13 Jan 2021
The benefits he’s getting from this are clearly significant:
- mentally challenging
- talking with me daily
- filling as much or as little time each day as he cares to
- learning a new skill – improving his average score
- improving his vocabulary
- the satisfaction of beating me (sometimes!)
As are the benefits I get:
- knowing he’s OK every day
- knowing his mental capacity is as strong as ever
- knowing his eyesight can’t have deteriorated much further
So… I’m wondering if I can make this approach available to others, across more games and get more value from it.
