Adapting your home for low vision: Four easy ways to make life easier and more convenient

Living with low vision shouldn’t limit your ability to thrive in your daily routine. With just a little bit of elbow grease, you can implement some useful strategies and tools so you can continue to live a full and active lifestyle.

Adapting your home for your low vision can improve safety, independence and ease of your daily activities. By enhancing lighting, reducing hazards and incorporating contrast and visual cues, you can navigate your home more easily and prevent accidents.

Lighting

People with low vision often have personal preferences for lighting for their own comfort levels. Consider cool or warm tones, brighter intensity for working areas, or reduced glare. Think about your personal needs and comfort level for lighting and consider some of these options:

• High-lumen LED light bulbs in lamps and ceiling fixtures
• Adjustable/dimmable lights
• LED desk lamps with an adjustable arm to help focus light exactly where its needed.
• Motion-activated lights — particularly useful in hallways, closets or where switches may be hard to reach
• Smart lighting is also more readily available and affordable now using smart bulbs that can be controlled via voice commands without needing to touch switches.

Reducing hazards

Performing a low vision hazard assessment of your home can help identify and reduce potential dangers.

• Walk through each room and identify trip hazards – secure loose rugs, tuck cords away and keep pathways clear of clutter.
• Check lighting levels in each area particularly hallways, stairs and work spaces. Add brighter bulbs or motion-activated lights to dark areas.
• Test contrast to see if important features are easily visible for example stairs and doorways.
• Assess furniture placement for clear walking paths and use corner guards on sharp edges.
• Ensure safety in wet areas like the bathroom by adding non-slip mats and grab bars near the shower and toilet.

Contrast

Contrast is the difference in brightness or colour between objects or surfaces, which makes them easier to distinguish. High contrast such as a white plate placed on a black tablecloth helps people with low vision better identify objects, navigate spaces and perform tasks by making key features more visually distinct.

Modern design often favours low contrast colour schemes, which can be problematic for people with low vision as it makes it harder to distinguish between surfaces, objects and important features in a space.

• It may be useful to add high-contrast tape to the edges of stairs.
• Use bright coloured kitchen tools to make them easier to see.
• Use a dark cutting board on a light countertop, or vice versa.
• Consider marking up or painting door frames a contrasting colour from the walls to help define entryways and avoid bumping into them.

Labelling and organisation

Organising and labelling around the home can greatly improve day-to-day living for individuals with low vision. Some simple adaptations can help you navigate your space with more confidence and ease.

• High contrast labels – Print or write bold black text on white labels for kitchen ingredients or medication bottles.
• Tactile markers – Raised bump dot stickers can be useful to place on frequently used buttons like the microwave start/stop keypad.
• Consistent layout – Assign a designated tray in one location for frequently used items like keys or phone.
• Clear containers – Pantry staples can be stored in clear containers with large print or tactile labels on top for easy access.
• Technology – Alexa can be helpful to set reminders for taking medications or tracking appointments.

Small but effective adaptations in your home can greatly enhance safety, independence and quality of life for those living with low vision.

Accessibility for low vision may start in the home, but with the right adjustments, the possibilities for living an independent and limitless life should be endless. More useful information like this and other resources can be found here.

SeeWay is Australia’s first comprehensive network of support for people with permanent changes in their vision. It’s a new initiative by Guide Dogs, with information and resources you can trust. SeeWay understands the needs and goals of people with vision changes and provides tailored, practical resources to empower people with low vision to live independently for longer.

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesn’t take into account your personal health requirements or existing medical conditions. That means it’s not personalised health advice and shouldn’t be relied upon as if it is. Before making a health-related decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get professional medical advice.