Stoked about Sports!

Folks who are blind have long listened to sports on the radio for a better description than those offered on television. However, if one travels, it can be difficult to find a radio broadcast for your home team.

Fret no more: IOS devices and apps solve this problem!  Thankfully many of the apps are quite accessible; allowing you to look at schedules, search for and listen to your teams of interest, and, best of all, know the score and how much time is left in the game.  While watching TV games I don’t know the score or the time unless the announcer just happens to mention them.

Here are a few of the apps I find very accessible/usable for sports–(sorry I only follow football):

• Sports Scores and Alerts by Luno Software, Inc.: especially good for schedules and scores.
• Pro Radio by Giles Chanot: search by team go to radio stations and listen to the game
• College Football Radio Live by JJACR Apps: allows you to search for your team and listen to the radio broadcast of the game.

Similar apps exist for other sports, but sadly some of the more robust sports mobile apps that cut across types of sports are not accessible enough to be either useful or fun.

Pat Pound is a disability consultant from Austin, Texas who has used technology for many years, starting a training unit for people who are blind in the ’80?s.  She worked for the State of Texas for many years and shaped disability policy including information accessibility.  She is now “retired” but that just means she only does work she likes!  She is a weaver, game enthusiast, and has trained teachers of visually impaired kids regarding use of IOS devices.  “My own blindness has lead me down many interesting paths and it’s such fun now to see how technology can improve our lives!”