SilVer Sessions: assistive technologies for all
The innovative platform that catalogues and recommends apps and devices for the blind or those with low vision, SilVer, comes accompanied by SilVer Sessions, successful workshops that offer the chance to attend an in-person tutorial
SilVer (Smart Aids for Visually Impaired) is not only a free consultation website that gives blind people or those with low vision a platform in which we recommend the mobile apps and devices on the market that we feel best adapt to their daily needs. SilVer has gone further by offering face-to-face, personalised workshops: SilVer Sessions.
These are held in close collaboration with the Institut de la Màcula and are delivered by DRJ Consulting, in which patients are given the chance to attend tutorials about apps and devices that they would like to start using or to further their knowledge of the different benefits that these provide. A Silver Session is a meeting point that enables the participants to take full advantage and therefore helps them with their daily activities, providing them with greater autonomy.
Daniela Rubio during one Silver Sessions
“For us, it is important for our patients to enjoy the support that they need at a time of their lives when they must face a situation that they did not expect, one that is not easy to adapt to”, says Dr Jordi Monés, MD, PhD, the Director of the Barcelona Macula Foundation.
Meanwhile, Daniela Rubio, the founder of DRJ Consulting and certified as an Apple Distinguished Educator, says that the blind and those with low vision initially find the technology overwhelming. “This is why workshops like these help them to feel more secure. They provide them with a guide for support and make them aware that others in a similar situation and with similar characteristics are also capable of doing it,” she adds.
Daniela Rubio, founder of DRJ Consulting and certified as an Apple Distinguished Educator
Patients with Stargardt’s disease, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or Nystagmus have attended these SilVer Sessions, in which tutorials have been held on apps that help reading and provide assistance, such as Taptapsee, Be My Eyes, Voice Dream Reader, Prizmo Go, Supervision, KNB Reader and Seeing AI.
The sessions are organised according to whom they are addressed, the user’s functionality and the difficulty of use, among other factors. In addition, the groups are very small. Registration for the various SilVer Sessions can be made by calling 93 595 05 38 or by e-mailing info@barcelonamaculafound.org.
The SilVer project was created by Dr Jordi Monés, the founder of the Barcelona Macula Foundation, specialist in Retina, Macula and Vitreous and researcher, in conjunction with DRJ Consulting, which is specialised in digital technology, accessibility and marketing and run by two blind people: Daniela Rubio and José Vicente González.