invisual - tactile case for iPhone
Twitter directed me to a post on Yanko Design which led me to this neat discovery, an accessible tactile case for the iPhone and iPod Touch. From the designer:
invisual – a tactile Silicone case for the Apple iPhone
used with an app store application, designed in mind, for the Blind and the Visually Impaired, that uses special accessibility functions, ex: text-to-speech features and moon type tactile alphabet keyboard. This simple silicon case, covers all the Apple iPhone device, and with the help of the engraved bas-relief icons, keyboard and multi-touch scrolls, it gives fully access to the interface beneath.
My biggest question is if this is vaporware. I posted a while back about the Touch Sight camera. The Touch Sight is a concept product and I have heard nothing about plans to make it commercially available.I have contacted the designer to find out more and will report back when I learn something.
I am also curious about text-to-speech and other accessibility apps for the iPhone. I did a search through the app store on my iPod Touch last night. The only relevant thing that popped up is the Fliq note app, which has adjustable fonts and font sizes. This app has some interesting possibilities. I will test it further and, ir useful, review it here.
Read more aboutiPhone accessibility here.
If you find this post useful or interesting, please consider buying me a cup of coffee.
If you are interested in joining our mailing list, please submit your email below. 
Thanks for tracking this, Tim. What’s the scale of the image here? I could manage something that size, but I’m guessing it’s larger than the actual product.
Mark, I am still trying to get some details for this cse. My guess is that it fits the iPhone, which is maybe five inches by two and a half, snugly.
Cool. Cell phones are still the uncharted frontier for me. I use a Jitterbug (a.k.a. Geezer phone) but I’m very dissatisfied with its voice function. Need to upgrade. What do you use now?
Your WP blog is looking great! Glad you were able to solve last week’s issues.
For a cell phone, I use a Motorola Razr from Verizon. I found a setting so that it reads back numbers as I press them. It also has a voice-dialing option that works clunkily. I have wanted to test drive the Jitterbug for a while. It does not sound from your comment that it is as accessible as they claim. My blog gets a lot of search hits for ‘accessible cell phones’ as I have discussed the lack of good accessible phones before. What don’t you like about he Jitterbug?