HAZLETON -- This week in Luzerne County, blind children and those with visual impairments are learning there are plenty of smartphone and mobile apps to help them.
Just pointing an iPad or iPhone and tapping on the screen can tell someone who's blind or visually impaired what's in front of them.
That's just one app children in the Insight Kids Club of NEPA are learning.
Instructors from Community Services for Sight held clinics in Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton to teach technology.
"Half the stuff I didn't know are out there, so it's pretty cool to find new apps that help me see things that are easier or better," said Kayla McDonough of Carbondale.
McDonough likes apps that can help her with small print like one that reads the screen for her.
"Small print is very difficult so if it can enlarge it and I can read it. I don't have to rely on someone else to read it for me. It is tremendous!"
"I think they're really helpful," said Raina Long of Wilkes-Barre. "Everybody has different types of vision and can do different things, but with these apps we can all do pretty much the same thing."
These children know times certainly have changed.
"Back in the '90s, they didn't have things like this," added Long. "Blind kids had to use braille, and they still do, but it's just really helpful."
"Just these simple things that are right in front of us all the time, just having someone walk you through and teach you it does make a huge difference," said Lori Lesante of Community Services for Sight.
if you or someone you know is interested in apps available to help the blind, you can find more information here.
