Low Vision & Vision Impairment Daily Living Aids

Low vision equipment prioritises high contrast, large text, and audio feedback over standard product design. Most people with age-related vision loss (macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts) retain some functional vision, so high-contrast and magnified tools are often more useful than fully adapted "blind" equipment.

Communication and time

Large-button phones with high-contrast keypads (dark buttons on a light background, or vice versa) rather than standard-size touchscreens.
Big-display, high-contrast clocks - critical for medication timing and daily routine, since small analogue clock faces are one of the first things to become unreadable.

Home safety

Non-slip mats in high-contrast colours - a pale mat on a pale floor is functionally invisible to someone with reduced contrast sensitivity, even if visual acuity is otherwise reasonable.
Grab rails - especially useful since depth perception changes often make judging step height and distances harder, increasing fall risk on stairs and in bathrooms.
Task lighting - bright, direct lighting on stairs, in the kitchen, and in the bathroom makes a bigger functional difference for low vision than most other single change.

Kitchen and daily tasks

High-contrast cutting boards and tableware - a white plate is very hard to see food on for someone with reduced contrast sensitivity; a dark plate with light-coloured food (or vice versa) is far easier.
Jar and bottle openers - reduces reliance on reading small labels correctly to know how something opens.
Talking or tactile medication organisers - reduces dosing errors, a genuine safety risk when medication labels become unreadable.

Get a proper low vision assessment first

An orthoptist or low vision specialist can identify exactly which visual function is reduced (acuity, contrast, peripheral field, depth perception), which changes which equipment actually helps. Guessing based on a general "poor eyesight" assumption often leads to buying the wrong tools.

Funding

Low vision aids can be funded through the NDIS for eligible participants, or through vision-specific support organisations. Home Care Package funds may also cover some home safety equipment. See our funding guide for the general process.

This information is general. An orthoptist, ophthalmologist, or low vision specialist should guide equipment choices for a specific vision condition.

Daily Living Aids for Low Vision and Vision Impairment