Bingo for the Blind

For the majority of us, bingo is a very visual experience, so what happens when you can’t see what’s going on? For the blind and visually-impaired, the game can be equally rewarding as long as you can find a place to play it.

Today, we take a look at the methods used by blind and partially-sighted people, what options are available to them, and what challenges they face.

Touchy Feely

In recent years, many popular games have been adapted in order to allow people with disabilities to enjoy them; for example, you can now purchase Braille dice, dominos, Scrabble, and chess sets. Bingo is another game where adaptations are being made to make the game more accessible to all. For example, cards with Braille numbers rather than printed ones can allow players to feel their numbers.

Getting techy

A few years ago, a woman from New York set a precedent after successfully lobbying the New York State Racing and Wagering Board to allow the use of electronic bingo cards. It took two years to get their agreement, but Joanna Richardson can now take her computerised cards to local bingo halls, where the devices make a sound to alert her when she’s won a game. Allegedly, the reason the board was originally reluctant to agree to Joanna’s request was because too many players had complained about the noise the cards produce. Luckily, thanks to her perseverance, and belief that prohibiting their use was an infringement of the Disabilities Act, Joanna’s request eventually led to changes in the Board’s regulations, which now permit New York bingo halls to allow the use of electronic bingo cards by any player.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get

There are many pieces of advice for those suffering from loss of vision who want to play bingo. Firstly, you could ask your local club whether they stock large-print or Braille cards and if not, you could ask them if it would be possible for them to start offering them. If your request is not granted, it’s worth talking to members of your local community as there’s bound to be other people who’d appreciate the option to play in this manner, or just support your cause. Alternatively, provided that you’re prepared to pay the usual ticket price, your local club may be happy for you to bring your own specially-adapted bingo cards.

If you’re partially-sighted, you may find it helpful to sit at a table where there’s plenty of natural or artificial light, and play with fewer cards to help you scan your numbers more easily.

Playing online?

Sadly, many online bingo sites are not as easy to use if you’re visually-impaired. Whilst you can choose for your cards to be automatically daubed, and sound is not an issue, viewing your cards (and even paying for them) plus choosing which game to play is next to impossible on a common PC or laptop  – although there are many sites that offer the option to have the print size larger in the chat rooms. This issue is not necessarily the sole fault of the online bingo site however; in fact, the RLSB (a British charity) claims that many blind and partially-sighted people experience difficulties when using the internet – so much so that many of them simply no longer bother trying.

The future is looking bright?

Screen-reading software can be over-whelming when moving from site-to-site and through search engine results, and voice-dictation software can be expensive, time-consuming to train, and incompatible with much of the web. There is hope, however, as the RLSB has been in consultation with leading technology companies, including Samsung, Cisco, IBM, and Google, as well as noted academics and other charities, to make steps towards a voice-enabled tool for using the internet.

In the meantime, blind people who want to play online bingo are mainly constricted to having to ask a friend to sit with them during their session, to help them navigate the lobby, purchase cards, reply to or send chat messages, and make withdrawals and deposits to their online accounts.

In conclusion, what then, if anything, can online brands and local clubs do to help make bingo more accessible?

Well, for starters, land-based clubs could offer Braille and large-print cards to their visitors as standard; certain seats could be reserved for those who are partially-sighted to give them the best-lit areas; and electronic cards could be approved by management and included in the clubs’ policies.

With online games, brands could ensure that their sites are more user-friendly by making their design accessible to all. Many special web-browsers have been developed in recent years to provide features like optical character recognition, screen magnifiers, voice recognition and screen readers. Web designers could be made more aware of the importance of aiding visually-impaired users and following HTML guidelines to create a universal design solution.

As the 2012 Paralympics proved, blind people can compete in and win globally-recognised medals in sports such as football, running, and judo; why, then should it be so hard for them to be able to play bingo?