About The Eko Review

Welcome to The Eko Review! We are so glad you found us. This is a warm, community-driven space where people who are blind or have low vision, alongside their families, friends, and the supportive professionals in their lives, share honest reviews of assistive technology. We are here to ensure that no matter what decisions you are facing, you never have to navigate these choices alone.

Choosing assistive technology is rarely simple. A screen reader, a braille display, smart glasses, or an OCR device can cost anywhere from nothing to many thousands of dollars, it is hard to try before you buy, and the information out there often comes from the companies selling it. We think the most trustworthy guidance comes from the people who actually live with these tools every day.

What we do

We bring together reviews of the assistive technology that blind and low-vision people use to read, write, work, study, navigate, and live independently. Our catalog spans screen readers and accessibility software, braille and tactile output, OCR and camera-based tools, navigation and mobility technology, wearables and smart glasses, smart assistants, and specialized hardware.

Every review comes from a real community member and is organized around what matters most when choosing a device: reliability, adaptability, maintenance, connectivity, and affordability. Alongside reviews, our community spaces give people a place to ask questions, share tips, and support one another, whether you are a longtime user or just beginning to explore your options.

Reducing the disability tax

Living with a disability often means spending a great deal of money trying one assistive technology after another until you find the one that actually works for you. A screen reader that won't play well with your apps, a braille display that turns out to be uncomfortable, a device that costs thousands and ends up in a drawer. Each is money and time most sighted people never have to spend. This costly trial-and-error is part of what people call the "disability tax."

The Eko Review exists to change that. When sighted people want a new phone, they watch a video or read a dozen reviews first, and blind and low-vision people deserve the same. The person best placed to tell you whether a device is worth its price is someone who has used it, because lived experience captures the details spec sheets miss. By bringing those honest, real-world reviews together, we help you skip the guesswork and find what works the first time, saving both your money and your time.

How we keep reviews trustworthy

When you join, we ask which perspective you bring: whether you are a blind or low-vision user, a family member or friend, or a vision professional. This appears as a small badge next to your reviews, so others can understand the point of view behind each one. We never ask about anyone's medical details, and you can update this anytime. Every review is checked by our moderation team before it appears, to keep the platform honest, respectful, and free of spam.

Built to be accessible

Accessibility is not a feature of The Eko Review. It is the whole point. We are committed to meeting WCAG 2.1 AA standards and to working smoothly with screen readers, magnification, braille displays, and keyboard navigation. We know our community will hold us to a high standard, and we welcome that. If anything on the site is difficult to use, we want to hear about it.

About the Eko Vision Foundation

The Eko Review is a nonprofit initiative of the Eko Vision Foundation (opens in a new tab), a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with low vision and blindness through accessible, privacy-first technology. The Foundation is a bridge between the blind and low-vision community and the technology meant to empower them, listening to people's real needs and carrying them to developers and innovators. Because our community relies on assistive technology every day, we believe privacy is a right, not a privilege.

The Foundation was born from love, and its name honors Eko, a grandmother who lost her sight to glaucoma but never let it dim her spirit. When she would call to ask someone to describe the colors of her clothes or the world around her, it was a reminder that vision is not only about seeing. It is about dignity, independence, and connection. Her son, a retired software engineer, couldn't bear to watch her struggle, so he built a simple app that used offline AI to describe her surroundings. What began as a way to help one grandmother has grown into a community-driven mission, and The Eko Review brings it online. We are not a retailer and we sell none of the products reviewed here. The platform is free, supported by donations from people who believe, as we do, that good information should be available to everyone who needs it.

If our mission resonates with you, please consider supporting our work (opens in a new tab). Every contribution helps us keep The Eko Review free, independent, and growing.

Get involved

Create an account to write reviews and join the conversation, suggest a product you'd like to see reviewed, share the platform with someone weighing a decision, or lend your time as a volunteer (opens in a new tab) or partner (opens in a new tab). However you take part, you are helping build a resource that makes life a little easier for the next person facing these choices.

Welcome to the community.