18 accessible Mother’s Day cards for moms with low vision
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Mother’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to show Mom just how much she means to you with the perfect message—but, for moms with vision challenges, a greeting card may be a tricky present to give. Often, greeting cards are designed with small type, flourish-heavy fonts, and too little color contrast. While for a person without visual impairments this works just fine, for those who are blind, colorblind, low vision, or have other vision-related conditions, these cards may be a minefield to navigate.
Luckily, there are some great options on the market these days that celebrate mothers of all kinds. Whether it’s by using large print, braille, or recording your voice, these Mother’s Day cards can help you say just the right thing in a way every mom can enjoy to the fullest.
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Braille cards
For those who read braille, Greetings in Braille is an excellent place to begin your Mother’s Day shopping. This small business was founded and run by artist Nadia Arment. As someone who is visually impaired herself, Arment understands the little details that can make a card truly special to her customers. Shopping from her selection is also a great way to support a Black-owned, woman-owned, and disability-owned small business while creating the ideal message for Mom.
You can shop from her options of pre-created designs, such as this beautiful illustrated card, or you can personalize the message on an existing design. You can even request a fully customized design that can be created for any occasion.
Recordable cards
For those who want to skip printed words altogether, recordable cards can be a fun way to get one’s emotion across. Plus, they have the added bonus of sharing your message in your own voice as well as your own words.
If you’re feeling crafty, these blank white cards from Talking Products are a great place to start. You can write your own message, add colors and stickers, or just leave it as is and let the recording do all the talking for you. This option can be an especially fun craft for kids, as letting them add tactile stickers or puff paint is a great way to add texture and an element of fun. This card is especially well designed because it has replaceable batteries, essentially offering an extra special Mother’s Day gift that lasts a lifetime.
For those looking for a little less crafting, but who still want a visually designed card, this Cassette Tape Recordable Card from Walmart is a great choice. Its vintage design is sure to make any mom smile, and its easy recording lets you say what you need without much hassle. You can even re-record your message if you mess up the first time, or if you want to use it for future fun.
If you’re looking for a gift to complement your recordable card, this recordable photo album is a great addition. Each page allows you to record your memory audibly, letting you describe the picture or add meaningful details to everything the camera captured.
Large-print cards
For those who only need a little extra help reading things, large-print cards are a great option. These cards are often designed with high contrast, large print, and simplified fonts. You can usually find an option at your local card store, or find cards online that work (even if they weren’t necessarily designed with accessibility in mind).
For instance, if tight handwriting and extra flourishes from cursive tend to make Mom’s reading a little more challenging, this card from Hallmark is a great example that might fit your needs.
If you don’t mind going a little dramatic, a giant card is also a fun way to increase the font size and handwritten message size without drawing attention to the fact that this is the goal.
High-contrast cards
When you’re colorblind, certain combinations of colors make differentiating letters nearly impossible. At best, a card might look fairly ugly to a colorblind mom, but at worst it might be illegible. Finding a card with high contrast between its lettering and background is a great way to be thoughtful while buying. You can even test online previews of the cards with something like this website, which lets you get an idea of what your mom will see when she receives the card.
Cards that are designed entirely in two high-contrast colors are a safe bet for any type of colorblindness. For primarily black and white cards, consider checking out this card from Look Human, this one from Greeting Cards for Everyone, or this one from Paper Source. For a little more color, but still a limited palette, this sweeter card or this statement card are also great options.
If you’re looking for a more colorful high-contrast card that works for a friend or family member, we’re also partial to these from Mahogany and Em & Friends.
Pop-up cards
Pop-up cards have skyrocketed in popularity over the last decade or so, and these days it can feel like the possibilities are limitless. Though some pop-up cards include small lettering that can pose a challenge, many are messageless or utilize large, high-contrast lettering in their designs.
This card from Lovepop does a great job of helping Mom read the message while also adding a special surprise that is sure to leave her happy. If you love bouquets but want to leave the words to your own message, paper flower cards like this one from Freshcut are especially popular.
If you want more space to write a message, but love the idea of flowers that will never die, something more like this card might be a better call. Or, if flowers really aren’t your mom’s thing, there are endless options for more personalized subjects, such as this cat card or this dragon card.
One of the great things about using a blank pop-up card is that it adds textural interest and a tactile feel. As a bonus, because pop-up cards often have blank spots for messages, they can be used for moms who speak a language other than English while still providing buyers with a massive selection to choose from.
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This article originally appeared on Reviewed: 18 great Mother’s Day card ideas for moms with visual impairment
