you can't get a more accessible handheld than some of the older yaesu  ht's back in the day. just memorize some stuff and they are easy  I had a 411 a 416, and a 51r and had no problem running them or doing anything with them. I also had no problems  with my vx7r, although that wa snot as intuitive. the 470 is just as easy to use as the others as is the 530. I would to this day love to get a new 51r or 530 if they were still being made. the 51r was my favorite cause you could turn the voume down very low and actually hold it to your head  like a phone and do full duplex with no feedback. I even worked satellites with that radio and a little arrow beam back in the day and could dear my own voice become back from the birds. all of this while being totally blind.
I think that the biggest problem in the blind community is that many of us are not willing to just memorize some buttons and functions. the news radios are not as easy to memorize of course, but many still are quite easy. now if we could get yaws to bring the 51r back to production I would dbuy two of them just to put one in the closet for when the first wore out.  I found it to be much more intuitive than even the thf6a that I played with for a few minutes., although i am sure that radio is great and I would learn it if I had my hands on one.
speech would deb nice on a ht, but so far the only speech i found is really not worth a lot  I can run those radio with the speech turned off  about as well as with it on, and usually enter commands faster than the radio can speak anyway.

On Jun 9, 2013, at 6:06 PM, COLLEEN ROTH <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi,
> I have the Thumb Wheels notched.
> I also have a PL Board for the most common PL Tone in my area.
> I didn't know about the 02AT when I got my radio.
> My husband and I got these radios right when we were licensed.
> He has a Yaesu 470 Dual Bander because he can see the display.
> I got to have his radio notched too.
> Colleen Roth, N8TNV;
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Harvey Heagy <[log in to unmask]>
> ,to3 [log in to unmask]
> Date: Saturday, June 8, 2013 12:23 pm
> Subject: Re: Touch screens
> 
>> 
>> 
>> My first ever ham radio was the Icom 0-bAT which I liked very much.  It was 
>> keypad operated.  I had friends who had the 2AT, but they had to file the 
>> thumb wheels so that they could keep track of the input and output 
>> frequencies.  How do you handle that?
>> Harvey
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "COLLEEN ROTH" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Saturday, June 08, 2013 9:39 AM
>> Subject: Re: Touch screens
>> 
>> 
>> Hello,
>> I understand that a lot of people love Iphones and other touchscreen 
>> Devices.
>> I would not feel comfortable with a Smartphone or Iphone because I do not 
>> want to have to listen to all of that stuff and figure out what to do.
>> I like buttons to operate things. Personally, I do not care about all of 
>> those Apps.
>> The only way I would consider a Smartphone is if all or most of the things I 
>> would do could be done via a Braille Display.
>> That would include reading things with a Braille Display.
>> I definitely do not want a Touch Screen on my Radio because I would hit the 
>> Panic Button too much if I thought I hit the wrong button.
>> We each have to choose the path we walk.
>> I have an Icom 2at with Thumb Wheels notched and a PL Board so I can use it 
>> independently.
>> Colleen Roth, N8TNV