I need to limit an e-reader (kindle) to only forward and back touch options being available while a book is open.
So, a little context.
My father has alzheimers and one of his few joys in life, is reading. His eyesight is poor, but e-readers ease that issue with font accessibility. He constantly gets frustrated with the six plus e-readers we have purchased for him, because various convenience gestures like swipe down, center tap, three finger, and so on, bring up menus that he is cognatively incapable of navigating.
So while these devices allow him to enjoy reading in a format he can manage, they are also frustratingly overly complicated for him. Also, due to his condition, it is difficult to learn anything else. Telling him how to close that particular thing he accidentally opened, will not be remembered/understood the next time he accidentally opens something.
While mulling over this issue of getting a device capable of fitting my dads diminishing cognition, I have searched for basic devices or devices for kids, and only found things that either no longer exist (manufacturer going out of business or modern superseding of devices) or a plethora of competent, but overly complicated (for his ability) devices.
The way this normally works is, I load and prep the book he says he wants, and I "fix" it for him whenever I see he is getting frustrated. He will sit there for hours and try to read the tiny option/menu view of the page if I don't notice his errant finger swipes and touches have spoiled his ability to read the book.
The mechanics of the problem are. The user has limited function and can't learn how to use something new so only the simplest tasks of "touch here, or press this" is available (Otherwise I'd have him reading his books on a PC on a big screen). So that leaves me with the options of limiting the actual device function. I even tried a Kindle Oasis with those nice little navigation buttons, but swipe errors were still an issue (so, back to square one).
Some potential solutions I have thought of are :-
Purpose built/Make my own e-reader with no touch and just big forward/back buttons. I can purchase the components and almost have the skill to make it work electrically, but the coding is far beyond my skill set, so I see this as the most difficult option.
Jailbrake/limit an existing e-reader. This one is something I may be able to undertake but still seems quite outside my ability as rewriting/removing options to kneecap an existing system still seems to be an overreach of what I am personally capable of, and will bring a tidal wave of unforeseen issues as I hamfistedly try to limit function.
Masking. Out of the above options this is the simplest potentially. A transparent screen covering that negates touch screen interaction. Meaning, the only areas of a screen that can be interacted with are areas cut out of the mask to allow specific touch only. My google fu is weak here. I can not find a screen covering that specifically blocks touchscreen interaction. One of the main issues with this is that it needs to be very transparent and replaceable/reusable because it will need to be removed to load other books and interact with the device outside of actual reading.
This could be a case with an very thin plastic covering, or a more "screen protector" type covering that negates touch.
So here is my question.
Has anyone out there come across a similar problem and found a better solution? Is anyone aware of a screen covering that suits this use case? Perhaps there is a device already out there that does exactly this?
Thank you for reading, and thank you for any suggestions.