Question For Abers With Limited Sight

[barry1010]

Do you find technology such as Amazon Alexa smart speakers helpful in your day-to-day life?

I use mine to listen to music and for convenience and I would be very interested to hear how you use it. Was you able to install and set it up on your own?

[bednobs]

my daughter (8) is vision impaired. we have set up the alexa rather than her obviously but she uses it a lot - turning lights on and off, listening to books, cheekily sending me messages from her room i think thats an 8 year old thing though rather than a VI thing!
much more useful to her is the software on her laptop

[bednobs]

re setting it up, you need a device to put the app onto so you can attach it to the wifi. I would have thought it would be more important for setting up what device they have and if they can make the screen bigger on it

[bednobs]

sorry just read back and realised i wasn't that clear in the 1st post i meant he special VI software, not the alexa software

[barry1010]

Thank you for that, bednobs. Many years ago, I had some interaction with VI children at a residential school and I was impressed with how confident most of them were. One child always beat me at chess and I know he had very little sight so he must have had an excellent memory.
I never did understand how they played football so well. There was a bell in the ball and they ran around at full pelt. When I had to wear an eyepatch, I could hardly walk in a straight line and kept knocking over my cup of coffee.
The wore watches with no glass so they could feel the hands and tell the time.
What sort of gadgets does your daughter use?

[bednobs]

Not many to be honest around the house. She is blind in one eye only and most of her problems are around depth perception. She is incredibly cautious around steps and struggles to cope with kerbs. At school they have some flashy stuff on the wall where there are height changes so she knows to take extra care. In practical terms it doent affect her life much. I think
She probably wont be able to drive when shes older and riding a bike is probably out too. Her main gadget is her kindle and vi software

[hellywelly4]

I have a very dear friend who only has sight in one eye, but she has been able to drive quite safely for many years.

[allenlondon]

Yes, being blind in one eye only is really no impediment. The biggest danger is that the OTHER eye gets problems, then you are in trouble! (I am blind in one eye).

I drove for most of my life, passing my Advanced Driving Test, but was forced off the road eventually when my 'good' eye developed peripheral vision problems.

A

[barry1010]

My brother lost one eye when he was a toddler and was a Class I HGV driver for most of his working life and still drives a car. He had to stop driving lorries when they changed the law about the eyesight requirements. He will probably have to give his car up sooner rather than later as he has glaucoma which will cause problems for him if it worsens. So far it is symptomless.