I used to think, as a person who is blind, that my life would be limited somehow. Before the iPhone, I had no direction in life and thought that I would have a job that did not pay well or that I would never be able to go to college. But then I discovered the iPhone, and suddenly I saw a future for myself. It's like the iPhone opened a whole new world of possibilities. Suddenly I was able to tell the color of things, read printed documents, read currency, and use Siri for navigation. I then got a mac and discovered xcode, and I suddenly knew I wanted to be an app developer. If it wasn't for the iPhone, I think I would still be having Mum take care of me and I would have no future. I am so grateful to Apple and I admire the hard work they've put in to making there products accessible. With the iPhone, I feel like a new person. I now have the confidence to go out and do whatever I want in life. It's like I'm not blind anymore.
I'm just wondering, does anyone else feel that the iPhone, or Apple products have changed your life in any way: I think this would make an interesting discussion.
By molly, 4 March, 2016
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My life had to start pre
My life had to start pre iphone or it would have been immensely boring. Iphone is my swiss army knife for life!!! But baby, once I had the opportunity to own an iphone, wow what a game changer it has been. I sometimes have to remind myself that I can do this or that on my own now. Mostly I just revel in the freedom and options now available to me!!!
Just discovering the benefits
I always had bad eyesight, but when i was younger i had enough to read large print or a computer screen with large text. So i got through my childhood in a reasonable way. Then my sight got worse. I bought myself an ipod touch but thats just because i wanted to facetime my friends. Then i discovered the accessibility and im glad i did because that is what is helping me through this journey of going blind. After the ipod came an ipad. Then later an iphone and finally a mac. Im discovering that i can use voiceover to carry out fun things like keeping in touch on social media, or sending an email to my occupational therapist. Ive discovered ways of continuing my hobby of video editing. I thought i would lose that when i lose my sight. But no. Im glad apple is around to allow me to lean all these things. Without this i would be an even more afraid person. Afraid for a boring, dark and lonely future. But thanks to the possibilities apple products offer, it wont be so bad.
May vary on generation and individual Person
I think the experience may vary on generation and individual person. I'm congenitally blind, and came to the US from Thailand in 1987. After I got here, I was given access to many things from books in Braille to computers with screen reading technology. At that time, it was the early nineties, and the computer was a bulky old Apple computer with the green screen, and the screen reader sounded very mechanical. JAWS would appear a few years later, but I wouldn't use that until high school. So, I've pretty much was taught how to do a lot of things and how to get around when I was younger. I never saw my life as limited by anything, and now that new, advanced technology is out like that found in Apple products and other things, opportunities and other thingsx just keep getting more various for me. Nowadays, I don't have to stick with doing things in English. I can do things in languages as Thai. It does sound like a natural Thai person speaking with all of the tones and other nuances of the language. My native language is not Thai though, and am still waiting for the production of the TTS of my native language to reach completion. Mine is Khmer. Last time I checked, Khmer text to speech is still being worked on. A few versons of Khmer TTS have been put out for WINDOWS and Linux, but those ones aren't stable.
Opened me up to gaming
The biggest change--and probably a bad change--that the iPhone has brought into my life is that it has opened me up to playing accessible games. Now I play games on my iPhone and my Windows computer. I would have never tried to do this before. But it is amazing how I can have my gaming device, my podcast device, GPS device and book-reading device in my pocket at the same time.
Real independence
I also do love my Apple devices but I do believe that our true independence has to come from within ourselves if our lives have to revolve around a device that will break down and not work then we are all selling ourselves short I believe it is great that we do have access to more in the way of media and access to social media but we have to take the responsibility to be independent and not let her reside in mechanical devices
It didn't get me a job but
At least it opened a door to new games and got me new friends and foes through social media.
Voiceover in general
Having lost my vision 7 years ago, I initially got an ipod touch 4th generation as I was frustrated at pot luck in which cd I put on. This introduced me to voyceover and I took to it like a duck to water. I then upgraded to the iPhone and its the sheer versatility of having calls, messaging, Facetime, GPS, ocr to name but a few things in my pocket that has become an extremely powerful tool. But it was when I bought my Macbook pro, went back to college, learned sound engineering on pro tools and now I have graduated and am with my local radio station making jingles etc that has changed my life and my perception of what I believe I can do. So not just the iPhone as the title of this thread suggests but I think more specifically voyceover in general has opened doors for so many people and I take my hat off to apple for their time and hard work developing it
Reliance on the Iphone
Reliance on the Iphone
Nobody questions why we choose to use a fork to eat with or a car to get to work. I suppose that I could eat my meals with my fingers and walk 30 miles to work... But I think I'll plan on doing a little maintainance and planning ahead so I can enjoy the wonderful benefits of all the fancy new gadgets that folks keep eventing to make my life easier and better. I use my Iphone for calls ,email, texts, web surfing, note taking, GPS, barcode scanning, recipes, dictionary, spelling checker, music player, and the list goes on and on. I love the calendar which makes it so easy to coordinate the whole families schedule. I can add things to the grocery list any time no matter where I'm at. The ability to set as many repeating alarms as I want is fantastic, not to mention being able to know the time even when day light savings starts or stops. I can see how much I exercised in a day, which is very cool. But I think my most used app is Bard Mobile. I love having so many books available day or night. Having easy access to books has helped my mental health. When I'm bored I tend to worry which is not good for the sanity of me or anyone close to me. LOL !
I can't wait to see what new gadgets clever minds will invent in the next decade. Maybe some electronic eyes is not too much to hope for? I've read that the hardest thing for a new invention to overcome is the mind set of potential users. Did you know that Ice took decades to catch on because nobody could realized they would enjoy a cold drink, or that keeping their food cold would make it last longer? So here's to the Iphone. May it keep getting better and better!
Your success is inspiring. I
Your success is inspiring. I went blind 42 years ago. I was just a kid so I grew up into blindness. There was a frustrating decade or so when my equipment from my college days died and I couldn't afford to buy replacements. I tried a couple of phones but it was a lousy experience. Then with great foreboding I decided to gamble on the Iphone 4. I figured out how to do more in a week with my Iphone than I was able to accomplish in a year and a half with the other phones. The Iphone 6 is even better. I love the virtual braille keyboard.
Agree Totally With This Topic
Yes IOS is a great benefit to my blind life. There is nothing like having all the latest technology available in your pocket any time, any place. I can read a book, listen to music, or play a game any time. Also I can identify money, scan text, and read bar codes anywhere, not to mention a host of other useful other things. I am an old man living two thirds of my life sighted, and the last one third blind. I have been fortunate enough to always have had the latest tecnology for blind help, but nothing can compare to having it all in your pocket at one time.
the iphone
I feel it has positively changed my life too. I have blind squared on my phone and now the stresss level about getting lost in strange new places is gone. I walk alone a lot in a city of nearly half a million people where most of it is not walk friendly. Omaha is a town that is car driven because everything is so far from each other.
Now, no matter where I am I can find my way to some place familiar without asking one question to a stranger.
It is the best life ever!
I used to use the seeing eye
I used to use the seeing eye gps for navigation, but then I realized I had Siri. I just think it's so amazing what I can do because of the iPhone. I sometimes think this is the best life ever, at least when my eyes don't hurt. I mean, I only sometimes wish for a cure for blindness when my eyes hurt very bad. Also, I just love VoiceOver.
An idea?
I cannot even list the ways apple has improved my quality of life. I think we are more in touch with the world now days than we have ever been and it's only getting better every year. I run my business with all apple products, I have employees and subcontractors working for me. I am able to take care of every aspect of my life because of these devices which really have only existed for the last 9 years or so. Incredible to think how things have changed in such a small amount of time.
So my idea is that maybe when everyone has had their say on this thread that a copy be emailed to apple or something. I think a lot of people are quick to send feature requests or complaints to companies but very seldom we send positive feedback and i think it can have more impact than any of us can imagine.
Just a thought :)
i've always dreamed of
i've always dreamed of someday telling apple how much their products have changed my life. the iPhone is truly an amazing device. i mean if weren't for siri the automobile i was in just in would have run out of gas. i can't say enough how grateful i am towards apple an i think they would love to hear things like this.
Gratitude
Gratitude is a powerful force in the world. If someone wanted to send this thread it would give the right energetic wave.
When I thank a chef for a great meal they always thank me back for sayng it because so many people just complain. So all though we can say it here and send out that vibe, putting it in their lap would be a huge blast of good magic.
A
i want to send it to apple.
i want to send it to apple. how shall we send it?
The third eye
At first, one should open up to the world of sighted people and then benefit from Apple products. For me, Apple means the third but reasonably good eye used to read texts, scan bar codes on products, tell me where I am etc. I wonder how my studies would look like when Apple products were accessible. Now I know that I would be more independent than I used to be.
i agree. before i had apple
i agree. before i had apple products all my assignments had to be printed with a braille embosser that would always break. but now my teachers just email me handouts.
I love the iPhone so much
I love the iPhone so much because it is so accessible and easy to use. The iPhone is the most accessible phone on the market.
re: Iphone
What virtual braille keyboard?
I didn't know there was one.
Sorry for the OT question,
Liz