TECH DOGS AND MORE

 Good day Bloggets. Today is a cold day in the north of the UK. As I lay in bed this morning, I could hear the icy tires driving by. Under my warm duvet I popped out one arm. Heck, it quickly went back in the covers. Then I braved it again to reach for my mobile phone and text my heating system. It’s great, I love that facility. How far have we come how advanced for visually impaired people is technology now?

 

I mean, I can text by my memory and software on my phone. My Husband has an IPhone and because he remembers the layout of a keyboard, he can use the IPhone just like you with sight. Only difference is, he can’t see a thing. The brilliant thing is about the IPhone, is you don’t need software, it comes out of the box a flick and you have speech ability. The inventor of Apple products, who sadly is not with us anymore, had a relative with sight loss, hence his amazing products. Now he has died, I did fear that would deteriorate, but no, it’s just as good if not better.

 

We are not so quick at doing things as sighted people and there are some things we can’t do, but most we can.

 

I am writing to you using my lap top. Thankfully I know how to touch type. As I have said before, even if you still have sight, even if you have no threat of losing your sight, learn to touch type. I have also said before in the UK, there are one hundred people per day who suffer some kind of sight loss.

 

Without the skill of touch typing, I wouldn’t be able to type, shop for groceries or gifts or email friends.

 

I wouldn’t be able to write my Diary or poems nothing; the lap top would not be in my life.

 

Our television talks and luckily in the UK, most programs have audio description now for films and so on. There are some programs that don’t have it and when we try to watch them, it’s impossible, makes us realise how fortunate we are to have the speech abled narrators.

 

For years we couldn’t set our heating on a timer but now we can. We didn’t know what temperature it was on we could turn it on or off, but now we know exactly what temperature it’s on.

 

For the IPhone there are so many applications you can get to help you, there is a light detector that tells you if there is light on or off. Helpful when you have a teen who leaves lights on as he leaves the room.

 

There is even an application you can download that tells you what amount of money you are showing to the camera. As telling the difference between notes now is getting impossible.

 

I don’t have an IPhone; hub does, so he has all the aps on there. I do have my IPod though and I love it. I can not only listen to my music but I can down load music from ITunes and more. I can check my emails out and answer them using dictation, though it does struggle with my accent.

 

I also do my weekly shopping on there for food. It’s so quick.

 

Pay for it and it gets delivered. Thankfully. I don’t know what I would do without that service.

 

So life is easier that it was say ten years ago.

 

Still a cure to see though would make our lives not only easier, but happier for sure. Happier as we would be able to do whatever whenever.

 

It would take the stress out of our life for sure.

Christmas is really driving me crazy right now. I just can’t get it in my head what I need to get. I still have to sort out gifts for the girls. Bless them; they haven’t asked for much, like my boy, they are good kids for that.

 

Thankfully as blind parents, we have brought our kids up not to be brats. Our children collectively are ambitious and outward going in a positive way.

 

I have both dogs home today. LC didn’t go with her Daddy as he has loads of small meetings today and some puppies are coming into the office. LC is a little naughty when she doesn’t have her Dad all the time to herself.

 

He has a day of budgets and planning for next year to sort out as well as his meetings.

 

He had a rough day yesterday at work. A lot of emotional things went on. It’s not all about cute dogs. There is more to this job than I could ever imagine. I guess because he makes it that way, he wants to be involved rather than doing the basic work and coming home. It keeps his brain ticking over also he knows he is doing something to help people like him and much less fortunate.

 

Just to give the ability for someone to be able to get to work. Get out of the four walls of jail each day will make an enormous difference to a blind person’s life. They can do this with a guide dog.

 

Because of funding and the shortage of guide dogs, some people can wait for two years before they get matched with a dog. The match has to be perfect. Anyone can’t just have any dog. The dog has to suit your life style. Because of the kind public, this job of matching a dog with a blind person is possible, though more funding and more dogs will equal more happy people.

 

For that old lady to be able to get to the shop once a week, may be her only contact with the outside world. Without her dog, she would be in the house 24 7.

 

Thank you to all who give that change or time to support us.

 

Thank you to all our beautiful dogs and thank you to those who are in technology and who do take time out to consider blind and partially sighted people when designing their products. Thank you to the chemists and scientists who are spending so much time devoting their lives to find treatments for blind people, again, all boils down to money, funding.

 

Hence why I get furious when we spend billions on sending robots to space. Look after people on the ground first please, before looking for life elsewhere?

 

OK, I went off on a one there, sorry, I do get carried away. I will have to go my dogs are driving me mad, they need attention a good groom and I will let them out, so to face that cool northern weather. Teen out will be in later and has loads to do today with regards University. He is filling in application forms. He is about to get into so much debt. We worked out last night he will need about £40,000 over the next three years for him to study. We can’t support him, as we have three kids going to University, that’s a lot of money. So like Hub, they are on their own. He had to work right through University, of course it wasn’t as wildly expensive in those days, but still he had to live without the help from his parents.

 

OK, I will be back later with some jokes to turn your frown upside down…. X