Are new generation mobile phones the guide dogs of the digital world?
02 Feb 2011
For most of us, our daily routine just falls in to place. We get up, have breakfast, organise the children for school, travel to work, or generally go about our duties. With increasingly busy lives, we barely take time to notice the world around us, let alone think about all the gadgets and labour saving devices that aid us in all our daily tasks, like our washing machine, TV remote control, power drill, and of course mobile phone.
How would you feel if you left the house for the day without picking up your mobile phone? In 1990, 12.4m people worldwide had a mobile phone contract (1 ) – 20 years later this had increased 370 times to 4.6bn (2). They have evolved from simply being a convenient 2-way voice-to-voice communication tool to being an integral part of our everyday lives. They are now phones, alarm clocks, music players, calculators, photo albums, TV’s, GPS navigation systems, web browsers and so much more. On top of that they allow us constant contact with our friends and family via texts, instant messaging and Facebook. But what if you were suddenly faced with a life-changing disability, how would you be able to adapt to all the devices and appliances at your disposal?
Alan Fletcher was an Engineering Manager for BMW/Rover for 36 years, travelling daily to his work place and leading an active life. At the age of 47, his eye sight started to worsen – he was diagnosed with retinal dystrophy and ten years later, he was registered blind and had to take early retirement.
He was faced with a huge loss of independence which knocked his confidence. Life now being ‘labelled’ became hard – visually impaired people have to fight for employment and face a constant battle to prove that they can do a job just as well as their fully-sighted counterparts. Even with the support of family, friends and specialist charities, visually impaired people quickly become isolated from everyday life. The prejudices and inaccessibilities of modern life become a reality. Alan explains, ‘it was devastating to be faced with a life-changing disability. I was scared and felt like a helpless child. It was such a great sense of loss, like losing a loved one, that you have to grieve and when the grieving process is over you can start to accept it and move on with your life.’
Alan applied for a guide dog and, after about a year, he was paired with Joy, a black Labrador who is now six and a half years old. ‘She definitely lives up to her name’ Alan comments, ‘she has transformed my life - she has become a close friend, my eyes and my life-guide. Joy ensures that I am safe and has given me a lot of confidence when out and about.’ Alan’s new joie de vivre has motivated him to want to help other people in similar circumstances and as such, he has recently taken up the voluntary position of Chair of Swindon Branch for Guide Dogs. He does not feel that his visual impairment prevents him from tackling the role with the same determination and focus as anyone else. In fact, Alan’s branch is the second most successful fundraising branch out of 355 spread across the country. Colleagues and friends have commented on what an inspiration he is to everyone around him.
Part of his role as Chair of the local branch has been to help promote and organise go walkies for Guide Dogs events. The go walkies project is series of sponsored dog walks that can take place anywhere, anytime and cover any distance. They are fun and social events with dogs and people coming together and meeting others for a good cause, while also keeping fit. Alan led his first go walkies in November last year, securing pre and post-event coverage by local newspapers and raising over £1,000 for the charity.
Of course, it would be hard for Alan to undertake his duties without the aid of technology. He explains, ‘as seen in the go walkies example, communicating with supporters, event organisers and the local community is crucial in helping to raise awareness of the work of our charity.’ Assistive technology functions such as a screen reader and speech recognition software, and text to speech software ensure that the PC packages can be used to create letters, spreadsheets and presentations.
About 4 months ago, Alan decided to purchase an iPhone. ‘Previously I had used a number of different types of phone – however, accessibility features were not standard and it became increasingly frustrating to have to send them away to be enhanced with speech software. Even then, it was not possible to use all the applications available.’ With the iPhone, however, Alan has been able to master all the features without any additional upgrades. He and many like him believe that Apple devices including the iPhone, iPad and iTouch with their associated functionalities like Voiceover technology are a major driving force in making modern life more accessible for people who are blind or partially sighted. For some, they are simply ‘the guide dogs of the digital world.’
Guide Dogs has led the way in embracing these advances in technology and has recently launched a free and fully accessible mobile phone app called ‘go walkies.‘ The app is available on iPhone and Android devices and is aimed at anyone who has a dog, as well as people who just generally like to go walking. It shows new routes for walking and activates the smartphone’s built-in GPS functionality to allow users to log and share their favourite walks. It also provides weekly care-tips for your pooch from celebrity vet Marc Abraham – currently the resident on Sky One’s ‘My Pet Shame’, as well as ITV’s ‘This Morning’ and BBC ‘Breakfast News’. For serious dog-lovers there is a doggie picture gallery where users will be able to view cute dog pictures as well as make their own dog famous by uploading images.
Alan believes the app to be particularly useful in helping to find alternative, interesting routes to walk with Joy, as well as a generally being a vital tool for promoting the work and benefits of Guide Dogs and go walkies. There are surprisingly few free apps in the UK offering dog owners the ability to find new walks and very few apps that take a social need and link it with a lifestyle choice.
Technological advances are allowing us to move towards a society in which blind and partially sighted people enjoy the same freedom of movement as everyone else. As Alan summarises, ‘becoming blind in middle age was particularly difficult for both me and my family. My world was turned upside down even though I had 10 years getting used to my gradual loss of vision. However, both Joy and the iPhone have allowed me to rediscover my life and accept my situation with a new-found confidence and focus.’
