Thank you for the information. I might fit one of those qualifications,
but I doubt that it applies in West Virginia. Nevertheless, my
contemplation about what kind of phone to get has reverted to very slow
again. The urgency was quashed. I found out that the problem with my
land line phone was that the plug that went into the wall socket for
electricity was loose. A good hard push repaired it. I still think that
the world has moved on to the point that to fully function I need some
kind of mobile phone and a smart phone would be best. I described that
company that provides one with a sighted agent to describe things for
one thing, but it would also be really convenient to make purchases just
by pointing the phone at something that will deduct the price from my
account. For that matter, I have signed up for Wallmart + because that
is the cheapest way I know of to get grocery delivery, but with a smart
phone with their app on it I could just walk through the store picking
up items and scanning them and walk out of the store without bothering
with the checkout aisle. But right now the urgency is gone. With my land
line phone working again I can relax and slowly contemplate what I will
do about phone service in the future. If I keep running into web sites
that just assume that everyone has a mobile phone and won't let me use
it unless I can give them a mobile number that future might come sooner
than I would like.
___
Irvin D. Yalom “Truth," Nietzsche continued, "is arrived at through
disbelief and skepticism, not through a childlike wishing something were
so! Your patient's wish to be in God's hands is not truth. It is simply
a child's wish—and nothing more! It is a wish not to die, a wish for the
eveastingly bloated nipple we have labeled 'God'! Evolutionary theory
scientifically demonstrates God's redundancy—though Darwin himself had
not the courage to follow his evidence to its true conclusion. Surely,
you must realize that we created God, and that all of us together now
have killed him.” ― Irvin D. Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept
On 6/16/2021 5:58 PM, Frank Ventura wrote:
Hi Roger, I apologize that I took so long to get back to you. I have been
overwhelmed at work and am working on about 3 hours per day of sleep. The
gestures you will need to learn for the basics are:
Swiping, which is moving your fingers horizontally left to right or right to
left
Flicking which is moving your fingers up or down
Tapping which is as the name implies tapping your fingers on the screen
The good news is that the gestures are the same throughout the system no matter
what application you are in. I don't know what resources are available to you
there in West Virginia. Here in Massachusetts you can get an iPhone for free if
you fall into one of the following categories:
Have an open VR case (working, in school or seeking employment)
Are retired, over age 55 and are below 3x poverty level for income.
Are registered with the commission for the blind as being multiple-handicapped
(deaf-blind for example)
Even if you purchase the phone yourself the commission for the bind will
provide training for anyone who requests it. If you are over 55 and are income
eligible the MassEDP program will even pay for the cell service. I can't take
advantage of it myself since blind employees of the commission for the blind
are banned from taking part in any publicly funded services. Assuming there is
nothing similar where you live you can get relatively low cost refurbished
iPhones on Amazon.
Here is an example:
https://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPhone-GSM-Unlocked-64GB/dp/B0775MV9K2/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=renewed+iphone&qid=1623880598&sr=8-4
There are many tutorials online such as:
http://applevis.com
I am not encouraging you to get involved in the organized blind movement but
look for groups of blind folks in your area who may be willing to sit with you
for a few hours and show things to you.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2021 11:33 PM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Phone ideas?
If there was any justice one would expect that if your employer mandates that
you use it then your employer should pay for it. Your comment that it is easy
to use is encouraging, but can you say anything about the blind experience of
using that touch screen? Are the gestures only a few that are repeated from app
to app or do you have to memorize a lot of them? I really would like to have an
iPhone, but the price tag and that touch screen kind of makes me wary.
___
Irvin D. Yalom “Truth," Nietzsche continued, "is arrived at through disbelief
and skepticism, not through a childlike wishing something were so! Your patient's wish to
be in God's hands is not truth. It is simply a child's wish—and nothing more! It is a
wish not to die, a wish for the eveastingly bloated nipple we have labeled 'God'!
Evolutionary theory scientifically demonstrates God's redundancy—though Darwin himself
had not the courage to follow his evidence to its true conclusion. Surely, you must
realize that we created God, and that all of us together now have killed him.” ― Irvin D.
Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept On 6/11/2021 10:13 PM, Frank Ventura wrote:
Roger, I use an Apple iPhone. It cost me a ton of money, about 5 times what I
paid for my first car and the reason I chose it is that my employer mandates
that we all have one. It is easy to use but the product lifecycle is only a few
years.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
Sent: Friday, June 11, 2021 9:39 PM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Phone ideas?
I have a question. Maybe I should say questions plural. On a list where people
think that fifty-two-year-old music recordings are something new this might not
be the best place to ask, but I am not subscribed to any lists right now where
this would be on topic. So since nothing is off topic here I thought I would at
least start here. My land line phone is acting up. Right now I am lucky if I
get a dial tone instead of some kind of mysterious beeping and incoming calls
are being cut off before I can answer. I have called the phone company to fix
it now twice and both times it started acting up soon afterwards. So I am
thinking that the problem might be in the physical phone rather than the line.
That would call for buying a new phone. If I buy a new phone I am thinking that
it might be about time for me to get myself into the twenty-first century like
everyone else and give up my land line for a cell phone as my only phone. But
if I do that I am going into it blind in more ways than just that my eyes don't
work. I have been wanting a smart phone for a long time because I am fascinated
by the many and varied cool things that one can do with them, but they are
expensive and I don't trust myself to be able to learn using a touch screen
very well. I always have been a lot better at learning things that you know
than I have been at learning things you do. That is why I used to be able to
take a lab and lecture
course and ace the lecture and nearly flunk the lab. I know that there
are a lot of choices that are not smart phones too and some that actually have
buttons. I think I could get along much better with buttons. But I don't know a
lot about all the choices that are available and which work better for a blind
person. Most of the people I know are so sight oriented that they can't imagine
a blind person working any device. So does anyone on this list have any advice?
Do any of you use a cell phone yourselves? If so, can you say something about
why it was a good choice for you and how much it costs and anything else you
might have to say about it?
___
--
Irvin D. Yalom “Truth," Nietzsche continued, "is arrived at through disbelief
and skepticism, not through a childlike wishing something were so! Your patient's wish to
be in God's hands is not truth. It is simply a child's wish—and nothing more! It is a
wish not to die, a wish for the eveastingly bloated nipple we have labeled 'God'!
Evolutionary theory scientifically demonstrates God's redundancy—though Darwin himself
had not the courage to follow his evidence to its true conclusion. Surely, you must
realize that we created God, and that all of us together now have killed him.” ― Irvin D.
Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept