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