On Our Own Tracks

How I really feel about the way technology is replacing my abilities?

Technology? Something of the new age… something that’s destroying our society by making us anti-social… or is it something that is transforming your life for the better? No matter which way you look at it one thing is clear, we are now in the age where we are living alongside technology in our day to day life. So how can we utilise this factor in the most positive way possible? Can some of our abilities be replaced with technology?

As some of you may now know, my personal life is now completely reliant on technology. To the extent that I sometimes look at those good old futuristic  movies and can now see myself in them, as a character completely indulged in their technology literally for 24 hours a day. My university, work, future career, social life and even my speech … pretty much everything I touch seems to be accessed and created with a combination of Apple applications (apps) for my iPad or iPhone, any devices or any online material such as Facebook.

I believe that due to having a severe disability, this influence in my life has been amazingly positive . In one way, I like to describe it as technology now replacing some of my abilities, such as speaking. I also believe that it is by having these few abilities assisted by technology that I am now able to get on with my life almost in the exact same way as my abled body peers.

To give you some background, throughout my day to day life my IPad is literally seen as my lifeline and I use it by touching the screen with my nose. The reason why I prefer to use this particular system to access my iPad is mainly because it’s just the easiest and the quickest way to get my point across. Yes! I do get strain in my neck but only sometimes and measuring up it’s definitely worth the outcomes that I get out of it.

I originally started this method with my nose on an iPhone when I was 18 years old. Basically I had a feeling that I would be able to access an iPhone this way a few months prior to actually getting the phone. Naturally this meant that a few of my friends and family members had their phones tested on. This generosity from these people both provided me with a sense that I could do what I thought I could achieve and also proved to my family that I could use the phone. It is safe to say that it was from here that my life really changed forever. Very quickly after receiving my phone both myself and everyone around me realised how beneficial it was to my life.

I could speak, message and go on social media all very quickly without a cumbersome, slow speech device in my way, making me feel like I was physically trapped in my own little bubble. After completing my High School Certificate, the impact of this technology on my life became so visible to my family that I was very lucky enough to be given my first iPad by all of my cousins, siblings and extended family. Honestly, it is by looking back on the eight years since then, that I can now see how this generosity has benefitted my life so much by allowing me to complete various writing and presenting jobs, university, starting this blog site, allowing me to safely spend time on my own by giving me access to the wider world in case of emergencies, along with steering me towards my goal of becoming a Human Rights Journalist.

Now that you have heard all about my background, here are some practical apps that I use daily to assist me with speaking, using my computer and writing. The first app that I really use the most is the one I use when I am generally chatting which is called ‘Assistive Express’. It is with this app that I am able to rapidly answer questions and join in conversations in the fastest way possible, using a communication aid that portrays an image of maturity, intelligence and uniformity. Also, being able to use a simple keyboard and word prediction app, for me means that I have become used to just focusing on typing what I have to say.

When I think about the voice output ‘Heather’ on this, and many other apps I have tended to use for presenting, (for those who are unsure, ‘Heather’ is a common digitalised voice used on such applications as ‘Siri’ or Navman’) I generally feel that i have become accustomed to literally adopting it as my own voice. As weird as this seems, I do feel that over the years that I have been using it I have taught myself to punctuate my answers, presentations and speeches in order to have my personality, opinion and attitude to be expressed in this particular voice.

The other parts of my life which have been impacted by apps are in my ability to write and access my computer. In terms of my computer access, I am currently using an app called ‘Screens’. This app in particular can connect with and bring up my Mac laptop screen onto my iPad using wifi. This has literally cut the time it takes me to do assignments down by more than half. This process has recently been made even more easier through the use of ‘Google Docs’. I mainly started using this application at the end of last year, as a way of having access to my university assignments on both my Mac and iPad. This was so I could read my assignments back to myself and also work on them literally from anywhere I needed to. It has been five months since I’ve started to use this application and I am using it for all parts of my university assignments, work and blogs and it has been so easy to use. Furthermore, solid proof of how effective ‘Google Docs’ has been for my university is that I have significantly noticed my grades have been literally sky rocketing ever since I have been using it. I feel that this is simply because I am now able to do my first edit of my assignments completely independently by getting my iPad to read my work aloud to me.

So if you are amazed by my technology, all I can say is why not give it a go and see how technology can assist your abilities? I’m sure there’s something out there in this new world of technology, just waiting to change your life.