What is technology if it’s not something EVERYONE can use? Does anyone know of any accessible MP3 players for the elderly or other sight-challenged folks, or other options out there?
Since my last post about my grandma, she seems to have turned around and is slowly improving. Even so, the road is a long one and we’re still trying to sort out exactly what’s going on. There is no question that she had pneumonia and nearly died from it. Faulty swallowing caused liquid to go down her trachea, which caused infection, and was the root cause of the pneumonia. Since that crisis, she has been in and out of the hospital twice, both times for the insertion of feeding tubes and IVs, because she was not eating or drinking.
When I wrote my “goodbye post”, she had opted to have her IV removed and had signed orders that there would be no more feeding tubes. We were told it would be a matter of a week or so. Since then, she’s eating and drinking on her own, but is utterly frustrated about being completely dependent on others and bed-bound.
I visited her today and her mind is just as active as ever. In fact, it’s turning on her a bit. Without any physical exercise and no way to leave that bed or room of hers, she’s just bored out of her mind! Her roommate has a radio going with elevator music 24/7 which just about drives her nuts. My mother brought her an extremely low-tech radio which only gets the same station the neighbor plays. Unhelpful.
As we were sitting there I was trying to figure out what I could bring her to engage her mind. An iPod immediately came to mind, because it would be easy to manage (one handed operation), she could have music, audio books, podcasts, and lots of mind-stretching things on it and it would be simple enough for us to bring her new content — my mom could take it home, download the new content from iTunes or wherever, and bring it back.
However….she doesn’t have great eyesight and the iPod earbuds aren’t going to be comfortable for her. We can replace the earbuds with some nice headphones, but I don’t really know what to do to help her navigate the iPod itself. She needs to see the screen to be able to read it, but even the new iPods aren’t big enough for her to do that.
There has to be a way to make this easily accessible to her. What is technology if it’s not something EVERYONE can use? She’s smart enough to learn how to use the click-wheel (and I really like the idea of the one-handed operation, because she has problems still with her left hand), but if she can’t see it, she really can’t use it to her best and fullest benefit.
CDs are an option, I suppose, but then she has to change them when she gets to the end, and they’re not as user-friendly for audiobooks or podcasts — which is what the MP3 players like iPods and the like have going for them. Does anyone know of any accessible MP3 players or other options out there? If you do, leave me a comment — I’m committed to getting something in her hands this week.
Technorati Tags: technology, iPod, iTunes, accessibility, podcasts, elderly
