Setting up my new iPhone

In late 2014 my iPhone 4 quit on me and I was forced to get a new iPhone. I knew, however, that setting up the new iPhone was not going to be an easy task for me as a blind person, due to my limited technical expertise along with having to deal with some visual cues on my screen. But I will say that after having had my friend, Imran, help me, it was not as bad as I had first thought.

The experience left me with a new appreciation for technology, and in addition I will say that setting it up was much less painful than if I were setting up a new computer system. The big problem came from finding someone at my cell phone company to help out. Especially so when Imran and I had to keep explaining things to the customer service rep with regard to certain contract conditions that they had imposed upon me.

Imran spent a lot of time making sure that the apps on my original phone were re-initialized and that the new iPhone remained in sync with my iPad. At the end of the day, a very long and tedious experience. Thank goodness for Imran.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day.

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This is a personal message from author Donna Jodhan
"Each time we raise our voice at someone else we are engaging in bullying! Each time we raise our hands to slap or punch someone else we are also engaging in bullying and each time we engage in actions to either manipulate or force someone else to do what we want we are also engaging in bullying!

There is no room in this world for bullying and each day we fail to take action against bullying it is another day that we allow others to bully us and our kids. Our heroes and role models are the ones who have made us proud; those brave young men and women who gave their lives for us in past wars and those who continue to do so. They are not the ones who choose to be racists and those who believe that their bad behaviour in public is acceptable.

I write and record audio mysteries that are being used at such events as murder mystery evenings as well as at public awareness and team building events. I promote understanding, tolerance, and problem solving and my audio mysteries continue to be broadcasted around the world and you can listen to them anywhere! On the plane or train! In the car or right there in your home! On your i device or computer!

Please join my campaign against bullying (CAB) by supporting my efforts to keep on writing and recording!
If you truly care then you will certainly dare!"

When the iPad went dark

Looking back on this particular memory, I can smile to myself now because if my mom did not tell me so I would never have known it.

On this particular day I wanted to share something with Mom, an article that I had come across while surfing with my iPad. So here I was, so very proud of myself walking towards her with iPad in hand. Then bingo!

She calmly said that she could not read the iPad but thanks to my quick thinking I fixed that quite easily. I just had to go into the settings and increase the brightness and then after that all was well. Not sure why it happened in the first place.

Mom went about her business and read my article while I stood waiting for her to finish. It is so funny, I had no idea that the screen was dark in the first place and then I had to simply go into the settings and fix things.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day.

Follow me on twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan.
Visit our online store to either purchase or subscribe for unlimited access to our library at www.donnajodhan.com/store.html
and you can even take advantage of our free downloads!
Or subscribe to our free monthly newsletter at www.donnajodhan.com.

This is a personal message from author Donna Jodhan
"Each time we raise our voice at someone else we are engaging in bullying! Each time we raise our hands to slap or punch someone else we are also engaging in bullying and each time we engage in actions to either manipulate or force someone else to do what we want we are also engaging in bullying!

There is no room in this world for bullying and each day we fail to take action against bullying it is another day that we allow others to bully us and our kids. Our heroes and role models are the ones who have made us proud; those brave young men and women who gave their lives for us in past wars and those who continue to do so. They are not the ones who choose to be racists and those who believe that their bad behaviour in public is acceptable.

I write and record audio mysteries that are being used at such events as murder mystery evenings as well as at public awareness and team building events. I promote understanding, tolerance, and problem solving and my audio mysteries continue to be broadcasted around the world and you can listen to them anywhere! On the plane or train! In the car or right there in your home! On your i device or computer!

Please join my campaign against bullying (CAB) by supporting my efforts to keep on writing and recording!
If you truly care then you will certainly dare!"

Mom and me with my iPad

It is so very enjoyable each time Mom and I get together to spend a few minutes with my iPad. This usually takes place whenever I wish to share an article or photo with her. Something that I am reading from the newspaper or from Facebook.

First I tell her what I am reading. Then I ask her if she would like to read/see it. If she says yes then I either walk over to her chair with iPad in hand or she will sometimes walk over to me. And there she would stand attentively and read out loud as I continue to right click along with my finger so that she could continue to read.

These are the moments that I most enjoy. The two of us, close together, sharing information and oh, yes! Mom comments as she reads and if it is a photo, she certainly gives her commentary.

This is so enjoyable for me as I get to listen to Mom's comments, her thoughts, and to her vivid descriptions of whatever photos are there. Mom is so good with this, I can surely recommend her to be an audio describer.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day.

Follow me on twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan.
Visit our online store to either purchase or subscribe for unlimited access to our library at www.donnajodhan.com/store.html
and you can even take advantage of our free downloads!
Or subscribe to our free monthly newsletter at www.donnajodhan.com.

This is a personal message from author Donna Jodhan
"Each time we raise our voice at someone else we are engaging in bullying! Each time we raise our hands to slap or punch someone else we are also engaging in bullying and each time we engage in actions to either manipulate or force someone else to do what we want we are also engaging in bullying!

There is no room in this world for bullying and each day we fail to take action against bullying it is another day that we allow others to bully us and our kids. Our heroes and role models are the ones who have made us proud; those brave young men and women who gave their lives for us in past wars and those who continue to do so. They are not the ones who choose to be racists and those who believe that their bad behaviour in public is acceptable.

I write and record audio mysteries that are being used at such events as murder mystery evenings as well as at public awareness and team building events. I promote understanding, tolerance, and problem solving and my audio mysteries continue to be broadcasted around the world and you can listen to them anywhere! On the plane or train! In the car or right there in your home! On your i device or computer!

Please join my campaign against bullying (CAB) by supporting my efforts to keep on writing and recording!
If you truly care then you will certainly dare!"

I can hear but she cannot see

This is what happened a few weeks ago when I went to show Mom a news story on my iPad. Mom is not an iPad user and, as a matter of fact, she is not an idevice user in any way. So, any time I get an opportunity to have her interact with either iPhone or iPad, it is a treat for us both.

On this particular day, I wanted to have her read an article from the newspaper and when she went to read it she could hardly see the screen! Strange but I could hear everything and then it dawned on me. The brightness had inadvertently been set way down somehow and all I had to do was to go to the settings option and increase the brightness. Presto! She was then able to see what I was hearing. She would not admit it but she is intrigued by my idevices but won't readily admit it.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day.

Follow me on twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan.
Visit our online store to either purchase or subscribe for unlimited access to our library at www.donnajodhan.com/store.html
and you can even take advantage of our free downloads!
Or subscribe to our free monthly newsletter at
There is no room in this world for bullying and each day we fail to take action against bullying it is another day that we allow others to bully us and our kids. Our heroes and role models are the ones who have made us proud; those brave young men and women who gave their lives for us in past wars and those who continue to do so. They are not the ones who choose to be racists and those who believe that their bad behaviour in public is acceptable.

I write and record audio mysteries that are being used at such events as murder mystery evenings as well as at public awareness and team building events. I promote understanding, tolerance, and problem solving and my audio mysteries continue to be broadcasted around the world and you can listen to them anywhere! On the plane or train! In the car or right there in your home! On your i device or computer!

Please join my campaign against bullying (CAB) by supporting my efforts to keep on writing and recording!
If you truly care then you will certainly dare!"

Those wonderful apps

This is probably one of my most delightful and biggest introductions to mobile devices! Ah yes, some of those most wonderful apps. I am like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to exploring and discovering some of those great apps. Especially so when I find them to be most accessible for a blind person such as me.

There are so many to mention but here are just a few: Skype, Twitter, BBC news, CBC news, CNN, Canadiens hockey, Westminster chimes, and the list goes on.

I am presently in the hunt for camera apps for blind persons, great scanning and bar code apps, and apps for reading my favorite books. I told you, I am like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to the world of apps and I am very sure that with time it will only get better.

I have an iPhone and an iPad and I have gotten much better at using my fingers to get around on the screen. I use tactile screen protectors which are comprised of dots to help me navigate and for insurance I use devices such as a Braille Pen and Braille Sense to navigate faster. These are 2 very powerful Braille displays in their own right.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to stop by and listen to some of my audio mysteries at www.donnajodhan.com. Feel free to share my blogs with others.
Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan.
Or you can chat with me on Skype at habsfan0526.

Learning the IPad

Thanks to Larry Lewis I am now well on the way to learning how to use the famous and infamous IPad. What an experience and a very exciting one at that.

It is quite a new experience for me but I have chosen not to use the touch screen route, choosing instead to do it with the aid of a Braille pen. This nifty little device emulates and simulates hand gestures and it enables me to navigate quickly through the various options on the IPad. I also bought a wireless keyboard and plan to start using it very soon.

The IPad is quite a new experience for me and I am truly loving it. Thanks to Steve Jobs I can now take advantage of a great mobile device. The experience is very different from that of learning to use and navigate through a computer screen. However, once I got the hang of it my life is now much richer. I don’t plan to stop there.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to share my experiences with others. Come by any time and visit me at www.sterlingcreations.ca.

Checking out labels on packages

Bar code readers for blind persons have certainly come a very long way. There used to be a time when a blind person, including me, used to have to depend on sighted assistance to get our packages read. Over the years this has improved greatly and now we have a few sources on hand to help us.

There is the bar code reader that you can buy at the websites listed below. There is also a device called the Pen Friend and here is how this works. You record your info on a special tiny label and affix it to your package. You will need sighted assistance to do this the first time. Someone to tell you what is on the package and after recording this you have it all there. You can then go back and use your special pen to read what you have recorded.

If I receive a package in the mail and need to read it, I do this in two ways. First, I could either use the scanning software in my talking cell phone, the KNFB reading software. Or I could put it under my scanner, the IPal Solo, or any other scanner that is similar to this scanner.

Of course, with the evolution of the IPad, there are apps out there to help you with this task as well. You can find apps to do this at a very cheap price. Both the apps and the scanning software utilize a camera that takes a picture of the printed matter and then converts it to voice output. Being able to read the info is becoming more important to everyone and the blind community certainly does not want to be left out of it.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to go out there and tell others about my blogs.
Visit www.maxiaids.com or www.independentlivingaids.com to learn more.

Why I chose the IPad

Thanks to the wisdom and guidance of my friend, Larry Lewis, I have chosen to go the IPad way. Hopefully and no reason why not, I will be enjoying all the benefits of the IPad plus more and I am going to use the Braille Pen to help me navigate my way as I prefer to leave the touch screen arena to others.

By using the IPad, I will be able to surf the Internet without having to power up my computer. I will be using a fantastic mainstream device to surf and I will not have to worry about access technology and whether or not it can interact and communicate with the Internet. The Braille Pen will greatly help me to get around.

I can’t wait to join the millions who have graduated to Apple’s suite of devices: the IPhone, the IPod and IPod Touch, and the IPad. No more having to power my computer when I wish to surf. I can now read books more easily with my IPad. I can surf more easily, and I can even take scrap notes plus so much more. I’ll probably install GPS on my IPad in the near future, and o yes! Omoby, an app which will enable me to take pictures of various objects and be able to have them described back to me.

Thank you, Larry Lewis! You can visit Larry at www.flyingblind.com.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day.