Talk Direct's Mark Skelton visits the Doncaster partially sighted society
Talk Direct's Mark Skelton visits the Doncaster partially sighted society to help with other visually impaired people.
Recently Talk Direct visited the Doncaster partially sighted society to support a course run by Action for the blind that aims to help people recently registered as blind. This course is put on by the charity to help people find out what help they are entitled to by the local authority, but also how to use technology that can help improve day to day living. Talk Direct have been part of this course that is called "Living with sight loss" for over a year now and they have proved very successful for all who are involved.
When we attend these courses it is normally by myself and one of our stores guru's to talk about how accessibility on a digital device can greatly help the visually impaired. We take along some devices and show some simple functions such as voice over and magnification, and let people see what help this can be. You often see how just a quick demo can get peoples attention and they are then extremely keen to see what help we can offer.
We often see a huge rise in guru appointments from people who have attended a recent course who want further help and advice, and they more often than not become 02 customers on the back of this.
Myself and Phil Lai, our guru at Castleford junction 32, went to Doncaster to offer our help and to show what we could do. Some of the people on the course had several questions for us as soon as we got through the door!
An elderly gentleman had recently been given an i-pad by a family member and was unable to do little more than turn it on. He was an avid reader in his past but due to his sight loss was now struggling to do so. Phil not only updated his device but showed him how to use the basic functions. With in no time he was navigating his way around the tablet and using it a lot more easier, and he wanted to know what other functions he could use. Phil then showed him how to use Audible an app designed for talking books, and they quickly started downloading books between them. Again it just goes to show what can happen with a little help and instruction. The gentleman was thrilled to be able to listen to his new books and the smile on his face was great to see.
The visit went so well we have been asked to visit the society in January to put on a full day to show all their clients what an 02 guru can do. This will be fantastic and i am looking forward to putting this event on as there is nothing better than seeing a room full of people wanting our help. But then again there is nothing better than them leaving that room being able to use a digital device so that they can stay in touch with family and friends.
