Hi every one,
Apologies for taking so long to update my Blog, lots of things
happening & I keep putting it off to another day! Well that day
is here!
I am now the proud owner of a Braille Note which comes with a
cellphone, thanks to the folks at The Blind Foundation for
putting together the application for funding & thanks to Enable
New Zealand for providing the funding!
The Braille Note has a feature called, "Face to face", where I
can attach a keyboard & a conversation can be typed to me or the
key pad on the cellphone can be used to do the same thing. The
unit can be used to make phone calls via the NZ' Relay service in
Hamilton to any landline in the country for free, there is a
charage for cellphone calls! There are many more features to the
unit, I wask my techo man if there is a site you can visit to
view the units & people it on my blog. My cellphone number
should you be interested in txting me is, 02108209114
unforunately when I txt to Telecom number it comes out as a
series of dashes & digits but fine to receive from Telecom, some
problem with the technology they tell me!
What have I been up too, well I continue to come across to Laura
Ferguson Community during the day from Monday to Friday & hang
out with my family on the weekend I now have my breakfast at LFT'
& then head to the GYM around 9:45 for an hour or more & then
shower. In the avo I do a variety of things from working with my
Br tutor to concentrated listerning sessions, working with
adaptive technology & The Blind Foundation techo sandstone
sculpturing, e mailing, reading for my study course about to
start at the end of May through Weltec, catchingccup with
residents from LFT' & doing the coffee thing when possible.
I mentioned that I am studing, well I have enrolled at Weltec to
do a course which has a diploma attached & the course is, "Health
Psychology" & I will be using a laptop with a 40 cell Braille
display to read from, along with using it to access the internet
for study resources The Blind Foundation play a huge part in
helping me with all of this & Laura Ferguson played a huge roll
in enrolling me with Weltec & also applying for funding to cover
course fees, thank you both very much!
Another thing that Laura Ferguson has kindly done for me, is
enroll me for swimming lessions through H2O in Upper Hutt & I
have been going there since the beginning of 2011 every
fornight.They have a hoist with a chair attached for entering the
pool & for my initial sessions I needed a lifeccjacket, but my
confidance has grown as my body becomes a lot more preer & I no
longer need one & feel pretty confident in the water with my
instructor & someone to handccsign. I have done a lot of work
with balance & floating on my back along with sculling &
paddling. I do some walking using buoyance aids & some work
swimming. I am still very challenged when it comes to breathing
while swimming on my front, 2 senses down & not knowing where you
are in the pool & having your face partcially under water feels
very claustaphobic & takes a bit to get ones head around! Never
mind we will get there & then it's of for a soak in the spa if
there is time!
Another thing I have been very fortunate to be involved with is
sailing with Sail Ability based at Evans Bay & what great fun to
get out on with water in a tow man sailer & with some good hand
signals I can man the tiller to a certain degree & with more
experiance will get more confident at it. Last time I was out,
my good lady got out in a sailer herself & really enjoyed it. I
dream of getting out together as a family one day sailing, like
we used to do a little on Lake Wakatipu.
