Fifty-eight year old, Janine Plummer, from Windsor is legally blind, but thanks to the latest technology, and expert training from Vision Australia, she doesn’t let her vision impairment slow her down.
Janine, who runs a garden maintenance company with her husband Ian, has Retinitis Pigmentosa an hereditary condition that causes a degeneration of the light sensitive cells and pigment layer of the retina. Janine has no vision in her left eye and only tunnel vision with no colour perception in her right.
“Technology makes a big difference in my life,” said Janine. “I manage the office side of our business on a computer using a screen reader software called JAWS. It reads the information from the screen aloud to me,” said Janine.
Janine also uses an iPhone and learnt the basic accessibility features at Vision Australia’s Sydney facility in Enfield.
“The iOS training got me off to a great start with my phone. Now I use all sorts of apps including a mobile camera called TapTapSee. It photographs objects and then identifies them out loud,” said Janine.
“It is amazing how fast technology is developing and it is so exciting to learn about what is now on offer,” said Janine.
Vision Australia provides a range of services and supports that assist people like Janine to live the lives they choose.
Whether it is help accessing education, developing skills to stay independent at home, or providing social and emotional support and connecting with others, the options are many.
Find out more about Vision Australia’s services today. Call us on 1300 84 74 66 or visit our website www.visionaustralia.org.