I just joined today

[oldoakowl]

So happy I found this place! It is a treasure trove of information.

I am an 83-year-old woman from California with macular degeneration. It has been very slowly progressing for about 10 years, but recently one eye progressed to the wet form. I have had two Avastin injections and am due for a third next month.

It would be a good idea to learn how to use an app that reads text on my Mac and to learn how to use dictation. I'm not very talented technically and am procrastinating, even though I know it is sensible to learn now while I still have pretty good vision. It's annoying to have my brain guessing at distorted letters and coming up with the most amazingly nonsensical words.

I tell myself I can do it. And if I can't, I can probably find some kind soul who can teach me.

[Moshiko]

Hi, my wife's cousin was in the same situation and Avastin had not helped him.His Ophthalmologist suggested to try injecting Lucentis and it did miracles to his vision.

I know there is also another drug, talk with your Ophthalmologist on these other options.

[Lizty]

My mother has macular degeneration and updated her Apple Mac recently. With help from the Apple Store, she now has her Mac set so that she can have emails and other text read out to her. She also has a mobile phone where she can say ' 'hey google, phone daughter...' .etc. A couple of years ago, I bought her an Alexa Dot, which is very helpful as it finds all sorts of information for her. tells the time, weather forecasts, answers crossword questions, etc! My mother has very advanced MD and she also says she wishes she had been better prepared before it got so bad! Luckily, there is lots of progress now in voice activated technology. I believe also that Apple have a phone that will work the television set!

[TwasBrillig]

Hi oldoakowl

Apple have loads of accessibility features. I found this tutorial for dictation on a Mac.

support.apple.com/en-gb/gui...

To get your Mac to read text to you:

support.apple.com/en-gb/gui...

For all vision features choose the one of interest and select the plus button + and it will take you to the relevant section.

NB These pages are useful for all of you who have Apple devices. Some are only available on certain devices but these pages are well worth looking at. This link takes you to the first page:

apple.com/uk/accessibility/

TwasBrillig

[fed13]

Keep visiting this site. You'll learn many things, and get enormous support! xx

[Hidden]

There's a Facebook site called Sight for Sore Eyes that's all about assistive technology and vision aids.Also worth checking out YouTube vids from Blindlifesam. He's in the USA and demos lots of things for the visually impaired.

[oldoakowl]

Thank you all for the support and for the Internet resources to check out. I think it will help me by sorting out the apps so I can learn the best one and not start with a mediocre one, get frustrated, and have to start all over again.

I'm telling all my elderly friends about this site!

[TwasBrillig]

Hi again, Oldoakowl,

Just to explain that the links I gave earlier are not apps but actually capabilities within your Mac, itself so you don’t need to download a separate app to get your Mac to read to you or for it to take your dictation. One of the most frustrating issues I have with Apple’s products - iPad, iPhone iPod and Mac - is that they don’t come with any instructions. Whether this is to show off how intuitive they are to use or just that they are too parsimonious to provide a manual, this is extremely unhelpful. The fact is that these devices are bursting with features that one only finds when necessity dictates or by sheer luck By the way do you have Siri enabled on your Mac? I find it extremely useful. Here is a link:

support.apple.com/en-gb/gui...

By the way, if you click on a link on Health Unlocked it will first take you to a page warning you that you’re leaving their site. Simply click on the link again.

Back in February members here contributed to some pages with all sorts of tips and tricks for coping with sight loss , coping with injections, a list of US organisations for our friends across the pond - and more. Unfortunately, these are difficult to find now as it’s so long ago but here are some links:

healthunlocked.com/maculars...

healthunlocked.com/maculars...

healthunlocked.com/maculars...

healthunlocked.com/maculars...

TwasBrillig

[Hidden]

Howdy! I am in WA state near Seattle, I am nearing 70 myself. As others have pointed out there are lots of assist things on Macs and basically all the OS (operating systems) in the tech universe. I too switched from Avastin to Lucentis and have noticed an improvement...whether it is more is debatable in my case.

If you'd like I would love to touch base with another in the States, feel free to send me a private message herein and we can exchange personal email addresses..if you'd like.