my mum has PSP and as a result of her failing eyesight and decreasing manual dexterity her Samsung mobile is becoming too difficult to use for texts and calls.
Has anyone had success in changing their smartfor one of those basic phones with large buttons??
Myself and mum want to keep this valuable means of communicating viable for her as long as we can!
Thankyou
Adrienne
My mother-in-law lived with Parkinson's disease for many years and she had huge benefits of a large button phone, with family members on speed dial. When face time / video calls became available this was useful to her though she could no longer press the buttons so the carers would have to initiate the calls. I think a "portal" would have been useful if she had still been alive today. My husband with PSP cannot make himself heard or understood on the phone, so the simpler phone /big buttons isn't really relevant to him. I bought an Android Tablet which gave him all the smartphone capabilities at four times the size. It's only moderately successful as his impulse control means he clicks on everything and gets lost in the adverts - or calls people he didn't mean to call - but he can play some puzzle games etc that would be too fiddly on the mobile phone, and the grandkids can video call him.
I'm sure others will have useful advice . 🌻🤗
Hi, an alternative is to use Amazon Alexa, once set up you can call people and answer calls.
We’ve successfully changed my Mums mobile to an iPad with FaceTime - she can’t anymore remember how to ring me but can still answer when I ring her.
We used the Komp noisolation.com/kompYou let people who want to keep in touch have the app and account details and they can videocall or send messages or photos without the PSP patient needing to do anything.
Just my problem also - Eyes and fat fingers! Am male aged 81, diagnosis PSP 5 yrs ago. Debating whether to get a simple big button phone, or keep this fancy one I can hardly make use of, yet have contact with my kids in Canada and see their pics, etc. Pls let me know any more thoughts or discoveries, etc. Thanks TimbowPSP
My Mum has PSP and lives in Australia and I in London. A few months ago I got Amazon Echo Show devices (like an Alexa but with a screen for video calls) for myself, my sister, and Mum. You can set them up to support "drop in" video calls from nominated people, which we've done for just my sister and I. A "drop in" allows us to initiate a call to Mum without Mum having to press any button or say anything. It's been brilliant as a way to stay connected - even if it's just a few minutes a day. We have Mum's device set up near her favourite chair where she spends most of the day. Some days Mum can say a sentence or two, other days not, but I can talk and we wave etc. Mum was not technical and wary to begin but now has gotten totally used to having this little screen that either I or my sister appear on sporadically! We have a regular routine time to call now, and sometimes she gets my Dad to WhatsApp me to ask me to drop in. We moved to this after Mum became no longer able to talk on the phone, and then became unable to do fine movement which ruled out using WhatsApp even with the big buttons. She had an iPad that we tried for Facetime but is no longer about to swipe to answer calls, so I was really relieved when I found this Echo Show drop in facility.
Thankyou so much for this information!
hi Girvangal, sorry to hear that. Becomes increasing hard indeed. We recently purchase a CallGenie for my Dad, who is also now struggling with his phone. The big buttons didn’t seem to make a difference because of the inability to focus press, not just see it. The CallGenie lets you call them directly and they don’t have to do anything. They can’t call out from it though, so Dad still has a phone for emergencies. It’s one thing to maybe add into the tool kit. This is the link for the product, it’s been a game changer for us. Good luck and all the very best wishes. smart-life-solutions.co.uk/
Thankyou so much for this!
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