At Henshaws we support people living with sight loss and a range of disabilities to achieve their ambitions and to go beyond expectations.
Our RU-vid channel is an important part of that and here you'll find a range of videos sharing tips, tricks and tech for living with sight loss and disability.
DISCLAIMER Henshaws have taken care to ensure that the information in all our videos is accurate. However, Henshaws will not accept liability for any loss, damage or inconvenience arising as a consequence of any use of or the inability to use any information in this video or supporting materials.
Hi Kez Thank you for your video. Very interesting to listen to. Your experiences of having other difficulties as well as blindness and the fact that they don't stop you from making the most of your life and what you as a person want to achieve in it, is inspiring. Good luck for the future. By the way, I should say I am also blind, so I know how much of a challenge the sighted world is. Keep up the good work. From Debbie
I've had a very bad experience with the braille sense products from hims. I got given a U2 from victa which was obsolete even by 2018 standards. at least with this one you get an up to date operating system in android 12 which doesn't feel old at all. and given that the braille note touch plus from humanware is no longer supported by android apps now given its running an 8 year old version of android. this is now considered a must
Good video, however it is yesterdays news. Please take a look at the new Ambutech NO-JAB Cane and the new Ambutech Pathfinder 360° rotating 2 inch ball cane tip. Using the constant ground contact method permits much more obstacle discovery and much easier to use.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the symbol cane especially here in the United States nobody knows what it is when I am carrying mine around I am legally blind not even doctors offices know what it is so it is basically useless and I don't use it anymore.
Another video illustrating just how inconsistent the messaging around canes is. Here’s the issues and inaccuracies: 1 - Symbol canes - Many are actually long and do touch the ground so simply saying that they’re the shortest one is wrong. There is only 15cm between the symbol canes sold in the RNIB shop and the shortest guide canes they sell for example. Depending on your height and angle a 70cm symbol cane will almost certainly touch the floor. Sensory teams offer symbol canes but the advice on how to use them is largely non-existent and most are put away in a drawer or never used. I actually collided with someone in Piccadilly Gardens who had their symbol cane still folded and across their chest and, on the rare occasions you see people out and about with them, that’s how most are used, which suggests that the advice on what they’re for and how to use them remains poor. Bottom line is that even holding a symbol cane unfolded in front of you won’t explain to most other people what it is. The idea that bus drivers in GM would understand it has to be a joke. Most don’t even lower the bus floor for cane users. The only thing which makes a cane visible to other people is moving it about. Biggest reason people don’t use canes is exactly because the advice on using them is poor/inconsistent and there is a psychological barrier to overcome. The general belief remains that use of a cane makes you vulnerable in some way or a target. The opposite is true. Making the invisible visible is the best thing and is a protection rather than a hindrance. Unfortunately, the messaging around that remains non-existent. 2 - Guide canes - I am literally the only person I have seen in GM using a guide cane. Never seen a sensory team give one out and they certainly DON’T train anyone to use them. The only training on offer is for long/navigation canes. Again, as above, if you don’t hold it away from you and move it from side then it is literally invisible to others. I have lost multiple canes to breakages from other pedestrians who have walked straight into it and either bent or snapped it. Generally happens once a year at minimum. Stopped happening and soon as I learnt to move it. Clearly intrigues lots of people who don’t understand why there is no ball on it etc. but then most of us aren’t bothered about whether they understand our sight loss or the specifics of how or why we use our canes. We just need the thing to be visible and to aid us with borders, gradients etc. I note also that whilst there was a reference to being able to replace whatever is on the end of a navigation cane there was no reference to the fact that you can also do that with guide canes e.g. there are pencil tip replacements for a small cost. 3 - very good advice with regard to a ruck sack but I would also add in that 1 of the things which should be in that ruck sack should be a spare cane and some spare tips. Also good advice to use a white cane. There is a tendency now for some people to have different coloured handles to express their individuality. That’s great but you’re fairly individual by having a cane and by having a coloured one you have almost certainly made yourself less visible in lots of circumstances. Having seen a red cane user hit by a HGV in a UK city (albeit at low speed thank goodness) I would never contemplate any colour beyond white. Wholly unrelated but are there plans to update the Henshaws bus hailer to include the V buses? Still not found a bus hailer with a V in for GM.
Good afternoon Mike, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. We understand the frustrations. In regards to your question, the V is included in our current bus hailers. It's on the left panel and it's the last letter. If yours doesn't include one, give us a ring or send us an email to discuss it!
I am also an Xbox gamer and high have experiences of gaming on other consoles! I published my first book “Between Me, You And The Console”, which goals in depth about our gaming has become more accessible to those who are blind or visually impaired. I saw a video on RU-vid the other day about Microsoft coal pilot integrated with Minecraft on the PC and the AI was describing what is happening on screen and giving hints and tips on what the gamer could do next 🦯🧑🏻🦯🦮👩🏾🦯➡️🕹️🎮🖲️
Unfortunately, I have found in my area, m o st. people are ignorant about white canes. Period. I was at my mailbox the other day, and this one lady never slows down, but there is a gentleman that always puts on his breaks, moves over, and puts lots of space between us.
Tempted to get one just because I'm getting bored of people at work questioning why I'm seemingly not paying attention. Doesn't matter how many meetings I explain "I can't see what's being presented, and I can't read this tiny laptop screen" it still happens every bloody time.
I can remember being about 12. And learning typing with a very very strict and grumpy typing teacher. I used to pray that there was such a thing as a braille keyboard for computers. I am in my 50's, and braille is my primary language. The day they made braille screen input for iPhones, I just burst into tears. At school I would carry my Perkins everywhere. At least it was good for defending myself. It's really heavy.
My name is Diane, and I am totally blind. How does this compare with the Pen Friend. Are the labels the same? At the moment, I use the Pen Friend for labeling my esentual oil bottles.
Hi Diane, thanks for your question. Unfortunately, NaviLens labels are not compatible with the PenFriend, vice versa. NaviLens is a smartphone app, and you request labels through the app, and you have to print them off yourself before attaching them to the items you want to label. Requesting labels is completely free. Also, instead of the labels featuring voice recordings, you annotate NaviLens labels using text which is then read aloud when you scan the label. I hope this answers your question!
Rubberbands tend to break. What I do is get a piece of 80 grit sand paper, and ruffin 1 of the lids. You can also ruffin different parts of the bottle if you have more than 2.
Oh boy I love Be My AI too. I use it for descriptions of photos I’ve taken on my walks, for descriptions of quilt blocks I’ve sewn, and to describe the diagrams in my quilt books. I wrote a couple of blogposts about how much I love it.
Her story could have been my story with very few differences… It is difficult to connect with other people going through something similar, that you can resonate with.… The visually impaired is already a small community, and visually impaired artists that paint and draw is extremely tiny! thank you for sharing it, hope in the future there are ways for people like us to connect and create some thing together❤️
So I’ve been on the fence about buying these and I know this video is old but you’ve basically convinced me to get these so I appreciate you. It occurred to me over the last few weeks that it’s probably better if my screen reader isn’t speaking through my phones speakers and people can eavesdrop on my text conversations and stuff like that at work so that’s why I’m thinking about getting these
Thanks for the info. It can be difficult to decide which one. Personal choice I suppose, and as you say, they are not perfect but it's a start. Thanks guys.
