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Ever have something that you swear you could not live without, and it changed your life? The ever fast paced world of technology changing and updating is making my life easier. Yes, easier. You can have a love - hate relationship with new technology. I choose to love it, even though I do not understand all of it, but I do understand it has been part of my life since 1967. I bet you are wondering, what technology was there in 1967 that could be life changing. Imagine being parents of a 2 year old child telling them that your child is intellectually challenged and must be put in an institute. That can be devastating news, but my parents believed otherwise. So after a year of many trips to Vancouver for testings, a doctor finally came up with a diagnosis that my parents could accept. I was diagnosed with severe hearing loss. In 1967, I was fitted with a hearing aid. My first reaction (and I still remember this) to the hearing aid was I pulled it out of my ear and threw it. I did not like it at first. It took a long time to adjust and while I was learning to adjust, my parents (along with several others) advocated to have the School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Then I was being taught sign language and learning to speak, my parents enrolled in a correspondence course from the John Tracey Clinic, a school in Los Angeles, California (Actor, Spencer Tracy’s son was deaf and this inspired the actor to start a clinic to help parents teach their deaf children to lip read/speak). It was a busy time for my mother, devoting many hours a day teaching me to speak, sound out words, and reading. Techn0logy was working and I was mainstreamed into regular classes in school shortly thereafter. Thirteen years later another diagnosis once again devasted my parents, I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (Usher syndrome - progressive vision loss and hearing loss). At the age of 16, RP has not affected me at the time, that came much later in life when I noticed the tunnel in my vision. I then realized, I was going blind. It wasn’t until 2011 that new digital aids changed my hearing world, it was a life altering experience. I could hear rain for the first time, it was a beautiful sound. Walking into a BOSE store, we were listening to music, and again, for the first time I could hear a flute playing amongst the symphony. I was never able to hear those things before. It is the little things that can make such an impact. Running with the #RunGoApp and #AppleWatch is another example of life changing technology. It may be a small change for some, but for me, it has given me my confidence back and keeps me running. It is a passion of mine: running and technology - a perfect catalyst for adaptation. Because of these wearable technology, it has given me new lease on maintaining an active life. Though I live with Usher syndrome (progressive vision loss/hearing), I do not fear it, for I have technology to help me along the way. I have many apps on my #iphone and #ipad that adapts to what I need to do in order to keep writing, reading and creating. I believe in the very near future technology will be so advanced that I will be able to maintain my running even with total vision loss. Imagine a world without technology - I would have been institutionalized, perhaps not able to communicate, to hear, to read or do any things that I love to do today. So yes, I choose to love technology. I have much gratitude to those who work tirelessly to improve our everyday life through technology. Curious minds creates innovative ideas that can have an impact in our lives, as it did for me. Check out the video below from RunGoApp .
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