Techno Savvy

There was no mention of it on the TV news but it would have been a worthy good-news story. 
I had imagined the headline; 'Great Grandmother and Son in Law (with disability) embrace new life!  In the very same week my Mum of 84 years and Merv each received their own iPads.  Neither of them have used a computer or tablet before but both of them have excelled in such a short time.
After almost twelve months Merv's funding had been approved and his wheelchair, iPad and accessories were finally received.  Nothing is quite that simple!  It had involved months of training on the speech app, Proloqu2go.  To transfer the information from the iPad belonging to the speech pathologist to Merv's iPad we required two speech pathologists and two hours of time.  My wifi proved slow but it finally coughed and spluttered with encouragement from  iTunes on my home computer.  Finally the speech app was downloaded on Merv's spanking new iPad.  The speech pathologists said their goodbyes and we were left together in an empty house staring at the new addition to our family.

'Email,' I muttered wildly adding information which continued to be rejected.  A little Google research and after numerous false starts Merv had his email address up and running.  Another milestone. 

Music was next.  Merv is a fan of most 60's and 70's music.  We downloaded 30 Elvis songs, a Cher album (I didn't even know he liked Cher!) and we did a little iPad sharing, downloading  a couple of my albums.
Merv's hand is poised with his fluorescent green stylus.  He is a keen student.  I know it's going to take some time before he is confident to be independent with it. 

It was just coincident that Mum also received her iPad the same week.  There was no funding available for her and she paid for her own.  Mum has been using a typewriter for many years to send letters to relatives in the UK.  Each letter takes about 5 days to arrive overseas but firstly you have to put it in a mailbox!  Now she types out an email, presses the send button and it's almost there!  Not only is Mum sending emails to everyone she is surfing the net and playing all types of games including Candy Crush.  A modern day Great Granny!

I am very proud of both Merv and Mum, two very unexpected techno savvy everyday people of note.

Merv singing along with Elvis on his iPad