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Sometimes it's the simple adaptations that make life easier
Take the foot switch I recently got Mum. Due to mobility issues, stooping down to switch off electrical appliances at the wall socket is near impossible for her. What was once a simple task is now a major hurdle. We could get an electrician to move the sockets higher up the wall, but that means replastering, mess, hassle, and considerable expense. The foot switch, while not suitable for high-wattage appliances like electrical heaters, is ideal for devices like TVs. Manufacturers often recommend they should be switched off at the wall socket, rather than left on standby mode when unattended overnight. It keeps mum happy, knowing the TV is properly switched off. Anything to reduce her anxiousness about that sort of thing helps me out too. It’s comforting to know she is reassured and safe.
The foot switch, a low-cost adaptation around £15.00, is one example of the many tech solutions out there, all of which helps the carer as much as the intended recipient. From purpose-designed accessible mobile phones and smartphones for older people, those with hearing or sight impairment, or dexterity issues to TV remote controls with simplified interface and large, well-spaced apart high-contrast buttons, to 1960s style phones with a rotary dial designed to help people living with dementia.
The good news is designers and manufactures of mainstream electrical consumer devices are getting better at factoring in accessibility needs, but there’s still quite a way to go. Recently I got mum a new TV. Because of her failing eye-sight we decided on a large screen, which she is happy with, and while playing around with some of the settings, I came across dialogue enhancement. This helps to emphasise speech and reduce distracting background sound effects and music. Though my mum doesn’t have much of a hearing loss, she did say how the new TV sounds much better, speech is clearer – with no more ‘mumbling’ from those TV presenters she says!
Internet support
The TV remote she persevered with, and mastered the basics, like changing channels and adjusting the volume. I joked the other day that her new TV is really smart. If she had the internet (I’m working on it), she could voice her commands to the TV and wouldn’t need to worry about the fiddly small buttons on the remote (without internet access the TV’s voice command function doesn’t work).
Lack of internet or wi-fi makes things tricky sometimes in an increasingly connected world. ‘What would I want the internet for’, she says, ‘I don’t have a computer’. I explained that she doesn’t need to have a computer, or know anything about computing to benefit from the internet. There are stand-alone devices that could help us both, from smart home monitoring, to 2-way video call devices (mum doesn’t want a smartphone). They are ‘plug and play’ with very little need for any kind of set up or knowledge on how to use them.
Mum does have a ‘traditional’ telecare package with a wearable pendant from the local authority. But the other day a letter arrived from BT saying how they will soon likely replace the old analogue phone system with digital, and that if you have an existing telecare device, to check with the provider on whether it will still work. That worries mum, and me too. ‘Why do they always have to keep changing things?’ she says. I get it, and it is frustrating. Even I, a semi-retired electronics and acoustics engineer, get a bit fed up with the relentless tech churn, but I had to bite my lip. I was itching to say that Alexander Graham Bell invented the analogue telephone well over hundred years ago, and the fundamentals haven’t changed much since then!
Anyhow, the switch to digital will provide an opportunity, for with it will come a wi-fi router and the internet. And the great thing is, it has a socket for her existing ‘landline’ phone. So, all boxes ticked then – the old tech will still work with the new, and with internet access comes new possibilities. Well, maybe. My main aim is to keep my mum in her home for as long as possible. Sadly though, she doesn’t have so many visitors call around these days. Friends have either passed away or have their own health and mobility issues. I visit mum every few days, and attend to her needs as much as possible. But it does worry me that she spends considerable time to herself. She reads a lot, but with her failing eyesight, reading is becoming a problem too.
The future of AI
Keeping mentally stimulated is just as important as physical exercise. It strikes me that perhaps, one good use of artificial intelligence, is some kind of AI companion buddy, perhaps a text-to-speech chatbot (suitably configured and with safety protocols in place), that mum could interact with, such as play word games. Maybe it could even read to her. I mentioned this to mum the other day, in a jokey half-hearted kind of way, to which she replied ‘are you mad’ (well I did try!) – but in all seriousness, although AI gets a bad press (and for good reason with the potential threat to jobs and people’s livelihoods), I feel it could be a force for good, with potential benefits for people as they age. AI could fill in the gaps, but not be a replacement for real human interaction.
I’m dreaming now – and in the longer term, I think I might like to have an AI, hyper-intelligent robot strutting around my home, that’ll gladly go out and do the shopping (I don’t fancy having a drone delivering my groceries on the lawn - I hate bruised bananas!). It would remind me when to take my meds, and I could have meaningful conversations with ‘it’ - the robot having successfully scored full marks on the Turing test. And most important of all, I could boss it around – oh joy of joys. Will that kind of thing ever be possible? I think the way AI technology is rapidly advancing, it’s on the horizon and approaching fast.
By Kevin Taylor
Published on 16/06/23
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