No matter what motivates someone to try our devices, that motivation is like a master key to a new world where gains, not losses, rule the roost. This might sound like “chicken speak,” but I sometimes think of the process of exploring and adopting vision tools as akin to that of developing wings.
This happened to me. My world has expanded greatly since I began my journey nearly two decades ago. In each year that passes, my own wingspan has broadened, and I have seen the development of wings begin for our many customers. Each time I am personally involved introducing a motivated person to all that can be accomplished, I feel joy to be a witness to the process of growing wings.
Something usually serves as the initial motivator. Recently someone said to me that she had just had enough with her complaining and with reliving each day the sadness of her lost vision. Some people come to tools from a feeling of urgency about maintaining independence and preserving privacy around personal documents that otherwise someone would have to read to them.
In trying tools, you can be really specific in asking us questions like, “How will that SNOW help me see the information on the bulk bins at the grocery store where I buy my quinoa?” I recently went to the market for an exacting customer, so I could report back precisely what I did to complete that task using the SNOW. Then the quinoa was on sale, so I bought her some. And I realized for both of us how much easier it was than using a simple hand held magnifier up above my head. See my earlier post, “Magnifying on the Go.”
The electronic magnifiers are always well worth their extra cost. With them, reading just about everything is easier than using a hand held lens. Whether it is reading ingredient labels on food packages, price tags and care instructions on clothing with portables electronics like the SNOW, or whether it is organizing papers, writing checks, reading instruction manuals, memorizing TV remote buttons, or sewing a button using desktop electronics like the IBIS HD, the tasks are done efficiently. The development of wings is underway.
Once wings begin to form, they simply grow stronger the more you use them. You may invest in more than one tool, as no one device really does everything. Just know that tools grow wings and expand horizons, and strong wings want to fly.