Christmas shopping is difficult enough, but imagine doing it for an elderly person suffering with diminishing abilities. It seems like items they could really use to help them function are hard to come by. For example, my mother used to code computer software for a living. Now, it takes her an hour to send a 4-line email. Not because of ignorance, but merely because of her poor eyesight. Her process would drive most of us batty, but for her, it’s become customary. First, she sits at her computer with her reading glasses and holds her bulky magnifying glass over the screen to see which program to open. Then, she moves the glass over her keyboard in order to see the letters to type. Typing over the years makes the process of finding the right keys easier, but as her arthritis worsens, her finger placement on the keys changes. The process of moving the glass from the screen to the keyboard and back takes more time than actually crafting the email.
Most functions for my mom around the house are similar to the email process so I’m constantly in search of things that will make life easier for her. This year, I decided a back-lit keyboard with large letters would make a good Christmas gift. But I suspected something like this would be hard to find. I was right. The big box retailers and electronics stores cater almost completely to the young and technologically savvy. I don’t blame them – that is who is buying tech items. But what’s an older person to do? I have now taken my mother to the retail centers for different wireless carriers 4 times in the past year. There is not one phone I have found on the market that has screen fonts with type large enough that she can read. With no other options, she sticks to her Nokia flip phone with push buttons that she has memorized the placement of.
In my search for the keyboard, several sales people directed me to regular keyboards with dim back-lighting, or gaming keyboards that are cumbersome and expensive. None of which would work for Mom. A quick search online found what I was looking for, but that’s just it. I had to order it ONLINE. What if my mom wanted to buy it for herself? Here’s something else society and manufacturers don’t seem to understand about retired Americans. They don’t shop online. My mother is a smart woman. It has occurred to her to look for modifications to things to make life easier for her, but she gets in the car to go to the store to do her shopping. Not only is she of a different generation of people who don’t use credit cards, but there is the issue of the lack of security of shopping online that she did not grow up in knowledge of. And, let’s not forget the fact that older people have a harder time seeing and shopping online may not be convenient. Remember the magnifying glass? Imagine that process while in checkout at Amazon.
I can only hope that things change as I age with the tech generation. Maybe then, I can find things the older Kristin will need. Or maybe then, there will be smart phones and computer monitors with bigger screens and type so I can do my shopping online.