BridgingApps’ programs for senior adults include “Well Connected” presentations for our local Front Porch affiliate. Usually there is one Well Connected event each quarter, in either English or Spanish, with a dozen or so attendees.
The most recent (in Spanish) was “Accesibilidad con BridgingApps: Encontrando la Configuración y/o Funciones Adecuadas para Usted” (“Accessibility with BridgingApps: Finding the Right Settings and/or Features for You”) by Alejandra “Ale” Gonzalez, one of our Digital Navigators. This presentation covered, in Ale’s words, “built-in accessibility settings and features on Apple and Android devices. Things such as setting up a Medical ID, how to have text read aloud, and magnification to enlarge items on your screen.”
What’s Meant by “Well Connected”?
For disabled seniors, and others who find “getting out” more complicated than just grabbing a car key, it’s easy to sink into social isolation—and from there into chronic loneliness and other health problems. While social needs vary among individuals, everyone needs to:
- Stay in touch with someone who cares and understands
- Regularly enjoy fun and stimulating activities
- Feel that they’re contributing something useful
Today’s digital technology has brought those benefits closer to home. However, technology is only useful to those who know that it exists and how to access it. Hence the goal of getting people “well connected”: showing them how to communicate, attend meetings, arrange travel, manage their health, and perform other tasks through digital technology. Improved social connections are the larger aim and natural result.
“In almost two years of presenting,” notes Ale Gonzalez, “I have shared apps and devices for fintech, entertainment, and various disabilities. The crowd has been just great: they dial in or log in from all over the United States. [Yes, you can join virtual meetings with a “non-smart” phone!] They always have lots of questions. TTAP [the Texas Technology Access Program] is a regular favorite resource, and it has counterparts in other states.”
(See “State AT Program Information,” from the Center for Assistive Technology Act Data Assistance, for one directory of technology access programs throughout the U.S.)
All About Everything
Below is Ale’s sample list “of some of the topics and apps I’ve presented on, or will soon present on.”
- Entertainment and game apps (e.g., Jigsaw Box Puzzles, Libby, Pluto TV)
- Health, wellness, and brain-training apps (e.g., FitOn, Insight Timer, Lumosity)
- Medication-management apps (e.g., Apple Health, Medisafe, Pill Reminder)
- Money-management and savings apps (e.g., BridgingApps FinTech List, GoodRx, Kroger, McDonalds)
- Staying safe online (e.g., recognizing scams, managing cybersecurity and passwords)
- Using the “rewards” settings on business apps
- Vision apps (e.g., Be My Eyes, Seeing AI, Speechify)
Other BridgingApps team members who have worked with Well Connected:
- Amy Fuchs, Program Manager
- Tara Rocha, bilingual Digital Learning Specialist