Meet Christoper Hills! This inspiring young adult is an Apple Certified Pro Final Cut Pro X, Level One and an accessibility ambassador. Christopher has Cerebral Palsy and uses a switch to access his Mac, iPhone, and iPad. He lives in Australia and runs his own business.
In his own words… A brief history of my story: I started using a head switch over 10 years ago, when I used a PC with special assistive software called Discover Switch. I very quickly got the hang of it as it was my only way of being independent. Four years ago, I changed to the Mac because I found that the assistive software available was better than for PC. About 2 years ago, I made a video called “Why Touch Screens Scare Me†in which I talked about popular devices now having touch screens, such as the iPad, and me not being able to access them. A short while after that, Komodo got in touch with me and sent me the first generation Tecla Shield to try out.For the first time ever, I made a phone call to mum at work using my iPhone. She got a big surprise. After that, I discovered the advantages of having a smart phone with me all the time so I could also contact someone if I needed to. I made a video about this also called “Making a Phone Call†which you can find on my youtube channel.  Thanks to the Tecla Shield, the last 2 years has seen a revolution for switch users, because suddenly they could access Apple devices out of the box and Android devices with special software. This has been incredible!  Before that, switch users would have to buy really expensive, and often clunky third-party solutions for access. I remember when my dad was looking for a communication device for me.  He was told it would take a five-figure sum!  The only thing missing was official support for Apple, and that came 11 months ago with iOS7. I have a couple of videos on my youtube channel showing the huge benefits this gave me, including being able to access Gestures and play games on iOS devices. Since then, I’ve been part of a group here in Australia promoting the power of Accessibility for people with all kinds of different disabilities.  I’m currently working on switching from my third party assistive software that I have used to access my Mac for a couple of years, to the Mac’s built in Switch Control feature. One of the benefits of this is that I can use my Tecla Shield with any Mac out of the box. I’m able to access Final Cut Pro X, which I am Apple Certified in. The combination of a bluetooth switch like the Tecla Shield and Switch Control in Apple Operating Systems means endless possibilities for switch users.
You can find all of Christopher’s  videos here: https://www.youtube.com/user/icdhills/videos
Follow him on Twitter:Â https://twitter.com/iAmMaccing