[Diabetes-Talk] Accessibility of tandem pump

[Patricia Maddix]

Today I took part in a national JDRF virtual educational event. Part of the program included an exhibit hall so I selected to chat with the Tandem Diabetes representatives. I explained that I was very interested in getting the new tandem pump but but I am visually impaired and that my current Medtronic pump is now out of warranty. They said that at this time they did not have much to offer a person in this situation that does not have a caregiver on call to assist. One of the representatives who appeared to be more of a managerial person said that the CEO is very aware of this dilemma and they Hope to deal with it as time goes on. I know we hear this all the time but I just wanted to jab at a few more people to keep thisat the forefront of discussions. There were two other people in the chat room who also were very adamant that the device needs to be accessible for people with vision impairments. One was a gentleman in his 50s who plans to live a very long time and feels that as he ages might have less than perfect vision and another participant was actually calling in from Israel. She was appalled that the new pump could not be controlled from an iPhone. She currently is a looper and has a homemade system that is automated and works from an iPhone.  on July 1 of this year and iPhone app became available for the tandem pump that mirrors the screens on the pump to show all of the data and what the current status of everything is but cannot actually control the pump. They are going to check for me to see if this app is VoiceOver compatible and get back to me.  I did read an article yesterday on the Diatribe that indicated that tandem has a goal to get approval to control the pump using the app. Besides helping those of us that are visually impaired this would greatly benefit parents of children with diabetes. Apparently this would require FDA approval but would not require separate clinical trials. I’m always keeping my eyes open for opportunities to speak with influential people in the field that might be able to take these opinions back to someone who could make a difference.
On another note, this program was presented via a rather complex zoom platform that included breakout sessions, auditorium, exhibitors etc. and was not VoiceOver compatible on my iPad so my husband had to assist me in connecting to the meetings. Bummer.
Patricia Maddix

Sent from my iPhone

Sent from my iPhone