[Diabetes-Talk] I can now take an insulin bolus directly from my iPhone after updating my tandem insulin pump and it’s fully accessible using voiceover

[Patricia Maddix]

Gary,
I have the tandem T slim X to pump with control IQ. I think this is the only model which is the newest one that can take advantage of the mobile bolus feature.
This bolus feature is the only feature that can yet be accessed by people who are blind using the voiceover screen reader.   This app is also available on various android phones and I’m assuming that it works with talkback. However even on the pump this is a fairly complex screen filled with many buttons so it would seem to me that it will be even easier for them to make the regular settings menu and its various features fully accessible. If they make it possible for us to get into the settings where the load process of a new cartridge an infusion set takes place I think that the physical aspect of filling the cartridge and tubing could also be made accessible with some discussions with their engineers.   I know there are some blind people who are already doing the cartridge change entirely themselves but I do not feel comfortable with this.
In response to those of you that do not feel comfortable with a pump until they are fully accessible I totally relate. W when I first started a pump in 1997 I had adequate site to be able to manage the whole thing myself and for many years after that. The best I could ever get using multiple daily injections was a hemoglobin A-1 C of 8.6 so a pump is crucial to my health. I take very tiny amounts of insulin measuring in 0.1 and even 0.01 units so this is impossible with insulin pens or syringes. For example my breakfast dose of insulin with factored in correction was 1.82 my last hemoglobin A-1 c was 6.4 and this is what it’s been running since starting this new pump with control IQ. I do feel like I am walking a tight rope or living on the edge of a cliff however being attached to a pump that is not fully accessible and I know this does cause a lot of stress but my diabetes is doing good. I am starting to try to rebuild a network of a few friends who can learn about my pumpand be available to help out in an emergency if my husband‘s not available. Generally I only need assistance about every three or four days when I change my site for about 10 minutes.
Patricia

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 21, 2022, at 10:02 AM, gmelconian619 at gmail.com wrote:
> 
> Glad your ok. Your correct as long as your ok.  Those material thinngs can be replaced , your life cant .     glad your pump is now more accessible then before.   Which model of tandum do you have just out of curiosity.  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Patricia Maddix via Diabetes-Talk
> Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2022 10:55 PM
> To: NFB Diabetes Division <Diabetes-Talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Patricia Maddix <pmaddix at comcast.net>
> Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] I can now take an insulin bolus directly from my iPhone after updating my tandem insulin pump and it’s fully accessible using voiceover
> 
> Dear friends,
> After our neighbor‘s house burned down on Sunday morning and damaged part of the side of our garage I finally was able to take the time to update my tandem pump to enable me to take a Bolus directly from the app on my iPhone. Yes, everyone got out of their houses safely due to a young neighbor who happen to be awake and saw the flames and the initial explosion and ran a block to wake all of us up. Those additional minutes may have saved lives and enabled enough time for my husband to get outside and start hosing down the side of our house to reduce the amount of flames that were able to take hold. Only a Only a small amount of the siding caught fire, some windows shattered from the heat, the fence burned down, our wood pile burned up and gas and electric utility boxes damaged. But the main thing is we are safe. Now life must go on.
> So, just wanted to share that I’m having a similar experience to Liz Oleksa and being able to  take an insulin bolus from my phone. All of the regular bolus features including calculating dose from carbs, calculating needed corrections, accounting for insulin on board are available through the app except for the extended bolus feature. I have only had one meal since getting it up and running but everything worked great.  Need to practice with it a bit more so it becomes second nature but everything seems to read aloud.
> The main thing that I think we have to learn from this is that all of the pump  features should be able to be made accessible in this manner and if it can be done on the insulin pump it certainly can be done on other medical devices. So no medical device manufacturer has an excuse that it cannot be done.   We have very solid proof that it can and has been done.
> I think that in the near rather than distant future we Will be looking back at this landmark event as the beginning of an explosion of accessibility for blind and low vision users of insulin pumps and hopefully other medical devices.
> Patricia
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
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