The Exchange Club is an informal gathering of people living with varying degrees of sight loss who wish to improve their daily lives through assistive technology.
Members share their experience of how they found solutions to problems accessing technology, and enjoy peer support for any technological difficulties that may arise.
The focus is mainly on assistive technology such as the Talkback and VoiceOver screen readers on Android and iOS devices respectively, and JAWS, NVDA, Narrator, and VoiceOver on Windows and Mac computers.
Many attendees attest to learning so much in a short time from colleagues that they, in turn, can help new arrivals with their technology problems.
Other discussions take place around such topics as visits to art exhibitions, info about libraries, social events taking place and the general exchange of information useful to blind and visually impaired people. Do check it out – you might be surprised at what you can offer and what you can learn.
As a result of the general lockdown over Covid for the past two years, members have not been able to get together physically. However, thanks to the wonders of smartphones and tablets, the club members enjoy full access to all meetings using the Zoom Video Meeting App.
Initially, The FB-Exchange Club focused on desktop issues and quickly moved on to include laptops, iPads, smart phones, fitness devices and voice-activated home technology.
Some of the more significant topics covered to date have included:
The members of the FB-Exchange Club would like to see:
If you have any questions or helpful suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will pass them on to the group.
Dublin
The Dublin FB-Exchange Club meets on Monday mornings from 11am to 1pm, on Zoom.
Cork
The Cork FB-Exchange Club meets every Saturday on Zoom between 11am and 12.30pm.
If you would like more information on the Fighting Blindness Technology Exchange club, please contact us at 01 674 6496 or insightgroups@fightingblindness.ie.