Steve's Got a Golden Ticket

Grace App Developer and all round iWizard Steve Troughton-Smith caught a bus up to Belfast last night, to queue overnight for the new iPhone 5:

Yep, that's a line of people snaking around the gallery level of a shopping centre waiting for the shop to open.

He got his "Golden" (okay white) ticket,

And he got his iPhone 5, one of the first on the island of Ireland.

Cahir was also on a bus in the North this morning, off to Little Angels School, in Letterkenny.

Where he was perfectly happy with his iPhone 3Gs

I will let Cahir's Mammy tell you why:

You may wonder what use is a iPhone to a child with special needs?

One that is only 5 years old, who doesn’t speak and relies on other people for all of his daily tasks from washing to dressing to choosing what to eat and when to eat it. Well that was my son Cahir last January.
I chose what Cahir ate, when he ate, what he played with, what he liked and didn’t like.  Cahir has Autism and is non-verbal. He has never spoken so I used to guess what he was thinking and what he was feeling; if he was sick or if he was hungry.
I took him to all the therapies and worked hard with him at home, hoping for some response other than moaning and pushing me away. 

When I heard about iPhones and iPads for children with Autism and how it was amazing how children were making great progress with communication and interacting...

I thought: “yeah right maybe for some children but it would be no use to Cahir”

Cahir couldn’t understand the “pecs system” which is handing me pictures for things he wants and I thought there wasn’t a hope of him being able to use an iPhone or iPad. When his special needs school started using the grace app on the iPhone that was donated from iPhones4autism.ie I thought I’d give it a go, but I wasn’t expecting an awful lot.

If I tell you the truth; I never thought Cahir would manage it as I thought it would be too complicated... Well I was soon put in my place and I was the one speechless!

It was amazing. I really and truly mean this with all of my heart; it changed my son’s life. He now uses the iPhone and an app called the grace app to tell us if he’s hungry and what he wants to eat. He now can make choices for himself and you should see him use it - he a wee genius!

Never never underestimate a child just because he can’t talk or has autism. Give him an iPhone and let his brilliance shine through.

Please donate any old iPhone you have for it truly does make a difference to the lives of children who are non-verbal.  Cahir is more engaged with the world now and is learning daily.

So thank you to everyone who donates their old iPhone;  you have giving children like Cahir his voice and choices xxx
kathleen

So if you are an "early adopter" like Steve and want to get the latest iPhone, please think about giving your old one to a kid like Cahir to re-use. We can re-use any iPhone 3GS, 4 or 4s, iPod 3 or 4 or any iPad. They don't have to be in perfect condition as we have a small cash fund for repairs and they will be kept very safe in the Otterbox Defender covers donated by Otterbox Ireland.

To find out more go to iPhones4autism.ie where you can read more stories about how old iPhones, are helping people with Autism and Special needs to say what they want.


Thank you.

Follow @stroughtonsmith on twitter to find out about all the good reasons you really need the new iPhone 5 
and Follow @LittleAngelsSch and @iPhones4Autism to find out all the ways old devices help kids with special needs.