Edinburgh firm provide blind group with new iPad after theft

The Edinburgh IT company Simply FixIt have donated a new iPad to a computer class who meet at the Central Library following the theft of an iPad used by the class a few days ago by a thief who sneaked into their classroom.

The class is made up of partially sighted and blind computer buffs who find the Apple device revolutionary and easier to use. They also use a piece of software which is called Supernova and this allows them to increase the font size or listen to what is being displayed on the screen of a normal PC. The group are very keen to learn and the untimely loss of the iPad had left them without something which had proved very useful to them.

Jim McKenzie leads the class and is himself partially sighted said:-“I’m absolutely delighted that SimplyFixIt have offered to give me a replacement iPad – it’s restored my faith in humanity! The iPad had proved really popular with the Resource Centre users and it’s great that we’ll be able to continue to run these sessions. Although it was my own device, I mainly used it for working with the blind and visually impaired people who would come in to the library. I decided to get one after the RNIB hailed the technology as the way forward. It’s been a huge success and we’re getting more and more people asking to use it. I’m very grateful that we’ll be able to continue these sessions.”

The Edinburgh Evening News reported the story earlier in the week of the theft of the iPad, and Scott Wilkinson from nearby Simply FixIT on Forrest Road was happy to donate a new device to the group.

Scott said:-“The perpetrator of this cowardly act was obviously the lowest type of human being imaginable. To target a vulnerable individual without consideration of his circumstances is reprehensible. We felt, as a local business, that we could not stand by without doing something.

“If for the sake of a few hundred pounds we could reinstate the continuation of the class then it is a no brainer on our part. Hopefully, this should send a lesson to anyone else who tries to steal from the vulnerable.”

The classes are held in the Central Library’s Resource Centre and you can get more details of the classes here on the Council website.

Simply FixIT have branches across the city.

Our photo shows Scott Wilkinson of Simply FixIT handing over a new iPad to Jim McKenzie, left, and Ken Black, right, one of the members of the computer class.