How Alexa Became One of My Disability Must-Haves

I was talking to my Public Partnerships consultant a few weeks ago (PP is a program where I live where someone you love can get paid to help take care of you! It's an incredible program!), and she mentioned how she uses Alexa as an alarm. I thought how funny it was because I only thought of it as a disability tool. Here's why!

Alexa as a disability tool

1. Hands-free

I can do things hands-free with Alexa! When I have a flare-up with my spinal muscular atrophy, and it's hard to type or just overall, I use Siri on my phone! But I definitely feel like I can do more with Alexa skills, and its routines are my favorite!

2. Skills

I have a bunch of skills! I love calming sounds like ocean or brown noise. So I use that sound, for example, the brown noise by Sleep Jar. It's so calming. I also have a routine set for 9 p.m. to play pink noise by Sleep Jar because that's my bedtime! Definitely try it if you get easily overwhelmed like me! You can also play these on your phone via the app!

3. Routines

To help combat my anxiety and depression, I have lo-fi music playing morning and night! It's my absolute favorite thing to do and helps me look forward to getting up and going to sleep. It helps a lot!

I also have a routine for brushing my teeth where I listen to Justin Bieber in the morning and Big Time Rush at night because I know that tooth brushing is important, but it is very hard for me to do. I need help with it, and I play music just to make it a bit more fun because - why not? Also, if you remember those singing toothbrushes, that's what this reminds me of! Routines are super easy and fun!

4. The app

The Alexa app is super accessible and fun! For me especially, it's helpful to control the volume on my Echo Show 5, among many other things, like adding photos I can see on my device, different routines, and so much more!

5. Echo Show

You may wonder if you should get one. My mom got me this on QVC a few years ago, but I also had the Echo Dot! I prefer the Echo Show though because I'm a very visual person! It's not expensive, thankfully, and absolutely worth it!!

Grateful for my virtual assistant

Thank you, Amazon, for making this device! It's truly life-saving for me as it’s hands-free, and I am very thankful! Before this, I had to do things on my phone, which again is tough on low-spoon days, even with Siri.

Although I've thankfully never had to use it, Alexa also has a much easier system to alert those you love and the authorities if there's an emergency. You just have to say, "Alexa, call for help." I am so grateful for my phone, but I feel at peace knowing how much easier it is to do things on my Echo Show.

Thanks for reading!