TA Professional Perspectives

 TV is still ubiquitous. Most seniors spend hours in front of it. But many need help to even start it, and when it comes to navigation, formerly simple tasks such as adjusting volume or changing channels are a challenge, to say the least. Without assistance, they are stuck, and their feelings run the spectrum from helplessness to techno-rage. This is not good - a nervous breakdown or heart attack may not be far away. How can someone with thick or trembling fingers and poor sight manipulate a device such as this one? What were the designers thinking when they came up with this non-sense of a remote control? Add to that cognitive impairment (they don't understand or remember what needs to be done), and the ubiquitous TV, the only activity some old people can still find pleasure in, becomes out of reach. They are cut off, unless a charitable other person is nearby. Where to start with the shortcomings of this particular remote control shown in the photo? This is on offer (and there is