How OrCam Helped Me Heal: The Story of Vinni Cox

After losing his sight to retinal detachment over five years ago, Vinni Cox, from Essex, England, did not have a positive outlook on life…until he discovered OrCam.

After undergoing surgery for a detached retina, doctors were unable to save Vinni’s left eye. Shortly after, Vinni lost his vision in his right eye as well.

During the first three years after losing his sight, Vinni did not cope well with his visual impairment. “I was in a bad place, I felt like giving up. I felt like there was nothing I can do,” he says.  A few people tried to help him but he didn’t take any help.  “It is not until I passed that stage in my life that I look back and see how bad it actually was,” says Vinni.

One day, Vinni decided that he had enough.  Vinni had no goals or hobbies. He told his wife “I don’t want to be like this any more. I have no idea what I want to achieve but it is not this. I don’t want to climb a mountain but I definitely don’t want to live like this my whole life. I need to make a change.”

Vinni’s wife, who enjoyed doing research on the internet, came across an article about OrCam doing one of her searches. She showed the OrCam MyEye video to Vinni and he listened to it a couple of times and thought this might be the change he was looking for. “Oh my G-d. If this product does what it claims it does it, it will be amazing,” he said.

Vinni was excited but skeptical about the OrCam MyEye.  “When somebody sells you somethings, it always sounds better than it is. For example, you might buy a laptop that says the battery can last 20 hours but they forget to tell you that it only does that in standby mode,” he says.  After receiving the OrCam, Vinni’s doubt went away. “The OrCam is better than they say it is!”

Shortly after discovering OrCam, Vinni arranged a demo with Trudie Strauss, OrCam Senior Sales Director UK. The day after his demo, Vinni purchased the OrCam MyEye.  It took time for Vinni to get used to the device but he has now developed his own technique to detect text and it works for him every time.

Before he lost his vision, Vinni was an avid reader. After losing his vision, he was unable to read anything. During the first week with his OrCam MyEye, Vinni managed to finish reading 3 books.

Vinni uses his OrCam MyEye to read books, mail, menus, and more. “OrCam reads everything for me -which is great. OrCam gives me my eyes back in the capacity that it can read for me.” Vinni believes that the OrCam can open doors for him in the future.

As the first assistive technology that he has every tried, Vinni is very impressed with the features that the OrCam MyEye offers. “It is an everyday function for me now. Using the OrCam is a major part of my life. The product is wonderful,” he says.

Vinni thinks the facial recognition feature is “superb.” He recalls going to a restaurant with his family when he first received the device and reading the menu for the first time. Everyone was trying to listen in to the speaker to hear what the OrCam was saying. “They thought it was amazing. I had all of them stand at the wall and I entered their faces in one by one. All day long, the device was saying their names. It was incredible,” he says.

Vinni calls his OrCam MyEye his “miracle healing” because that is what it has done and continues to do for him on a daily basis. “Having the OrCam clipped to the side of my glasses gives me confidence when I go out. I have more motivation. My mind is coming back to life”

Vinni talks to other people some who are blind or visually impaired and tells them about his experience with the OrCam MyEye. He realizes that everyone has different ways of dealing with vision loss because everyone is an individual, however, Vinni recommends the OrCam MyEye for anyone in his condition.

Contributed by: Hannah Ziring, OrCam Community Manager