A question that I frequently get asked is how I use my iPhone without my sight. 

Thanks to Voice Over, the screen reader software on Apple devices, I can listen to a friendly electronic voice telling me what is on the screen. Using this feature with certain gestures on the touch screen, I can text, scroll through Facebook, send emails, and use my phone in much of the same way as a sighted person.

While I am very thankful for this technology, sometimes I simply crave silence. 

I realized that I had spent the twenty years of my sighted life taking the ability to sit in the quiet and read a book for granted.