Blindness Blog

Dealing with Paperwork

2011-01-15T15:53:00.001-08:00

Hello, everyone. I hope you are having a fabulous year so far.
Today, I would like to address all the print information we must handle, especially as it pertains to filling in forms and the like. This is on my mind because in the field of education, a requirement is to take a test called a Praxis. In order to do so, an application must be filled out, of course. Also, I have had to fill in other forms related to Financial Aid for school and the like.
So what are one’s options when filling out paperwork? The first answer is use of a reader. I employed this method back when I was working 40 hours per week, and I do sometimes use it now. Because I have a lower income, I choose to use services provided by the school. If I need paperwork filled out, therefore, I will call the appropriate person and ask for assistance in filling out paperwork. This method is effective. I’d like to mention here that I mentioned my financial situation above because if I were working, I would not choose this option. It probably is not required for various personnel from different offices, such as the Financial Aid office or my advisor, to assist me in such matters. But, most important to me, if I could afford to do it myself, I could also teach others that I can step up and access printed information when necessary. I do pay a reader, and I use her for schoolwork and for personal reading. My hours with her are limited, of course, but hiring her allows me to complete necessary personal business. The college also pays her for certain hours as it relates to schoolwork. The Division of Rehabilitation in Maryland will also pay for readers under certain circumstances, and so this is also an option.
Another option is to scan in information. This enables me to know before I work with a reder the content the form is asking me to provide. If I feel it is appropriate, I can sometimes then create my own readable version of the form and fill it out. However, this option, and the option of downloading forms means I cannot always be certain the form will be accepted if I put information in a way that is doable for me. When it comes to specific documents, therefore, I choose a reader. I do scan in a lot of my printed information. It enables me to read letters, school handouts, and much more.
The final option for filling out important paper work is to have a friend or family member assist you, and I have used this option as well.
The important thing to keep in mind is your confidentiality. Make sure you trust the person assisting you, whether it is someone from the college, a reader, or a friend or family member.
I am not saying that the list above is the complete list of ways to fill out paperwork. If you have a way that is different and effective, please feel free to share it by commenting on the blog. You can comment for any reason on the blog, as long as your comment concerns blindness in some way.
Don’t forget that if you want your blog included in the Blindness Blog posts to send it to me with a one to two sentence description about your blog. See last week’s post for further details.

Happy New Year from the Blindness Blog

2011-01-08T15:09:00.001-08:00

Hello and happy new year to everyone. I want to use this blog entry on the Blindness Blog to remind everyone that the blog is about how we, as blind people, can do various types of things by using alternative techniques and just how to implement those alternative techniques in such situations. In addition, the blog is about topics dealing with blindness.
When I began the blog, I did so with the intension of doing it for at least one year. I still plan to continue, but for 2011, I would like to ask for your help with coming up with topics and maybe even with writing entries if you are interested. Of course, your comments are always welcome as they help motivate me, but most of all, can help all of us discover a different method for accomplishing the same task. For example, one reader recently posted a wonderful tip on the draining blog that I would have never thought of on my own.
I began this blog because of a friend’s suggestion to do so. My original idea was to write a book sharing some techniques about how to do certain things as a blind person. Because I do not know everything and because there is more than one right way to get the job done, I am happy she did. I hope that everyone will share with us how they do things, even if it is something I have not written yet for a blog.
Another new idea this year is for me to post web addresses to the blogs of others at the end of my posts this year. I am not sure if I will do this every time or every other time. If you are interested, please send me the direct web address and one to two sentences telling readers what your blog is about. In order for me to include your blog, you must be blind. In this case, you can write about anything from how to do things as a blind person to the blog you have up to sell things for your company and so on. The blog does not have to be about blindness if you are blind. However, if you are sighted, I will include your blog only if it relates in some way to blindness, whether it is a blindness education site, a site that offers games for the blind, etc. Please send those to my email address with Blindness Blog/blind in the subject line of the email. My address is aadkins7@verizon.net
This year, the blog’s will be posted on Saturdays. Doing so will enable me to devote more time to it as well as allow me to obtain Internet access. I am heading off to student teach this year, and I will be away from my Internet connection for that time, which is one reason for the switch.
I hope all of you have a wonderful year, and I hope to hear from all of you. Anita

Exercise

2010-12-31T07:49:00.000-08:00

Hello, Everyone. Today’s blog will be a shorter one. The topic on my mind is exercise, which is just as important for blind or visually impaired people as it is for sighted people. How can you exercise if you can’t see?
First, you should consult a physician before beginning. Next, you should consider how to exercise based on your lifestyle. What I mean by this, is to exercise based on your surroundings. For example, if you work in a building with a staircase that is well-vented, walking up and down steps is great exercise. If you live in walking distance from a track, this may be another option, assuming the weather cooperates. I own a treadmill, and I have begun to use it on a regular basis. I love to read, and so I decided that when I read, I will also walk on the treadmill. This way, I am being more active than passive. There are also other pieces of exercise equipment you could buy for your home. One benefit to these is that they can be used in any weather situation, but remember, they will only be effective if you actually use them. I say this because my treadmill does not get used as much as it should. I am hoping to make my new routine a habit, but only sufficient motivation will make this happen for me.
Speaking of motivation, one way to ensure you will exercise is to put yourself in a position that requires you to be physically active without your doing it for the purpose of exercise. For example, one job I had required me to walk up and down multiple sets of steps each day, and I benefited from this even though I hadn’t planned it as part of my exercise routine. Joining a gym might be another option. Paying for the exercise time may make you more motivated to actually do it. Also, exercising with someone else also helps motivate one to exercise, though this is not always possible. Another helpful suggestion may be to look up the benefits of exercise online and read these each day to encourage yourself.
You may be wondering how to do certain exercises as a blind person. I am not a trainer, and so I would rather not discuss this. However, if you know others who do exercise, ask them to show you. Or, if you sign up for a gym, ask if someone there can assist you.
One last thought is to remember to develop a plan for yourself that you can do for a lifetime rather than burning out by overdoing it at first. Exercise is something you should enjoy, and thus, you want to make doing it a pleasurable event for yourself. This means not forcing yourself to do a physical activity that you do not enjoy or doing one you do enjoy to the point that you begin to dread it. Start with small goals, and build up to longer times. Some types of exercise include swimming or playing in water, walking, playing ball, riding a stationary bike or a tandem bicycle if you have a partner, any type of stretches, jumping rope, and walking up and down steps.
Don't forget to pass the word about the Blindness Blog to those who may find it interesting. Also, I do enjoy receiving your comments, and so please feel free to do so.

Seeing Blindness

2010-12-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

Hello. I didn’t know what kind of blog to write on Christmas Eve. First, I thought about a poem about blindness, but then I realized my lack of talent as far as poetry is concerned probably signaled this wasn’t a good idea. And so, I decided to write about blindness in another way based on my thoughts during the past several days. The question for us to ponder is this. Why do some seem to believe that it is not okay to use our vision? In order to answer, we must first get a couple of definitions out of the way so that we are all on the same page.
A belief is an idea that seems true. A hope is a desire based on this belief, and thus, it is the fuel of belief. Blindness is a lack of vision. To be clear about blindness, it represents a total lack of vision, a small degree of vision, and on up the continuum until the point at which this inability to see disappears. In other words, blindness means the inability to see well enough to perform a task using eyesight safely and effectively.
First, let’s talk about belief since it is a key part of the answer to our demanding question about why we shouldn’t use that vision, if indeed we shouldn’t. When you were a kid, did you believe in Santa Claus. If so, you acted a certain way come Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. During Christmas Eve, you probably bounced around the house so excited your parent or guardian wished you would hurry up and fall asleep or that Christmas was past so that the peaceful, angelic child would return. During the next morning, you expected to wake up and find Santa had filled your stocking and/or had placed gifts for you under the tree. Right? Yes, well, what does this all have to do with blindness? Your actions were based on what you believed to be the case, and your expectations reflected this belief. Excitement occurred due to your hope of a special visitor in the night leaving gifts, and since you just knew it to be true that he would come, you never once considered you might wake up to an empty stocking or lack of gifts. I once taught a senior who believed that he was going to receive his sight any day, and the hope that fueled this belief caused him to act in a certain way, a way that included no motivation to learn alternative techniques because what was the point if he was going to see again. Can you see how this expectation of receiving his sight prevented him from moving forward as a blind person? Evidence to the contrary was the only thing that was going to force him to act as a blind person, an important way to act since he was blind and needed to act in a way that not only allowed him to live a happy life, but that would keep him safe in the process.
Let’s talk more about how our beliefs drive our actions. If you are sighted and you fall asleep, you will expect to wake up in the morning able to glance over at your clock for the time and able to dress yourself. You don’t acknowledge this belief. You know it to be true just like you knew Santa would arrive bearing gifts, and so you act on this knowledge without thought of its validity.
However, what if you woke up blind? Then, what would you believe? Remember our beliefs affect our actions, and our hopes fuel our beliefs. If you believed blindness meant helplessness, one might conclude you would panic. The thing to note here is that this is a different situation from what you are used to, and oftentimes, when we face situations that are unfamiliar to us, we are afraid. To compound that fact, your belief is a result of what you have learned about blindness from the society in which you live. Everyone believes blindness means helplessness; it must be true. Right? Many children believe in Santa Claus; that means he must be real. Right?
To get back on track, your belief about having no vision affects what you think you can do, and what you think you can do is the same as saying what you know you can do. Have you ever been wrong about something? I certainly have. Just when I thought I was right about knowing a thing, someone had to come up with evidence to prove me entirely wrong. That’s kind of how it happened with Santa. I don’t bounce around the house like an out-of-control Tigger these days, expecting great surprises in the morning because evidence has clearly presented itself that Santa was conceived by the goodwill of another, and thus, this spirit of goodwill is really being performed by my parent as a way of remembering how a gentleman gave to a family during one lonesome Christmas long ago. Might I suggest that you could be wrong about blindness meaning helplessness? I’ll not present the evidence here for you though because my mission is to tell you why I believe that learning to function totally without vision is essential just as learning to use your remaining vision is essential. The reason for learning about how to function without sight is so that you will believe you are safe based on proven evidence and not based on the false belief that you have just enough vision to miss that hole just up ahead.
Imagine a container filled with nails. You are a carpenter, and it is your job to build a platform to hold the children when they perform their upcoming Christmas play. The container is only half filled with nails. Does this present a problem for you? The answer depends on whether or not the missing nails are necessary or simply desired by you. My carpentry skills are sorely lacking here, but there could be a reason you could use extra nails in the masterpiece platform you are to construct. But, most certainly, there are definite places for the nails that are required, those nails that must be placed or else the whole thing will break and all those precious children will tumble to the ground and lawyers will start knocking on that oak door you privately installed in your own home.
For the sake of argument, let us assume that all nails are required and that the cup really should be filled to the top instead of only half filled. The dilemma is that it is still only half filled. What are you going to do? Well, knowing what the project requires means you know the nails are required. Thus, you will do what it takes to fill the container. Right? Your conclusion about what to do is based on justifiable evidence you have collected as a skilled carpenter who has spent time researching and learning his craft. Sounds simple. But, what if the carpenter was new on the job and his belief relied on evidence based on what he heard those around him claim, many of whom were intelligent people? Everyone claimed the same thing. Missing nails weren’t important, and so he would just act as if they weren’t needed. He’d focus only on using the nails he could see and hope things turned out for the best. As a result, a disaster would be in his immediate future.
Let’s relate this a bit to blindness. The nails in the container that can be seen by the carpenter represent vision, and the empty space represents blindness. Remember, our question is why some believe that it is not okay to use vision. I believe it is okay to use vision, but in order to use vision, we must know how much of it fills the container and we must realize how much of the container is filled with blindness because my belief is that being aware of the entire contents of the container is essential in order to prevent disaster. Let’s say it like this, your container represents your absolute amount of vision, which unfortunately, for this example, means it only is three fourths filled. In order to walk safely across the room, you will need the container completely filled. If you only have the container three fourths filled, this presents you with a problem. Are you going to be like the carpenter and decide it doesn’t matter; you’ll just use what you have. The answer sounds kind of obvious now, I hope, but unfortunately, too many people who cannot see well enough to perform a task safely and efficiently do not realize they are missing vision because they are too busy focusing on the amount of vision they do have. Why be glum when you can look at your container as half filled or even three fourths filled? The reason, my friends, is because the missing portion is just as needed as the present portion, and in order to live happily and safely, you must address the total contents of the container. This is why I believe that as teachers, professionals, and caregivers for visually impaired children and adults, it is our responsibility to teach these visually impaired or partially sighted individuals how to function as a blind person and how to use their usable vision effectively. In order to know their usable vision, they must also know how much of it is not usable. In other words, they must be able to look through the container and realize how much is missing. Perhaps, you are your own caregiver; either way, the focus must be on the entire contents of the container, vision and blindness.
A barrier in attaining this goal, my friends, is that that missing portion isn’t too fun to focus on because it symbolizes helplessness because the ignorant public have told you this. Like the inexperienced carpenter, you have not learned about blindness and performed research; you simply believe what others claim to be truth. I challenge you to learn alternative techniques in order to place some focus on the blindness portion of your container because, by doing so, you will be addressing and acting upon those missing nails, the ones so needed to prevent the disaster from happening.
So, for a person who is just losing sight or just accepting the loss of vision, it is not okay to use vision because it is necessary to first learn how to complete tasks without it. Doing so enables the person to determine just how much vision is in the container because he or she will be focusing on what isn’t there. By locating these nails, so to speak, he or she can use them in place of or exchange them for nails in the vision portion of the container. For example, one could use the sound of the boiling to alert one to the time when to put the pasta into the pot or one could use vision to see the bubbles as long as both nails were present. But, if one nail was missing, whether it be the hearing of the boiling or the seeing of the bubbles, then the situation requires one to locate the equivalent nail to place in the container because all nails must be present since they are all required to do the job. Please note that I said all nails and not just the nails representing blindness. After a person has learned how to use alternative techniques, then I believe it is necessary for him or her to learn how to use vision effectively or how to increase its amount in the container, if possible. I suggest this second because relying on and learning how to use vision is ordinary to humans, and beginning with this goal will most certainly ensure that one forgets to notice the missing nails, or missing vision, one must also address. In addition, the eyes automatically try to se, and in order to stop this automatic response, vision must not be used, which is why I suggest eyeshade training because seeing is an automatic response of the brain. After eyeshade training is complete and the individual is comfortable with using alternative techniques of blindness, one will be informed enough to make reliable judgments about his or her amount of vision in a safe and effective manner, and then visual aids and eyesight can be paired with appropriate alternative techniques to improve quality of life.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you. Remember that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and for yours, and so if you aren’t saved, He is waiting for you to reach out and claim your gift He is offering to you, whether it be on Christmas day or any other day of the year. It is His desire for you to live eternally with Him. Please take a moment to learn more about Him in the Holy Bible because, if you do, you may find that there are even more nails that were so needed in your life that you didn’t even realize they were missing. God Bless, and remember, Jesus loves you, even if you don’t believe it.

Gift Wrapping

2010-12-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hello. Today’s blog will be about wrapping Christmas gifts. I am not the most talented wrapper, but I can get the job done. Again, this is a blog for the beginning blind person. I decided to write this particular blog because gift-giving season is upon us, and also because wrapping gifts is one of those things I never had anyone else to teach me. Therefore, I had to learn it on my own.
First, you need a gift to give someone, or you need an empty box you can practice with. For your first attempt at wrapping, I would use a box that is closed on all of it’s sides so that it resembles a cube or rectangle shape. Later, you can advance to boxes that are partially open or other irregular items.
First, you will need to cut the paper. Usually wrapping paper that has never been used will have a piece of tape holding it together. Some wrapping paper will also have some sort of paper surrounding it that you may also need to remove. It may feel like plastic-baggish material. I do not have any here in front of me, and so that is all the explanation I can provide because that step is so automatic for me that I really just slide it off without paying much attention to it. Once tape or plastic has been removed, unroll some of the paper so that the portion that is unrolled stretches out away from you and the roll itself is closest to your body. Place your gift on top of the paper. This will hold the paper straight so it does not curl up on you. Now, you should be able to unwrap the roll better. The roll will be in a horizontal position, meaning it will stretch out to your left and right. To unwrap more paper from the roll, pull the roll toward you. Slide the gift closer to the roll. Your goal is to judge the far side of the paper until you feel there is enough to cover the far side of the gift and the top half of it. You can test this by bringing the paper up and onto the top of the gift. Don’t get all nervous wondering if it is exactly half. It only needs to be approximate. How you will know you have enough is that you will lift the roll with the paper up in the same manner so that the roll is lying on top of the gift. In other words, you are unrolling it and then placing it on top of the gift to see if it covers the paper you bring up from the far side. If you do this so that the far side and the roll side are both over the gift, you will know to stop rolling when the roll slightly covers the far side. Then, be sure to hold the roll so that the paper does not roll out further or roll in with one hand, and use the other hand to remove the gift to a different spot. This is why I recommend the floor for your first try or you might just have a chair or something you can place the gift on with one hand.
Now, it is time to cut the paper. What I do is to roll out another inch or so of the paper by bringing the roll toward me after I have placed it flat on the work area. Then, lift the roll without rolling out any additional paper and move it toward the far side of the paper until about, say, two inches of paper is between you and the roll. When lifting, you are actually kind of making the paper to feel the same as if you had folded a sheet of paper in half and were going to crease it. The difference is that we are not folding this roll in half; we are only allowing enough paper in between the roll and our body to allow us to make a crease. To make this crease, place your finger in about the center of the roll and firmly press the paper as you move your finger toward your body. Then, use this finger to slide toward the left or right end and then continue in the opposite direction. Note if you have never folded a paper, it would be easier to practice making creases with a regular sheet of paper first to develop this skill. On a sheet of paper, you would lie the paper so that it is in front of you as if you were going to read it, meaning it is narrower from side to side. Then, simply take the edge closest to your body and match it with the far edge. Then, you would put a finger in the center of this paper and slide it back until you reached the circular part. Then, to make the crease, you would slide your finger to the far left, and then the far right, or you would slide it to the right and then to the left, depending on your preference. I always go right then left. Anyway, back to our wrapping, this crease you have just created will be used as a guide so that you can cut straight across the paper. Again, I said about two inches, but remember this is only a guess. You may need slightly more or less paper, and when you roll out the paper, you will need to think of about how much of this paper you will need.
The reason for this creasemaking is that it will produce a tactile line for you to use as a guide as you cut the paper. It is easier to feel this crease if you turn the paper over, but I sometimes do it on this side. Once you are more experienced, you will decide this matter for yourself, but for now, turn the paper over. It is okay if you need to roll out more of the paper once the crease has been formed. Once you are finished cutting, you can simply roll it back closed. When cutting, I use my pointer finger as a guide. For the purposes of this blog, I will assume that you know how to safely use scissors and that you know how to use the finger on one hand to guide you by placing your pointer finger at the tip of the scissors and using your other fingers to help you stay straight on this line. If not, you will need to practice cutting. Cutting and paper folding skills are really necessary skills to learn prior to gift wrapping, and so if you need to learn these skills, you will want to do so before wrapping the gift. Your option right now, if you do not have these skills, is to ask a family member or friend to cut the exact size of paper you will need for you. Again, this blog is for informational purposes only. Remember that I am not responsible for injuries, loss of wasted paper, etc. My only goal is to provide you with ideas about how to do things as a blind person.
Once your paper is cut, it will be time to again place your gift in the center of the paper. Remember you will need to turn your paper back over so that the outside will be the correct side. You’ll need to repeat the above steps now because you will want to make sure that there is not too much paper on either end of the gift while wrapping. Keep in mind that cutting again may not be necessary. First, make sure the near and far edge still cover each other slightly. Then, check the ends to see if there is too little or too much paper to cover the end of the gift. If there is too much, you will need to once again cut the paper. The first step is to somehow determine how much is extra. Perhaps, you could use a piece of tape to mark this for you, being sure that the tape is on the portion that will be cut off. Then, you could make another crease to use a guide for cutting off this end of the paper. This blog is for beginners, and so I will not address what to do if there is too little paper at this time.
To wrap the gift, place the paper so that it’s white side is up. When cutting, you will need to keep track of which side of the paper is facing the ceiling or work surface so that you will know which side is the white side. Now, place the gift in the center of the paper, making sure to pay attention to how it should be placed based on how you cut the paper. In other words, when you bring up the sides, there should be a slight overlap in the center. If you bring up the far and near sides, there should be a slight overlap in the center. What you will now do is to bring up the side of the paper nearest your body and place it over the gift. Use your finger to hold it down in the center of the box. With the other hand, make sure that it aligns pretty much evenly with the paper on the floor. These edges of the paper will not be touching, but they should be so that neither extends out to the left or right farther than the other. Remember to feel the side of the box closes to your body to make sure the paper here is nice and flat and wrinkle free. Then, using one piece of tape, tape this piece to the box so that it will stay for you. You will be getting your tape onehanded here because the other is holding the paper in place. Now, bring the other side of the paper up. Again, make sure it matches the end. This will be slightly easier because you will have the other piece of paper that has already been taped as a guide so that the ends can match up more evenly. Place a piece of tape in about the center to hold this piece up. Remember before taping to check the far side of the box and the top of the box to make sure the paper is smooth. Now, you should also place a piece of tape on either end, but not flush with the sides. Try about a half inch to an inch in.
Now, it’s time for the sides. Remember that consistency is the key here. I always like to first fold the top side since that is where the edge of the paper is because folding it can help hide that edge, but if you decide differently, be consistent. The first end is the hardest to fold. You are going to again make creases here. You want to form a trianglularish figure here. I say it that way because the end may end up being a straight edge with two corners instead of an exact point like a triangle would be. To begin this triangle, you will need to take your thumbs and fingers and form the paper into this shape. My thumbs are on top of the gift, and my fingers extend down to the sides, but they rest on the side of the paper, and not the box. My thumbs generally stay still as I use my fingers to roll the paper in until it is far enough in toward my other hand that I can crease the edge leading from the point of the gift out to the end of the triangle where this point or line will be formed. Note that I am doing both sets of fingers at once here. Once I make this crease, I generally put one piece of tape over the point or straight edge so that it sticks to the box. Then, I can choose to repeat these steps with the other end of the box or to turn the gift over and form the triangles on this side. This backside is where you want to be more neat because your handywork will show here. A point at the end of the triangle is wonderful, but too much paper may result in this not occurring. In this case, you will want to fold the end that would form this point so that the straight edge is formed. I will stop explaining here because you may already be confused. The best way to learn this skill is to use a model. That means feeling a gift that has already been wrapped. It also means unwrapping the gift neatly piece by piece so that you can examine how it is put together. So have someone wrap up several empty boxes for you so you can examine what a wrapped gift would feel like so you can practice. Or, have a friend wrap a gift or several with you, allowing you to feel each time she has completed a fold or placed a piece of tape on the gift.
One final note here is to remember that wrapping a gift has a lot of steps and can seem overwhelming. You may focus on folding regular paper first. Then, you may choose to focus on cutting. Worrying about the white side being up may be something you don’t worry about until you have the art of wrapping down. In fact, wrapping with a precut piece of paper that fits your gift may be an excellent first step. Or, wrapping pretend gifts so that color does not matter at first may be helpful.
The reason I did not write a blog last week is because I was going to present this one. With finals looming ahead, I did not have time to write and edit prior to the deadline, and I wanted to make sure it was clear enough for readers before posting. So this blog represents last Friday and this Friday all at once. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone.

Using Sight

2010-12-03T15:50:00.001-08:00

Hello, everyone. Today’s blog is going to be about using sight to do tasks. In my opinion, it is okay to use sight to accomplish goals. It was invented for that purpose after all, and so if one has residual vision and chooses to use it, that’s fine. If one uses sight from the vision of another, that is also fine. However, I want to point out that one needs to have the skills to perform tasks with absolutely no vision so that if an emergency or other situation arises in which it is necessary to do something totally without the assistance of another, one can safely and effectively perform the task. Therefore, I feel it is essential for one to first become confident and comfortable utilizing alternative techniques. I also want to point out that it is necessary for one to use these alternative techniques on a regular basis. If not, then the blind person will be less confident, and therefore, be unable to use the skill when needed or develop a belief that performing a task is not possible for the blind because he or she has relied on sighted people to do the job for so long. In my opinion, it is essential for one to receive any needed training in alternative techniques of blindness and to utilize eye shades when learning how to use these alternative techniques. The reason for this is because first, it ensures that one will not rely on any residual vision and second because only by doing something without vision will someone be able to realize it can be done without sight.
To expand on this, if one has no eyeshades on when learning alternative techniques, one will attempt to use vision, even if this is done unconsciously. The job of the eyes is to see, and the brain is automatically programmed to take in any sensory information provided by the eyes. The job of eyeshades is to train the brain to automatically use the sense of touch along with the other senses to do things using alternative techniques. Also, if one uses eyeshades for a period of time, one will be able to judge how much of the vision was actually useful and how much was unreliable, which is very important for safety reasons. If one starts relying on a cane to locate steps instead of using vision that doesn’t exist to locate the steps, then one will be less likely to fall and become injured, for example. In addition, one may realize that doing something by using an alternative technique is more effective and better physically for the person. For example, if someone is bent over in order to read a book in print, one may develop posture problems over time. Using Braille as an alternative will allow the person to sit using a normal posture.
Finally, it is important to realize that always relying on someone else to do something means that you could be inconvenicing the person. Also, it means you are not confident that a blind person can do the task and/or your confidence level is very low. By actually doing things for yourself on a regular basis, you will help to maintain your confidence in your abilities. In addition, you will discover that you can do more than you realized without the use of vision.
Now, I want to say that using sight is an acceptable thing to do. What I was saying above was to do things for yourself to build your confidence and to prove to yourself that a blind person can do that one thing you think they can’t. And, the way to maintain your confidence is to constantly use your skills. However, there are multiple ways to perform a task, and when you are figuring out which sense to use to accomplish the task, you should consider all factors for all five senses. You may have no vision, but you may be able to effectively use the vision of another. Or, you may prefer to use a dog instead of a cane, and this is using the dog’s sight to alert you to obstacles and such. I encourage you to carry a folded cane in your bag at all times if you are being guided by a dog or sighted human in case the dog or person becomes injured or unable to continue leading you. However, in my opinion, it is okay to be led by a dog or human. Some of you may disagree with this, and so let me switch away from blindness here so that we can have a more objective example for all of us. Back in the 1800’s, horses and other animals were used to head west to California. People didn’t walk clear to California; they rode in a wagon. Those animals walked though, and so you could say that it was silly to rely on these animals because it is possible to walk to California. After all, even an animal can walk there. Some stubborn person back then may have thought just that and headed out on foot across the wild west. Assuming they new how to deal with the Indians and how to hunt for food, they could have probably made it all the way. So then why did some people rely on animals to pull wagons. I bet it was because they didn’t want to carry their belongings on their back. Still, they could have had the animals carry the luggage and walked alongside the wagon on the way. The animals were walking. But no, they felt it perfectly acceptable to ride there, and they probably didn’t consider the factthat they weren’t even using an ability, the ability to walk. Today, people could simply ship their belongings across country, but how many people do you see walking out to California from one of the Eastern, or even a Western state such as Utah. Even though it is possible to walk to California today, it isn’t necessary because a more effective, efficient and safe route exists. Now, let’s turn back to vision.
Sighted people simply use vision as a given. They don’t stop to consider that another sense might be just as effective to accomplish the goal, which is okay since vision is effective for them. Blind people can also decide to rely on this vision, and just as it was okay for someone to drive to work today instead of walking the half mile or so to the job site, it is okay for a blind person to use sight. That doesn’t mean that a blind person could not do the task without vision. It means that it isn’t always necessary to do the job using alternative techniques if sight is more effective and efficient for that particular blind person in that particular situation. Using the sight of a dog may be preferable to some people, and just like sitting in the wagon was okay for the western explorer, using that sight is okay for the blind person. What is important is that the person could safely and effectively travel without the use of the sight, if necessary. Also, when it comes to choosing to use sight, it is necessary for the person to determine if sight is the best sense for the job. For example, straining one’s eyes and using poor posture due to the necessarity of bending down to see the page of the book to read a novel suggests to me that sight is not the best sense for the job. Therefore, anyone with vision problems should receive training in alternative techniques of blindness because one could then accurately judge the best sense to use and because one will realize that the other senses may prove as effective, if not more effective, than vision would be to perform a job. Even sighted people may improve their efficiency if they use a sense other than vision. That’s why a ringing sound is use to alert someone to a phone call, for instance. After one is able to use alternative techniques confidently and effectively, then one could receive training on how to best use any residual vision or the aid of sight by another human or a dog. In a training program, therefore, I feel that alternative techniques should be the main focus simply because people want to rely on vision and want to make use of visual aids, such as magnifying glasses and CCTv’s, rather than continuing to build confidence in themselves and in alternative techniques. Training in residual vision should only occur once mastery of alternative techniques has been accomplished.

We All Need Support

2010-11-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone. Once again, it is time for me to write the Blindness Blog, and as I do so, I hope to shed light on how the blind can use alternative techniques to perform tasks. In order to use these alternative techniques, however, one must be in an environment that allows and encourages one to use them, and one also must be surrounded by others who use them on a regular basis.
Today’s blog will be shorter, but I feel it is very important for me to point out that joining a group in which successful and independent blind people are likely to be present is essential for a beginning user of alternative techniques. In fact, no matter the skill level of the blind individual, being involved in a group of blind people allows us to share our frustrations and to give back to the community. On this blog, I often mention the American Council of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind. In both organizations, blind role models can be found. Another way to be around blind people and to give back to the community is by joining your local Lion’s Club. I had never been to such a meeting, though I had often heard about how the organization provided glasses to those who needed them. Recently, I met a lady who attended, and thus invited, me to one of the meetings. It was a fun experience for me, and I plan to continue attending the meetings. The group was very active, and I learned that the Lion’s Club does a lot more than just to provide glasses. Also, I found that, in this organization, I could contribute in a way that suited my preferences. For example, they collect a new, unwrapped toy to give to Toys for Happiness, and I am able to donate a toy. In addition, there is an email list in which news about the well-being of members and other news about what the Lion’s Club is doing is shared. Our group has asked to learn Braille this summer. I also understand that many other events take place. This summer, a trip to Leader Dog is planned for our group.
My point here is that if you are blind, find a group in which blind people are likely to show up. Having support from those who are facing the same joys and trials as we are can go a long ways toward helping us build confidence and overcoming the stress that one may face as a result of blindness.
Hello, everyone. Once again, it is time for me to write the Blindness Blog, and as I do so, I hope to shed light on how the blind can use alternative techniques to perform tasks. In order to use these alternative techniques, however, one must be in an environment that allows and encourages one to use them, and one also must be surrounded by others who use them on a regular basis.
Today’s blog will be shorter, but I feel it is very important for me to point out that joining a group in which successful and independent blind people are likely to be present is essential for a beginning user of alternative techniques. In fact, no matter the skill level of the blind individual, being involved in a group of blind people allows us to share our frustrations and to give back to the community. On this blog, I often mention the American Council of the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind. In both organizations, blind role models can be found. Another way to be around blind people and to give back to the community is by joining your local Lion’s Club. I had never been to such a meeting, though I had often heard about how the organization provided glasses to those who needed them. Recently, I met a lady who attended, and thus invited, me to one of the meetings. It was a fun experience for me, and I plan to continue attending the meetings. The group was very active, and I learned that the Lion’s Club does a lot more than just to provide glasses. Also, I found that, in this organization, I could contribute in a way that suited my preferences. For example, they collect a new, unwrapped toy to give to Toys for Happiness, and I am able to donate a toy. In addition, there is an email list in which news about the well-being of members and other news about what the Lion’s Club is doing is shared. Our group has asked to learn Braille this summer. I also understand that many other events take place. This summer, a trip to Leader Dog is planned for our group.
My point here is that if you are blind, find a group in which blind people are likely to show up. Having support from those who are facing the same joys and trials as we are can go a long ways toward helping us build confidence and overcoming the stress that one may face as a result of blindness.

Getting It Back When You've Dropped It

2010-11-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone. Today’s blog is about how to locate something that is dropped from your grasp. Again, these blogs are meant for the beginner as well as others, and so this week focuses on the beginner.
No one plans to just drop their keys or whatever they may be holding, but alternative techniques of blindness can enable us to locate items that gravity rips from our grasp.
First, let us not forget to think about what we already know. Since we are the person who is doing the dropping, we know how heavy the item is, which hand we were holding it in, and probably even the direction in which it was dropped. Adding our sense of hearing to this equation can enable us to listen to the item. In other words, we will hear it hit the floor.
There are a couple of successful techniques I am going to mention here. First, leave your feet planted in the exact spot, or as close to it as possible, as you can. Next, you can bend over and move your hand in a circular motion along the surface of the ground where you believe the item may have landed. Start in small circles and gradually make these circles bigger until the object is located.
My favorite way to locate a dropped item is to use my cane. If I lie it flat on the ground, I can slide it toward the direction in which I believe the object to be. If I am wrong, I simply can move it in the opposite direction or even clear around my body. I will be able to feel the cane push it, and I may even hear it. When this occurs, I can stop the cane’s movement, and move my hand along the length of the cane until the item is located. Note that when I use the word ground, I really mean the surface on which the item has fallen. This may be the actual ground, or it could even be a floor or other surface.
Remember, if you are bending over or kneeling down, be aware of your environment. You wouldn’t want to raise your body up toward a standing position to bonk your head on a table. Likewise, if you are in a crowded store, you need to be aware that other customers may be near. Shelves of breakable or easily knocked over items may also be near. Practice locating items with your cane at home before you try it out somewhere. Also, if the place is really crowded, another option for you to locate a dropped item is simply to ask a passerby if he or she sees the object.
If you have any ideas for topics for the Blindness Blog, please share them with me. Also, please feel free to comment on this or any other blog. Know that this blog is for informational purposes only. Information is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please share the blog with other blind people that you think may benefit.

Blindness Annoyances

2010-11-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

Hello, Everyone. Today’s blog is maybe not so educational because it concerns those little annoyances that we talk about as a result of blindness. I rode home from Walmart tonight in a cab, and the cab driver said to me something about how being disabled was bad luck. I don’t remember his exact words, but it was something like that. I responded that it depended on the outlook of the person because I didn’t mind being blind.
But, sometimes, being blind does present some situations that are annoying or aggravating to us, and I feel we should be able to express these to one another as this will help us get them out of our mind so we can forget about the annoyance and resume our happy lives.
One annoyance I have is not being able to just go anywhere at any time I please. I had to wait for the city bus this evening. I live in a little town, and so I called the bus company to tell them where I would be standing, the same place I stand every time they pick me up. There are not many bus stops in my area, and so people just catch the bus anywhere on its route, for the most part. Well, the bus passed me, and I know this because some helpful sighted people happened to mention it to me. It just so happened that they were standing right there as it passed. I called the bus company immediately, and the bus did return. However, this failure of the bus to stop for me is annoying, and it might have meant I couldn’t get out to the mall to shop for my mother’s birthday present and to purchase other necessary items. Again, life goes on, but this is one thing that is aggravating to me because if I could drive, I wouldn’t have to rely on the bus, and I wouldn’t have to wait at Walmart forever waiting for a cab. I did not purchase icecream for my Mom’s party because it would have melted before I returned home whereas if I could drive, I could have gotten it home in time.
While I am complaining about transportation, I might as well mention that another annoyance resulting from my blindness is my inability to live out in the country and to still be able to make it to and from a grocery store or employment position. Sighted people can do this, which I am happy about for them, but blindness means one must live where one can navigate to and from different places. Generally, this means living in a bigger city, though some towns will also work.
Another annoyance to some blind people may be not finding employment as easily as do sighted people. I am not in that predicament at this time, but in the past, I have been. I can remember how all the sighted people in my family could just go get a job at will, but I had to sit at home due to blindness. The world is set up for the sighted, and that means that employment is harder to obtain simply because accessibility and usability are not automatic.
Now, I want to assure you that I do have positive beliefs about the blind; I do believe that a blind person can work in any field he or she chooses. Also, being blind is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. Blind people can live happy, healthy lives, but this specific blog is addressing blindness annoyances. We all have them, and I feel sometimes it is a positive thing to share them with other blind people and to have the opportunity to be around blind people in an atmosphere where it is okay to talk about these annoyances without feeling that doing so will result in others thinking that we have negative attitudes about blindness. I am saying this to encourage others to voice their feelings, both good and bad, about blindness because by doing so, we can release joy and frustration about our condition. It is okay to be blind, and to me, that means it is also okay to share both the benefits and challenges of blindness, and most importantly, to support one another who happen to face similar experiences.

Assistantship Experience

2010-11-05T15:20:00.001-07:00

Hello. Today, I would like to share some of my experiences with you in the classroom. One of my concerns of being in a regular elementary school classroom was the vast amount of printed material. I couldn’t help students because their work is also in print. Of course, my other concern was classroom management, which I have learned isn’t as big of a deal as it had previously sounded. These kids are used to being in school, and with the right tactics management isn’t all that difficult.
How have I solved the problem of all this print? Well, first of all, I borrowed books prior to writing the lessons to have a reader read the lesson on audio vor me. I would have scanned it for Brailling, but the book was too large to fit on my scanner. So I was then able to Braille the materials I would need for teaching the Social Studies class today. Also, today we played a game using playing cards. I did not know this would occur, and so I simply had students to verbally tell me their cards and my cards. This game was a Math game about mode, median and range, and so keeping the cards a secret was not a concern. On another day, I assisted in grading. Again, the child read aloud the answers, and I had them put their finger where the checkmark was supposed to go. If it were my goal to teach in this environment, I could probably bring in materials in Braille, but this verbal method worked well for me since I was assisting the teacher, and therefore, I was not able to preplan how to handle things.
Because of no Braille or tactile information, I am not able to play the games at indoor recess with the kids, but again, I just learned today that they did this, and I do have some of the games in an accessible format. I told the teacher this, and said I could bring those another day.
I think another concern I had was playground duty and lunch duty, mainly because I do not know the children. However, I have learned that this is really the easiest part of the day. At lunch, the children are in a routine, and they sit at the table and are free to talk with one another until a five-minute warning provided by the teacher.
At recess, we played indoor games, and again, the children were fairly well behaved. They were all in small groups playing games.
There are some tasks I am not able to assist with, such as walking around and visually checking to see if answers are correct. But, I am learning I can assist with some tasks, such as handing out materials. Overall, I am enjoying the experience. My future goal is to work in the field of blindness and not teach in a regular Elementary school classroom, but I am enjoying the experience and learning how management is mainly procedures, positive remarks about good behavior, and staying on a full schedule. Negative remarks about behavior are provided when necessary, but positive remarks helps the children to behave.
Finally, this is an open school, and I wanted to demonstrate to the teacher and principal that I could independently learn the environment. Before I was scheduled to begin the assistantship, I came to the school to learn the layout. In class, I use my cane to show the students and teacher I can navigate the classroom independently. However, I have decided to allow my teaching assistant partner to guide me from classroom to classroom simply because I am only here for three weeks, and learning the environment is not a main goal for me at this time. However, on the first day, I walked using my cane around the building because I felt I should do this to demonstrate my skills. Again, I wanted to know the environment in case of emergencies and to demonstrate ability, but I do not feel I need to learn the entire layout of the school since I’ll only be there for a short time period. If it were a building with halls and closed classrooms, I would probably walk from place to place independently.
If you have had an experience teaching in a public school and would like to share your experience, please feel free to do so. Also, I am sorry to inform you readers that I had to block anonymous commentors simply because I was starting to acquire junkmail, and I didn’t want readers to enter on a link and harm their computer. In addition, I did not want junk on the blog. If a link does show up on the blog, please do not click on it. If you choose to do so, this is at the risk of harming your computer, and I am not responsible. Also, never provide contact or other information to others you do not know, including those on the net. Again, sorry for this inconvenience, but I have to avoid junk from cluttering the blog. However, if you have a Google or other account available under the comment selection combo box, please feel free to comment, and also please do not provide a web address on the blog because the blog is not a place to advertise. If you do have a blog or other website about blindness, it is okay to share this on the Blindness Blog, but be specific about who you are and how this blog or website relates to blindness. Thank you.

Responding to the Extraordinary

2010-10-29T13:39:00.001-07:00

Hello, everyone. Today, I would like to focus on praise we receive from others related to our blindness, but of course, this could also be packaged into other topics of our lives.
Three types of praise come to my mind: genuine praise, false praise, and meaningless praise.
How do you know which type of praise you are receiving, and how do you respond to it in a productive manner?
Genuine praise is praise that is provided to you because the person who is praising you truly believes you deserve it. For example, if you are an intern in a school system and you show up early and leave late, the mentor teacher may tell you what an excellent job you are doing. First, you will know this is genuine praise because you know what the teacher is praising you for is true because you have actually been doing the actions for which the praise was given. Second, you will know because of the manner in which the praise is given by the teacher and due to the tone of the voice of the praiser. This holds true for praise from anyone. For example, someone might praise you for completing a difficult program by providing you with a certificate of accomplishment and, while doing so, he or she will be animatedly talking about how you put in the maximum effort to complete the task. Your response to such praise should be to say thank you verbally and/or in other meaningful ways.
False praise occurs when someone praises someone else for doing something marvelous or extraordinary as a result of ignorance on the part of the praiser about the task itself. For example, if someone praises you for playing the piano in a way that suggests you are an expert when you can only bang out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, this individual is providing you with false praise. It isn’t that he or she is saying you are accomplishing something extraordinary because of your blindness; it is simply that he or she does not know anything about the piano itself, and so the fact that you can simply play a song must mean you are talented in this area. This type of praise can come from family members or friends, (or others), who are proud of you and want to support you. The reason for it is sometimes due to a lack of formal education on the part of the person. Also, the person may have learning disabilities or other challenges, including mental challenges, that limits his or her ability to recognize your lack of talent for a given task. Sometimes, negative views of blindness can be mixed in with this situation, meaning that praise that results from a person’s ignorance about a task combined with his or her belief about what the blind are capable of result in this false praise as well.
How do you respond to this type of praise? Knowledge is key to solving any problem, and knowing why he or she is praising you as he or she is can help you come up with a planned response for this type of behavior. My family are from deep in the hollows of West Virginia. Many of them did not attend school beyond eighth grade if they made it that far. However, they are proud of me for what I do, but sometimes they do not always realize I can’t do some task. I only see many of them on rare occasions, and so for this situation, I say thank you. If they ask me to demonstrate my skill, I can explain that I really can’t play the piano; I know the very first steps of it. But, I’d be happy to show them how to do what I know. Now, if I know they are asking me to perform the task because of my blindness, I will often not satisfy their request. My response here is different unless it is a special occasion or it is simply a time that requires me to cooperate. See below for how I handle the blindness aspect of such situations.
Now, let’s focus on meaningless praise. This is praise that results when someone praises someone for doing something ordinary, and therefore, one does not need special attention for doing it. This type of praise is why I chose to write this blog today. Holidays are approaching, and many of us will be spending time around family and friends, including some we do not see often. Views of blindness for these people may not be what they should be, and the fact that a person who is blind can perform ordinary tasks, such as folding clothes seems as if that individual has extraordinary talents.
How do we respond when this occurs? I’ll admit that maybe I am not always the most patient blind person in the world when faced with this situation. The best response would be to educate, but instantly turning someone into a believer in the ability of the blind is impossible. So, our best reaction is to determine how we will choose to react beforehand to a situation and then to recognize the situation when it occurs. We can only show through example what we do on an everyday basis, and this is what we should do. If someone says to me to do something because I am blind and he or she is just so amazed, I often will not accommodate him or her. First, it is best to have those who know you are capable to support you, but this will not always occur. My best advice is to explain to the person that you are capable and do tasks like everyone else; you aren’t special just because you can wash the dishes. Because this is the case, you will not, therefore, show them how you can wash the dishes because you know he or she has observed this ordinary task on a regular basis. Then, you might try to explain that asking you to perform ordinary tasks is insulting to you, and so please not to do that. Remember to think about the person and show some patience, even though it’s hard, because this person holds negative beliefs about blindness because of society’s lesson about blindness. What your role should be is to help them become as confident with blindness as you possibly can, but you also have to realize that you can only do so much.
When I am talking about sharing feelings here, I am referring to family and close friends of family. If you are seeing a stranger one time only, you might just opt to not demonstrate yourself performing ordinary tasks and not share with him or her that expecting you to do so is hurtful.
When I am talking here about not demonstrating ordinary tasks to a person, I am only referring to the time when this person is asking you to put on a show for him or her. While around the person, you should continue to perform any tasks you would normally perform, regardless of their presence. By doing so, you are telling them that blindness is only one of your characteristics. It may happen that he or she is asking you to put on a show at the same time that you ordinarily do dishes; in this case, go ahead and do the dishes because you would do it anyway.
I’d be really interested to hear others thoughts on this matter. I can type about this, but it is easier to write than it is to carry out. And, it is probably one of my weakest areas as far as blindness goes. Please feel free to share.
Also, please share the Blindness Blog with others. Remember, it is okay to copy and paste text into a word processor or Braille translation program or to record it on audio for those who are unable to use a computer. Just remember to keep in tact any text and references that I have included so you are not plagiarizing the material. For example, I wrote an article way back at the beginning of the blog about the best educational placement for students who are blind, and this was a research paper I did for school. So I used external sources other than my own words, and if you choose to take text from this article, you would need to give credit to any text that I personally did not author, and so it is probably best to print the article in its entirety, including its reference page.

Braille Teaching Experience

2010-10-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone. Today, I would like to share with you a little about my experience of teaching Braille for a college class. I know Braille well, and so mastery of the topic was no problem for me. Also, I knew what activities I wanted to do. However, two questions bombarded my thought up to the day of the lesson.
1. How could I fit everything into the fifteen-minute time allotment provided for the lesson.
2. How could I observe whether or not the students were actually correct in forming the appropriate letter of the alphabet?
The first question was answered during the lesson, but to prepare, I simply knew I would have to summarize some of the activities. My first activity was a preassessment to see if the students knew who invented Braille, what Braille was if they were presented with it, and any information about the Braille cell and how letters were formed. Because I am going into teaching, I chose second-grade standards to match to this lesson, and I decided that the group could magically switch from second grade to college age because I wanted future teachers to be introduced to and hopefully encouraged to learn Braile. I chose to skip the introduction portion of this activity and only focus on finding out what the college students knew. Fortunately, their prior knowledge did not include the inventor of Braille, and so I was able to teach them new information. The other main activity that I wanted to do, but that I did not have time for, was to have them manipulate egg cartons with small balls to represent dots, but I knew there would not be time, and so I had to forego this activity. However, I did make a poster, using six foam circles to represent dots. I had velcroed them to the board so that I could use them as a model for showing the students how to form Braille. On the backside of the poster, I had a large rectangle with numbers in the appropriate places and each number in its own little box. I wanted to emphasize that even if a Braille cell only had one dot touchable, it still consisted of the space for the missing dots. This activity worked well, and because they were college students, they all quickly learned a, b, and c. I was thankful for this because the time was almost up, and I needed to do my summing up of the lesson. I had another activity planned, and so I explained it to them and closed by handing out a printout, which contained graphical representations of the entire alphabet for their own further study. The students, however, were so excited about learning Braille and disappointed that I could not do the activity that the instructor decided to allow me to go through with it after all. I had previously placed four Braille cells on the floor. A pink cell was all by itself, and the other three cells, all in different colors, were beside each other. The object was for the students, in small groups, to perform a movement activity, such as walking, jumping, hopping, etc., that I called out from the pink cell to the other cells. AT the end, I called out c a t, and three groups now formed the word cat.
I am really elaborating on this in case any of you might be interested in teaching and realizing that part of the program in education is actually creating and teaching minilessons to your classmates. I chose Braille as my lesson, but for the next one, I will choose a different topic.
Now, let us focus on my real concern—how would I know that the students were standing correctly on the pink cell and then once again on the other cells? I actually answered this question during the teach since I am often spontaneous. The answer was simpler than the million I had imagined up to that point. All I had to do was to ask questions as I would do if I were asking directions somewhere when traveling.
Therefore, I asked questions like: “Where are you standing? On the back two circles? On a back circle and a middle circle? Is one of you on the back circle on the left and the other on the front circle on the left. Notice that b is only formed if you are on the back and middle circles on the left. If you were drawing the letter b, would you draw a vertical or horizontal line? A c? How many people are standing on the cell? Why might I be asking this other than the fact that I am blind and unable to see you? “ The answer to this final question was because placement of a dot within a cell is important as is the number of dots. Just so you understand some of my above questions, dot 1 was on the back left, and if you imagine a Braille page, dot 1 is closer to the top of the page than it is to your tummy, and so these dots on the floor were placed so that if a student stood at one end, the other end was against a wall, or the back. The wall was the back because the reader would be facing the wall when looking at the cell, and so the bottom dot was actually closer to their feet since there tummy is way up in the air as I was standing instead of sitting for this activity. Also, when asking questions, I had students say their name, followed by my repeating their name, followed by the appropriate individual answering the question. By the answers I received, I was able to successfully determine where the students were and if the concept of forming Braille letters had been mastered for them.
Are you a college student or someone who has taught someone else for whatever reason? Or, have you needed to be specific in learning directions to a location? Feel free to share your experiences with all of us here on the Blindness Blog, and thank you all for reading and participating. I do enjoy all of your comments.

Using the Telephone

2010-10-15T14:23:00.001-07:00

Hello, Everyone. My hope is to alter the blog so that it includes information for the very beginning blind person and the more experienced blind person. So today, I will focus more on a topic for the beginner.
Today’s topic deals with how to use the telephone. Blind people can use many different types of phones from a cell phone with very small numbers to a large button phone with big numbers. As a user, your job is to learn the layout of the keys.
First, let me mention that the numeral 5 generally has a dot on it to make it easy to find. This could be a dot or a raised ridge, in other words, a small tactile line. The numeral 4 is to the left of the 5 and the numeral 6 is to the right of the 5. Above the 5 is the numeral 2 and below the 5 is the numeral 8. To the left of 2 is the numeral 1 and to the right of the numeral 2 is the numeral 3. Likewise, the numeral 7 is to the left of the numeral 8, and the numeral 9 is to its right. Another way to say this is that the first, or top, row, from left to right, is 1, 2, 3; the middle row from left to right is 4, 5, 6; and the third row from left to right is 7, 8, 9. The fourth row contains the numeral 0, which is directly below the numeral 8. This fourth row has, from left to right, star, 0, pound.
Your phone may have other keys on it, but for now, we will only focus on these particular keys because all phones are different and because it is critical for you to be able to use these keys before any of the other keys will be necessary for your use. However, keep in mind that cordless phones contain on and off keys and a cell phone contains a send and an end key, and once you know the placement of the numeral keys, you can ask someone to show you the positions for these keys. Also, keep in mind that keys may be differently-shaped from one phone to another. Some keys may be square, some may be oval, some may be rectangular, etc.
I have told you the positions of the keys. How can you practice them? First, you may decide to borrow or purchase a toy phone for small children. Wal-Mart usually will contain such an item in the toy section. This phone will not have the star and pound keys, meaning the keys may be present, but their function will be different. Make sure you purchase a phone that can speak the number when pressed. Now, you can feel free to press keys at random without worrying about hitting an incorrect key. The dot may or may not be present since this is only a toy. A benefit to doing this is that you can independently determine if you are hitting the numeral you intend to hit.
Another option may be to have someone assist you in creating a tactile diagram of the phone. Make the squares/rectangles that represent the keys big enough for you to place a checker in. Now, you can play a game by having someone ask you to move the checker to a particular square. This will help familiarize you with the layout of the phone keypad. Use your imagination to make this game fun, such as by adding time to the game. Also, create your own game, or ask someone for game ideas. That someone may be a child you enjoy spending time with. Note that you could create a tactile diagram on the phone keypad with Braille numerals inside the square, and/or you can create one with all squares blank, except for a dot in the numeral 5 position. I recommend the blank template on the phone keypad because Braille is generally not on most phones, and while you could Braille your own personal phone, learning the numerals without needing the Braille will allow you to use any phone anywhere. Also, your goal is to be able to use the phone with the smallest keypad, and so you will want to practice with different-sized squares. The toy phone will help provide you some practice with this as well.
Finally, you will want to practice calling on a real phone to real people. Before doing so, you may choose to unhook the phone and explore its face and keypad. Can you identify the numeral 5? If you’re not sure, ask a friend or family member to check your guess. Then, hook the phone back up and call someone on it. The more you use the phone in a meaningful way by calling people for a purpose, even if that purpose is just to chat with a friend, the more familiar you will become with its layout. With enough practice, you will soon be able to dial numbers more rapidly, but remember it is okay to move slow. One challenge you may notice in the beginning is that you do not dial quick enough for the call to go through. Practicing with your toy phone and/or phone template should improve your speed when dialing.
Have fun, and it is okay to ask someone to unplug the phone and then to plug it back up so you can practice and familiarize yourself with it prior to making a real call on it.

Responding to Learned Helplessness question from Annonymous commentor

2010-10-09T17:58:00.001-07:00

Hello. This post is in answer to the anonymous poster for the post about learned helplessness. For whatever reason, it is not allowing me to post a comment, and so I am just going to post this as if it is a blog. Others may also be able to read it and comment on it as well. Also, a reader has suggested I change a setting that will make commenting easier so that all can post using the comment feature on the blog itself. I do hope it is successful for all of you.

Children who are blind should be encouraged to experiment. If you know the individual child, you should be able to tell if the child has the ability to perform a certain task independently based on your interactions with and observations of the child, and based on the child's age. For example, you wouldn't ask a four-year-old to light up the grill and have at it, but you might encourage a teenager to do this. Therefore, my answer to this question would be to ask: Would you ask a sighted child of the same age and maturity level to perform the specific task? If the answer is yes, then the child who is blind should also be expected to perform the task. Remember, as I said in the blog, it is the method for accomplishing the task that will be different. For example, a sighted child will use vision to navigate from the kitchen out to the driveway when taking out the trash; a blind child will use a long, white cane in place of vision as he accomplishes this same chore.

The rest of the answer to your question deals with motivation. My first tip would be to never tell anyone, whether it be a parent or a blind adult, that he or she is helpless or exhibiting learned helplessness. Also, do not insist that the term blind be used exclusively; you can incorporate this mind set later. For now, it is okay to say visually impaired, blind, etc. I do this on the blog so that I do not offend those who do have some vision because I want them to at least read and think about what I have to say. In other words, I don't want to be so rigid that they turn away immediately, and parents/guardians and blind adults will back away if you start telling them they don't know what they are talking about. Besides, if you listen to them, you may also learn something from them that you did not realize could be a useful technique

Rather, think of it as a persuasive research paper type of situation. You need to have others hear your argument, which is that your blind child can do more than is expected of them, or you, a blind adult, can do more than you expect you can. To get them to listen, you will probably need to first listen to them. Approach them as a concerned listener who is interested in what they have to say. Once the caregiver or blind adult is finished telling you how it just isn't safe for them to wash dishes because they could drop something and brake it or could cut their fingers off on a knife, you can then say something to the effect of how you understand their concerns. But, you have some ideas of how this can be made safe, and they are When doing this, be sure to suggest that you start performing a task, and the moment it proves unsuccessful, you will stop the routine. This allows them to feel as if they have a safety net, and as a result, they will be more likely to agree.

Also, it is important to realize that you cannot control someone else's behavior. You have to allow them to make the decision to become independent or allow their child to become independent. If they are in the denial stage of blindness, you can only repeat what you have already said and do your best to get them around other blind people and other parents of blind kids. Nothing else can be done if they are expecting to be healed by a doctor, and so learning this stuff about functioning as a blind person isn't necessary for them. Of course, this is only in their mind, but until their viewpoint changes, you are not going to make much progress. Still, they will be observing other blind people and associating with parents of blind kids, and this will be beneficial for them later when they do realize it is necessary to make the best of their situation.

To get kids around other blind kids, you can check out summer programs in which skills of blindness are a part of the camp situation, such as the kids' camp held each year by Blind Industries and Services of MD or the teen program this same organization offers. Encourage the parents to allow their kid to attend. If necessary, focus on the activities such as swimming, and don't heavily focus on the fact that skills are a part of the lesson, though you don't want to hide the fact. If you can locate a camp that is free for the child to attend, meaning that it is free for the parent or guardian, you are more likely to persuade the parent to allow the child to attend. Also, invite the parent/guardian to NFB and ACB conventions and other events, such as chapter meetings, where parents of blind children are likely to attend. And, how about a buddy program where an adult who is confident in the abilities of the blind, a blind adult if available, spends time with a kid once per month doing something fun. When the parents aren't around, it will be much easier to allow a child who is blind to do things for him or herself. Remember, you can't change the behavior of others, and so you may feel as if you are talking to a brick wall when interacting with parents. Your best option might be to work with the child as much outside the home as possible.

This is only a brief answer to your question, and I hope it helps. Perhaps, other readers will also have more in depth advice for you. Anita

More Braille Contractions

2010-10-09T10:08:00.001-07:00

Hello to all. First, I want commenting to be easier, and this is why I am posting a second blog this week. I need to test to see if I can post this way because if I can, I can allow readers to email comments that I can publish as if it were a post. If it publishes in this fashion, I will ask you to choose to comment as is possible now by going to the blog and choosing to post a comment there, or I will allow you to email me. In your email, I will ask you to provide me a subject with the word comment included in it so that the other readers realize your post is a comment for a particular blog. For example, for this blog, you write Comment on More Braille Contractions by John Smith, though you would substitute your own name in the subject line. Then, in the body of the message, you will type your comment. I will simply copy and paste this information into a new email, which I will then post to the blog via email. What I do not like about this is that comments will not be placed in the comments section of each blog, but I know some of you want to comment, and I am trying to make that possible so that we can all learn from each other. What I might end up doing is simply copying and pasting your comment into the actual comment section for the specific blog you comment on, but with school in, I do not want to promise this because it means I would need to sign in each time a new comment is sent. I could wait and post all comments at the same time, but I want others to have access to the comments as soon as possible, and this email option will make that possible. This is my second blog, but my first real blog since the other one was only for me to learn how to post and the like. So please understand I am learning as I go here.

Also, if you wish to write a tutorial for the blog or seminar-like topic for the blog, you can email it to me, and I will publish it in the same manner as above, except in this case you will leave out the comment part and just title your article and include your name in the subject line. Keep in mind that doing so will still cause the blog to say I have posted it, but you will be the known author because of your name in the subject. Remember, if you wish to write an article, it must somehow teach a skill or it must deal with blindness in an educational way. I do understand there are topics that affect the blind out there, but this blog is to teach about blindness and how to overcome its challenges, and so I am choosing to stick to educational topics. Also, I have the right not to publish your article for any reason. I am a Christian and I also prefer that the blog be readable by a wide variety of audiences, including children, and so please do not use inappropriate or fowl language in your blog, and please respect all readers. Thank you.

Now,we are going to add more Braille contractions. If you are still working on the alphabet contractions, it would be a good idea for you to wait to read this blog until you are ready to move on, but I wanted to post this blog for those who are ready to delve deeper into further Braille contractions.

If you noticed, the letters a through j are written in the upper four dots, dots 1 2 3 4, of the Braille cell. Then, for k through t, we simply add a dot 3 to a, b, c and so on through j. Starting with u, we now add dots 3 and 6 so that u is dots 1 3 6. We leave out the letter w in this pattern since Louis Braille lived in France, which had no letter w in the alphabet at the time. Z is written as the letter e with dots 3 6 added, making z dots 1 3 5 6. I say all of that to say this; our contractions will begin with the letter f, and we will add dots 3 6 through the letter j, continuing with our pattern. Please note that sometimes the word these dots represent also can be used for the letters of that word within another word. For example, the dots, 2 3 4 6, that represent the word the also represent the letters t h e, as in the word they, and so this contraction would be used in the word they. Braille rules exist to tell you when to and when not to use contractions, but we will not focus on these now. For your interest, the word they is only one syllable, and this is why this is okay. For now, just learn and practice these combinations. The newest contractions for you to learn are:

F plus dots 3 6 = 1 2 3 4 6 = and (could also be used in the word sand)

G with dots 3 6 added = 1 2 3 4 5 6 = for (the full Braille cell) (also used in the word forget)

H with dots 3 6 added = 1 2 3 5 6 = of (also used in the word off)

I with dots 3 6 added = 2 3 4 6 = the (also used in the word theme)

J with dots 3 6 added = 2 3 4 5 6 = with (also used in the word without)

Remember, we started with f here because a through e were the letters u, v, x, y and z.

Now, I shall write the next ten contractions by starting over with the letter a. This time, I am simply going to add a dot 6 to each letter. If this is all confusing you, worry about remembering the contractions and the dots that make it up only. You don't need to focus on the pattern because if you know that the ch sign is dots 1 6, you will be able to recognize it. Also, these contractions represent words if they stand alone, meaning a space is on either side of them. Some of this may represent the word when combined, for example, the full Braille cell represents the word for, and this contraction can be used in words, such as forge or forget. So, in this list, I will first put the sign, such as o u, and then the word the contraction represents. So for dots 1 6, I will first write ch since this combination represents the ch sign, such as in the word chalk. I will then write the word child, since the ch sign means child when read with spaces surrounding it. Note that not all combinations will have words associated with them. Remember, learn only a couple at a time, practice those until you have mastered them, and then move on. Here are the next ten contractions:

Dots 1 6 = Ch or child

Dots 1 2 6 = gh

Dots 1 4 6 = sh or shall

Dots 1 4 5 6 = th or the word this

Dots 1 5 6 = wh or which

Dots 1 2 4 6 = e d

Dots 1 2 4 5 6 = e r

Dots 1 2 5 6 = o u or the word out

Dots 246 = o w

Dots 2456 = w or the word will

A brief note about how to know when it is okay to use a whole-word contraction, such as for or child, in the word as opposed to having only spaces around it will now be discussed to satisfy your curiosity about the matter. If the word is one syllable, such as forge or then, then the dots representing the appropriate contraction may be used. However, if the letters making up the contraction span across the syllable divide, the contraction may not be used. Also, contractions may be used in prefixes and suffixes, such as the er being used in the word water or the ed in the word walked. The t h e sign can be used in the word pathetic because the t h e sign consists of only one syllable. That, my friends, is where I will stop now because that is the very basics. There are many other rules, but I do not want everyone to feel stressed in knowing this because you can learn Braille in an Organized manner that will teach you the rules as you learn to read and write Braille. For further study, you may choose to take the Braille proofreading course offered through the National Library for the Blind, or NLS. I believe you may contact the National Federation of the Blind, or NFB, for more information on that by going to www.nfb.org and looking up their phone number or accessing the information on their website.

And, that is the end of this Braille lesson, but more contractions will most likely follow. Also, I might discuss a little about the different ways to write Braille in a future blog. To comment on this or any other blog, please do so by following the link for such purposes located at the end of the blog, or you may email me at aadkins7@verizon.net with the words "comment for", (without the quotes), followed by the title of the blog you wish to comment on and your name in the subject line of the email message and your comment only in the body of the message. Thank you.

Learned Helplessness

2010-10-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hello. Today, I will blog about learned helplessness, but first, I want to bring up expectations and blindness hierarchy because I feel these concepts are all somewhat related.
First, let’s talk about expectations so that you can help sighted folks understand it and so you can utilize it if you are apt to become a teacher or just so you can improve expectations you may have for yourself.
What I like to do is first imagine just any person and then to declare what I expect to occur. For example, I imagine a student since I am going to become a teacher, (hopefully). What do I expect a student to do, and it is critical to be specific here? My topic might be to have the student demonstrate an ability to properly identify different locations on a globe. To accomplish this objective, I might ask the student to indicate certain locations on a map of a globe, which I have provided to the student. So now, I have answered the question: What are my expectations for the person—the student will demonstrate understanding of locations on the globe by writing in the location names on a map of the globe. Second, I ask myself how can the person, (student), accomplish this goal? To answer this question, I want to then ask myself questions about the senses? How could someone do this activity using vision? How could someone do this activity using touch? How could someone do this activity using hearing? How could someone do this activity using smell? How could someone do this activity using taste?
I might claim that smell and taste will not be beneficial for this experiment, but before I make this claim automatically, I really need to try to come up with an appropriate way to use all five senses, including taste and smell, to do this experiment, and I need to try to think of more than one example. For example, let’s say for taste, I have chocolate pudding to mark Australia on the globe itself, and during the demonstration during the learning phase, the student would taste this portion of the globe. And so the student would use chocolate to mark Australia on this paper by smearing it right where Australia would show up. Why does it sound as if I am being silly here? The answer is because sometimes we automatically assume something can’t be done using a specific sense without actually first thinking about the possibilities and, as a result, we leave out effective ways of accomplishing goals for ourselves, our students, and those sighted people we encounter in our lives whom we teach about blindness or any other disability.
Let’s see if I can come up with a legitimate example where taste or smell would work, since those are the senses that we might not imagine could be useful. Would smell help us in travel? At the mall in the town near where I live, the theater entrance can be identified by the aroma of popcorn that permeates the area. In a science lab, I might be able to identify a certain mixture by its smell, for example, ammonia has a unique smell to it. Smell can also help me to identify if food is completely cooked, though this sense will be used in combination with other senses as most tasks will.
Tasting enables cooks to know if they have just the right ingredients, or if more of something, such as salt, is required before serving the meal to guests. In a school, taste might be used to enable a student to develop a visual of a picture on a monitor screen by using the tongue as an alternative to vision. Please note I have heard of this being done, but I have never personally experienced it, though I would love to just for the experience.
So first, we asked what did we expect the person to do, and second we asked how could the person do it using the five senses? We never thought of the disability and specific needs for the students. It might be after the above has accomplished that you bring the person, in my case, the student into play. I prefer this because starting out, we are adapting for all students by adapting for multiple senses. Now, we can say, this person is sighted, and so vision is the best method for accomplishing the goal, but this other person is blind, and so touch and/or hearing might be the best methods to make this individual successful. It is okay for people to use multiple methods, including those with sight. Sighted cooks look at a produced meal to see if it looks good, but they also smell it and taste it as well. Thinking of the individual and their style at this point can also help us to further adapt the activity so that they can be successful. Some people are visual performers, for example, those who read Braille and print, and some people are audio performers, for example those who listen to audio. Some people can use both, and knowing the preferred way for an individual to perform a task can help us meet their individual needs so that we can match those needs with the challenges that result from various characteristic traits, such as blindness, height, etc. Keep in mind that if you are a teacher, and if you expect students to learn to spell and read fluently, you may need to require audio learners to use print or Braille because the only way to learn these skills is through experience. So you might allow them to read physically, meaning in print or Braille, and then to read it in accompaniment with audio, except for lessons where reading and/or English is taught, in which case, they should probably use print or Braille most all of the time.
Again, I want to emphasize that I focused on what needs done and how to do it using the various senses; I never thought of the specific disability, such as blindness, and what someone who is blind could not do. My focus is on how to accomplish a goal in different ways and not on how a specific group could not do something. I feel in this way I am not going to automatically say a task cannot be done by a blind person because I will be focusing on how to do the job using various methods. The individual needs to come at the end of these steps because first, I try to adapt the task for everyone, and then, I make any adjustments based on personal needs, if required.
Now, I would like to talk about blindness hierarchy because I just told you that I do not like to focus on how somebody can’t do something. Even at schools for the blind, I have noticed the atmosphere of the blindness hierarchy concept come into play, and my hope is that someday this concept will disappear from our classrooms, our activities that we structure for the blind, and our lives. Blindness hierarchy refers to the various levels of vision from total blindness to full vision, and it claims that someone with less vision, meaning that they are closer to the end of total blindness on this continuum, have less abilities than do those closer to the end of full vision. In other words, some tasks can only be done if a certain level of vision is present. This is important for me to mention here because this belief is completely false; a person’s level of vision does not dictate what they can and cannot do, but the level of vision does alter the method for accomplishment of the task. By focusing on how tasks can be accomplished using the five senses, one will discover that someone with total blindness can accomplish the same tasks as someone with full vision. Both methods may be equally effective. Also, the method used by a totally blind person to perform a task may be the most effective method even for the individual at the full vision end of the continuum. If one goes through the procedures mentioned above where one considers how to do the tasks using each sense individually of the five senses, one can then determine which method to use in order to perform the task safely, effectively, and efficiently, and there may be more than one method to do the job.
So, with expectations and blindness hierarchy in mind, what is learned helplessness and how does it apply. Learned helplessness is the perceived inability to do for oneself as a result of negative attitudes associated with blindness that have been pushed on the individual by society, by friends, by family, and by the individual’s own negative perception of blindness. In other words, learned helplessness means that a person habitually asks others to do tasks for him or her because he or she believes the task is unaccomplishable or because he or she has fallen into the habit of allowing others to do things for him or her just because it is easier. Notice here that low expectations from others and low expectations from oneself is guiding one’s actions. Also, the belief that the inability to see means helplessness and inferiority come into play. Let me first say that asking for and receiving assistance from others is an acceptable thing to do. I am not saying that just because someone asks for assistance means that they are playing the poor, helpless blind person role. What I am trying to get across to you is that a habit of asking for and receiving assistance leads to learned helplessness, and that someone constantly doing something for someone who is blind teaches this learned helplessness. My goal is to try to uncover some solutions so that those with learned helplessness, including myself if I apply, can overcome this serious condition.
First, knowledge can help. If you know you are doing something just because it is easier for you to do for the blind person, or if you are a blind person and you know you are allowing someone to assist because it is easier, then you have recognized you are exhibiting learned helplessness. Knowledge of steps to take to avoid this can then be implemented.
Second, know how to have high expectations for blind people, and if you are blind, know how to have high expectations for yourself by asking yourself how a task can be accomplished in many different ways. Also, ask yourself why you believe something, and ask yourself if this belief is a belief that results from concrete evidence or if you believe it simply because you always believed it and others say it’s true. If you feel justified in your belief that the best way to accomplish said goal is to have someone else do it for you, then you should be able to produce evidence and objective reasoning to prove this point. For example, when I go out to eat at a restaurant with a buffet, I believe I should go up to get my own food, but that I should go with a sighted person who can identify the various foods for me. This is not because I do not have the ability to fix my own plate; it is because out of the five senses, taste is the one that would help me to identify which food is in which container. I feel it is rude to taste everything on the spot here because of the possibility to contaminate food or pass on germs. So, I will allow an assistant to help with this. One way for me to identify the different foods independently would be for Braille to be written on the containers for the items and for foods to always be in a certain spot, but this is unlikely to happen in a world that is set up for the sighted. Some foods will be identifiable by touch, but since all are not, I choose to use vision to learn the type of food in a certain container.
Now, as I am walking along the buffet, a sighted person can say this bowl contains rice, this one contains meatballs, etc., and then I can then independently fill my own plate. However, if I am with a sighted person who is not comfortable with blindness or who is in a hurry, my goal is to fix my plate, and it is not a time to teach about blindness. So to show respect to the individual, I will allow them to fix my plate. A time to teach them may come up for me if I am focusing on the person, his or her fears, and the best way to approach the person with how blindness does not mean helplessness.

I, therefore, must determine if I am allowing someone to do the task because it is easier or if I have considered the safest, most efficient way to accomplish the task.
How about you? Do you constantly hold on to someone’s arm just because you are afraid to use your cane or because it is easier to be guided? Do you feel uncomfortable walking in crowds and feel embarrassed when you bump into someone or touch them with your cane or when you call out to the crowd for the location of an empty seat? Or, are you holding onto someone’s arm because you have thought critically about the situation and determined that doing so is the safest, most efficient way to accomplish the task? Just to clarify, you may be justified in your decision to hold someone’s arm. For example, I have the ability and can walk along a crowded boardwalk, and this is important for me to know if I should ever be required to independently move along the board walk. This might be the case if the person I am with is incapacitated and can no longer walk with me or if I am ever out with a specific purpose to accomplish on the boardwalk and I am alone. However, I feel it is fine for me to hold onto the arm of a sighted friend to walk along the boardwalk. After all, my goal is to talk with the person and have fun; I do not want to focus my attention on dodging the crowd.
I want to point out that you may think a way is the most effective and most efficient if you are accustomed to using that way. So think about the five senses and how to do a task using all of them. Also, consider why you want the help. Are you afraid? Are you uncomfortable or embarrassed about blindness and how others might perceive you when you do it on your own? If so, you are probably relying on others because of learned helplessness.
Please share your thoughts on this subject so that others may benefit. Also, please pass on the blog’s address to those who may be interested.

In The Kitchen with Blindness

2010-10-01T15:03:00.001-07:00

Hello, Everyone. Today, I would like to talk a little about the kitchen and how blind people can cook without assistance and without vision. What I do not plan to do is provide recipes simply because that is not my purpose. However, it is important to realize that one way to improve cooking skills is to follow recipes. My family uses salt, pepper, and onions to season food, and so I did not and still do not always know which seasoning to add with which food. Also, as an inexperienced cook, I do not always know simple things, such as how much butter is to much to put in a skillet and how much is to little. How to learn this information requires recipes, and the more recipes are used, the better one’s ability to cook. After one has followed a recipe enough to fill comfortable in the kitchen, then one will have the knowledge and bravery to experiment. For example, now I just plop a spoonful of butter in something, such as water I plan to boil for pasta. In other words, I have developed previous knowledge by following a recipe, and now it is okay to experiment. Also, it is okay to collect tips from others and to research online for other hints.
Therefore, following a recipe is my first piece of advice for the inexperienced cook, and experimenting is my second piece of advice. Over all of this comes kitchen safety, and you can probably google kitchen safety tips on your own. Since they do not directly relate to blindness, I will not share many of them here. A few quick ones would be to wear clothing that is not loose or does not hang out and to always ensure handles of pots are not hanging out, but are over the top of the stove. Let me try to clarify what I mean by that. I am right handed, and so I always like my handles out to the left. So if I am using a burner on the righthand of the stove, this means my handle is stretched out to the left and may be slightly over the right end of the left burner. This might not be a good idea if I am using the left burner, and in this case I might want to place the handle in the opposite direction, in other words, over the right end of the stove. What I don’t want to do is to position the handle so that it can be bumped by me or someone who may be walking past, and so it never should extend in a direction where human traffic is likely to occur. Now, more safety tips include placing knives so that their handles are toward the ceiling and their points are toward the ground when I am placing them in my draining board to drain and placing them with their handle toward my tummy when I lie them on a counter. I never leave (well, should never leave), glassware close enough to an edge of a counter where it could be knocked off. I use oven mitts or potholders when dealing with the oven and stuff, and I never use a towel or rag because it could catch on fire. Finally, make sure your stove and its parts stay clean. Again, search online for further safety tips in the kitchen.
Now, I would like to discuss assistive technology for the kitchen. You may find it interesting to note that cooking is almost automatically an accessible and usable event. There are some challenges, such as some crockpots and other appliances that have inaccessible features, such as a stove with a clock or a display screen that on a device that requires you to select something or push a button. So when you go to purchase appliances for the kitchen, keep this in mind. Recently, I purchased a new crockpot. When I did so, I made sure I could physically turn a knob for low, high, and warm rather than being required to press a button until I reach the desired option. So play with technology before you purchase it while you are at the store so that you will know if it is something you will be able to use.
As far as additional assistive technology for the kitchen, I have an all-purpose talking thermometer that I purchased from Independent Living Aids so that I can test temperatures of meat, water, etc. I have a Braille timer for timing my cooking, but a talking timer would also be effective. I am a low tech person as well, and so if I am making pasta, I use my talking watch. If I press it and it says 2:37, then I know my pasta will be finished at 2:47. Remember, that this is not a timer, and so you would need to be a conscientious cook for this method, and so the timer method might be a better option. Also, I Braille items in the kitchen, one of which is my Microwave. My Microwave also has a timer that I can set, but I do not like to use it because it cannot tell me how much time is left. Talking Microwaves do exist, and the nice thing about a talking Microwave is that it confirms that you have pressed the right key. I do not have one, but if I did, I would also put Braille on it as well so I could use tactile and audio methods with it. Also, I know that there are talking scales you can purchase for the kitchen. Another piece of technology for the kitchen is an audio device for recipes. I prefer Braille, but with messy hands, Braille will be ruined. So, I can use a cheapo tapeplayer that I can clean with a Chlorox wipe after its use. Also, I can pause the tape, put in the ingredient I just heard, restart the tape, put in the next ingredient, and so on. Also, I can relisten to an ingredient if I need to do so. More recent audio devices also could be used, but I do not want something expensive close to liquids that could damage it. Maybe, a memo recorder from Walmart that is cheap could also be used. A liquid level indicator can be used to tell you if a glass is full. Personally, I use my finger for this task, but if you were serving others, you may want one of these devices so that you are not putting your finger in someone else’s glass. Finally, I also have a talking barcode scanner that verbally tells me items that have barcodes, and these can include kitchen items, cd’s, etc. For kitchen items, it provides cooking instructions and other information, such as how many calories, the ingredients in the food, and so on. You can also use index cards that you label in Braille or print and attach to an item using a rubber band. See the identification blog for more details about that.
If you are a new cook, you may want to have a Microwave and a Crockpot as both are relatively safe to use and can provide you with tasty meals you can make on your own. A George Foreman grill is also a fun appliance. It has a surface for placing your food, and a lid that, when closed, presses the food, causing the grease to drain out while cooking. I have used mine for hamburgers and chicken, but recently I have learned it can also be used for vegetables. Most any appliance can be Brailled or tactually labeled in some way. I do not have any label on my crockpot; I just remembered the order of its settings. Experience on my part tells me to inform you to create yourself a little note about this though because if you spend a length of time without using the appliance, you may forget its settings and have to ask someone with sight again. Another fun appliance is my one-touch can opener. I purchased it Walmart, though I am sure other places, including some places that sell items specifically for the blind, would sell it. It just lies across the lid of your can with its thicker end extending over the end of the can so that its lip is against the can. It uses batteries, and you can press it once (or twice), and it opens the can. What I also like about this appliance is that the lid comes off cleanly, and so you can use the can for making homemade drums or bongos with your students, and it will be then a safe process for them. It is also important to learn to use a manual can opener though in case you are out of batteries. Remember, practice improves your ability to use an appliance, and improves your comfortability with a specific skill.
I have only touched the surface when it comes to the kitchen, but a lot of working in the kitchen requires using recipes, and you may search for those online or collect them from friends and family. Also, you may check out the draining and flipping blogs found close to the beginning of the Blindness blog for ideas on how to learn and practice these skills.
Feel free to share your kitchen tips with the rest of us. And don't forget to share news about the Blindness Blog with others. Thank you.

Challenges for Students who are Blind that Attend Separate Schools for the Blind

2010-09-24T04:39:00.000-07:00

Hello, Everyone. A couple of weeks ago, the blog discussed some challenges for students attending classes in the general education classroom. Today’s Blindness Blog deals with some challenges faced by students who attend a school for the blind.
First, the most obvious challenge to me is the fact that many blind students attending a school for the blind live a good distance from the location of the school, meaning that they must reside at the school. Therefore, they are not able to spend time with family, and they may not be able to make friends at home or feel like part of their home community. Also, the school is responsible for teaching them skills learned at home, such as how to do laundry and how to get along with other kids who live where they do. It is critical for parents of these blind students to ensure that the school is teaching appropriate skills and allowing these kids to spend time indoors and outdoors.
Next, challenges may occur because students who attend a school for the blind may be cognitively at a different level than students their same age or than students in their own grade. Therefore, socialization with peers with the same interests and abilities may be challenging. This challenge results from many students who are blind being mainstreamed and because many students who are blind, including those in public schools, have disabilities aside from their blindness.
Another challenge may be that students do not learn how to operate in a world that is set up for the sighted. For instance, Braille is automatically provided and lessons are many times automatically accessible. This will not be the case when these students graduate and enter the world of college or another option in which sight is highly relied upon. It is critical for the school to teach students how to deal with visual information as my English teacher did at the school for the blind. We had to hand in our English assignments in print, but we could use Braille to edit and correct our work. In college, I hand in print information, but I use my Braille embosser to print out and edit my work.
Finally, I would like to mention that in either type of environment, it is often stressed that those with more vision are more capable than those with less vision, and that this is a false belief. A person’s level of vision does not dictate his or her ability to perform a task. People with different levels of vision may perform tasks differently, but the end result is the accomplishment of the task. For example, a totally blind student uses touch to identify geometric shapes whereas a totally sighted student uses vision to see the shape. Or, a totally blind person may fold a sheet of paper to create a tactile line so that he or she can cut straight across it whereas a sighted student will use a marker to draw a line for his or her guide. All students can learn, and all students can be successful at accomplishing goals; they may just use different techniques to do the work. This expands to bigger tasks as well. Students with no vision can move furniture, for example, putting chairs away, just as sighted students can. It is the way students navigate the environment that is different. A student with legal blindness may use a cane to guide him or her where as a student with sight will use vision to accomplish this goal. Both students, however, will be successful.
Please remember to share news about this blog with other blind or sighted persons that you feel would benefit or find it interesting. Feel free to post the news to the various blindness lists as long as the list does not mind. Also, I enjoy receiving your comments and hearing what you have to say. So please add to this and all discussions if you wish. Thank you.

Braille Contractions

2010-09-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

First, let me apologize for not posting the Blindness Blog yesterday. It totally slipped my mind. Now, yesterday’s blog:
Hello, Everyone. Today, we will return to the topic of Braille. If you did not read the previous blog about Braille, you will want to do that before reading on.
As a brief review, Braille is a system of writing (and reading) for those of us who happen to be blind. It is composed of cells, and each cell can hold up to six dots. Remember that all cells can be empty or all cells can be full. An example of a completely empty cell is a space that is placed between words. A completely full Braille cell, containing all six dots, 1, 2, 3 on the left and 4, 5, 6 on the right is read as the word for, a contraction. We will learn about these contractions in today’s Blindness Blog. The number and varying arrangements of the dots within the Braille cell are what are used to form the letters of the alphabet, numbers, and other symbols. Remember that the placement of dots within the cell are extremely important. A single dot placed in the bottom righthand corner, or dot 6, of the Braille cell is not the letter a. The letter a is only present when the top lefthand corner, or dot 1, is filled.
Braille also contains some symbols that are not used in print simply because these symbols are specific for the Braille code. For example, capital letters are written differently than lower case letters when writing print, and so it is not necessary to create a special symbol in print to signal a letter is capitalized. However, in Braille, we must have a capital sign which is simply the dot 6 placement within the Braille cell. This capital sign is placed immediately prior to the letter to be capitalized. If all letters are to be capitalized, the capital sign appears twice immediately before the letters to be capitalized. We know this all-capitalization ends when we encounter a space or punctuation mark. Another type of sign that is used in Braille and not print is the letter sign. This is because Braille can be either grade 2, or contracted, Braille, or grade 1, or uncontracted, Braille.
Some of you may be wondering why I did not teach you the contractions in the first lesson of Braille since it is generally introduced when it is encountered when someone learns Braille. The reason for this is because this blog is for those who do not have an instructor to work with them. Therefore, a textbook is not available and a teacher is not there to help. I felt the simplest way, therefore, was to teach uncontracted Braille first, and then to discuss Braille contractions. Today’s blog is about these contractions.
Before we get to them, let’s return back to our letter sign. If we place it before a letter, this means the reader reads the letter’s name, such as a or s. However, if no letter sign is present, the letter is read as a contraction, and we will now focus on some of these contractions.
Imagine you are reading along and you encounter the letter e with no letter sign in front of it. To read this letter e as an e would be incorrect. No letter sign means this letter represents the word every, and so this is what a skilled Braille reader automatically thinks when reading the letter e without a letter sign in front of it. Think of contractions as a shorthand. They are used in Braille because Braille takes up space, and contractions help shorten the code so that more Braille can fit on a page. If you were ever in a college class, you might remember that you used shortcuts to keep up with those rapid fire teachers, such as lvl for level, etc. If so, then you can think of Braille in a similar way.
Remember practicing and memorizing Braille is essential. Start out practicing at least ten minutes per day, and gradually lengthen this time. You will not remember and automatically recognize contractions in the future if you do not apply yourself to the task of memorizing them and if you do not encounter them often. In fact, use Braille to label items in your home and to take down phone numbers. If you do not use it in a meaningful way, you will not be as motivated to study it each day. Also, don’t try to remember every contraction at the same time. Pick a couple to work with, and once you have mastered them, add a few more. Focus on small steps because if you focus on reading and writing Braille fluently and expect yourself to be doing it immediately, you will not succeed. Focus on your small accomplishments and worry only about learning a few contractions at once. You will make it to becoming a confident and competent Braille reader, but only if you work toward that goal in small chunks. It is always okay to move back to build your confidence or to work on letters or contractions that may be giving you trouble. If you are thinking how difficult it is for you to feel Braille, remember the more you feel it, the better you will be able to fill it. Ask yourself if you have given your 100 percent best effort toward this. For example, have you spent ten or more minutes per day reading Braille? Have you labeled your medicine or Microwave in Braille? Do you use Braille for obtaining phone numbers. It is okay to use other methods as well, such as audio or other tactile markings, but add Braille to this, and perhaps, in the future, you will not need the additional methods. More importantly, you will be using Braille, and doing so will enable you to feel it and recognize it much more easily.
Now, I am going to write the contractions for the letters of the alphabet.
A = a
B = but
C = can
D = do
E = every
F = from
G = go
H = have
I = I
J = just
K = knowledge
L = like
M = more
N = not
O = no word or contractions
P = people
Q = quite
R = rather
S = so
T = that
U = us
V = very
W = will
X = it
Y = you
Z = as
Now, you have learned the contractions for the letters of the alphabet. Braille contains even more contractions, and another blog will likely be posted in the future to share them with you. Remember,practice, practice, practice. Find a penpal and share your reading and/or writing experiences with them. I will check the previous blog on Braille, and if I have not yet discussed writing, I will also try to post a Braille blog on how to write Braille in the future.

barriers: inclusion for blind students

2010-09-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hello, Everyone. Today’s Blindness Blog is about whether or not the blind, in particular, students, are truly equal in the general education classroom. While I believe that students who are blind can succeed and benefit in the general education classroom, I am concerned that some barriers to them might make this classroom setting less suited for their needs. Let me give you some of those barriers and some examples.
First, a major barrier for students who are blind is teacher-held and student-held expectations, including the expectations of the blind students themselves. I attended a Project Learning Tree (plt) event today at my school, and one of our activities was to form a tree from the inside out. To do this, each person had a part and would perform certain actions according to that part. When I was migrating outside, I overheard one of the instructors say to a sighted student something to the effect that Anita shouldn’t be a root because they had to lie down on the ground. I, of course, piped in and said that I could lie on the ground; however, I had new clothes on, and so I did not push the point. Are you wondering what a college student’s experience has to do with children in grades k-12? Notice my teacher did not have high expectations for me. This was not because she intentionally decided, based on previous knowledge, that I couldn’t do the task; she just did not understand the capabilities of blind students and how they should learn. Likewise, elementary and high school teachers may hold such prejudices toward students who are blind. I am wondering how many inclusion students who are blind are excluded from activities because the teacher thinks they can’t do something? Jane can’t run, and so I’ll exclude her from our tag game. How would this make Jane feel? Left out? I bet. What might her reaction be? Well, like all students, regardless of ability, she may be one of those kids who tries anything to get out of work. She doesn’t yet recognize the importance of insisting that she run because it is easier not to run and because she does not understand that not participating is one way of communicating to others that blindness has restraints attached to it. Her teacher, who should know better, does not understand what she can do and how she can do it, and so Jane is now behind her classmates and sitting on a bench or walking around a track. She might be considered to be an inclusion student, but really she is separated from her peers. It is also important to point out here that students look up to and believe their teachers. Therefore, Jane may very well believe she cannot run because after all, her teacher has said she can’t. And, most probably, other adults in Jane’s life are also passing along other negative attitudes associated with blindness simply because society teaches these negative attitudes to them. I used running in a PE class as an example here, but other classes and other teachers, aside from PE teachers, may also exclude Jane from various activities in the classroom. For example, everybody else walks up to retrieve materials for a science experiment. A friend retrieves Jane’s materials. Jane has the ability to walk up and collect her own materials, and she should do so when responsibility for this goal falls on her the same as other students should when the responsibility falls on them. How does this responsibility come about? Well, if each person in a science experiment has a job, everyone has a responsibility. Week one might be Joe’s material turn; week two might be Rebecca’s, week three might be Jane’s; etc. all teachers should know what their students are capable of, and all teachers should know what students who are blind are capable of because in order to teach students, the teacher must get to know them. If she does not know information, then she needs to learn it. Is, therefore, requiring all teachers to acquire necessary skills of blindness a reasonable accommodation for students who are blind and who are included in the general education classroom? If not, then is this the right least restrictive environment for such students? Without knowledgeable and qualified teachers, I believe that students who are blind are at a significant disadvantage in the general education classroom.
The next barrier deals with the inaccessibility or unusability of materials and resources in the classroom. At the plt event today, everything was presented in an inaccessible format, and the speakers used abstract language to communicate some of their ideas. Immediately, I was excluded from participating. For example, the Smoky Bear song was sung by the group; all sighted students could read the words and sing along. I, however, felt excluded. I was sitting among a bunch of people, but I was not included in the activity. Another example of this includes a sorting activity. Students were given a paper with 20 types of leaves on them. Somehow, students identified these leaves with numbers. Again, I was excluded from this activity because I could not see to perform the activity simply because sight was required. Now, this activity could have been made accessible and usable for me, but it was not. This is not because the Forestry guys decided to exclude a student who is blind from their activities; it is simply because they did not preplan the activities with students who are blind in mind because the world focuses on vision; blindness is a minority, after all. Had I known the activities, I could have shared some ideas with the forestry personnel about how to make their activity accessible and usable for me. Even so, I should not have to do this because doing it requires me to be knowledgeable about the topic, and I, the student, am attending to learn about the topic. If I teach myself prior to attending the event, is the event meaningful for me? While I am mentioning this topic, I would love to express my gratitude to one of the students at my school because, without prompting, she took initiative and used her pencil to make raised drawings of the leaves on the spot. Without her doing that, today would have felt meaningless for me. So I was able to feel the leaves during the morning lecture, and I was able to participate some in the afternoon activities. To get back on topic, notice that print was handed to me and every other student in the room. This was inaccessible to me. However, even when the information is provided to me, I receive it beforehand, and I Braille it myself. Before I received an embosser, I had to accept it on tape. Also, many textbooks and other printed handouts and information are recorded on tape or in another audio format. Now, we are talking about usability. Having the material in an audio format is accessible to me, but my preferred method is Braille, and so it is not as usable for me. In other words, I cannot access the material as quick as sighted students who can flip through their book and locate something. Because I grew up reading textbooks and other materials in Braille, I understand the ease with which sighted people can skim and locate information in a book. This is not possible with audio for me. I want to mention here that I am a visual learner. Some people are audio learners, including some sighted people. A textbook in an audio format would be more usable for an audio learner because this is their preferred way to access information. In addition to receiving everything in print today, activities were also inaccessible for me. Different nutrients were thrown around for one particular activity. Some of these were squares and some were circles. This was partially usable, except that the cards were different colors, and one had to know the color to identify the nutrient he or she possessed. Again, had I known the activity before entering the classroom, I could have suggested to the planners to make squares, circles, and triangles; squares could all be red; triangles could all be blue; etc. In a couple of my classes, activities have occurred where the sighted students cut paper and followed steps provided by the instructor. These activities were not explained to me. I could have asked someone to demonstrate, but doing so would mean that I would need to feel each step, and thus, this would have prevented a sighted student from participating. Also, the instructions for the activity were not verbally explicit. Why am I telling you this? Simply because students in grades k-12 also perform activities, and students who are blind will be disadvantaged if activities, textbooks, and other materials are not presented in an accessible and usable format. Because most of these classes are comprised of students who are sighted, I wonder if such activities and information are available to students who are blind and if blind students are encouraged and expected by teachers to complete them.
What do you think? Did you attend a public school? What were your experiences? Was a talking thermometer automatically provided for your science experiments? Were your textbooks provided on time? Were you allowed to write with a Braillewriter and/or slate ‘n stylus? Did these instruments disturb other students in your class? Did you get out of any activities because of your blindness? Etc., etc., etc. Are my fears unnecessary? Is it just that college students who are blind are expected to do more for themselves? Please comment on this blog and share your experiences and expertise. And, share any solutions to the problem that you may have. My solution would be requiring all instructors to become confident and competent in the skills of blindness and for it to be mandatory that both accessible and usable materials, textbooks, etc. are provided to students on time, meaning that when handouts are passed around, all students receive such a handout in a way that allows them to fully participate in the class, no matter if it is a kindergartner or college student or any other student anywhere and no matter what challenges that student faces.
Note: I am in school, and thus these blogs are presented in rough draft form because I am extremely busy with schoolwork. Therefore, please accept my apologies for any bad grammar or mistakes contained in them. Thank you.

Labeling

2010-09-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

As blind persons, we need to be able to identify items on our own because this enables us to be independent, and it may be necessary since the assistance of a sighted individual may not be available. Today, I would like to discuss several ways to do this. In addition, feel free to comment on this blog to share with the rest of us some ways that you have found to be effective.
First, let’s discuss how to identify items without the use of a great deal of technology. Our first question is what is it specificly that we need to identify. Depending on this answer, we can move forward.
If the item is a temporary item, meaning that once we have used it, we will discard its packaging, then we can use Braille index cards with rubber bands. For example, a can of spaghetti sauce could be identified in this way. If the product is too big for the rubber band, tape the index card on it, but realize that the index card may not be reusable in such a situation. The index card you place on a canned product can be reused because it is only attached to the item via a rubber band. If the boxed item is cereal or another item that is enclosed in packaging inside the box, you may choose to use a one-hole punch to create a slot through which you can tie a rubber band that is attached to your product. Rather than an index card, you may opt to choose the use of a Braille labeler and punch a hole in the end of the label for which to put your rubberband through. Or, you could transfer the contents of the item to a different container, such as a canister, that you have labeled before hand. Note that learning Braille will pay off for you when it comes to labeling items in your home.
If you are not a Braille reader, you can choose another tactile system to help you in identifying your items. For instance, you might place one bump dot on an index card, signaling that what that card is attached to is corn. You might put two bump dots for green beans and so on. If you use this option, you will need to create a list of the symbols and what they represent because you might want to refer to it if you happen to forget which symbol represents which item. Bump dots can be purchased at places that sell items for the blind, or you can choose to use your imagination and travel to the store to locate your own tactile material. One such material might be Velcro since it is sticky on one of its sides. Check out the arts and crafts section because it may include other items that have a sticky backing. Remember, that varied materials could mean different things, such as a small piece of felt for your science folder, a piece of Velcro for your English folder, etc. Also, the arts and craft or toy section may contain print letters that you can use if you have an item you can identify using only its first letter. In some instances, you might also find some fake food, such as a peach or pear, that you can attach to a can. Some of these kinds of fake foods come with a magnet on them. Another idea is to place a rubberband around your shampoo while your conditioner has no rubberband around it. Bottles and other items may also feel different. Shampoo and conditioner are one example of this because with my Panteen, the shampoo’s lid faces the ceiling while the conditioner bottle is designed so that its top faces the floor. With VO5, the bottles may have different lids on top and may have a different feel to the bottle.
In addition, you can purchase a 2020 pen or use a marker to write down the name of the product on your index card or on the container of an item, including the permanent items you would label (see below). Before choosing which marker to use for accomplishing this goal, check out different markers with different colored backgrounds so that your option will allow you to view the label with no difficulty.
Our next type of item to label is what I think of as a permanent item because it will last us long enough to make it beneficial for us to place a permanent label on it. An example of this might be a CD. In other words, the CD case for George Jones will always be the CD case for that specific CD, and thus, labeling, in Braille and/or large print, the CD case, and even the CD itself, with the Artist’s name and possibly the album title will be effective. For my key to my apartment building, I have placed Velcro on it so that I can automatically identify it without trying out every key on my keyring. My clothes have Braille tags sown into them. I use my talking barcode scanner to identify canned goods, frozen foods, shampoo and other health/beauty products, and more. The scanner also identifies DVD’s, and I have the ability to create my own labels with it and to verbally record messages.
Therefore, to label items, use your creativity, labels, tactics and equipment produced specificly for the blind, such as bump dots, 20/20 pens, a talking bar code scanner, etc., and items purchased from local stores that can serve a labeling purpose, such as Velcro, letters and numbers created for children, glue, etc. Finally, remember that organizing items can also help you to identify and retrieve them much more efficiently.

How Sound Talks As A Blind Person Travels

2010-08-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

We’ve spent many blogs discussing travel in some way, and at least one blog talking about travel in more detail. Today, I would like to return to this topic and discuss sound.
We can use sound in many ways when traveling and when locating items. For example, , we can use the jingling sound of keys to hear their approximate location if they drop from our grasp. Sighted people focus on a distant object in order to walk a straight line. One technique that a blind traveler can use is sound. For instance, the sound of traffic can enable us to walk toward a certain location. Sound can also help us to identify our location. If we hear the sound of a loud speaker as we enter a store that is unfamiliar to us, it is quite likely we can identify our position. My best example of this is when someone I am riding with pulls into Sheetz, a convenient store/gas station near where I live, because the loudspeaker is always saying something like: “Welcome to Sheetz. Pump Three is on.” Other sound cues can also help us identify our position, such as the sound of a street a certain direction off in the distance or the sound of wind chimes to our right.
In this blog, I would like to specifically talk about how sound can be used to provide us with information during our travel experiences. Think about a time when you wanted it to be quieter, and so you shut the door to your bedroom or to your home so that you did not have to hear unwanted music or the sound of the lawn mower. When you did this, the door acted as a noise blocker because noise from the other side of it was greatly reduced or silenced altogether. When you travel as a blind person, you can use this same type of noise blocking to help you navigate your environment. For example, in an office building, the open doors allow you to hear into offices as you walk down the hall, and closed doors prevent you from hearing into the offices. Even if there is no human voices or machinery sound coming from an office, with practice, you should still be able to hear that the door is open because of the echo sound you receive from feedback. If the door is closed, no echo feedback or the slight sound of an air conditioner vent will not be heard. To practice with this skill, choose a room in your home that has a door attached to it. Close the door. Then, stand with the door at one of your sides as if you were going to walk past it. Since you are new to this, you will also want to stand so that you can reach out to your left or right and touch the door. This way, the sound feedback will be right beside you. Listen for a minute to any sounds coming from the other side of the room to which the door is attached. If this is your bedroom door, listen for the noise of others talking beyond the door. If no one is home, turn on a radio and place it into the room through which you expect to listen. Note as you stand beside the door with it closed, the noise is greatly reduced.
Now, open the door and then return to your previous position with your left or right side beside where the door would have been if it had been closed. In other words, stand as if you were walking past the doorway. Now, notice the louder sounds coming from the room. The voices and/or music will now be louder. Try the same procedure with the door closed and then opened a few times and practice listening. Then, turn off the music and ask others to be silent. Now, try it again, but this time notice how sounds still make their way through the open door while the closed door acts as a barrier.
Note that wearing eyeshades during your listen attempts will tell your brain to tell your eyes that they are off duty. Also, your brain will tell your other senses to be more alert, meaning that you will hear the noise being blocked much easier. In fact, if you have some vision and you are not using eye shades, you may not be able to notice the difference when listening through the door of a silent room to know if it is open or closed. However, you may notice that a door is opened or closed if music or louder noises are present. I recommend you try it both ways and give eyeshades a try. Only through experience can you determine if they will help or hinder your travel experiences. Some people just prefer to close their eyes, but the problem with this is that your mind is now focusing on keeping your eyes closed and gathering other necessary information, tasks that may be possible for an experienced traveler, but not for a new traveler. Whenever I am learning a new skill, I need as few distractions as possible. So please try out eyeshades.
When you travel outside, buildings and other obstacles will function as a noise blocker for you just as the closed door acts as a noise blocker. As a result, you will be able to determine when a building you are walking past has ended or if you are at a street or a driveway. A driveway generally has a building or other barrier blocking noise so that you cannot hear clear through it. A street, on the other hand, has no noise blocking obstacle, and so you can hear clear through to the other end of the street, including any traffic on a parallel street a block down to your left or right.
Sometimes, obstacles are in our path, but too high for our cane to detect. Recognizing how obstacles block noises can help you, with practice, to automatically hear obstacles that may be in your path. For example, a tree limb may be hanging over the sidewalk. If you are accustomed to listening for obstacles that block noise, it is likely that you will “hear” this tree limb before you encounter it. If you are walking in a mall, a sign may be hanging so that you will run into it unless you are prewarned of its existence. One way you can be prewarned is for the sign to alert you to its presence by its ability to block the noise behind it. Again, you are more likely to use sound blocking when travelling if your eyes are totally useless. The more you listen for obstacles and how they block the noise from behind them, the better you will be at detecting smaller and smaller obstacles that block noise and thus, you will be less likely to bump into an obstacle.
Remember, feel free to comment on the blog about this or any other topic.

All About the Blindness Blog

2010-08-20T10:21:00.001-07:00

Welcome to today’s Blindness Blog. I traveled to visit with friends and family over the past week and therefore, I have not created or edited a specific blog for this week. In fact, this specific blog places very near to claiming first draft status itself as I have both written and edited it in just a couple of hours this very day. However, I would like to share with you why and how I started the blog. My original idea was to create a book explaining how to do some things in a nonvisual way for those of us who must learn through experience because we have not had the privilege of being around someone who could teach us.
Years ago, my brother and I wanted to be able to travel to different destinations. We had both attended a school for the blind, and we had both been introduced to Orientation and Mobility (O&M) instructors. It grieves me to report that I only remember obtaining O&M during my third, eleventh and twelfth grade years. This is unacceptable for any blind child, but it is especially unacceptable for one attending a school where this training should automatically be part of the child’s curriculum. When I was in third grade, I remember I learned about cardinal directions. Also, I walked to a local snack shop a couple of blocks from our campus. In eleventh grade, an excellent O&M instructor obtained the position, and I learned a great deal of travel from her. She had me to plan a trip to Washington D.C. and then to travel that route. In addition, she worked with us on revolving doors and many, many more travel skills. After graduating in 1996, I spent a summer at the WV Rehabilitation Center in Institute, WV, where I learned even more travel skills. After that, I was pretty much on my own until my brother and I wanted to explore even more. On our routes, one of us would stand at the very end of a known route, and the other one would venture out into the unknown, calling out to the other to share new discoveries or to locate our position. Never did we think of using the sun to guide us. If we had, we would have had even more success. It was through this self discovery of traveling that I began to wish for a way that I could uncover methods to learn things I did not know when there was no one available to teach them to me.
Back in April or May of this year, I was preparing for a summer of fun cooking. I had plans to make many dishes since school would not be in to keep me from my cooking experiences. I received some training in cooking at WVSB where I learned to make macaroni ‘n cheese and several dishes in the microwave. I also had a couple of cooking classes during that summer at the WV Rehabilitation Center. I remember we made chicken and grilled cheese sandwiches. Since I did not keep practicing due to the fact that I traveled to Pennsylvania to attend college, I lost both the motivation and opportunity to cook on a regular basis. Throughout the next several years, I would occasionally experiment or ask a family member how to do this or that, but I had no real cooking classes, and I had no one to work with me on this much needed skill. The microwave had become my best friend. I did receive further training at Blind Industries and Services of MD when I attended their training program for a month or so, and this training encouraged me to explore even more. Other experiences also motivated me to be brave at learning new skills, including travel and computer skills.
It is a wonderful thing if someone can have the privilege of learning about and attending a training center for the blind, and I encourage all of you to do it if at all possible. It is best done before a job or marriage and kids stands in your way. Sometimes, it is not possible for someone to leave home and attend a school, and sometimes, blind and visually impaired persons aren’t even aware of such training centers. I did not know of the existence of the one at Blind Industries and Services of MD until probably about 2004 or 2005, a good eight to nine years after I had graduated from high school. It would be good if such training programs could travel to various schools for the blind and public school settings to share news about these programs with high school students.
This Blindness Blog is for anyone who may benefit from it. But, it is especially for those of you, like me, who have no one to assist you in learning how to accomplish goals using alternative techniques. Its goal is to enable you to “see” how to flip something in a skillet or to “see” that tan will match about any type of clothing if there is no one around to alert you to this information. If I want to know how to do something, a picture of someone doing that something is not beneficial. Sometimes, those somethings are activities others simply learn through visually observing the task being done by someone else. For those of us who happen to be blind, this information is not readily accessible, and it is the mission of this Blindness Blog to share some of those techniques in a detailed method that we can access and find useful. The other goal of this blog is for me to learn from the rest of you. I do not know how to do everything using nonvisual techniques. Like the rest of you, I am strong in some areas and extremely less confident in others. Therefore, let us all use this blog to learn from and to teach each other, as blind and/or visually impaired friends, how to do whatever it is that we want and/or need to do by sharing how we use alternative techniques, technology and any other necessary methods to accomplish our goals.

Blindness Barriers: Employment

2010-08-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

Obtaining employment presents challenges for blind and/or visually impaired persons. Therefore, in this blog, I hope to shed light on some of these challenges and to guess at some ways to overcome some of them. If you know of additional employment challenges and possible solutions to them, and wish to share them with us, or if you wish to remark on any of my thoughts, please comment on the blog.
Our first barrier occurs because those of us who are blind make up only a minority of the population, and as a result, the world is not structured to meet our needs by default. For example, if you head to a department store to apply for a job, you will not automatically be met with applications presented in Braille or audio format, which you can fill out and return in your desired format. Other information, such as handbooks and flyers will, like that application, be presented to you in print. Then, if you do manage to acquire the desired position, a talking cash register, an accessible barcode scanner, and Braille money is not presented to you. Rather, you are required to use vision to automatically identify this and other necessary information to perform your duties. Therefore, in order to gain employment and perform your job, it will be necessary for you to obtain reasonable accommodations and for you to be familiar with and confident with using alternative techniques of blindness and other visual aids. I wonder if jobs have not been provided to the blind simply because the accommodations were not reasonable. I understand that, as a blind worker, I must present as few challenges for my employer as possible, meaning that when and if possible, I should provide as many of the accommodations as I can because an employer is more likely to hire me if he views me as a benefit to his company rather than a reliability. On the other hand, a person with sight does not face any such barriers because that individual can walk in, automatically sit down and complete the application, and then begin to work within a few days without any accessibility or usability issues.
How can we work to solve this problem? As I mentioned earlier, one way is to provide as much of the adaptations and accessible equipment and technology on our own as we possibly can. Another solution might be to create a team of professionals who could travel to various employment positions, determine how jobs are completed, determine what reasonable accommodations and such are needed, train blind applicants in how to perform the job safely, efficiently and effectively using alternative techniques and/or other visual aids, and, just as importantly, train employers about how they can make their employment positions accessible and usable by blind employees.
A challenge with this solution is probably a lack of funding. However, I imagine there could be grants and the like for such a team, especially since it would also be creating employment for the blind people who would be working on it. In addition, one might be able to request financial assistance from the government, from an organization of the blind, and/or from a private individual who happens to be wealthy and willing to contribute to the cause.
Our next employment barrier is that society’s negative attitudes about the abilities of the blind and the fact that many blind people also hold these same negative attitudes prevent a blind person from easing into an employment position. There are some wise employers who are fully sighted that hold positive beliefs about what the blind can do, but there are also many who do not hold such beliefs. These folks dread it when a blind person applies for employment because it means they will have to provide accessible equipment. Many times, these individuals claim their computer programs do not work with screenreaders, and, while they may promise to work on improving this situation, the fact remains that the situation is not automatically solved and that it is a guarantee that the company is actually working toward complying with the goal of making their equipment or software accessible to the blind, whether it be a blind consumer or a blind job applicant. In addition, employers are hesitant to hire a blind person because they worry about whether or not the person will obtain an injury while performing the job. Again, their beliefs about what they believe the blind are capable of prevents them from considering the fact that alternative techniques may be used by the blind to accomplish goals as safely, effectively and efficiently as other employees who perform these same goals using vision.
Training employers in alternative techniques of blindness seems to be the best solution to this dilemma because doing so would enable them to build confidence in the abilities of the blind. Again, financial concerns will arise as mentioned above, but if we let every fear of failure dictate our behavior, we will never succeed in achieving our goals. What if each member of the National Federation of the blind, or NFB, and American Council of the Blind, or ACB, agreed to donate one dollar every three months toward such a training team? That could greatly help fund this type of solution. Another barrier in this instance might be company time and loss of profit as a result of taking time to receive this training. My immediate solution to this would be to provide a substitute employee who is as capable and and reliable as the employee being trained in blindness skills. This individual could be sighted and could be a member of the team that is working with the employment situation, which is providing training to the employer and/or other employees. The reason I say this person could be sighted is because blindness is our barrier here, and we want to motivate the employer to first consider and accept training. If he knows his company will not loose money or time, he will more likely feel confident enough to try out alternative techniques training for himself or for his current employees. Remember, he already trusts that the sighted individual can do the job, and we can use this trust to motivate him to step to our side of the table. We could train and build confidence in the abilities of the blind for only two or three employees, and those employees could then pass on their new knowledge to the remainder of the workplace and/or could work alongside a blind employee as a mentor and advocate. In addition to this training, the blind themselves must act in such a way that demonstrates to society that blind people can be capable and reliable. Also, any blind person who holds negative beliefs about blindness should receive training in blindness skills.
Another reason it is more difficult for the blind to obtain employment is because of fear of losing a check and/or medical card, and because this person obtains this support, there is a lack of motivation to earn his or her own income. I apologize if I have offended you, but I think this is one major barrier for us blind folks when it comes to gaining employment. I am one of those individuals who receives a check and medicare card. Back when I was employed, I constantly found myself stressed about whether or not I would be making too much money that would result in the termination of my SSDI check or medical assistance. In fact, I did not look forward to obtaining raises because a raise of a couple of dollars would mean that I would loose a larger portion of my income for that particular month. The reason for this is because the amount of income I would receive due to the raise would be a great deal less than the amount I would loose because of making more money than the allowed limit by social security. It is highly unlikely that I could obtain a raise to equal the amount of my check.
One way to solve this problem might be to stop a check the instant one gains employment. AS a result, the person will then not rely on the amount of the SSI or SSDI check in addition to the amount he or she will receive due to working. If the particular job does not cause the individual to earn up to the total amount of his or her check, the check would not be terminated, but it could be reduced to an amount that would cause the total income from check and work to be equal to the amount of the check prior to the individual gaining employment. For example, if a person is only able to earn 800 dollars as a result of employment, and the check was 900 dollars before obtaining this employment, then the check could be reduced to 100 dollars to cover the difference in this amount. I do agree that it would be an incentive for obtaining employment if one could keep the check while working, and perhaps this should be done for x number of years after the blind person gains employment. However, I think that if the blind want to be equal with sighted people, receiving a check is treating them as special unless we also caused social security to provide a check to all sighted people, an act that will not occur. Perhaps, one could justify a blind person continuing to receive a check after being employed because the need is for the blind person to focus on being successful with one’s employment, because transportation is limited or unavailable to travel to a different employment position in an efficient manner, and/or because the blind individual is less likely to obtain a secondary type of employment until society’s negative attitudes about blindness and the access barriers that prevents the blind from performing certain duties is eliminated.
Also, as part of this solution, there should be a guarantee that medical benefits will not be stopped if the person receives employment for a period of x amount of years, for example, ten.
Furthermore, the blind individual who is unemployed needs incentives to obtain and maintain employment. One incentive might be that the check is terminated unless the individual continues to prove he or she is actively seeking employment or unless he or she proves training and/or further education will occur in the near future or is currently taking place. If the individual proves he or she is a house spouse, meaning that one spouse is working while the other spouse stays home to care for the home and/or kids, then the blind individual, regardless of whether or not he or she is the working member of the household, should receive medical benefits along with his or her check because being a house spouse is a form of employment. Now, you might be saying something like: why can’t a single person stay at home and be a caretaker of the house and home? My answer is because, while I understand that the cleaning and laundry and grocery shopping and all this stuff still must be done, so does paying the electric bill and the Internet bill. If a sighted individual is required to work to afford these things, or to live on a family member who will let him or her have a free ride, then the blind person should also be required to do the same. Someone must earn income to maintain a home, and if you are the only someone, then the responsibility falls in your lap.
You might also be saying how would this plan work since the blind find it so difficult to obtain employment. Remember, I said that the blind person needed to actively prove he or she was seeking employment. As long as this active search for employment continued, the check would not be terminated. To do this, he or she would apply at x number of positions per month and, if necessary, obtain training in alternative techniques of blindness and/or other equipment necessary for those with low vision that would allow him or her to function independently. Or, he or she would be attending a college or other training program. If so, there should be a certain length of time for the individual to receive his or her check, without actively seeking employment, after graduation or completion of the program, such as one year. Also, I believe that an individual might reach a certain age before the loss of a check due to no employment would take effect. For example, while he or she might be considered an adult at age 18, this limit might be age 21. Finally, if other medical conditions are present other than blindness so that the person is not capable of working, then the check should not be terminated. This will require social security to view blindness alone as a condition that allows one to contribute to society, and thus, it will be a move toward enabling the rest of society to accept this fact. In other words, we need to stop referring to blindness as a severe disability. Rather, we need to refer to it as a characteristic that places one in a minority position, and as a result of this, limitations resulting from the fact that the majority of people rely on vision mean that the blind must use alternative techniques and perform tasks in nontraditional methods that may be more costly and/or less understood by employers and others.
Finally, no matter which of these types of barriers stand in the way, a solution might be to create a committee, which is composed of confident and competent blind persons, to discover the employment issues and to work out solutions for them. I have given some solutions in this post, but I am only one person with a limited amount of thinking power. Several of us thinking together would be much more effective. In addition to that thinking, we would need to act on our beliefs.
It is not my belief that we could immediately cause all of these solutions to take effect, but we can start in small steps.
Have I left out any employment barriers for blind people? And/or, do you have any of your own solutions to add to the discussion? Please do so by commenting on this blog. Thank you.

Shopping

2010-08-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Today’s Blindness Blog. Before we begin, I want to say that information in these blogs is for informational purposes only. For example, in this blog, I mention that you can buy a money identifier from the National Federation of the Blind because I have done so in the past. However, I did not check to see if purchasing such a product is still possible. This blog’s goal is to share with you ways that you may be able to shop independently and not to inform you of what specific places sell. In saying this, I am providing all information, in this and all of my Blindness Blog entries, to my knowledge, with accuracy, but this does not guarantee it is true or useful or safe. I am telling you that it is not my fault if you get injured, encounter misinformation, obtain a computer virus, lose money, etc. My intent is only to provide you with information for educational purposes, and I am not responsible for its accuracy or other consequences that result from it. Also, when websites are listed, there may be a comma (,) after it, and you will not include this character when you copy and paste or type the address into your web browser. Now, on to today’s Shopping Blog.
How can people, who have trouble seeing or who cannot see at all, shop? Today’s blog will address this question.
First, let me mention that part of shopping is being able to travel around in a store, from store to store, or from your home to the market or mall and back again. That mental mapping skill I mention in the Blind Travel blog will be invaluable for such an adventure because it will enable you to visualize your route to and from different locations, and it will enable you to picture the locations of shelves, counters, walls, and other obstacles in a store. It will also enable you to develop a mental picture of how the store is layed out by informing you of which foods are where. Smell will also be beneficial to you along with sound and touch. To learn more about travel, you can read about it in the Blind Travel blog in great detail in possibly in other blogs in minor detail.
In addition, you will need to possess computer skills because an alternative to physically navigating to a store is virtually travelling to one by visiting its website on the Internet. Shopping by phone is another option that you may wish to explore.
Now, let’s begin by talking about how one can shop at a physical store. After arriving, you must navigate your way to the customer service desk and ask for a shopping assistant. If you have not been to the store before, listen for the sound of the checkout counter. The sound of the beep of the cash register or the voice of the cashier saying something like: “That’ll be 5.89, please” can enable you to migrate your way to the counter where you can ask for a shopping assistant. If this is a store you visit often, you will want to make it a goal to learn where the customer service desk is located. The shopping assistant will walk around the store with you to help you locate and pick out the items on your shopping list, which you should organize before you arrive at the market to make your trip easier on you and your shopping assistant. To do this, you can simply create your own list using an audio recorder, a device for writing or outputting Braille, or other method. You could choose to browse the store online where you can also access coupons for the store and information about the products. For instance, if you visit Walmart’s website, www.walmart.com, you can access information, such as how many calories the food has, how much fat it contains, its ingredients, its directions, and more. In addition, Walmart’s website will allow you to create a grocery list that you can take to the store with you. Personally, I prefer to use a website called “My Grocery Checklist - Custom Grocery food lists made fast and easy - mygrocerychecklist.com”, at http://www.mygrocerychecklist.com/ because it allows me to create my grocery list in a convenient way that groups similar items together for me and because it allows me to create a list for any store that sells food and cleaning products. Also, I can either print it right there or have it emailed to myself, and as a result, I can copy and paste the list in to Duxbury, a software program that allows me to convert print into Braille. If you choose to visit this particular website, you will be able to down arrow through the entire page. As you do so, you will encounter checkboxes that you can check if you want the item with which the checkbox is associated. Pressing your spacebar will usually check or uncheck such a checkbox. There are edit fields where you can type in items that are not presented as choices, and there is a final edit box for additional comments to yourself just before the button you will press to format your shopping list. Note that your screen reader may require you to turn forms or MSAA mode on and off in order to access the items. My version of JAWS allows me to down arrow, and automatically turns on this mode when I am in a field, and so it is really simple for me to navigate and identify the items for each checkbox without any hassle. Perhaps, if your screenreader functions differently, you may choose to access this website and share your opinions with us by commenting on this blog. Also, you may choose to share other such websites with the rest of us. If you press the button to format your shopping list, and you review the page to find you added something unintended or are missing an item, you can simply press the backspace key or alt+left arrow to return to the previous page where you can edit your selections. Then, you can again press enter on the button for formatting your shopping list. A negative aspect of using such a website is that you will hear the name of a food that you may have been able to avoid if it had not crossed your mind, such as chips, but the advantage is that you may run across a food that you actually needed, but would have forgotten.
When you travel to a store, I recommend that you bring a print list and an additional list in your format of choice with you. For example, I bring a print and a Braille copy of my list to the store with me. I also bring my nose so that if I forget to put an item, such as laundry detergent, on my list, my sense of smell is apt to remind me I need the item before leaving the store. Smell can also enable me to figure out where certain items are located in a store, and it can help me to orient myself on my mental map. If I smell bread, for example, and I am a touch lost, I can visualize the location of bread on my mental map, and thus, I can imagine my position on the map. Other clues, such as textures in the floor, the feel of cold air, the sound of a cash register, or the ability for my hand to examine what is on a shelf near me can also help me to locate my position on my mental map.
As soon as I arrive at the store, I attempt to locate a shopping cart, which may be retrieved from the front of or just outside the store, and then bring it with me to the Customer Service Desk; if necessary, I ask the shopping assistant to find one. It is important to learn how to pull the cart behind you and to follow the assistant. Your other option would be to hold the handle of the cart and have the assistant pull its other end. Sometimes, one is in a familiar store where he or she chooses to locate items without assistance. In this instance, the cart will need to be pulled by the blind shopper, and so this is a good skill to learn.
Note that if you are at a store that you will shop at often, it will be beneficial to pay attention to its layout so that you can better organize your list and so you can more easily navigate the store during future visits. I like to think of an aisle as similar to a hall with shelves on my left and right. Even when I am walking so that the ends of aisles are on my left or right, I can still consider this a sort of halllike area with openings to aisles instead of openings to rooms.
I have already mentioned that you should try to have your list organized when you arrive so that the shopping assistant can find things in a quick and efficient manner. Once the assistant locates the first item on the list, be sure to ask questions about it to determine if it is the correct color, size, brand, etc. Also, ask them to hand it to you so that you can feel it. This will enable you to identify it through touch to make sure it is what you want. For example, a ketchup bottle is easily identified through touch as are many other products. Touching an item, such as a blouse, will enable you to determine if it meets your preferences. I am guilty of saying to my shopping assistant that I want an item and allowing them to put it into my cart. As a result, I had to suffer the consequences, which were frustration, lack of the desired item when I arrived home and either to settle with the item in question or return to the market, wasting my time and spending extra money I could have used for something different. So, by touching the product before placing it in your cart, you will be more informed about what you are purchasing. In addition, if you have a talking bar code reader such as the Omni barcode reader, turn it on and scan the barcode. If the item is not in memory, you can record it right then so that it will be recognizable at a later date when you arrive home. The Omni bar code scanner also verbally provides you with information, such as how to prepare the food or how to use other items in its database.
Once you have everything you need (or want), it is time to checkout. Amuse yourself in your own little way while you wait in the mile long line, but remember to use your cane to tell you when the person ahead of you is moving forward and your other sound clues and such to keep your spot in line until your turn arrives to place your items on the counter. Sometimes, this counter is really a belt that moves, and so be sure to ask for the divider to place between your items and those of the customer in front of you. I prefer to group my items in my cart in a certain order during the actual shopping so that I can place them on the counter in a way that will permit my cold stuff to be bagged together and other similar items bagged together. This is more convenient when I arrive home. To build your confidence as a new, independent shopper, you may wish to have the shopping assistant remain with you through the checkout process and assist you to the exit of the store. I hope that you will eventually choose to forego this option, but remember you must gain independence in small steps and not all at once. If the person offers to stay with you until your transportation arrives, be sure to tell them that this is not necessary because other work awaits them inside the store and you do not want to prevent them from doing it.
Before I leave this topic, I would like to briefly mention how to handle your money while in the store. When you reach the counter, you should already know where in your purse or other storage area that your wallet is located. You should also know where any discount or other card is located. Some stores have a card that you can apply for that will give you discounts each time you shop. I like to think of it as a nonuser friendly way to make the experience less pleasant for the shopper so that the store can gain profit on those customers who lose or forget their card, but this is not a blog to discuss such matters. Also, you may have an actual credit card for a particular store or a check card of some sort. Knowing where these cards and your money is located is essential. When I use a credit card, I always ask for a printed receipt to sign because I do not prefer to write on the face of a machine, though this is sometimes necessary. Some cards allow you to choose between credit and debit. Credit means you will get a receipt to sign; debit means you will need to type in your secret code for the credit card. Some places have accessible machines that allow you to do this, and many places do not. Your bank or some other entity may require a fee for using your card at different stores and in different ways, and so ask your financial institution and the store for information about this. Also, you should know your card type and all numbers associated with it, including its three-digit security code, which is located on the signature line on the back of it. When at home, have a trusted friend or family member provide you this information so that you can record it in audio format and/or Braille so that you can memorize it. Keep this audio/Braille copy in a safe place.
In addition to knowing how to use your card, you should be able to identify your money without assistance from the shopping assistant or cashier on nearly all occasions. To do this, you can fold it in a particular way and you can ask the cashier what your bills are as she hands you back your change so that you can fold them right there. Remember, it is okay to have the cashier to specify if the ones are facing up and if it is your thumb that is touching a one dollar bill. Usually, the bills are given to you in order of denomination with the largest bills on the bottom and smaller bills at the top. The important thing to consider when choosing how you will identify your money is that you are consistent, you fold in such a way that will make retrieving the bills from your wallet or purse convenient, and you do not lose the money. If you tend to drop money from your wallet when retrieving it, practice handling it at home until you are successful at keeping track of it. Also, don’t forget that you can, as a beginner, have a trusted friend or family member confirm you were successful at keeping track of your money once you return home. This is something you should not have to do forever, but it is okay until you build up enough confidence to drop the habit.
I always prefer to have my ones flat because I use a lot more ones than I do other currency. I fold twenties in half lengthwise. I fold tens in half widthwise and then fold that in half. I fold fives in half widthwise. This is my method, and it is successful. Choose one that works for you (it is okay if you choose mine). Be consistent with whichever money folding method you decide upon. Money can also be identified using a magnifier or talking money identifier. The Independence Market at the National Federation of the Blind, 410-659-9314, ext. 2216 http://secure.nfb.org/ecommerce/asp/default.asp, sells the money identifier as does Blind Mice Mart and other stores that sell products specificly for the blind or visually impaired market.
Another way you can shop is to have a friend or family member take you. In this instance, it is still beneficial to stay in control of what you want, to examine each item before you buy it, and to have your cane with you and ready to use.
You can also shop by purchasing merchandise online. The benefit to this is that you can most likely browse items and price them without assistance. You can also use the Internet to look for the sales in local stores before you visit them. Another option you have is to pay bills or keep track of your banking information, transactions and so forth online.
How do you shop online? First, someone may tell you of an online store they recommend or you may hear of one via some other news source, such as the radio or TV. When this occurs, make sure to note the exact web address so that you can visit the site.
This leads us to the next way of shopping online, and that is to search for an online store through Google or another search engine. What I would recommend is that you begin by shopping at a store someone you know well has had success in shopping at unless you are confident about the reputation of the business.
The other suggestion I have is that you begin your online shopping experience by choosing a website that is both accessible and usable. As a previous tester of websites for accessibility and usability, I will briefly tell you the difference between the two terms. Accessibility refers to your ability to access the information. Usability refers to your ability to get at the desired information in a quick, efficient manner. In other words, usability means finding what you want without obtaining a headache in the process. On the grocery list website mentioned above, the webpage you first encounter is very accessible because you can encounter all the information by using your arrow keys and your tab key to move about the page. However, it could be made more usable if the bulleted items were presented as headings because you could then use your screenreader command to move to each item in a jiffy without tabbing through or down arrowing through the entire section before it.
I will tell you that I do recommend both www.amazon.com and www.audible.com as great online places to shop, but I would not recommend that you begin with them because they are accessible enough, but not the most user friendly places on the web. For a user friendly place, try out “Future Aids - The Braille Superstore” at http://www.braillebookstore.com/ because they are accessible and user friendly. Also, they sell Braille books, games, toys, household items, and more items that are of interest to the blind community. There are other online stores, such as Independent Living Aids, www.independentliving.com, that sell items for the blind as well. For a list of places that specialize in selling products for the blind, you may want to check out “Vendors specializing in technology for the blind” http://www.nyise.org/vendors.htm because they list several places, including website, email, phone, and such; also, they seem to update the list while, at the same time, reminding you of a company’s older name or owner.
Remember this is a tutorial on shopping and not a tutorial on how to browse the Internet. Therefore, as previously mentioned, you will need to be familiar with both using your screenreader and with browsing the Internet in order to shop online.
After you select your items and place them in your shopping cart, which you will do by clicking on a button that says something like “add to cart” or another similar phrase, you will have access to a virtual shopping cart. This will be a link somewhere on your page. If you press enter on this link, you can visit the webpage that is equivalent to the inside of a shopping cart at a physical store, with the exception that it includes a bunch of links and other information your physical cart does not include. Review the items in your cart. You will most likely find controls such as edit boxes, links and other buttons that will allow you to adjust the number of a specific item, remove an item, send it to a wishlist, or perform some other action on it. The link or item will be labeled so that you know what action you are performing if the website is a useful place to shop. Assuming that you have completed browsing your cart, you can either choose to shop further or check out. I cannot say what these links will actually say, but their context should inform you of what will happen if you activate such a link or button. If you choose the check out option, you will reach another page where the checkout process will begin by asking you for your credit card information, address, and the like. Again, you will need to walk through this process on your own or with someone you know who has used the site because sometimes this is all on one page and sometimes it is on more than one page, and thus, I cannot be specific about the exact route from start to finish. At the end, you should be able to review the information you have provided and the items you desire to purchase before you press enter on a final button that says you definitely want to continue and purchase the item. When you checkout, be certain to print out the page with the authorization number or receipt on it and/or to write down this information in case you should need it in the future.
Note that many websites, including Amazon, Audible, and Blind Mice Mart at http://www.blindmicemart.com/ have an option where you can become a member, and if you sign up for membership, you will use a username and password in order to shop on the website. The advantage for this option is that you do not have to type your credit card and other information in each time you shop at the specific online store and you also may receive discounts. One disadvantage that comes to my mind is that it can become very easy to shop, and thus, to spend your money. To be an online member, you will need a valid email address. Obviously, if you choose to shop online, you will also need access to the Internet and a way to access the printed information on the computer’s display, such as a screenreader or magnification program, unless you are capable of reading the screen.
Finally, you may choose to shop via the telephone. Many websites will provide you with phone numbers and other contact information so that you can make purchases over the telephone. Or, you can obtain these numbers from Radio or television commercials or a trusted friend or acquaintance. In addition, you can pay bills over the telephone. When making a purchase or paying a bill online, be sure to note down the authorization number, amount of the purchase and any other pertinent information.
On occasion, I will contact a pizza place and provide them with my credit card number to have a pizza delivered if I have not gotten up the energy to make it to the bank or ATM machine beforehand. When I do this, I try to make sure I have a tip for the delivery person. I also call some online places to purchase items. For example, I called AmbuTech to purchase a folding cane, which they allow me to build by choosing length, color, etc., near the end of last summer. Since I have mentioned them, their website is:
“Product Catalog | AmbuTech”
http://www.ambutech.com/product-catalog/
“Order by phone: 1 (800) 561-3340”
Sometimes, I choose to call because I feel more secure doing so. This does not mean online shopping is not safe if you know the business from whom you are purchasing; it just means I am paranoid. Also, I sometimes have further questions about the product and desire to talk to a real person.
So now, you should be ready to shop. Don’t forget while you are at it that Shannon Wells is selling audio and print copies of her book, Wild Heart. Check out www.wildheartbook.com or www.publishamerica.com for more information.

My Blindness Philosophy

2010-07-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you have read many of my blogs by now, and if you haven’t, you might choose to do so at some point in the future, I hope. Some of you probably want to know my blindness philosophy, and some of you probably feel that you are a good enough psychologist to decipher it out of previous blogs. To some of you, I might sound too radical for my own good, and to others of you, I might sound as if I need to radical it up a great deal further.
This blog is for all blind or visually impaired people, no matter whether they are part of an organization for the blind or not because its goal is to help anyone who needs or wants to learn how one might accomplish a goal using nonvisual techniques if there is no one available to work with the person, if there is no detailed-described information about how to do something without sight on the net or elsewhere, or if learning or teaching others is what they enjoy and to discuss topics related to blindness in some way, whether it is a belief about a particular subject or how a certain piece of technology benefits the blind.
Are you asking yourself questions like: Is Anita too good to hang out with blind people who prefer to allow sighted people to do most everything for them? The answer is no. If I want to share with others about being independent, I must interact with them. Besides, some of these folks happen to be good acquaintances or friends of mine, and I enjoy their company. We are all called to sacrifice for our friends at some time or another. Is Anita too good to come to an American Council of the Blind, or ACB, or National Federation of the Blind, or NFB, meeting? Again, the answer is no; I will even attend a meeting of an organization of which I am not a member because I learn through experience and observation, because it is not fair for me to judge an organization based solely on what others have to say about it or what it holds as its reputation, and because I simply enjoy being around blind people. Is Anita involved with one of these organizations? My answer to this question is yes because I attend NFB meetings. And, you probably have many other questions, including ones I haven’t even pondered. In this blog, I hope to share with you my blindness philosophy, and as a result, I hope you will be able to discover the answers to your many questions.
First, let me begin by telling you my beliefs about blindness and what I feel that the blind are capable of doing for themselves.
To me, blindness means the physical inability to see well enough to accomplish one or more goals using vision effectively and efficiently.
I am blind, and I find that some challenges are presented to me as a result of my blindness. Some of these challenges are minor annoyances, such as not being able to just glimpse an envelope to know the sender, and some of these annoyances are more serious, such as not being able to spontaneously drive to a distant location and not being able to live in the country because I am not rich enough to afford transportation to and from such a location. Another major barrier for the blind is that before one can work in an ordinary job, he or she must first receive training in blindness skills whereas someone with sight can, for the most part, obtain employment with ease. I am not saying that one should not have to receive training; I am simply pointing out that sighted people are trained from birth and that the world is automatically set up for them to move forward, but the blind is at a disadvantage in obtaining employment due to society’s negative beliefs about blindness and due to the fact that they must first learn alternative techniques. My first job was at a place called SW Resources, and I am greatful for it. At the time I obtained it, I was in college witnessing my sighted family members obtain employment as they chose, and I either could not find a job or, when I did, it was at a place where I was payed only a portion of minimum wage. Therefore, this disadvantage affects the blind because not all of them have learned alternative techniques, not all of them come from a background that alerts them the need for and opportunity to learn alternative techniques, and not all of them are presented with the opportunity to obtain employment because many blind people are not in the appropriate situation for this opportunity to occur.
I also believe that my blindness presents me with some benefits. First, it is one of my characteristics that enables me to be unique. Also, it has set me on a path that I might not have otherwise taken simply because the area where I was born is one where even many sighted individuals do not graduate from high school or obtain employment. Another benefit is that I happened to have met many people I would have not otherwise found myself acquainted with, and one of those people is also my best friend. In addition, I have experienced more because of my blindness. For example, I was able to participate in goalball, cheerleading, track, swimming, field trips and other activities as a result of my attendance at the West Virginia School for the blind, all opportunities that I may not have experienced if I had attended the local public school located in the place from which my family originates. In addition, I have been able to better understand the problems and frustrations of others because I know what it is like to have someone assume you are helpless, inferior, or pitiful.
I believe that the blind are able to perform many tasks that even they believe are impossible. One reason they may believe that these things are impossible is because they are so used to having others assist them that they either never built the confidence to do the task, because they lost confidence as a result of not doing the task enough to remain comfortable with it, Or because they do not understand how to do the task itself, and thus, assume that it cannot be accomplished using alternative techniques. Perhaps, they have not learned these alternative techniques in the first place, or have only learned a select number of them. A former student of mine believed that the computer had the ability to do more than any human could ever imagine simply because she did not understand how it functioned. If you do not understand the ins and outs of blindness, you may also feel intimidated by it. For example, you may believe that a blind person could not be a heart surgeon because you do not understand how heart surgery is performed and because you are certain that sight is required to do the job. Because you feel that you already know the answer to the question of whether the blind doctor could do the surgery or not, you close your mind to any possibility that the job could be done by a blind person. To avoid such a catastrophe, try to be open-minded. Learn about heart surgery. Think about what types of technology might be available for a blind doctor and what a blind person might do to accomplish the goal. Do research. Interview blind persons in the medical field. And, if you believe that a doctor is what you would be if you could see, do your best to determine if it is what you could do by doing your best to learn alternative techniques and developing confidence as a blind person. No, I don’t think you should learn about how a blind doctor could do his job if heart surgery does not interest you; I am simply suggesting that you be open-minded about what the blind can do and not to say a blind person can’t do something unless you have proved it to be true.
Another reason is because society has taught all of us that blindness means one is incapable and inferior; it is a dreadful disease of the worst kind. If you are of the same opinion as myself, then you know this societal belief to be a false one. Some people have asked me if I had to choose, would I rather be blind or deaf. My answer is blind because I am blind, and I know through experience and observation what it is like to live as a blind person. Being deaf is scary to me because I have not experienced it, and I do not know what might happen in certain situations or how things might work. The reason I mention this point is because I feel that society is afraid of blindness because a large majority of those who make up society have vision, which they have learned to rely on for accomplishing many tasks and for avoiding injury or other dangerous situations. If society could learn about blindness and how the blind function in different situations in such a way that would allow them to feel that the blind person can have control over blindness, then society could gain some confidence in what the blind can do, and thus, their fear could be reduced or eliminated altogether. Note that I am not going to share with you how I believe this could be done because this post is meant to share with you my blindness philosophy and not how to change how blindness is viewed by the society. Check other blogs for how to do this, and who knows, I might write a blog on how to motivate others in a future blog.
Let’s talk a bit about having control over our blindness for a moment though because I feel it is important. If we do not have control over something, it intimidates us. This is significant for this blog because often times we hear of a radical NFB movement, a situation where it is fully believed that sighted help is required at an ACB event, or other situation, and we automatically, sometimes, without conscious thought, decide that we want no part of that organization or situation. We want to be in control, and we don’t want others to control how we act or what we do.
I’ll admit that I am guilty of such thoughts. Recently, I was listening to plans for an ACB convention in which they were holding a walk at a mall. At this walk, they were providing sighted volunteers to walk with the blind people, and it was my impression that all blind people would have a walking partner, and I immediately began to feel animosity toward the organization for saying that I and all blind people are helpless in certain situations. However, in order to know this opinion was accurate, I would have had to attend that convention or be around ACB members enough to make an informed decision because listening to the distorted views held by others will not give me an accurate account of what really would be the case. Talking with ACB members would also be beneficial for me. I plan to attend an ACB convention someday in the future if time and finances permit so that I can make an informed decision about it, its philosophy, and the people who are involved with the organization.
Since this is my blindness philosophy, before I move on, I would like to say that the problem I find with a situation where it is assumed that the blind person needs sighted assistance to accomplish a goal, such as walking through the mall, is that it says that blind people are helpless and can’t walk through a mall without assistance, a statement that I know to be false through experience.
On the other hand, let’s think of how those radical NFB members might treat the situation. To me, it seems as if they expect you to do all things for yourself at all times without assistance. If they plan a walk, they don’t offer a walking partner, but expect you to have the skills necessary to take the journey without assistance of any kind. Again, I find fault with this philosophy because some people do not happen to have yet learned the alternative techniques that allow them to function independently as a blind person, because it insults or produces fear that push others who may want to be involved away so that they do not join in such an experience, or because walking sighted guide with someone is an acceptable thing to do as long as he or she is not in blindness skills training.
So do I stand somewhere in between. Yes and no. When I am honest with myself and ponder the NFB philosophy and go down through those points in Jim Omvig’s book called Freedom for the Blind: The Secret Is Empowerment, I find myself agreeing to each point. So that you are aware of just what points I am referring to, I will provide them to you exactly as they are written in the book. Omvig (2002) states:
“(1) blind people are simply normal, ordinary people who cannot see;
(2) the blind are merely a cross-section of society as a whole, mirroring society in every way with the same hopes, interests and desires, the same dreams, abilities and potential as everyone else;
(3) the physical condition of blindness is nothing more than a normal, human characteristic, like the hundreds of others which, taken together, mold each of us into an unique human being;
(4) given proper training and opportunity, the average blind person can do the average job in the average place of business, can have a family, can be a tax paying and participating citizen and can be in every way a contributing member of society who can compete on terms of absolute equality with his or her sighted neighbors;
(5) with proper training and opportunity, blindness is not a tragedy. It literally can be reduced to the level of a physical inconvenience or nuisance;
(6) the actual physical limitations associated with the characteristic of blindness can easily be overcome by using alternative techniques for doing without sight what you would do with sight if you had it;
(7) the concept of the hierarchy of sight that is, the notion that the level to which a blind person can be competent and successful rises or falls in direct proportion to the amount of vision he or she has is nothing more than a myth and is completely false;
(8) to sum it all up, "IT IS RESPECTABLE TO BE BLIND" and the blind, themselves, are primarily responsible for pushing back the frontiers of ignorance and changing what it means to be blind in the broader society;
(9) "You can't have your cake and eat it, too." That is, blind people cannot, on the one hand, use their blindness to get some advantage or something they want and then, on the other hand, demand equality and opportunity when it would be nice to have it the blind deserve freedom and equality, yes, but hand-in-hand with equality comes responsibility; and, finally
(10) the real problem of blindness is not the physical loss of eyesight at all, but rather is to be found in the wide range of societal misunderstandings and misconceptions about blindness shared by the blind and sighted alike. Putting it quite bluntly, the blind are, in 27 every sense of the word, a minority group, with all of the negative implications which this phrase conjures up. The fact was in 1961 when I was in training as it is today, that the average person on the street (blind or sighted) thinks of blindness as an unmitigated disaster as a tragedy and that blind people are helpless, incompetent and unable even to care for themselves, let alone make useful contributions to society. It is this ATTITUDINAL PROBLEM, then, this public image not blindness itself which has been the negative force keeping the blind down and out through the centuries, and which must be addressed effectively by educational or VR programs” (pp. 26-27).
Sometimes when I travel down through this list of points, I want to alter my answer to mostly, but the choices I allot myself are simply I agree or I don’t agree.
Let me define what independence means to me. It is simply being able to accomplish a goal in the most efficient and effective way whether it is accomplished by doing it yourself or by using the help of other humans, machinery, or through other means. Let me give you an example of this so that you accurately define how I view independence. Let’s say you want to eat a piece of homemade bread. Well, how can you provide this bread to yourself in the most efficient, effective way? Did you answer to have someone else make it for you because that is quicker? After all, you would have to measure out all the flour, baking soda and so on, and, in the first place, you would have to locate all of these items. Besides, you would have to deal with that oven when it was hot, and this scares you, even if you are not willing to admit it quite yet. So, there is nothing wrong with asking your friend to make the bread for you since this is much easier and much quicker. My friends, this does not define independence because if you experience the movements and motions of baking that bread enough times, you will lessen your fear and become proficient at making it, meaning that you are able to do it as effectively and efficiently as a sighted person. When you are deciding the most effective, most efficient method for accomplishing a goal, ask yourself why this way is the most effective or efficient. If the answer is my blindness because it is causing fear, lack of difficulty, or because the task seems overwhelming, then you can probably assume that you need to do the job yourself in order to do it independently as a blind person. Now, if your oven is broken and you need to have that bread baked by a certain time and ready to take to some event, you might prepare the batter and provide it to someone with a working oven to bake, or you might ask a friend attending the same event to provide the bread. In this example, the most effective and most efficient way is to allow someone to accomplish the goal for you or to try out plan b and bring a loaf of bread from the bakery down the block. Note that blindness is not playing a role in this instance because the oven is the problem, and it would be the problem for anyone, regardless of their level of vision.
Ok, now that we have that out of the way, let’s turn our thoughts back to that walk. I mentioned it to a local NFB president. I said that my thoughts on the matter were that, in such a situation, we should allow the blind person to have a choice of whether or not to have a partner and that we should have both blind and sighted volunteers to help out those who required or simply wanted a partner. The blind person should not be made to feel intimidated or as if they are ruining the reputation that the blind can be independent just because they desire assistance; the help should be provided with no questions asked. His answer, which I agree with, was that if we did such a thing, we would be lowering expectations for the blind and that many blind persons would choose the assistance because of fear. So what I feel the NFB needs to do is to somehow explain to the ordinary blind or visually impaired person why they are so radical, when being so radical is necessary because the audience who happens to be watching the show are observing and making opinions about what we can do based on their observations of our behaviors, or to work to change their reputation so that the ACB member or blind person unassociated with the NFB on a regular basis is motivated to at least try out their philosophy. Again, I do not want to delve in how to do this because this is about my blindness philosophy, but one way might be to create a division that works with such people and provides them a mentor and a helper until they are around the organization enough to be weaned from the assistance. Let me make certain to say here that sometimes you might choose to allow someone to assist you, and this is fine. If you are part of an organization that is trying to demonstrate that the blind is independent and you are attending a function where the point is to educate the public, other blind or sighted people, or to bring awareness to what it really means to be blind, then it is time to do as much for yourself as possible. This fact is what caused me to agree with that NFB president because the goal of such a walk is to bring awareness to the blind and to educate. In other words, in this instance, it was necessary to be overindependent because doing so was demonstrating the possession of a blind person’s abilities. This doesn’t mean that you need to spend every experience you involve yourself in to prove that yes, blind people can be independent and perform most any task. Different circumstances call for different behaviors on your part as a blind person. If you are on a trip with a group of friends, and you are simply trying to enjoy a conversation as you walk along a crowded boardwalk, you may decide to walk sighted guide, and this is fine. Or, if you know you can do a task and you are with a family member who insists on doing it for you, you may choose to allow them to assist you simply because there is no need to prove to yourself that you can do it and because doing the task anyway will breed anger between you and the other person or make that person think you are too good to allow someone to help you out. Perhaps, you allow them to do it to show them that you do accept help on occasion and because you realize that they are not doing the task because you happen to be blind, but because they want to help you out, regardless of your visual acuity. Note that allowing someone to help needs to be your choice and that if you are choosing this option because you do not have the skills to do it or because the other person tends to control your behavior due to negative beliefs of blindness, then you need to step forward and say no to them. Or, you need to research a way to learn those alternative techniques of blindness. Your Rehabilitation counselor or someone involved with an organization of the blind, such as the ACB or NFB, may be able to assist you with this.
Let me return to how we judge an organization by its reputation or by what others say about it. In the example above, I claimed that to me, the NFB expected the blind person to be independent by doing everything for himself at all times. Do you feel this way, or is your view of them different? I say this is my view because this view is what I perceive from their reputation. The only way I will know if it is true or false is to give the organization a try. I must attend an NFB convention and try out that scientific method I discussed in another post. What if I want a person to walk everywhere with me? Would they provide that person? I don’t think so. There is the observation. Now, for the experiment. I make it to the convention and tell one of them that I want a partner and why. Ok, here is where I observe what happens and draw my conclusion about the matter. My true belief is that many of us automatically judge an organization based on what we hear or perceive based on what we see in the public, and we then allow fear or our automatic instinct to disagree because we would rather know the information without discovering it for ourselves. I bet if you attended an NFB convention and you did not have the skills to travel on your own someone would be more than willing to give you a hand. In other words, I believe that the NFB appears to be too strict to some people because those people do not understand its philosophy, its willingness to help when that help is needed, or that it is made up of blind people that comprise a wide range of abilities. Therefore, I do not find it to be radical though I sometimes do feel that the NFB is too insistent that their way is the only “right” way.
I want to take a brief moment here to talk about one issue that I hear people saying to me all of the time, and that is that I don’t think the NFB has the right to tell me what kind of cane to use. Yes, none of us like to be controlled, do we. I am in your boat. I do not allow the NFB to choose what kind of cane I use; I decide this matter for myself. It is important to be careful here because making the decision on which cane is chosen should be decided based on sound reasoning and not because I am choosing an option simply because it is the opposite of or contradictory to the choice I feel others expect me to choose. I will admit that, most times, I prefer a folding cane because I do not have to bother with it when eating at a restaurant or when taking notes at a college class. It is ok to use a folding cane as long as you are able to use it to guide you in a safe and effective manner. Don’t say that you hate using a long, white cane or any other technique if you have never given your 100 percent best effort to discover whether or not it is right for you. Some reasons that the NFB tends to highly recommend a long white cane is because their philosophy of teaching is based on the discovery method, because they believe the cane provides a better picture of your environment based on how it provides sound cues to the user, because the cane is much lighter in weight than is a folded cane, and because many of the people who they happen to be training are not comfortable with blindness. A folded cane can be hid under a desk, but a straight cane must be seen at all times. If it is seen at all times, then it is at all times telling you and those around you that you are blind. If you are not comfortable with your blindness, this is absolutely necessary because if you become comfortable with your blindness, you will be much happier and have a stronger belief in what you can do. Also, you will be informing others that you cannot see them, and they can use this information to know that you do not see them motioning to you. Also, if you are in certain situations, such as at a church you have never attended, having that cane out, like I do, tells the public that you are blind, and they are more likely to walk up and shake your hand instead of believing you are too good to say hello to them; I know because I have tried it both ways just to find out for myself if my cane being visible is an advantage. Ok, now let’s apply our what-if questions technique to this situation.
“What if I go to an NFB event and I don’t have a white cane? Will they throw me out or harass me the entire time? I’m intimidated about this since I have never been, after all. So I decide not to go because I don’t want to deal with it.”
Hmm. Not a good decision. Don’t forget to answer those what-if questions before you make that hasty decision not to attend. Apply that scientific method by making a statement, guessing its answer, and experimenting to prove if your answer is correct or not. I purposely took my folding cane to an NFB event, friends, and not one person made a single remark about it. Why don’t you try to prove or disprove your theory before you claim it as fact? It is important to test our belief to see if it is true or false before we cling to it with our stubborn attitude, which tells us we know it all. Does the ACB really believe that the blind are helpless in certain situations? The only way to find out is to turn that question into a statement such as: The ACB believes that the blind can be independent, but also that there are some tasks that the blind must have sighted assistance with. Then, we come up with an experiment that involves being around and interacting with the ACB. Then, we can draw our conclusions and make an informed decision. Know your own philosophy, be willing to change it if new information presents itself to you in a trustworthy way, and use this philosophy to show you how you should act as a blind person and how you should or should not interact with an organization of the blind. As a writer, I must be willing to be open-minded and to explore all sides of the story; only then can I discover the truth and write down what I believe.
Back to that question of whether or not I am ACB, NFB, or somewhere in between. I am definitely on the side of the NFB, but I am also definitely open-minded, which places me, oh say, on the side of the NFB though closer to the bottom of the ladder. My lack of true knowledge about the ACB combined with my perceived knowledge about their belief in my abilities causes me to push them away. I shall act what I preach though, and make an attempt to learn more about them as I said above. There is a middle ground that we can think of as an independent because we fight for the blind, but we are not associated with either organization. Perhaps, I fall in this category some when I am trying to kick and scream because I just want to live in a world as normal as the world in which sighted people live where everyone just assumes you have abilities and can do most anything you choose. In such a location, I want to pick and choose which battles to fight in based on selfishness, on my interest, or on my goal to help another person. Sometimes, that constant push to prove we can and to change society’s view of blindness is overwhelming. Sometimes, it seems unfair that I have to constantly do all things for myself at all times because not doing so reinforces the negative beliefs of blindness held by others. No, I shouldn’t have to do something by myself just to prove to others that blind people can do that particular task, but just because I should not have to do something does not mean that I don’t need to do it.
Ok, let me tell you my philosophy. I am an NFB member. I have talents and abilities, and I can use those talents and abilities to change society’s opinions and attitudes about blindness. My calling is not to lobby and to constantly do everything for myself at all times. My call is to define independence for myself, to know when to and when not to rely on others to do things for me, to be patient with myself when I fail, and to figure out just how I can be a benefit to the blindness community and to myself. The answer is that I can write and teach. I can identify with other blind people because I am a good motivator. I can step down to their level by listening to them and their point of view, and I can agree with some things they say and only voice the disagreements I have that are relevant to the situation. I can live in such a way that shows others that I can do this job or travel to that destination. And, I can be open-minded and listen to how and why others think and act as they do so that I can learn from them and identify with them. If I can identify with them, I may be able to open their minds to why I believe what I do and, consequently, persuade them to look at the world from my perspective.
That perspective is that a blind person can live a happy, healthy, productive life that will benefit all involved, including contributing to society. It is ok to allow someone to assist me either because I do not have a particular skill, because I am in the mood to be lazy about performing a task, or simply because I want to allow others the satisfaction of helping me out. There are times when it is necessary for me to be overindependent in order to teach society that blindness does not mean helplessness or inferiority. There are times to do things for myself just because I am an adult like everyone else, and with that comes responsibility. In addition, if I am too dependent, others will not want to spend a lot of time with me because who wants to be constantly caring for another individual. In addition, becoming too dependent on someone else leads to my being dependent and not independent, and it causes my confidence in my abilities to drop so far that I may begin to believe that I am not capable of performing even the simplest tasks without sight. I can use my talents to do whatever it is in life that I choose to do, and in doing so, I can also teach about blindness. The NFB’s way of training is effective, and so it is an excellent way to learn alternative techniques, including cane travel. However, there is more than one way to learn, and as long as it is successful and efficient, I do not have a problem with teaching it or learning from it. Concerning dog guides, I do not use one myself, but I have no problem if others choose to do so as long as they have learned to use a cane first and carry at least a folded one with them whether they choose to walk with a sighted guide or a dog guide just in case the person or animal has an accident or is incapacitated; the cane could then be used to allow the blind individual to safely and efficiently navigate in a way that will allow him or her to reach help or have control of where he or she will travel to, such as a hospital or home. Regarding the use of eyeshades, I do recommend it to those in training because the brain is so used to relying on the eyes to provide visual information about the environment that the eyes keep attempting to do this, even when it may not be safe to do so, and therefore, it is necessary to block any usable vision in order to effectively learn alternative techniques of blindness in most situations. In saying so, I do believe it is ok to use vision, if you are not in blindness skills training, when it is safe, effective, and efficient in performing a task or accomplishing a goal, and I do not have problems with those of you with some usable vision utilizing technology, and experiencing what it is like to use such technology within a training program where such a goal is part of the program, to help you in such a situation. Just be certain to try out alternative techniques as well so that you can make an informed decision about whether or not your vision is actually the best method because, for example, you do not want to develop negative results due to poor posture when you could have avoided it by choosing an alternative technique when you should have done so. I am willing to be open to new ideas and to be aware of how my message about my beliefs come across so that I do not seem to some that I am better than they are, more intelligent, or that my way of thinking is the only correct way.
I hope that you now have a better picture of who I am as a blind person and what I believe about blindness.
Author’s Note: I placed quotes around J Omvig’s exact words so as not to confuse the reader. I realize that, in such a situation with a large amount of quoted material, that it is normally indented in, but since I was not certain that my formatting would remain the same after I pasted the text onto the blog, I also chose to enclose this material with quotes.

References

Omvig, J. (2002). Freedom for the Blind: The secret is empowerment. Region VI Rehabilitation
Continuing Education Program. University of Arkansas, 2002.

Announcement: creating a blog update

2010-07-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone. This is just a quick note to let all of you know that I have not forgotten my goal to write a blog about creating an account through Google and about how to create a blog. The reason I have not done so at this time is because visiting my friend, who uses Window Eyes, has taught me that different screenreaders function differently on the web on different webpages. I knew this, but I had not realized the extent of this difference. So I did not want to write a blog that would not be beneficial to a large majority of the readers. My future plan is to obtain a demo copy of Window Eyes and to use my current version of NVDA to go through the steps so that I can accurately describe how to go through the procedure. My other option is to use generic terms, such as navigate to, so that it is not screenreader specific. I am already doing this some because my goal isn't to teach you how to use a particular screenreader, but how to create a blog. Therefore, I will spend an indeterminate amount of time deciding the best tactic, and if I find one that is acceptable, I will publish a blog concerning creating a Google Account and creating a blog using www.blogspot.com in the future. While I am blogging, I also wanted to ask all of you to pass the word about the blindness blog to any appropriate lists and to any friends, acquaintances and family that you feel may enjoy or benefit from it. I can post reminders, but if the word comes from you readers, it will be more meaningful to others. Don't forget to check out my previous blog about dealing with blindness, which was posted on Friday, July 23, 2010. Remember that a new post is published each week. Also, if your screenreader allows you to move using headings, for example, by pressing the letter h with JAWS, you can quickly move from blog to blog and then begin to down arrow or use your read-all command when you land on the blog you wish to read. Also, remember that it is okay to reread the blogs as often as you need to. When I say blog, I am talking specificly about an individual blog contained on the Blindness Blog, such as Dealing with Blindness or Draining. Finally, please remember that you can comment on the blog so that others can read your responses. If you would rather not have others read your responses, you can email me at aadkins7@verizon.net with your comment, and I will read it without passing it along, unless you tell me I can do so within the email. If you do so, please put Blindness Blog in the subject because I do not often open emails from unrecognized senders. Thanks and enjoy. Anita

Dealing With Blindness

2010-07-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hello again, everyone. Welcome to today’s Blindness Blog. Today’s topic discusses some ways to deal with blindness.
Before we begin, I would like to thank Shannon for posting last week’s blog on my behalf. Also, I would like to thank all of you who comment on the blog. This tells me that the blog is useful to other blind or visually impaired people. Please share comments about the blogs so that all of us can learn from each other, and so that I will know that I need to stay motivated to post new topics each week, especially once school begins for me at the end of August.
It’s fun to go on vacation, but it’s also fun to be back home again.
My vacation inspired me to write this blog. I traveled deep into West Virginia to visit with family. I haven’t lived near them or been around them on a regular basis, and so their views of blindness are not quite what they should be.
What I would like to write about for this blog is how to deal with our blindness when it comes to how others react to it and how we react to it ourselves. For example, what do we do when someone does something that annoys us? Aunt Jane just walks into your house and moves your salt from the center of the kitchen table to the counter where she salted her cucumbers, turning a healthy food into an unhealthy one, by the way. Or, someone told you to move to the left because there was a wall in front of you when your cane was still a good three feet from said obstacle. A family member thinks you are super intelligent, special and/or amazing just because you are able to perform ordinary tasks. And, on and on the list lengthens until you are pulling your hair out with frustration, anger, embarrassment and well, deep-rooted stubborness.
What should our response be to such behaviors?
First, let’s be patient. How? Don’t assume that just because someone seems to be treating you like a child means that this individual is treating you like a helpless, blind person. When I was visiting family, my cousin didn’t want to leave me alone at the house while she drove to do some errands in town. I’ll admit that I first thought she believed that my blindness meant that I could not stay alone. However, I decided to be patient and see what happened. I asked myself if it was worth mentioning my thoughts on the matter to her since I would only be there for a few days. My decision to remain silent about the matter was a good one because I observed this same cousin treat a totally sighted individual the same way. She was not afraid that I could not stay alone as a blind person; she was simply being a good hostess and not leaving her guests alone to fend for themselves.
Sometimes, we can be our own worst enemy. In order to deal with our blindness, we need to ask ourselves if our actions toward others and our actions themselves are acceptable or a result of our own fear or our unacceptance of blindness. Knowing this answer can make us aware of our emotional reactions to situations and can help us to alter our behavior, if necessary, and be more patient with ourselves and others. The above paragraph demonstrates a good example of how we might make a hasty decision that results from false beliefs on our parts. Our determination to be so independent that we do not accept help when doing so may be the necessary thing to do can cause us to view a situation in an offensive way, even though the other person is not acting in such a way as a result of our blindness. For instance, being impatient and grumpy when someone offers to help us carry a large amount of groceries to our apartment and insisting to complete the job on our own is not necessary if we are doing it just to prove we are independent because it is saying to others that we know it all, are too good to allow others to assist us, and may indicate that we are not comfortable with our blindness. The other person may have offered the same assistance to someone with sight, and we should choose to accept the assistance or not accept it based on the most effective and efficient manner of accomplishing the task rather than just assuming someone is feeling sorry for us because of our blindness. Sometimes, because we are surrounded by highly independent people who are encouraging us to be as independent as possible, we get so involved in being independent that we step above this and become overindependent. Therefore, we react to others as if we do not appreciate them or in a rude manner. Even if you are in a training program, you should first try to be kind and patient toward others, even though you must refuse assistance from others at all times in order to prove to yourself that you have capabilities and to build your confidence as a blind person. If the person does not respect your choice not to receive assistance, it may be necessary for you to be more forceful, but first, give the individual the opportunity to respect your wishes. One that is comfortable with blindness is one who is patient and one who reacts appropriately in most situations.
In order to be patient, start by deciding how you will react before that aggravating moment assaults you. For example, ask yourself what would you do if your Mom walked in your room and started to move the dress you had laid out to wear so that she could replace it with one of her choice? Once you know what you would do, take a moment to think about what you should do? Should your behavior remain the same? Or, should you adjust your reaction in such a way that would help to improve your situation? Let’s talk about how to react here in a minute. Now, just remember that if you expect change from your family and friends about your blindness, you will need to be patient because you cannot simply flip a switch that converts their negative beliefs about blindness into positive beliefs overnight. Remember, that a large portion of the public believes that blindness is the worst possible disease that can happen to anybody and that blindness means helplessness and inferiority, and transforming this belief system requires lots of hard work and abundant proofs of the abilities of the blind.
Is your mother or another person involved in your life, such as a spouse, so afraid that you will hurt yourself that he or she rules your life? Do you feel like you do not have control of your situation? How could you change your situation? Above, we discussed how your mother might make a choice for you without consulting you for your input, but remember this individual could be any family member, including a spouse. It could also be a friend or acquaintance.
Let me answer how I would handle such a person who might try to make decisions for me. As I do so, I will choose to refer to this person as a male for simplicity’s sake. Please know that I am telling you what I think might work for me in such a situation. You may think of a different way that is just as effective as the one I will choose to use. By sharing your ideas through commenting on this blog and by reading my ideas, all of us may be able to help each other solve these types of problems.
My first idea would be to pick a time when I was in a good mood, and to sit down and talk with the person about my feelings. Let’s pretend this person is my brother. Before this meeting, I would sit down and plan what I wanted to discuss and what the other person might provide as a response to my feelings and suggestions. Then, I could formulate a useful response to his rebuttal to my ideas. In those plans, I might be certain to motivate the other person by starting with a small goal and promising to stop doing it when I reached a point in which I was unable to continue. For example, I might say that I wanted to choose the next day’s outfit each evening before bed. To do this, I would need to preplan some ways that would allow me to be successful, such as knowing how to avoid making a mess in my closet and being willing to figure out a way to know if my clothes match. A future blog will probably be written about how to accomplish such a task. At least one of the other person’s responses might be that it is just quicker for him to find my clothes. I might respond that he can choose an outfit, lay it in the normal location for me to retrieve come morning, and if I am not successful at finding a suitable alternative, I will wear this chosen outfit without complaining. In addition, I will not ask for his assistance until I believe that I have just the right outfit out of my dresser or closet and on the bed for him to examine. I would also be sure to say that we could just try this this one night, and if it didn’t work out, I would stop.
Of course, I could figure out how to be successful at this goal, and so stopping would be unnecessary, though I would not share this private thought with the other person; I would show him through experience that I could be capable at deciding what I wanted to wear the next day. Remember to be patient with yourself. How long it takes you to do something is not important; the important thing is that you did it for yourself, even if you did make some mistakes.
Hint: If possible, choose a night when the person sounds as if he is in a good mood, but know that you may just have to schedule your meeting for a certain day, no matter what because a good-mood day might not arrive on your time schedule. In addition, don’t worry about trying to pick out the most dazzling outfit you possess. Start out simple and just choose an outfit that you know is presentable to wear in public. Your first step toward independence is building your confidence, and you can do this by achieving success on your first try. Start with just performing the basics of a task that you know you can do. Then, you can build on this success, but remember it is okay to step back to a previous level to rebuild your confidence, if necessary.
If you are wondering just how you could be successful on such a mission, whether it be choosing your own outfit for the next day or climbing to the top of one of those steep West Virginia Hills, you are reading the right blog because in many of these blogs, I discuss alternative techniques that allow a blind person to accomplish goals independently. In addition, you can receive training in blindness skills from a training center. If interested, ask your Rehabilitation Counsellor or contact an organization of the blind, such as the National Federation of the Blind.
With patience also comes wisdom, such as knowing when to ignore someone’s advice, when to accept advice, how to acquire advice, and what advice you already possess. Someone might tell you that the door is to your right when you know that that door is there and you also know that you do not intend to walk through the door because the trash can you are aiming for is in the corner. In this case, you can say thank you, but continue with your trip to the trash can. If you are walking along a sidewalk, and someone says a rope is hanging across it, you can use your common knowledge to tell you that this is advice worth paying attention to since your cane will not pick up a rope hanging too high to be in the cane’s path. Still, you can say thank you. If you need directions to a location, and Google was not helpful, you can ask someone for directions. If you walk to an unfamiliar location, it is okay to acquire information by asking a friend who has been there previously about the area. However, if you are not comfortable with traveling there without the advice, I recommend that you do so because one way to build your confidence as a traveler is to travel around in an unfamiliar environment. I always try to tell sighted people to ask me if I need assistance and to respect my answer. If I say yes, they can help; if I say no, they must act accordingly.
Second, let’s know our enemy, and then educate them, so that we can understand where they are coming from and turn this into a weapon to help us move beyond the negative emotions that have been plopped into our laps by blindness. To know our enemy, we must step into their shoes.
Are you the first blind or visually impaired person that they have encountered? If so, they will have very limited knowledge of blindness. Society will have taught them that it is a horrible affliction in which they must depend on others and not enjoy life because one must have sight to do things, including avoiding injury. I know better than this false belief brought on by society and ignorance about blindness, and if you do not, I hope you will come to know it through reading this blog, gathering information from other successful blind persons, performing other research about blindness, and, most importantly, through experiencing the alternative by choosing to overcome your fear and stepping out into the unknown where you can discover that yes you can be independent and have a happy, healthy, productive life as a person who is blind.
Then, there are those who have been blind all their lives, but who still hold on to society’s negative beliefs about blindness. Step into their shoes, too. Telling them they are wrong simply won’t work. You first must befriend them, and sometimes this means to do things their way so that they will be willing to try to do things your way.
Or, perhaps, it is a sighted person who has worked with blind people and thinks he or she knows just what blind people are capable of and how blind people should be taught. Again, slapping him or her on the hand won’t win you the individual’s trust or that tiny chance to change his or her belief system. Through experience, observation, and interactions with a persistent motivater can such an individual be swayed to our side of the table. It will just take time, persistence, creative thinking and our willingness to live out what we believe by doing for ourselves in certain situations, even when it might mean we would have otherwise have been okay with accepting assistance from others.
Accepting assistance is okay. I will allow people to guide me from place to place on occasion or to tell me a useful piece of information. When I go to a restaurant with a buffet, I will allow someone to fix my plate, assuming I walk beside them because I need to know which dish has which food. To do this independently, I could taste each food or use the utensil to touch it, but to me, this is unnecessary when I can access this information in what I personally consider a better way. Remember it is okay to use sight; we just need to be able to accomplish goals without it when it is necessary to do so. Before you choose to accept assistance, think of how that action will reflect on not only you, but the blind community as a hole. I used to think that just because I could do something independently didn’t mean that I needed to prove I had the ability to do it independently because my job was not to prove to others that I, as a blind person, could do a task. I had the right to live in a world where I could just go about and enjoy the freedom independence provides, but I didn’t realize that someone else had helped me to obtain that freedom. Now, I sometimes choose to accept assistance, and this is okay because part of being comfortable with my blindness is not allowing it to embarrass me when I rely on others. Sighted people also rely on other people sometimes. However, I ask myself if my action will reinforce a person’s negative belief about blindness. If the answer is yes, I will often choose to do the job myself. In saying that, I might also choose to allow someone to assist me because my goal is to win his or her trust. For example, you may choose to allow someone to fix your plate for you. Your positive attitude toward that person may make them willing to listen to what you have to say and thus, you may have the opportunity to demonstrate how you can function as a blind person by using alternative techniques.
If I am in an airport, it is much easier for me to have someone guide me, and there is nothing wrong with this, except for one minor detail. When I expect the sighted public to believe that blind people are capable and I then demonstrate myself being dependent by not performing tasks that I can do, which they do not believe I can do, I am telling them that I do not believe, or expect them to believe, that my actions and words are in agreement.
In other words, my actions are saying, “I want you to know that I can be independent, but I don’t want to allow you to observe this fact for yourself. I want independence for blind people and for them to be treated as if they can do things that I believe appear to be common sense tasks, but I don’t want to prove to those nonbelievers that I can do it because it is just easier and less confusing to have someone do it for me. I want to reap the rewards from all that help sighted people want to shed upon me when I want it and to greedily snatch up all those benefits I feel I deserve because I am a poor, helpless blind person, but I want the sighted people to automatically know just when I do not want or need it because, after all, it is common sense that I can tie my shoes or walk to the store without assistance.”
Right?
Or, maybe I believe that I am limited and can’t do it, and so I am one of those many people who do not expect that the blind can be capable, and so I allow fear and ignorance to rule my life.
The past couple of paragraphs are meant to help you realize that your actions speak, and sometimes these actions and your lips do not spew forth the same message. Ask yourself what your actions are saying and what you believe, and choose to act and verbally speak the same language. Ask yourself if your belief is based on knowledge and can be trusted or if it is based on the false beliefs of others, your unwillingness to look at the subject from a different perspective, or fear. And, try not to punish confused, sighted people for going along with the negative attitudes they hold about blindness unless you are willing to work to convince them to believe differently.
Step out and follow through with that scientific method those science teachers are always telling us about.
First we have a problem or a question that needs answered. How can I walk alone through an airport without using vision?
Then, we think of a solution. I will learn the necessary alternative techniques, including cane travel, so that I can accomplish this goal. I will ask myself what those what if questions are, and I will answer them so that fear cannot rule my actions. I will start to walk, and if I get lost, I will call out to someone who is passing to lead me to a airport person or to help me. I will call out questions as I walk, such as is this gate a? And, if you are more like me, you think about the fact that you need to get somewhere and that the only way to get there is to stand up and walk. You remind yourself that the worst you can do is to fail at your goal, but if you never make the effort, the worst is already the case. Thus, you can only benefit by taking a trip to the airport and trying to locate a specific gate just to show yourself you can do it. You remind yourself that you have abilities and that you know how to use them along with all of those other techniques about how to travel as a blind person that you have learned, including how to use your cane. You shove that fear out of the way and rise above it.
Next, we have the experiment. Like me, you are daring and head to that airport using your current set of knowledge, learning as you travel because that is the only choice with which you are presented. Reread that travel blog from a while back to figure out how to motivate yourself, and then take a deep breath and head to that airport. This is not a travel blog, but remember to begin to build confidence by doing what you can do in an environment that will allow time and opportunity for you to make mistakes. Without mistakes, there is no need for knowledge because you already possess it. Go to the airport when you are not expected to be at a certain gate at a certain time. Or, perform other travel experiences and build up your skills first before you step into that airport. That mental mapping I talked about is as effective outdoors as it is indoors. After all, a block has four sides just like a room. Main street might be equivalent to the north wall; Boyer Street might be equivalent to the south wall; etc. What buildings are along the north wall, i.e. the main street side of your block and so on? Where is the sun? Can you use it to determine the true north? Can you use your mental map along with other travel techniques as you maneuver through the airport? I bet you could if you tried.
Finally, after the action has been performed, we must gather up any conclusions. What did we do well? What were our mistakes, and what did we learn as a result of making them?
This leads us back on topic because if I want to say, yes, I can be independent as a blind person, this means that I need to act independent to show myself and others that I can be successful at accomplishing goals using alternative techniques.
Alternative techniques simply refer to doing a job in different ways. You can read a book by looking at the marks on a page and deriving meaning from those scribbles with your eyes, or you can read that same information in Braille. You can use your vision to locate a cup on a counter, or you can use the back of your hand to locate the cup. Alternative techniques are not inferior techniques; they are simply ways that are as effective, if not more effective, than vision. Many products that were invented for the blind are now used by those with vision because they turned out to be just as useful. For example, think of audiobooks. Many sighted people enjoy them as well as do many blind people.
Let’s turn back to accepting help from sighted people (or other blind people). Would I accept the assistance if I could see? If so, it is probably okay for me to accept it now. Is this particular instance one in which I can both accomplish my desired goal and teach others about blindness? If so, then I don’t need to accept the assistance. Is the person I am with a person who believes that the blind are normal people performing normal tasks in efficient ways that don’t include vision? If so, then it is probably okay to accept or ask for assistance? It is not always a time to teach, and sometimes I may choose to allow someone to help when I am too tired to be patient, when I am in a hurry, or when the other person is not able to focus on learning. This does not mean that I turn totally dependent; it just means that I don’t gripe at the person for moving my mail or I allow the person to pick up an item I may have dropped. Sometimes, it is not time to teach because of the circumstance, and enough experience will help you figure out if this is the case. You may think, as stubborn me has, that your job isn’t to teach; you are not good at that. Your job isn’t to go to all of these marches demanding rights, etc. This may be the case, but remember that change came about because those who wanted to change what it means to be blind for our future generations had to sacrifice. I hate calling up my senators, and I’ll admit I am always hoping that there are enough others doing it so that I don’t have to. But, one voice makes a difference, especially when maybe thirty, fifty or a thousand of us are hoping that others will get the job done for us, and so it isn’t just one person not making the call, but many. We all have talents. Find your talent, and use this talent to help the blind. This is what I have chose to do. I love to write, and I am an okay teacher. So I decided to help change what it means to be blind by working in the field of blindness and by using my talent for writing to show others that blind persons can be independent. Also, I plan to work on acting out what I preach.
When we deal with society’s attitudes about blindness, we are often dealing with both ignorance about blindness and fear of blindness. If you’ve ever encountered a new computer program or tackled a new subject in school, such as Math, I’ll bet you didn’t know the first thing about it. Because you didn’t know anything about it, you may have gotten impatient or frustrated with it. You may have been afraid of it. Or, you may have found the challenge to be entertaining. How did you react? Did you respond by choosing to be ignorant of the subject and by allowing others to intimidate you? Or, did you plunge ahead and gobble up every detail about the matter as you could? If fear was your reaction, how did you move beyond it? Could you use the answer to this question to help you understand how to help someone move beyond fear of blindness and the negative attitudes associated with it?
Many people are afraid of blindness. Maybe, you are one of those people. Sometimes, we are afraid because we do not know enough information about a topic to lessen our fear. Sometimes, we are afraid because someone or something has taught us to be afraid. Sometimes, it is a combination of both of these factors. To reduce this fear, we can gain freedom from it by gaining knowledge through experience and observation. If we know about something and what causes it and what to expect from it as a result, we can gain control over it.
Our job is to teach others about blindness and to remain patient while we do so. We teach by demonstrating how we accomplish goals using alternative techniques. It is okay to sit down and tell a loved one, friend, or stranger that the blind can do things for themselves, but what will really show them that we can be independent is their observations of us doing for ourselves and their own experiences of doing things without sight.
Many times when I am teaching, I try to teach by relating new information to topics that are already familiar to a person. This enables them to become comfortable with the topic because they can build on knowledge they already know rather than start out at the very beginning; it helps them to relate to the topic. For example, you will realize that I taught Braille by relating it to how print is written because people who have or have had vision are knowledgeable in how to write print, and thus, can transfer this old skill knowledge into a starting platform for learning Braille.
Likewise, while we are planning how we should respond to others when they react in a way that is not appropriate concerning our blindness, we might also think of ways to help them relate blindness to information they are already knowledgeable in because this will enable them to feel more comfortable with blindness, thus building their confidence and changing their thinking about what it means to be blind.
To build confidence, we must begin with what they know and with what they can automatically be successful at. Realize that we will not have them mastering an overwhelming belief in what the blind can do overnight; we must be patient and be persistent in our endeavor.
So what do they already know about how to do something without using sight? Oh yeah. They use sound to tell them information, such as when the phone is ringing or when the dryer is finished. In fact, they talk to people on the phone without seeing them. Note that we must think of what they do on a regular basis so that we can apply their knowledge in the correct way. A person who never dries his clothes might not gain much understanding from such an example, for instance. Think of the four senses that do not involve sight. How does someone with sight accomplish a task using touch, even when he does not realize he is doing so? Typing is a very good example of this because a person who types using touch typing looks at the screen or the paper in the typewriter and not at the keyboard. They remember the layout of the letters and other keys on the keyboard, and they may not realize that they can use this same type of memory to locate organized items on a desk or perform other tasks. The sighted husband of a friend of mine identifies items through touch when he reaches into a bag. Some teenagers, and I am leaving out names to protect the guilty, can keep their eyes on their teacher while, at the same time, using no vision to text with their cell phones. Let’s not share with them that some phones can have a screenreader installed because it might encourage them to purchase a pair of headphones for tasks they should not be doing while in school. Perhaps, you can think of other examples where touch is used by the sighted to accomplish a task, and you can use them as a starting block for someone without vision or for someone with sight who does not believe a blind person is capable of doing a particular task. Don’t forget that sighted people can identify that food is burning on a stove when the smell of smoke invades their nostrils. They can also identify the aroma of a lover’s perfume and use this information to identify the person when he or she walks into a room. Can you remember the scent of the classrooms of your old school teachers? My fifth grade classroom comes to mind. When I smell coffee, I think of our Home Economics room. Sighted people use smells to help them identify places and people, even if they are unaware of this, and we can use this information to help them become more confident in the abilities of the blind. And, yes, my sighted family members are always tasting the food to see if it has enough salt or if it needs more of this or more of that. So, all of our senses are important and useful, and if we lack one, we can find ways with the rest to accomplish the same task. If you can’t taste a piece of chocolate cake to identify it, and I feel sorry for you if you can’t, then just enjoy its scent.
Remember to use examples to help those with sight understand how alternative techniques work and can be related to how they do things with vision. For example, explain that a cane is similar to the line of sight that a sighted person has; it simply doesn’t extend as far as vision does. A building may be seen from a long distance, but the cane is only a few feet long. Because it is the same as the line of sight, it must be touching both the user and the obstacle before the user receives the information it is providing about the obstacle. The line of sight also touches at both ends, but it does so in a virtual way. See there; if it is a computer geek you are explaining this blindness thing to, they may understand it by having words they use on a regular basis, such as virtual, included in the explanation.
To sum up, be patient, be persistent, understand why and how others believe what they do, and educate others about blindness. Also, be willing to prove that blind persons can be capable, productive, independent members of families and society by choosing to control your actions so that they reflect that you are independent. Finally, remember that independence does not mean doing everything for yourself at every moment; it is being able to accomplish a task in the most effective way. In order to be independent, do as much for yourself as possible until you feel you have gained your independence because it is easy to allow someone to do so much for you that you fail to realize that yes, you can do it or because you fall into the habit of allowing someone else to do things that you should do for yourself. And, hey, if you ask a friend to drive you to the grocery store, do something to return the favor. Be a giver and a receiver. Also, find someone who will have high expectations for you and have high expectations for yourself. Use these expectations, not your fear or that aggravation that results from dealing with sighted people who are too helpful, to control your behavior. Be self disciplined. I know. It is easy to write, but it is harder to act out. Just because I write these blogs does not mean that I am perfect or that I am extremely independent. I am human; I am lazy; I am selfish; I am stubborn. Sometimes, no, a lot of the time, I want to take the easy way out. Maybe, now that I have written this, your expectations for me will cause me to act out my belief that blind people can be independent, can perform most any type of behavior, and can overcome the obstacles that result from blindness.

Draining

2010-07-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well, blogger will tell you that Anita Adkins has posted this blog, but in actuality, I'm her friend, Shannon, of whom she warned you about. lol I will copy and paste her article on draining, but first, I just want to say thank you for reading her blog. She is a good friend and a good writer, something Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web" was told was hard to find. :) Her blog has already helped me. To learn more about me, you can visit my blog at
http://oldtimechristian.blogspot.com
My websites are
http://www.christianhomeplace.com
http://www.wildheartbook.com
http://www.twitter.com/authorshannon
I can also be found on FaceBook.

So, enough about me and on to the lesson. Without further adeu, I present to you, Anita's article on draining!

Draining
To practice with draining, you will need a colander, a saucepan with handles on either side of it, some imaginary food that is constructed of small items about the size of an egg noodle, and water.
First, fill the saucepan with cold water and sit it on the counter beside the sink. Place the colander in the sink, and make sure that it is stable. Now, sit the saucepan so that its bottom is on the narrow edge of the sink between you and the bowl of the sink. Then, without lifting the pot, tilt it forward so that its bottom faces your tummy and its opening faces into the sink. The water should flow into the sink. If you drop the saucepan, just refill it and try again until you can pour without losing your grip on the handles of the pan.
Next, place a stopper in the sink to prevent anything from going down the drain. Then, fill the pan with cold water and the objects you are using as fake food. Repeat the procedure mentioned above. This time, the water will flow out and the fake food should dump into the colander. After you have poured, feel in the sink to see how much, if any, of the items did not make it into the colander. Gather any spilled food and put it back into the pot. Pour the food that did make it into the calandar back into the pot as well. Then, remove the stopper to allow the water to drain down the sink. Repeat the process for further practice.
You may wish to fill the pot with warm or hot water so that you can begin to feel more comfortable with pouring hotter liquids because you will pour hotter liquids down when you are using this skill during a cooking project, such as draining pasta. Keep practicing until you have mastered this skill.
Steps to Success
1. Fill a saucepan with cold water.
2. Place a colander in the sink so that it is stable.
3. Place the saucepan so that its bottom sits on the edge of the sink.
4. Holding the pan’s handles, tilt the pot toward the sink so that its bottom faces you. Allow the water to pour out.
5. Repeat these steps, but this time include fake food in the pot.
6. Check your work by examining the sink for any food that did not make it into the colander.

Braille repost

2010-07-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of you. I wanted to apologize for the Braille Blog's abrupt end. I did not realize I accidentally left ot most of the lesson. It is now correct, and so please reread it listed under the same date. It should be the post right before this one dated Friday, July 9.
Again, remember that my friend, Shannon Wells, will be posting my blog for me this coming Friday. I have already written it and saved it on her computer. Before she copies and pastes it, she will type a brief introduction to you. I hopeyou are all having fun at whichever conventions you are attending. Next summer, I am hoping to attend the NFB convention in Orlando, Florida. Good night. Anita

Beginning Braille

2010-07-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. I am away on vacation. Next week, my friend, Shannon Wells, will be posting in my place. Shannon is blind. She is also a Christian fictian writer. She writes children's books and books for adults. If you enjoy reading Christian fiction stories set back in the 1800's with a touch of romance and mystery, you may wish to check out her website, which I will share with you in just a momen. In the future, I may write a blog about the various ways that blind or visually impaired persons can access printed information. For now, I wanted to let you know that one of those surces is www.bookshare.org Shannon's books can be found on there. Wild Heart is also available in audio format. For more information, please visit Shannon's website a www.wildheartbook.com And now, I present to you today's Blindness Blog about Braille.
Before we begin to discuss Braille, I would like for those of you who have read and written print to remember back to when you were first learning to write. If you did not learn print, you may choose to disregard the reference to how print is written. You should still be able to understand how
Braille is formed by reading this entire lesson.
Ok, print veterans, perhaps, you learned to trace letters. Also, you learned about how to write by using three horizontal lines. The line in the middle was called the midline, and the line above it was called the topline, and the line below the midline was called the baseline. Using these lines you were able to shape letters by starting at the midline and going up or down depending on the letter you were creating.
Keep these three horizontal lines in mind, but now let us talk a bit about Braille, a system of raised dots used to form various letters of the alphabet, other characters needed to form contractions, and other symbols. With your picture of these horizontal lines in mind, imagine these lines are all the same length. The topline is directly above the midline, and the baseline is directly below it. Take an imaginary pair of scissors, and cut the topline in half so that it remains horizontal, but now has a left side and a right side of equal length. Leave the top line where it is and snip the midline in half. Again, you will have two horizontal lines beside each other, both of equal length. Likewise, you will cut the baseline in half.
Now, we have six lines total. Two lines on our top row, two lines in our middle row, and two lines on our bottom row. Therefore, we have a top, middle, and bottom line on our left side and a top, middle, and bottom line on our right side. So, in essence, we have two columns with three rows.
If you need to feel these lines to help you picture what we have done, use three pipe cleaners as your topline, midline and baseline. After placing these on a sheet of paper, tape them on either end to hold them in place. Leave a little space between each pipe cleaner so that you can distinguish which line you are on. Now, simply take scissors and cut these lines in half. This will create six lines as above. Note that instead of just cutting the lines in half, you may wish to cut about a one inch length off the center of each pipe cleaner just so that it is easier for you to differentiate the left line from the right line. If necessary, find a friend or family member to assist you with this.
Since we have traveled back to kindergarten, why not jump back in the time machine and head to an upper grade where a geometry class is taking place. Today’s discussion involves the definition of a line. Of course, the answer is a collection of dots that extend indefinitely. Those of you who never read print, you are now welcome aboard the Braille train. Thinking back to our picture with our horizontal llines, we know we have six lines. We are going to pretend that each of these lines is only one dot in length instead of millions. As a result, we can simply think of our six lines as six dots.
The shape of our picture should be a rectangle that is taller than it is wide. Our rectangle is made up of six dots, three on the left and three on the right. So that we can talk about our placement inside this rectangle, which we will think of as a cell, we will number our lines starting at the top lefthand corner as dot 1 and moving down the left side where we encounter dot two in the middle and dot three on the bottom lefthand side. Now, let us move to the top righthand side of our cell. We have dot four in this top corner, dot five located in the middle right, and dot six in the bottom right of our cell. So we can think 1, 2, 3 on the left, from top to bottom, and 4, 5, 6 on the right from top to bottom. Congratulations. We now have what is referred to as a Braille cell.
“But, wait here a minute. You said Braille is a system used for reading by touch. Didn’t you? You haven’t mentioned for us to touch anything yet.”
Hold on, Anxious Students. First, we are learning about how Braille is shaped and arranged. We’ll get to touch here in a bit.
Ok, back to our rectangle with our six dots. To make a letter of the alphabet, we must use a different number and arrangement of these six dots. For example, to create the letter a, we will simply erase every dot except dot one. Note that we still have our rectangular cell, but only the very top lefthand corner has a dot in it. The remaining dots are no longer present. Therefore, the letter a is equal to dot one. To make the letter b, first imagine our full cell back into existence with all of our dots, 1, 2, 3 on the left and 4, 5, 6 on the right. Now, we will erase all dots, except for the top left dot and the middle left dot. We have only dots 1 and 2 present, and thus, we have created the letter b. How about one more letter? Let’s imagine our full cell back into existence. This time, let’s erase all dots except for the top lefthand and the top righthand corners. Now, we only have dots 1 and 4 present. Thus, we have a letter c.
Ok, now it is time to actually practice reading Braille so that you can practice these letters, and so that you can realize that the number of dots used and their positions in the cell is key in forming a particular letter. For example, b and c are both made up of two dots, but b is vertical whereas c is horizontal in shape.
Touch is the sense we use to read Braille. Some people may think they can’t read Braille because they cannot seem to feel it or distinguish the dots due to diabetes or other concerns. Let us not begin with such assumptions.
Imagine you have the ability to read Braille by touch. Now, turn from your imagination and experience reality. First, let’s create a Braille cell using six paper cups. On a table in front of you, place the cups so that they resemble the rectangle shape explained above. On the left, you will have three cups. The one farthest from you will be considered the top lefthand dot placement position, the one in the middle will represent the dot 2 position, and the one closest to your tummy will represent the dot 3 placement position. To the right of dot 1, place the cup that will represent the dot 4 placement position. Likewise, place dot 5 to the right of dot 2 and dot 6 to the right of dot 3. You should now have your Braille cell built. Note that you can also use an egg carton and cut it so that you only have six slots arranged in this similar rectangle. I will refer to cups here so that if you need, but do not have, assistance in cutting your egg carton, you can still independently arrange your Braille cell.
Note that when describing how to create this Braille cell. I said dot placement position instead of just saying dot 1. This is because the space dot 1 takes up is present whether dot 1 is there or not. Your cups are now empty. Now, you will need six balls of equal size that will be small enough to fit in your cups. Place one ball in each cup. You should now have your full Braille cell created. We think of this as dots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. If you remove all the balls, you will have six empty cups. This is important because you still have your Braille cell in the shape of a rectangle; however, it is empty. Remember above that I said to create the letter a, we need only the dot 1 placement position to be filled. Make sure all of your cups are empty. Then, place one of your balls in the cup that is in the dot 1 position. All other cups should be empty. If you have done this, you now have the letter a.
You may wish to find a friend or family member to help you practice with placing the balls in the appropriate cups. At first, you may accidentally place the ball meant for the dot 1 cup inside the dot 2 cup. If this happens, this means that you have not created the letter a because the letter a is only formed when the dot 1 position is filled. In addition, remember that the letter b requires both the cups in the 1 and 2 position to have balls inside them. If you only have a ball in the cup representing position two, you do not have the letter b. You must have a ball in the cup representing dot 1 and a ball in the cup representing dot 2 for the letter b to be formed. If someone asks you how to make a letter b, your answer should be dots 1 2. If you forget to say the 1, you will be incorrect. If it sounds as if I am driving this point in to the ground, I am because many students forget that b is formed with dots 1 and 2.
After you have practiced with your rectangular formed cell made of cups and you feel confident that you understand how the letters are formed and manipulated, you will be ready to move on to touching real Braille on a piece of paper. Instead of having an actual rectangle to touch, we will only be able to feel any dots that are present. This means that if the Braille cell is full, we can feel all six dots. If only dot 1 is filled, meaning that we have the letter a, we can only feel the dot 1. It may take some time for you to figure out if the dots are on the left, right, top or bottom of the cell now because you no longer have your rectangle to guide you. In time, you should be able to recognize which dot positions are full based on your knowledge of previous and next cells and the fact that you will only be learning letters a, b and c before moving on.
Remember, we are not thinking about whether or not our diabetes will keep us from reading or that we cannot feel the Braille. No one who begins to read Braille can automatically feel it or distinguish those tiny dots. It takes a lot of practice. To be able to identify Braille through touch, you will need to spend at least ten minutes per day for a month or longer practicing feeling your Braille. Begin with regular sized Braille.
If, a couple of months down the road, you are unable to feel the Braille, you can switch to jumbo Braille, but only after a few months. Give reading regular Braille your 100 percent best effort by taking the time each day to read it before you determine to choose jumbo Braille. This is because you may come to realize that your fingers are beginning to discern the
Braille cell, and you do not need jumbo Braille. Also, jumbo Braille is not as obtainable as is regular Braille.
I hope you have enjoyed this Braille lesson. Note that there are contractions and punctuation symbols that you will need to learn once you have learned the alphabet. In addition, there are special symbols to learn. For example, to make a capital letter in Braille, you will simply use a dot 6 in the first cell and the letter to be capitalized in the next cell. Don’t start to get overwhelmed by all this; just focus on getting the hang of making your rectangular cell and forming a, b and c for now. You can move on when you are ready.
Below, I will write the letter followed by a colon and then its dot configuration so that you can move on once you have mastered a, b and c.
A: dot 1
B: dots 1 2
C: dots 1 4
D: dots 1 4 5
E: dots 1 5
F: dots 1 2 4
G: dots 1 2 4 5
H: dots 1 2 5
I: dots 2 4
J: dots 2 4 5
K: dots 1 3
L: dots 1 2 3
M: dots 1 3 4
N: dots 1 3 4 5
O: dots 1 3 5
P: dots 1 2 3 4
Q: dots 1 2 3 4 5
R: dots 1 2 3 5
S: dots 2 3 4
T: dots 2 3 4 5
U: dots 1 3 6
V: dots 1 2 3 6
W: dots 2 4 5 6
X: dots 1 3 4 6
Y: dots 1 3 4 5 6
Z: dots 1 3 5 6

Blind Travel

2010-07-02T10:28:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Blindness Blog. Today’s Stephen King-sized post is about traveling. Oh no! Did that word fear just pop into your head at the mention of venturing out into unfamiliar territory?
Right before I address it, let me remind you that it is okay for you to dissect this blind travel blog in small chunks and for you to read it as many times as it takes for you to understand it. People learn at all different types of paces. How quick you learn isn’t important. What is important is that you master the concepts.
Now, focus on that fear, but only focus. Don’t let it stop you from reading on.
I can remember back when I was a little girl that I was terrified to cross the quiet road that ran through the campus at the school for the blind, which I attended. What if I veered? What I didn’t realize back then was that I allowed fear of being lost forever to control my travel experience. If I had only tried to answer this what if question, I would have gained confidence and been able to travel without this fear. You see, the answer would have told me that everything would be okay. And, the answer is this: all I needed to do was to try. If I veered and did not make it straight across, all I had to do was to trail the grass. If I did not come to a sidewalk, I could simply turn around and try the other direction.
What are some of your what if questions? What if I fall off a cliff? What if I go out on a drop route in one of those training programs and can’t make it back? What if I get lost somewhere and never make it home?
What I want to know, my fellow blind traveler to be, is what if you don’t?
That’s easy for me to ask. Isn’t it? Is it as easy for you to answer? Perhaps, it will be in the future.
If you try to answer these questions, and you will know the answers to most of them, you can use this information to tell the what if questionnaire that what if is not relevant in your situation. You are going to remember back to that Blindness Blog you spent days devouring. It mentioned something about focusing on what you know, and this could be done by just standing in one spot. Your brain is the organ you use to think with, and therefore, your feet need not move until you tell them that you possess the information to allow them to step forward.
Once you know what you know, you can use your critical thinking skills, those same skills that were such a success in that English class or that sport you are so fond of, to guide you back home. As you do so, you will use a cane. Thus you will be able to determine that you are not heading out into a busy street or a cliff is not in front of you.
Besides, if you once had vision, how many cliffs leading into deep abysses did you encounter? Some perhaps, but for the most part, those cliffs are just curbs that a small child can walk up and down with ease. And, if a small child can walk up and down a step, so can you. You will learn to ask your cane just where it is and just how steep it is before you allow your feet to dare to take the step. You will also realize that by picking your feet up instead of shuffling that you will avoid tripping over tree routes and other cracks in the sidewalk.
Finally, if you really need a boost of confidence and if you really get lost because you walk too slow to keep up with the crowd while out traveling or because you do not know how to take a specific route to make it back to home base, remember that how you make it to your final destination isn’t as important as the fact that you arrive when its all said and done. If worse comes to worse, you can simply stand still and ask someone who is passing, or you can use your cell phone (if you have one available) to call for help. Someone is bound to find you. To my knowledge, cell phones can be triangulated and traced these days.
Whenever possible, give traveling on your own to a destination your 100 percent best effort, but remembering that you have alternatives should you fail will enable you to build up enough confidence that you won’t even need to rely on those call-outs for help. After all, you know what you know and you know how to think; you can answer those what if questions by simply taking a deep breath while standing still and thinking for a moment.
And now, on to today’s travel blog.
Learning how to travel as a blind person can be a fun and interesting challenge. First, you discover what you already know and learn about your immediate environment. Next, you build on this knowledge and gain confidence as you move forward toward your goal.
To discover what you already know, relax for a moment. Ask your various senses what information they can provide you. What do you hear, feel, and/or smell?
To do this, close your eyes. Where are the sounds you hear? In front of you? To your right? To your left? Behind you? Is the floor under your feet soft or hard? What about the air temperature? Is it cold or hot? Do you feel any kind of breeze on your skin? If so, is it a warm or cold breeze? Do you smell the scent of a candle? Or, do you smell popcorn? Neither? Then what? Knowing this information will help you now and in environments that are not familiar to you in the future.
Note that it is important to learn which information is usable for you and which information you can safely ignore. For example, an object, such as a chair, that can be moved is not something to rely on to guide you toward a certain location. On the other hand, a desk is likely to remain in one spot, and thus, can be used as a reliable landmark.
I would also like to mention here that paying attention to sounds does not only mean paying attention to the sound of traffic or the sound of a cash register beeping. If you have ever been in a room and experienced the noise outside or the sound of other voices driving you crazy, you have probably gotten up and closed the door, silencing or greatly reducing the external sound. When traveling, you are able to use this type of sound to help you move about your environment. For example, a building will function much as a closed door because it blocks out the sound behind it. When you pass it, the louder sounds that become present alert you that the building is no longer blocking your sound on that particular side, and thus, you can deduce that you have walked passed the building. With practice, you will be able to notice as even smaller objects or obstacles block sound, and this information will enable you to improve your travel experiences.
When traveling, you will begin by learning how to use one skill, such as how to travel using sound, and you will then move to a different skill, such as how to travel by using the sun to help you move toward a desired location. It is important for you to realize, however, that as a traveler, it is necessary to combine all of your skills and to use all of your available senses at the same time. For example, the sound of a busy street in front of you combined with the warmth from the sun and the feel of the downhill surface on which you are walking could tell you that you are heading in the correct direction.
Now, let us focus on using your senses and your knowledge about sound to help you discover what you know about your environment. Stop reading for a moment. Just remain in this one spot and experience your environment with your eyes closed by focusing on your senses.
Now write this down, if you are able, or record it in audio format. Also, write down or record what you already know about how to travel as a blind person in as much detail as you possibly can. You can use these notes later in your travel experiences to help you realize how far you have come or to remind you that, yes, you can travel as a blind person.
Should you ever reach a point where you have tried and tried and can’t seem to get the hang of this blind travel thing, one way to build your confidence again is by reading about your prior successes. Keep a log about your experiences and refer to them when you need to step back and muster up some motivation.
Note that it is not important to develop all the skills necessary to travel in one hour or day; it would be impossible. It might also be necessary to temporarily abandon a difficult travel project that you feel is impossible and travel on a route using skills that you have mastered, and this is okay because it is another way to boost your confidence. The important points to remember are that safety should be considered and, at the end of this journey, you succeed at becoming a good traveler as a blind person. One step back might allow you to take two steps forward whereas if you refuse to step back to a previous level, you may get so frustrated that you give up. With that said, it is important that you do push yourself. Stepping backjust because you are afraid, for example, will not enable you to move forward.
Now that you have observed your environment by using your senses, other than vision, it is time to move forward based on your knowledge about travel and the environment in which you are most familiar. Some of you may have been blind or visually impaired for a time, and so you may know the layout of your house, for instance. Others of you may have just encountered blindness. Still, I bet you know more than you believe you do. Can you write down or speak onto a recorder what the most familiar room to you looks like? Be specific.
Now, let us begin to talk about travel by first talking about a map. Many of you who may have once been sighted can probably recall using a map to find a location. As a blind traveler, you, too, can use a map; in this instance, it will be a mental map.
Place a sheet of paper in front of you. You will need to create tactile lines along the edges of the paper. If necessary, have someone assist you with this. To create a tactile line along each of the four sides of the paper, you might use a pipe cleaner along the top edge of the paper, wikki sticks along the right edge of the paper, a line of Braille along the bottom edge of the paper and a shoestring along the left side of the piece of paper. The top side will be north, the right side will be east, the bottom side, the side closest to your tummy, will be south, and the left side of the paper will be west.
What if we thought of this piece of paper as a room. First, focus on only what is on the north wall. As you do so, picture each item encountered as if you had vision and could see it.
As I tell you what is in this imaginary room, use your fingers to move along the edges of the piece of paper. If it helps you, use your creativity to come up with ways to mark each object. For example, you might have some doll furniture that is really tiny. You could place a tiny chair to represent a chair. Or, you could have someone help you create the shape of the object by taping string in the approximate spot of the object.
Don’t move on to the east wall until you have clearly visualized the objects along the north wall. If you have never experienced vision, imagine what the object should feel like as we travel around our imaginary room.
On the north (top) side, we first imagine a desk. We then see blank wall as we travel eastward, toward the right side of the paper, until we encounter a doorway about halfway across the north side. After passing this door, there are three chairs followed by a small bit of space before the north wall ends. As you pass the blank wall or spaces, what color has the room been painted in your mind? What color are the chairs? Remember, visualize this wall just described before moving on.
Next, let’s travel along the east (right) end of our imaginary room by moving our hands downward toward the south wall. Along this entire side stands a bunch of windows. Can you see the sun streaming in these windows in your mind’s eye? Or, do you see a bunch of closed drapes covered with seashells? Take time to visualize these windows.
On our south (bottom) wall, traveling west, or to the left, we first encounter a chair. Next is a long table. Next is a water fountain. Then, there is another chair. Now, we are at the corner where the south wall meets the west wall.
As we head across the west wall by sliding our hands toward the top or north side of the paper, first we have the side of the chair that we had encountered on the south wall. That only lasts for a short distance, and then we have some blank space. We now have a row of file cabinets. The rest of the west wall is blank until we encounter the side of the desk that is against the north wall.
We have virtually travelled around a room. Try this with a room in your house that is a square or rectangle shape. Don’t worry about knowing just which wall is really north. Pick a wall to label as north. Mentally go around the room and name and picture in your mind what items are on each wall, including doors, heaters, etc. If you don’t know, ask a friend or family member. Once you have all this information, create your own mental map in your head about this particular room in your house.
Now, you will need to travel around the room and touch these items so that they will stick on your mental map. When travelling the room as a new traveler, you may find that it is easier to travel the map in your mind than in the actual room. You may also find it difficult to know what an item is. If you have a friend or family member who can help you with this, you may wish to choose this option. Before you allow them to identify an object for you, use your hands to examine the object and try to identify it yourself.
I have not yet brought up a cane, but a cane will be a good tool to use in such an exploration as its tip can tell you if the item is wood, metal, etc. It can also tell you if the path in front of you is clear. In addition, the terrain on which you walk, such as tile, may change, such as to a rug, and your cane will alert you to this information. Note that when using the cane, you will rely on it for cues in the environment rather than feeling objects with your hands. So if you hit something that sounds like metal, you will know it is a trash can, for example.
Examining things with your hands is key in developing the ability to conceive a mental picture of an object. In your living room or other familiar area such as this, it is probably okay to touch the items. When you first learn to mentally map your familiar room, it would be beneficial to touch items because it will enable you to remember them and picture them in your mind better. However, when travelling outside of your home, you will want to use the information your cane gives you because you will not want to place your hand on a nasty trash can or knock something over that you didn’t intend to empty.
Travelling is different than browsing. When I am in a store, I do touch objects on the shelves so that I will know what is there. To do this kind of exploration or to find something on a counter or table, use the back of your hand and begin at the edge of the surface and gently move your hand back until it encounters the item as this will enable you to keep from spilling a drink or knocking breakable items onto the floor.
Sometimes, when making a mental map, you will first check the environment and determine what to place on the map. This exercise of creating the map based on a room you know is to give you an idea of what a mental map is and how it can be helpful for you.
You will recall that, assuming you once had sight, you could mentally travel a route to a familiar destination even when you were not actually taking that route. This mental mapping of your familiar environment will work in a similar way.
Once you have your familiar room mapped out in your mind, add to it by figuring out what is in the center of the room. For example, maybe you have a rug in the center of the floor or a coffee table. Keep filling in the map, and be flexible enough to adjust it, if necessary. For example, if someone were to move the trash can from the northwest corner to the northeast corner, you will have to map the trash can in a new location.
As you travel outside familiar environments, you will need to use this flexibility as placement of objects can change in such locations. Your mental map and your assigned northern direction will also help you maneuver around in unfamiliar environments once you have gained more travel skills and can independently navigate these areas.
Once you have your familiar room mapped so well in your mind that you could travel it with your eyes closed (pardon the pun), choose another room that is familiar and create your mental map of this room. Practice, practice, practice.

Let us return to travel again. For those of you who are so interested in this travel thing that you find yourself wondering just how to figure out the real north wall in a room, I am about to uncover this secret for you. The north we assigned earlier was only what I like to refer to as a “virtual” north because it was not necessarily the true north. It served our purpose of navigating around a room, however. The reason this virtual north is useful is because it allows us to refer to a specific wall no matter where we are or how we are facing in a room. For example, if there is a water fountain on your left and you turn around to face the opposite direction, it will then be on your right. Therefore, saying left and right will be confusing for you and for someone who may be helping you. If someone is facing you, there left and your left will be different. Therefore, they may tell you that the water fountain is on your left when, in reality, it is on your right. So assigning our walls with a virtual north can be beneficial to you and your family who are familiar with your virtual directions because if someone says the water fountain is on the north wall, this means it is on a particular wall, no matter which way you are facing.
When I enter a room and don’t know true north, I always choose the north wall to be the far wall. If I travel with someone who is also aware of this method, they will be better able to tell me about this new environment.
Remember, we discussed using a cane. Often I use my cane in place of this other person, and it identifies objects along walls for me. In the future, with much practice, you will be able to do this as well.
Okay, let us talk about how to uncover the true north. Think for a moment about the sun. In the morning, does it rise in the north, east, south or west? If you answered east, you would be correct. Knowing this information can help you determine where north is. If you stand in your living room, for instance, early on a sunny morning, you can figure out which wall is the true east wall by noting which window the sun streams through. Once you know which wall is east, you will immediately know that, when facing this wall, the wall to your left will be your north wall and the wall to your right will be your south wall. Of course, west is opposite of east, and so the west wall will be behind you.
Ok, so what if there is no east window for the sun to stream through on such a lovely morning? What you can do is to go outside and face the sun. Determine which side your house is on when you are facing the sun. For example, if you are standing with the house behind you and the feel of warmth from the sun tells you the sun is in front of you, you will know that you are facing east. Therefore, if you turn and walk toward your house, you will be walking west. It may be necessary to move left or right in order to reach your front door, but if you take the time to focus on each new direction you face as you turn, you can keep track of which directions you happen to be facing. For example, if you are facing your house, which means you are facing west, you might turn right in order to reach your steps. As a result, you are now facing north. When you reach the steps and turn left, you are facing west again. Assuming you don’t turn to enter your front door, you will still be facing west when you enter your house. Therefore, the north wall will be to your right, the south wall will be to your left, and the east wall will be behind you (the same wall containing the door through which you stepped into the house.) It doesn’t matter if this is an entry way or some room in your house, such as the kitchen. You can still keep track of which direction you are walking as you walk into different rooms.
If you do not have a cane or know how to use one, you may contact the National Federation of the Blind (www.nfb.org) or your Rehabilitation counselor for information on how to obtain a cane and where to get training.
The main job of a cane is to inform you of what obstacles, including steps, are in your path.
You may be thinking something like: “Well, I don’t need a cane because I have some vision.”
Let me just give you a few reasons I think a cane might be helpful, even if you have some usable vision. First, it indicates to others that you cannot see them. In other words, it says that you are blind. Maybe, you don’t want to be thought of as blind because you believe people will think you are helpless or because you are afraid of blindness. What you don’t realize is that by not using a cane, you are putting yourself in danger, and you may even appear rude to others. If you were fully sighted at one time, you might remember that you once could see someone from across a room trying to get your attention by signaling to you or waving a hello to you from across the street. If someone sees you, and you do not have a cane, they are likely to wave to you. You will not see them because you have lost some vision. Therefore, you do not wave back, and the other person, not aware of your condition, may be offended and think you are being rude. If they were to see a cane in your hand, they would know that you could not see them. In addition, if you are in a store and trying to get assistance, it will be much easier for others to identify why you need help finding an item that is right in front of your nose, and consequently, they may be more willing to assist you.
I have already mentioned that you may endanger yourself. All I will say about that now is that you and only you can accept your blindness. Therefore, only you can embrace the need to use a cane. Until you do, you may bump into things, trip over curbs, or fall down steps. Your brain is familiar with a particular environment, and it has a mental picture of the areas of the world with which you are familiar. You may find it easy to move around in your environment until the day that a particular element of that environment changes. For example, a construction company may have started road work near your house when you were out without your knowledge. You walk home and don’t see the hole they have dug and fall into it. Or, you bump into the truck that usually isn’t parked in front of your driveway. Unfortunately, it may be the injuries to yourself or others resulting from these experiences that force you to face reality.
Don’t let your mistakes rule your life though. Use them as learning tools. In this case, they will help you to realize you need to learn to travel with a cane. Usable vision is a wonderful thing and should be used when appropriate, but if you learn how to function as a totally blind traveler, you will be better able to judge just when it is and is not appropriate to use your vision. As a result, you will be much safer.
I want to take a brief minute here to mention that it will be a good idea for you to use sleep shades or a blindfold when learning how to use nonvisual techniques. The reason for this is because your eyes are so used to seeing that your brain will continue to send them the message to “see,” even if you are not consciously trying to do so. Thus your other senses will not be automatically assigned by your brain to the task of observing your environment. To use alternative techniques without vision, you must rely on your senses other than vision. Another good reason for using eyeshades is that you can learn these alternative techniques. As a result, you will know how much reliable vision you actually have, and you will know how and when your vision cannot be trusted. Consequently, you will be better able to determine the safest, most effective method for accomplishing a goal, such as travel.
This is the end of this travel blog because you are now ready to move ahead in your travel. You will need to learn how to hold and use a cane. You now know about mental mapping and can begin trying to apply it to different environments for practice. Remember to write down what information you already know about the environment.
There may be a future blog on cane travel, but this is something you should learn from a qualified professional. Remember, that these blogs and anything contained in them are for informational purposes only. I am not responsible for any negative experiences or injuries that may be caused as a result of them. My goal is to provide information for educational purposes to those who are interested in learning about these kinds of topics.

Commenting on the Blindness Blog

2010-07-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hello. Tomorrow, Friday, July 2, I will post a blog on travel. next Friday, I plan to post a blog on how to create a blog using blogspot.com. I decided to post a short message today to inform all of you that I have set the blog so that anyone can now comment on a post. To do this, first have the Blindness Blog showing. Navigate to the end of the blog to where you see a link that has a number followed by the word comments. For example, it might read 2 comments. This will be a link. If you press enter here, you can read the comments others have posted. In addition, you can use your screenreader commands, the letter h with JAWS and NVDA, to reach a heading that tells you to "Post a comment." Below this heading, you will encounter an edit box where you will type your comment. Please be certain to include your name because you will show up as Annonymous when one first encounters your post. This way, we can know who each other is. In order to type your comment, it may be necessary for you to turn on forms mode or whichever mode is appropriate for your preferred screenreader. Once you have typed your message, press tab to "select a profile" combo box. Again, use the appropriate keystroke to open and move through this combo box. With JAWS, you will press alt+down arrow to open the combo box. Note that when I say to press keys with the word plus in between them, I mean to hold down the first key, press and release the second key, and then to release the first key. Now that you have the combo box opened, you use your down and up arrow keys until you hear it say annonymous. I don't think you have to press enter here, but you might want to try it just in case. Finally tab and you will land on the "post a comment" button. Press enter here. This is only a review page, and so you will need to navigate to the "post a comment" button again and press enter. This is all I will say for now. I plan to make myself really familiar with this for the post a week from tomorrow about creating a blog. Please feel free to share your comments. Also, thank you to all of you who have asked me about how to comment or how to get subscribed to the blog because your questions have enabled me to learn a lot. Until tomorrow. Anita Adkins

Best Educational Placement For Students Who Are Blind

2010-06-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Helping Your Child Succeed: The Best Educational Placement For Students Who Are Blind
By: Anita Adkins
How do you make the right decision as to where and how to educate your child, especially if that child happens to be blind? To provide you with this information, you may consult experts in both the fields of education and blindness who are objective and concerned about you and your child. In addition, it is necessary for you to gather data from a variety of sources that will allow you to make an informed decision about your child’s least restrictive environment (LRE). According to Huebner, Garber, and Wormsley (2006),
One of the key requirements of educating children with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is the least restrictive environment mandate (LRE), which states: to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities . . . are educated with children who are not disabled, and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability of a child is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily [Sec. 612 (a)(5)(A)] (p. 1).
Research indicates that the most effective placement for a child who is blind depends on that child’s needs, and therefore, must be determined only after several factors, including the provision of trained personnel, the availability of resources and technology, and the child’s own ability to adapt to his environment, have been evaluated.
Before you begin to form an opinion as to your child’s best educational placement, it is necessary to examine all possible options. According to Smith (2006), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975 (IDEA) requires that a continuum of options are available to students who are blind, including full inclusion in the general education classroom, a resource room, and a residential school for the blind (p. 5-6). Keep in mind that none of these options are inferior to the other; the best placement depends on the particular child and not the school setting. Visiting each placement option will enable you to get a view of the environment and will enable you to interview the child’s prospective teacher and other professionals to determine precisely what services are available and who will be working directly and indirectly with your child. It is critical to continually evaluate your child’s school setting, and, if appropriate, switch to a different setting.
For your child to be successful within any of the placement options, qualified professionals in the field of blindness must be available on a regular basis. The American Foundation for the Blind (2009) claims that “there is a severe shortage of orientation and mobility specialists and qualified teachers of visually impaired students.“ This means that a TVI might not be available for your child if he attends the local public school, especially if you live in a rural area (What Are The Challenges Facing Visually Impaired Children section). According to Conroy (2007), working with your child on skills in academic subjects, adapting activities and lessons to meet the child’s exceptional needs and travelling with your child around the school and within the classroom are responsibilities of paraprofessionals (pp. 8-9). Paraprofessionals are assistants who are more likely to work with students with exceptionalities, including students who are blind, within the general education classroom. Generally, they are not trained in blindness skills or core subjects and receive low wages, meaning that your child may not be receiving instruction from a qualified teacher (p. 17). Likewise, just because your child is attending a residential school for the blind does not mean that he is receiving appropriate services or that qualified professionals are providing training in expanded core curriculum skills, such as Orientation And Mobility (O&M). J. Adkins claims that during the decade he attended a residential school for the blind, he received very limited training in O&M even though a qualified instructor was employed at the school at the time of his enrollment (personal communication, November 21, 2009).
In addition, it is critical to determine the child’s needs. Huebner et al. (2006) claim that you must take into consideration the child’s unique circumstances, including his level of vision, how long he has been blind and his additional challenges, if any (p. 6). According to Huebner (1989), you must base placement on the environment which enables the child to be a full participant and one where he can benefit socially, emotionally and academically (as cited in Huebner et al., 2006, p. 5). A survey conducted by Phillips and Corn (2003) discovered that students who are blind and who attended a special school for the blind enjoyed being in a class with a small number of students, being around other students who are blind, making friends and having more options to participate in social and extracurricular activities (Results section). For some students, a special school for the blind is able to provide the appropriate services and opportunities for socialization. However, other students are able to acquire these needed services and peer interactions in a public school setting. For example, Shannon, a blind student who attended a general education classroom in a public school in her local school district, had a TVI present in the classroom who developed a relationship with the general education classroom teacher. This enabled the two of them to “plan, assess and solve problems.” He also adapted lessons and provided other necessary services (Krebs, 2000, p. 5). As a result, Shannon was able to successfully participate in class. In addition, Huebner et al. emphasize that the method in which the child can best learn should also be considered when assessing the child’s needs. These may include:
 sound and touch
 “direct instruction in skills that others learn incidentally through observation and modeling”
 specialized materials, such as Braille or large print, that he may need
 training in the “expanded core curriculum”
 necessary technology and other devices that will enable him to access and provide written or other required assignments in an appropriate manner
and
 one on one instruction when it is appropriate (pp. 2-3)
You must also assess your own ability to meet the child’s needs by evaluating the time, resources and support you can provide, and you must use this assessment to determine the best placement.
Next, it is advantageous to examine what the blind themselves have to say about placement. D. Chives is a student who is blind who was fully included in the general education classroom. She claims, “As an educator, or at least a future one, I'd like to think that all students can be reached in a ‘traditional’ setting, but that isn't reality. Reality is that not all students can function and be successful in a general education classroom, and that refers to all students with acceptionalities [sic], not just the visually-impaired. I guess my best and easiest answer to the question of which setting is better is whichever setting gives the student [who is blind] the best chance to be successful. The stronger the support system, the better chance a student is going to have, no matter where they are” (Personal Communication, November 19, 2009). S. Wells, who attended a variety of classroom environments, including full inclusion in a general education classroom, classes with in a resource room in local public schools near her home, and a residential school for the blind, agrees that the best placement for a student who is blind depends on that student’s needs. Many factors play a role in determining these needs, including the home environment of the child, the ability of the particular school to provide an environment in which the child can learn to interact with and function within the sighted world, and the child’s social environment (Personal Communication, November 18, 2009). For example, when she attended the residential school for the blind, the other students within her particular grade functioned cognatively at a lower level, meaning that she had challenges with social interaction. This was also the case in the resource room at her local public school. D. Williamson (2009) states: “I think that there are benefits from both attendance at a residential school and in a public school. I think that the decision of where a student attends school should be based upon the needs of the individual student. I think younger and newly-blind students should have the opportunity to develop basic educational and independent living skills at a residential school and, then, perhaps move on to a public school setting” (Personal Communication, November 23, 2009).
You must also become informed about any aspect of blindness with which you are not comfortable or knowledgeable. Becoming acquainted with an organization of the blind, such as the American Council of the Blind (www.acb.org) or the National Federation of the blind (www.nfb.org), will enable you to meet successful adults who are blind and can provide you and your child with information and positive solutions for overcoming the challenges associated with blindness. These organizations can also provide you with information on local support groups of parents with blind children in your area in which you can gather information from others and share your own triumphs and frustrations. Moreover, it is helpful to make a record of what you have learned and what you still need to discover, as this will enable you to develop a questionnaire to aid you in the decision-making process. Research via the Internet and other media outlets can also be beneficial in helping you acquire information.
In conclusion, the best educational placement for your child depends on his individual needs and the qualified professionals and resources available. Examining the benefits and challenges for all available options and gathering information from qualified individuals and from other sources about blindness are key in making the best decision. It is critical to continually monitor how your child is adjusting to the current setting and to alter his or her placement, if necessary.

References

American Foundation for the Blind. (2009). Specialized education services for children who are blind or visually impaired. Retrieved from http://www.afb.org/section.asp?SectionID=58&DocumentID=1243
Conroy, P. W. (2007). Paraprofessionals and students with visual impairments: Potential pitfalls and solutions. Re:view, 39(2), p. 43-55. Retrieved from ProQuest database (1489114221).
Huebner, K. M., Garber, M., Wormsley, D. P. (2006). Student-centered educational placement decisions: The meaning, interpretation, and application of least restrictive environment for students with visual impairments. Pp. 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.cecdvi.org/positionpapers.html
Krebs, C. S. (2000). Beyond blindfolds: Creating an inclusive classroom through collaboration. Re:view, 31(4), p. 180-186. Retrieved from ERIC (EBSCO) database (EJ603349). & Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) database (2858099).
Phillips, J. E., Corn, A. L. (2003). An initial study of students' perceptions of their education placement at a special school for the blind. Re:View, Retrieved from Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) database (08991510).
Smith, D. (2006). Least-restrictive environment for students with visual impairments. Journal of visual impairment & blindness, 100(10), p. 592-593. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) database (23057193).

Flipping

2010-06-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first Blindness Blog, a place where I hope we can learn from each other about how to accomplish tasks using alternative techniques that do not rely on vision. Without further adieu, I will post our first lesson, which explains one way to practice how to flip food from one side to the other in a skillet.
Flipping
It may be necessary to read this tutorial several times so that you can digest its contents before your first practice attempt.
First, locate a large skillet and place it on a counter or the kitchen table. Make sure this spot has plenty of room for you to move. You will also need to retrieve a spatula. Next, retrieve a slice of light bread and place it in the skillet. Now, pinch out enough of the top of the lightbread slice until you have a narrow cavity; note that you do not want this cavity to go clear through to the other side of the bread. With this done, feel the other side of the bread to make sure it is still flat and smooth. The purpose for creating this cavity is so that you will be able to identify each side of the bread, and thus, you will be able to tell if the slice of bread has been flipped with success.
We are now ready to begin practicing. Place the slice of bread in the center of the skillet, cavity side facing up. Pretend this is real and make sure the skillet handle is on the left. Hold your left hand on the handle of the skillet. With the other hand, hold the spatula so that the bottom of it faces down. When I hold my spatula, my thumb is on the left, my pointer finger extends down the handle toward the breadholding part, and my remaining fingers curl around the handle and rest on the underside of it. Slowly center it over the skillet and lower it until it comes into contact with the surface. If the surface feels soft, this is a good sign that you had it correctly aligned over the center of the skillet. If the surface is not soft, try again until you are successful. Remember this is for practice, and so you may want to practice centering the spatula several times until you feel comfortable. When you are confident, move onto the next step.
Once the spatula rests on the softness of the bread, slide the spatula toward you until it drops down and touches the hard surface of the pan. Note that it may also connect with the side of the pan, and this is okay. Now, slide it forward underneath the slice of bread. Keep sliding until you feel your spatula start to move uphill and/or bump the far side of the pan. Now, lift the spatula and then travel to the right until you are approximately over the right edge of the skillet. If your spatula bumps the side of the pan, this means that you did not lift it high enough, and you will need to practice lifting it until you are able to position it above the right side of the skillet about an inch or two. . Note that if the bread tends to fall off on you, keep practicing until it does not.
Once you have the spatula over the side of the skillet, it is time to flip. Turn your hand so that the back of your thumb points downward. Figuring out the exact movement and how quick to turn your hand will take both experience and practice, but I use a quick movement that seems to occur as if I am barely turning the spatula in a relatively slow manner. Also, note that the position of your thumb so that the back of it is facing down is how your hand should end up, but do not worry if it is not exactly positioned in this way. If your flipping is a success, then the actual movement of your hand and thumb are okay, even if they don’t sound as if they are following the exact path I am describing. The slice of bread should come off the spatula. . If you are lefthanded, you will hold the handle of the skillet with your right hand and slide the spatula over the left edge of the skillet. Also, your thumb will be on the right side of the spatula and your remaining fingers will curl around the left side of the spatula. Now you can feel the bread to see if you were successful. If you were, the cavity should be facing the bottom of the skillet, and the smooth side of the bread should be facing the ceiling. If not, don’t worry. You can try it again and again until you are able to do it with ease.
If your stove is in an area with a different range of motion than your table or counter, you may need to practice flipping with a cold skillet and piece of bread to get the knack of working in a different environment, such as more cramped quarters. The process may seem more difficult at first, but all in all, it is the same procedure. Also, you may want to practice using only one item, such as one hamburger patty, before cluttering up your pot.
Once you feel confident, you will be ready to try it in a heated skillet on the stove. It is important for me to mention here that said heated skillet needs to have been greased or oiled appropriately beforehand. When using heat, you will not use your hands to touch the food to see if it has flipped correctly. Instead, you will use other alternative techniques. To do this, center the spatula over your skillet as you did when first learning to flip. Then, gently lower it until the bottom of it comes in contact with the particular food in your skillet. Now, you can move it over the surface of the food to feel and hear how it sounds. A piece of bread has a different feel than a piece of toast when felt with the back of your spatula. A raw hamburger has a different texture and sound than a cooked hamburger. Likewise, other foods will have different sounds and textures. Note that you can also gently slide your spatula under an item to check the doneness of the bottom side. This can be helpful, for instance, in helping you determine if the underside of your grilled cheese is done, signaling you that it is time to flip. In addition, timing food is another method for knowing when the precise time for flipping arrived.
This tutorial is only in regards to flipping and not concerning how to actually prepare something. If you are a beginning cook, I recommend that you have a knowledgable friend, family member or other professional present when using the stove until you have reached a level of experience that will permit you to use the appliance safely. This flipping skill will be used when you are required to flip something due to its being required for a particular cooking project.
Steps to Success
1. Center slice of bread in a cold skillet in an area where you can comfortably move and work.
2. Place your left hand on the handle of the skillet, and hold the spatula with your right hand so that your thumb is on the left, your pointer finger extends down the spatula, and your remaining fingers circle until they rest underneath the utensil.
3. Center the spatula over the skillet and gently lower it until it comes in contact with the slice of bread.
4. Gently slide the spatula toward you until it drops off the bread and comes in contact with the skillet.
5. Now, slide the spatula forward so that it slides beneath the bread. Keep sliding until you feel the spatula starting to move uphill and touch the back of the skillet.
6. Lift the spatula and move it so that it is over the right edge of the skillet.
7. Flip by turning your hand so that the back of your thumb is facing down. Remember that flipping just right will take time and experience. Do not get to hung up on making sure your thumb is ffacing down; just be aware that it will most likely end up in that position.
8. Check your work.