I Am Blind But I Can Smell

The other day I mentioned to a friend that I was thinking of traveling to Ottawa for the Tulip Festival. Every year during the first two weeks of May, Ottawa is ablaze with literally hundreds of thousands of tulips sent to the city by the government of The Netherlands. The tradition started as a result of a momentous event that took place during World War II and as part of its eternal gratitude to Canada, The Netherlands showers Ottawa each year with throngs of tulips.

According to history, during World War II the young Dutch queen of The Netherlands, who was pregnant at the time, was sent to Canada for protection from the Nazis. During her stay in Canada her time had come to give birth. In order to ensure that her child was born into the house of royalty of The Netherlands, her hospital room was declared territory of The Netherlands so that her child could be born on Dutch soil. The Netherlands has never forgotten this deed by Canada, and this is why it sends hundreds of thousands of tulips each year to Ottawa.

When I was able to see, I visited Ottawa one year for the Tulip festival and thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic sight of being able to admire all of those wondrous tulip. I vowed to return one day to enjoy it all again. This time, however, I would be enjoying it without being able to see it. So when my friend innocently asked me, "How could you enjoy it if you are unable to see it?" I was ready with a response. "I may not be able to see them now, but I can surely smell them!"

My poor friend was thoroughly embarrassed, but I quickly brushed it off and quietly told her that blind people sometimes use their sense of smell as a substitute to enjoy things that they cannot see. We both laughed it off.

If you would like to learn more about how blind persons can enjoy things that they are unable to see then please visit http://www.nfb.org/ or http://www.rnib.org/.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and special-needs business consultant wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and educate the rest of the world that blind persons can definitely enjoy things by smell.