The challenges of renovation

A few months ago, I decided to do a bit of renovating to my condo. I decided to repaint, re-carpet, and fix some stuff to half of my condo. Yes, I had a great contractor and yes, I went to great pains to ensure that I moved everything out of his way, but the fun came when I had to put everything back in its place.

For me, I tried doing this by using my memory. What did it look like before I moved everything away and I also had to depend on my memories of how things looked like before I lost my vision. For me, if something is out of position by just a few inches, I’d know the difference and it all has to do with how I picture things by touch. I guess that it can be compared to how a sighted person uses their eyes to visualize things.

Another challenge for me was to make sure that I did not bump into things when they were left in the hallway during the renovation. I must say though that my contractor was very good and very aware of my potential challenges. The worst of it came when I had to place things back in the cabinets and there was my doll collection of course. I got around this by ensuring that when I was moving things out, I did it shelf by shelf and placed the contents of each shelf in specific boxes and bags.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and tell others about some of my challenges. Visit www.nfb.org to learn how blind persons go about finding their way around.

The challenges of a clothes closet

If I am able to stay on top of it, my clothes closet is just another thing for me to cope with but the minute I fall behind, then here is where the problem starts. In short, I need to ensure that everything is well organized. Not much different from a sighted person but for me, there is the extra mile to go.

My clothes are organized by color, and yes, by occasion. That is, when I would wear them. Casual clothes are off to one side and business wear is off to another side. Blouses are organized in alphabetical order of color. So for example, and from left to right, beige, black, blue, green, purple, red, white, yellow, and so on. The same goes for suits, pants, and skirts.

I use my talking color detector to help me keep my colors in order. It all works well if I am careful enough to keep everything in order but the minute something goes out of order, then all hell breaks loose! You can learn more about this wonderful little device by visiting www.maxiaids.com.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to go out there and share my blogs with others.

Remembering my doll collection

Whenever I feel like reminiscing a bit, I just love to sit back and remember my doll collection. True it is that I can do it by touch. That is, I can go to my doll cabinets and touch each doll individually but it’s not quite enough. You see, I just love to bring back those images into my mind.

I started collecting dolls when I was quite young. My parents helped me and over the years I have managed to collect over 60 dolls and counting. Then a year ago, my friend and her husband surprised me when they gave me a beautiful doll collection that belonged to his mom; she passed on last year.

So, here is how I remember. First, I go to the cabinet and start by touching each doll and as I touch each in turn I conjure up images of what they look like. Then I go to my favorite chair and there I sit and with much patience and meticulousness, I draw the big picture in my mind. In order to keep this picture forever preserved, I need to make sure that the dolls are arranged in a specific order. The ones that I remember them to be just before losing my vision. If any of them are out of order, then there goes my perfect picture.

It is a bit different for the doll collection that my friend and her husband gave to me. I don’t really know what they look like but my friend was kind enough to describe each of them to me so I have to draw on her descriptions to help me remember. Dolls, dolls! One of my favorite memories.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and share my memories with others. Visit www.rnib.org to learn how blind persons use their memories to help them have fun.

Identifying the right bottle or jar

A daily challenge for me, but here is how I do it. When it comes to my fridge, I am careful to organize bottles by contents. For example: In order of jams, sauces, condiments, and so on. A jar of mayonnaise is easy to identify. Some jam jars have a unique shape, some lids and covers also have unique shapes, and so on.

I use such things as size, height, and of course smell of contents to help me out. Smell is always my last resort whenever I am unable to easily identify a certain bottle or jar. It is an ongoing challenge for me but one that I need to stay on top of.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and share my thoughts with others. Visit www.nfb.org to learn more.

Matching the voice to the person

In the same way that sighted persons match faces to persons, or vice versa, I match the voice to the person. When I had sufficient vision I used to employ other strategies to identify persons, such as: height, hair color, size, and yes! Smell.

Since losing my vision, I have lost the ability to use most of these strategies so I use the one of matching the voice to the person. Now and then I make an error, like when I thought that I was talking to a friend instead of my niece. I only realized my error when the person hesitated when I made a comment and it was then I realized that it was not my friend. My niece did not say anything; she simply carried on as if all was well.

All in a day’s work and if you would like to learn more about how blind persons match voices to persons then visit www.acb.org.
I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to go out there and share my blogs with others.

Auntie how do you eat?

Out of the mouths of babes and this from my nine year old niece a few months ago as we sat eating supper one night. No, I was in no way offended! Yes, I was delighted to have answered her question.

My niece Faith is a very bright and observant little girl and as she sat next to me on this occasion, I could sense that she wanted to ask me something. I could hear her whispering to my sister-in-law but could not really hear what she was asking or saying. Then I heard my sister-in-law telling her to go ahead and ask me and she did: “Auntie how do you eat?”

So I told her and showed her how I did and she closed her eyes and tried it out and she understood. She got it! Ah yes, kids! They never cease thinking and asking.

I’m Donna j. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and share my blogs with others. Visit www.nfb.org or www.afb.org to learn more.