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.