Techniques of banking

I can only speak for myself when it comes to how I do my banking and I encourage you to talk to other blind persons to see how they do it. The first thing for me as a blind person is to ensure that at all times, my confidentiality and privacy are protected.

So, I pay my bills using the phone system of my banking institution. I also check my account balances and transfer funds if I need to. It is a great phone system and affords me total privacy. If I run into any difficulty then I can get immediate help from a customer service rep on the phone and I have never had any difficulty with this service.

If I need to have any banking forms completed, then I go to my bank branch and they are always ready and willing to help me. For everything else, I go to them as well. The trick of the trade for me is to retain and maintain my confidentiality and privacy. I do not engage in any sort of online banking because I am not comfortable. Nor do I do any online purchasing because of not being comfortable entering my credit card information.

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.
Visit www.nfb.org to learn more.

At the buffet with mom

In my humble opinion, this is what I think should happen for a blind or partially sighted person whenever they go to a buffet table. It is the way that mom and I do it and it has worked perfectly for me.

Mom waits until there are not too many persons at the buffet. Next I take her arm and we walk to the beginning end of the table. She hands me my plate and then proceeds to tell me what each dish is. I tell her what I want if I am familiar with the dish and if I do not know what it is, or she does not know what it is, she describes it to me as best as she can.

Mom carefully arranges my food on my plate and I pay attention to where she is placing it. She never overloads my plate so as not to cause too much clutter. By doing this, I am comfortable with what is on my plate and how to navigate it. This means however, that I would need to go to the buffet more than once. So here is how we do it.

First, we visit the cold stuff and choose our food. We may include soup in this trip if either of us wants it. When we are finished we tackle the hot food in two stages. She only describes what we are going to take. That is, she breaks it up into manageable portions for us both, only describing a few at a time until my plate is manageable.

Finally, the dessert. In the case of this, mom describes the entire dessert table to me and then I choose. We never go more than once to the dessert table.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to share my words with others. Visit www.nfb.org to learn more.

My technicolor dreams

There is one important thing that has been kept in place for me since losing most of my vision and that is my ability to dream in Technicolor. I do not know how to explain it and how/why it has continued like this for me, but there you have it.

Maybe some psychologist could help me out if they were to read this blog but I am just so happy that my dreams are like this. In my dreams, I can see things in the same way that I used to when I had limited vision. Colors are bright, images are clear enough for me to decipher something at close range, and I can definitely walk using an ID cane, the smaller cane.

Skies and ocean are blue! Grass and leaves are green! Flowers are in so many vibrant colors and images of buildings and people are clear enough to me. Clouds are white or dark, sunrises are golden, and sunsets are orange. I can cross the street without any hesitation. I can ice skate on my own. I can walk along pushing my buggy without any fear of running into objects and I can find stores in the mall without too much difficulty. I can use landmarks to do it all.

Ah yes! My Technicolor dreams! How I wish that they could somehow turn into reality!

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to go out there and tell others about my technicolor dreams. Visit www.afb.org to learn more.

Helping others to navigate

This is just one of the commitments that I have made to myself, my mission with a passion. Those who know me will always hear me say that my top priority is the kids of the future. To ensure that their playing field is made more level than mine, to ensure that they have a better chance at keeping up with technology, and to ensure that their lives as a whole is that bit closer to mainstream life. In short, my mission with a passion is to help others navigate.

True it is that we may never be able to obtain a so-called mainstream life, and logic would dictate that this statement is very true but we, as blind and sight-impaired persons, must not give up. We need to focus on making our lives as comfortable as possible. We need to ensure that we can find ways to attain our objectives and we need to do it in ways that are not going to rub others the wrong way.

As technology continues to evolve at breakneck speed, we too must find ways to keep up in our own way. We may never be able to keep up with technology but how about trying to keep within a comfortable distance? Technology is what rules the world today and we need to keep this in mind. The one thing that we can do is to help others navigate. Help those blind and sight-impaired who are less fortunate, who are less technically savvy, and who are less confident when it comes to navigating the mainstream world.

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

Air hockey was my thrill

Oh how I remember the days when I used to play air hockey with my friends! It was my best friend Charlene who introduced me to it! Oh, yes indeed! That long table with its sleek surface and the puck going back and forth at dizzying speeds! The fun and excitement were so real then! I loved every minute of it and whenever I could I would find someone to play with me.

I can still hear the puck now in my mind! Bouncing back and forth and then going right off the table. Those mini sticks hitting the table instead of the puck and then when it did hit the puck! What joy! What ecstasy! Then when it ended up in my opponent’s net! Pure joy! It was the closest that I ever came to playing any type of table top game! Just too bad that I did not discover it when I first got my vision! Nevertheless, it was great fun for me and I shall never forget!

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and tell others about my experiences with air hockey. Come visit me at http://www.sterlingcreations.ca.

When the brain rewires

What am I talking about today? It all has to do with what happens when there is a change in one’s vision and I can speak personally to this. I have had several instances in my life: when I gained a tremendous amount of vision after my first cornea transplant, when I lost some vision and then regained it, and when I lost most of it which is now.

The brain does have a way of rewiring in order to adjust and readjust to one’s condition. Before I gained my vision, all of my senses played a part in my every day life. Smell and hearing lead the way followed very closely by taste and touch. Vision of course brought up the rear, but all of my senses seemed to work closely together.

When I gained a lot of vision so many years ago, the brain made adjustments for me to recognize and retain images of landmarks. It enabled me to identify things much more quickly and concisely and it allowed my sense of vision to lead the way in my everyday life. The other senses played very important supporting roles.

Now it’s back to square one; I have very little vision now and the brain has once more rewired to allow my senses to work in tandem. Vision has taken a back seat to smell and hearing with taste and touch squeezed together in the middle. It’s like a team of five and I makes six.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to go out there and share my thoughts with others. Come visit me at http://www.sterlingcreations.ca.

What does nice mean?

What does nice mean?

The word nice has so many meanings to each of us but I am going to try and give you my side of things as a blind person. What does nice mean to me? It means so many things as perceived by my senses. Here are a few meanings.

Nice: When someone goes out of their way to be nice or kind to me. When that person leaves what they are doing to come and help me out of difficulty. When they go out of their way to show me where to find something or someone. When I am unable to find the door to a building and they step out of their car to help me.

Nice: The scent of fresh cut grass. The fragrance of flowers wafting on the air. The scent of Christmas cakes and cookies being baked. The scent of my favorite foods being cooked by mom. The smell of lavender, spice, and apples.

Nice: The taste of honey. The taste of sparkling wine. The taste of warm apple crisp. The taste of spicy food.

Nice: Birds singing at springtime. Soft music in the background. Bells ringing at Christmas time. The sound of the blades of skates in a rink. Children laughing and dogs barking happily in a park. The sound of waves rolling towards the shore.

Nice: The feel of cool grass beneath my feet. The delicate petals of flowers against my fingertips, the warmth of sunshine on my cheeks, and sand on a beach under my toes and water from the sea rolling over me. The fresh cool winds of spring against my cheeks.

I think that you have the picture by now. 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. Come visit me at sterlingcreations.ca.

What happens when leaves fall?

Fall is the time when leaves usually give me the biggest of challenges. These leaves that look so colorful on the trees usually give me the most difficult time when they litter the ground, sidewalks, driveways, backyards, and so on.

If they are dry, then I need to use my cane to carve a path on the sidewalk for myself. It is not too difficult for me once I strategize. First, I locate the sidewalk. Next, I determine the physical relationship between leaves and sidewalk. Next, I determine how I want to carve my path. Unlike dealing with snow or rain, it is a matter of determining where I want to put my feet and where I am going to walk.

If the leaves are wet, then here is where the challenge is. Wet leaves stick to my cane and make it difficult for me to use it. Wet leaves are messy and stick to my shoes and I have to find ways to avoid them at all cost.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and tell others about how falling leaves affect me. Visit www.afb.org to learn how blind persons are taught how to deal with falling leaves.

What happens when snow comes?

Ah yes! One of my favourite things! Walking in the snow! I can still remember and visualize those fat snowflakes of all sizes falling gently and silently in front of me as I walked along. When I had enough vision, I loved it all! Watching the snowflakes, admiring the pure white surroundings, and looking at the trees covered in snow. Now that my vision is at a minimum, I have other challenges.

I have to ensure that I can identify sidewalks. I have to make sure that I can still identify landmarks with my cane. I can no longer use my vision to do so. I have to watch for snowbanks, heaps of snow piled haphazardly on sidewalks, and make sure that I am walking a safe line.

When snow falls, the landscape automatically changes for blind persons. We have to use other strategies to get around and if we are dependent on our canes as I am, then we have to ensure that we can use our canes to the maximum. My cane often gets stuck in snowbanks but that’s just part of life. I have to listen more carefully and concentrate more intently.

I do not like wearing a hat because it prevents me from hearing things; my hearing needs to be more acute than normal. I listen for footsteps to ensure that I am walking on a safe path and I use my cane to check for edges of sidewalks. When snow falls and depending on how heavy it has fallen, the edges of sidewalks may or may not be identifiable. I need to use my cane to help me out here. I wear my glasses so that the falling snow stays out of my eyes despite the fact that I can no longer see my beloved snowflakes.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and tell others about my blogs. Visit www.acb.org to learn more.

What happens when rain falls?

It’s funny, but when I had enough vision to see things, I used to enjoy watching the silver raindrops race each other down the glass of my windows. I can still remember and visualize this picture and I can still remember walking in the rain and watching these same beautiful raindrops scoot down the lenses of my glasses.

Even then and even now, I am really no different than a sighted person when it comes to rain. With or without vision it is almost the same for me. The differences may come as follows: Whereas a sighted person can almost always avoid puddles, I can’t. I used to be able to do so when I could see better but not now. It is difficult for me to carry an umbrella because of having to use my cane. I do not really like wearing rain hats because then my sense of hearing is somewhat muffled.

So what do I really do when rain comes? I am very careful when I step outside. I manage as best as I can and I am happy with how I do it.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to go out there and share my thoughts with others. Visit www.nfb.org to learn how blind persons get around in the rain.