I will always love you, Whitney

She was a mom and she was a daughter! She was an inspiration and she was one of the brightest lights in our music industry! Most of all, she brought so many happy moments to me. Through her music, she helped me to preserve so many cherished memories.

Without enough vision to see what is happening on TV these days, I still have memories of a smiling Whitney Houston on the cover of my Whitney Houston record albums. Her happy face is forever engrained in my memory and I will never forget you, Whitney.

I am so lucky that I was able to capture the image of your face before I lost most of my vision and your songs will forever live on in my mind. There is one particular verse that will always be precious to me and it is this:
“Give me one moment in time! When I’m more than I thought I could be! When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away and the answers are all up to me. Give me one moment in time! When I’m racing with destiny! Then in that moment in time, I will feel eternity!”

Thank you, Whitney, for helping me to preserve my precious memories. Rest in peace and know that your songs will live on. Each time I need to retrieve some of those precious memories, images and all, I will play some of your ballads and let your voice do the rest for me.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and share my words with others. Come by any time and visit me at www.sterlingcreations.ca.

Self advocacy is for me

There is nothing more satisfying for me than to be able to get involved in self advocacy and nothing is more rewarding than to encourage our kids to do so. As long as it is done with respect, courtesy, and with professionalism, it is perfectly okay.

For it is only me who best understands what I need to advocate for and it is only me who best understands why I need to do it. Self advocacy can be extremely rewarding if it is done in the right way. Plant the seeds and watch them grow is my motto. I guess that in a way we are all self advocates in our own right. I advocate for and on behalf of blind persons and others do the same for their own near and dear causes and passions.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and self advocate. Come by and visit me at www.sterlingcreations.ca.

Kiosks are a challenge

Yes, they sure are and here is why. For blind persons, much more often than not, we are unable to use kiosks because there is no access technology that accompanies the hardware in the kiosk in question. That is, we are unable to use the keypads to communicate with the screens in the kiosks and we are also unable to use touch screens.

This makes it impossible for us to use kiosks at airports, kiosks at government offices, and kiosks in malls. True it is that kiosks have become a very convenient method of enabling the mainstream world to perform many tasks such as checking in, buying lottery tickets, and much more. However, it is not a convenience for us blind folks.

What does a blind person need in order to use a kiosk? We need keypads that we can easily navigate. We need software imbedded in the hardware that enables us to hear what is on the screen, and we need headphones to use so that when we carry out our transactions, no one would hear what is being read to us from the screen.

A huge request or tall order you may be asking? Probably not.

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

Body language for blind persons

I am often asked if a blind person is able to use body language and my answer is a definite yes. However, logic will dictate that we are unable to interpret body language.

I speak for me and here is my take on this subject. My parents were wonderful teachers and taught me very early in life how to use body language. They tutored me in the rudiments of head movements for positive and negative agreements, hand gestures, and a bit more. When I first got vision, I learned quickly from others around me and spent countless hours looking at what others did.

Today, and without very much vision, I can use all of my lessons to continue with my body language to help me tell others how I feel and what I am thinking.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and share my thoughts with others. Visit me at www.sterlingcreations.ca whenever you have a moment.

The world of blind parents

When it comes to parents in today’s world, the task of raising kids has certainly become much more complex, challenging, and interesting. But when you throw in the variable of blind parents raising kids, you have an even more interesting and complex recipe.

I myself am not a parent but I have blind friends who are parents to both blind as well as sighted kids. There are challenges, to be sure, for both cases listed above, but for blind parents I believe that some of the major barriers could be these:

An attitude barrier – where society may still have problems understanding that blind people could be great parents despite not being able to see.
Social barriers – where blind parents may not be easily accepted into the social world of being able to take their kids to various functions.

I believe that many blind parents are more than capable of raising their kids, blind or sighted, and that their determination and propensity to innovate goes a very long way in helping them to cope. Technology continues to make it easier for blind parents to interact more effectively with both their kids as well as with other parents. You could learn more by visiting www.nfb.org.

I’m Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day.

At the dentist with Mom

No one really likes visiting their friendly dentist, but for me I have grown used to the needles and probing. The other day I accompanied mom to her dentist and as I sat there listening to the dentist and her assistant chatting softly and clinging and clanging their instruments, I began to try and visualize what was going on. Of course, I could tell some things but not the important ones.

I could tell, of course, when they were swishing water around in Mom’s mouth and when they were changing instruments, but nothing more. So at some time during the session I got up the nerve to ask if she had as yet received her injection. The dentist chuckled and said yes!

It was an uncomfortable feeling for me to sit there and not quite be able to tell what was going on and I had to really use all of my hearing and concentration to focus. I tried not to imagine my poor mom in any pain and I kept making conversation so as to try and gauge her comfort zone. Most of the time she would give a short laugh to let me know that she was okay.

Ah yes! The joys of being at the dentist.

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

How I deal with medications

By now, most of my readers would know that I am a very organized person and everything has its place. In my cupboards, on my counters, and in my cabinets and this is exactly how I deal with my medication.

Everything has its place. Vitamins are placed in their little corner. Prescription medications are placed in their own little spot, and so on. I label things in Braille and I use size of boxes, bottles, and tubes to help me deal with my medication.

My sense of smell is also brought into the picture and luckily for me, I have not had the misfortune of mixing up my medication. The best strategy for me is to label and put it in spots that I can easily access.

I am really careful when it comes to my medication so this is why I take all of these precautions, and when you are unable to read labels on boxes and bottles, then more care needs to be taken.

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

No different navigating in the dark

Maybe I am wrong but I don’t believe that navigating in the dark is any different for sighted persons or blind persons. Maybe I could dare to say that a blind person may be better at navigating in the dark, and why? Because those of us who are totally blind do it all the time.

No matter whether we have sight or not, we face the same problems when navigating in the dark. Except whereas many blind persons do it as part of life, sighted persons only do it when they are either forced to or when circumstances go against them.

In the dark, we all grope our way around. We fumble, we bump into things, we knock things over, and we claw our way along the walls. We feel for familiar spots and things and we all have a feeling of uncertainty and discomfort. These are just some of my thoughts to share with you today.

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.

Through the eyes of my kid cousins

We were just kids then, but boy did we ever have so much fun. My kid cousins were always willing and ready to describe things to me. Any and everything that moved, and they were right there to describe it all to me. From pictures to people and from programs on TV to whatever lay before them, they were my fountains of knowledge and I was their avid listener. I took it all in.

They helped me to learn so much, and through their innocent eyes I managed to discover so much about my surroundings. I was never tired of listening to them go on and on about any and everything. Even at night as we lay in bed, their voices never stopped telling me about things until the sandman grabbed us and took us away into dreamland.

They would walk with me, run with me, play with me, and read to me. They would describe how the trees looked. They explained all kinds of things to me, and hand in hand we strolled the beach and they never stopped describing to me. Things in those days were so real. I could practically reach out and touch! Ah, yes! Through the eyes of my kid cousins and I shall forever cherish and remember.

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 memories. Come by and visit me at www.sterlingcreations.ca.

Without sighted help

At the best of times, functioning for me without sighted help is definitely interesting to say the least. Sometimes it can be a challenge and at other times it can be quite humorous. For the most part, however, I have become quite used to it. For in the world of a blind person, it is a given that most of our life would probably be spent without sighted help to call upon at a moment’s notice.

In my case, whenever my mom is around it is a luxury and whenever she is not it is back to my world. I use various techniques to do what I need to do. Here are just a few of my techniques.

Everything has its place: in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in my office, and so on.
If anything falls then I do my best to listen so that I can trace it through sound. If I am unable to hear when something has fallen, then I use my logic to trace where it may have fallen.
Whenever I print something on my printer, I use my scanner to ensure that it has printed.
If I want to ensure that my tops are always clean, I wash them right after wearing them.
I use my sense of touch to ensure that produce is good to cook and eat. If it is soft, then out it goes!
I use my sense of smell to determine whether or not milk is good.

I think that you have gotten the picture by now.
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 my blogs. Visit www.acb.org to learn more.

No need to be sorry

More often than not, whenever someone realizes that a person is blind, either on the phone or in person, the very first few words out of their mouth are, “I’m sorry.” For those of you who read this, I’d like to impart a few words of wisdom as seen through the eyes of a blind person, so to speak.

First of all, I know that these words are almost always meant in the true sense of honesty and compassion and they probably come out of being uncomfortable in the situation in which one finds themselves at the time. But speaking for myself, it also makes me feel very uncomfortable.

The words, “I’m sorry,” should never be taken lightly, no matter what. Whenever someone says that to me upon discovering that I am blind, I often try to decipher why it has been said. Is it because the person saying it is uncomfortable? Is it because they are really sorry? Or is it because they do not know what else to say? My response is almost always, “No need to be sorry.”

Whatever the reason, I don’t think that there is any need to say, “I’m sorry,” to a blind person. We are blind and this is what it is. We have no choice but to carry on with our lives and there is absolutely no reason for a sighted person to be sorry about this. Compassionate and/or understanding, yes. Empathetic and/or sympathetic, yes. Just my few words of wisdom for today.

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 by and visit me at www.sterlingcreations.ca.