When the jack hammers invade my space

At the best of times, these very necessary pieces of equipment are indeed necessary! They are needed by workmen to help in the breaking down and rebuilding of all kinds and sizes of constructions but to almost everyone they are a huge inconvenience.

For me as a blind person, they bring me almost to a standstill as they invade my space and impede my hearing. This is what happened a few months ago when workmen started work on our condo complex to repair our balconies.

Unfortunately at that time for me, I was in the midst of studying for my first year law exams and what a time it was! The best way to describe this is to say that it was pure hell!

I could not hear anything coming from my computer. That is, I could not hear the voice output as this is what I use to interact with my computer. For those who are unfamiliar with this type of technology, I use access technology, as a blind person, to work with computers. I read screens by listening to output and input by using a regular keyboard to type and I can hear what I type as I go along.

I tried jamming ear buds into my ears and pressing down headphones over my ears and although it did help, the jack hammers still managed to disturb me with their noise. The throbbing sounds just seemed to overwhelm me.

In addition to this, I sometimes lost orientation in my condo and I had to be careful whenever I went to do stuff in my kitchen. This was not my favorite time.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advocate, wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and share my experiences with others. Come by any time and listen to my audio mysteries at www.donnajodhan.com.
Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan.
Or you can chat with me on Skype at habsfan0526.