I know him by his footsteps

I often call my favorite cab driver, Gerry, to come and get me whenever I need a cab to take me on my errands. We often play a game. He approaches me and I am supposed to guess whether or not it is him. Nine out of ten times I can guess correctly and Gerry is almost always surprised that I can do so.

We talk about it as we drive along and I tell him that I know him by his footsteps. You see, I can often identify a person by their footsteps. Believe it or not, we all have identifiable footsteps. Some of us walk more quickly than others. Some of us walk more slowly and some of us drag our feet more than others. Some of us walk with staccato beats, some of us walk with clipped beats, and some of us walk with crisp beats.

Maybe I am confusing the issue a bit too much here but this is how I do it. In general, many sighted people may not think to pay attention to footsteps but for a blind person it is just part of the process of identifying. Listening for sound and footsteps are a part of this process.

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

Thanking my lucky stars

I always do my best to thank my lucky stars. That is, be thankful for what I have and thankful for being able to help others. There are many in our society who often feel that blind persons may not be able to make a worthwhile contribution to life but I am here to tell them that this is definitely not the case.

We contribute in so many ways that would surprise many. There are things that we can do for others such as just simply listening to someone when they need a friendly ear. A few months ago for example, I learned this in great terms when my cousin Robert had a heart attack! As my mom and I advanced into his room at the hospital to visit a few days after his attack, my first thought was what could I do to help him.

I could not see him as I approached but as I heard his voice in greeting it dawned on me that yes indeed! There was something that I could do to help my beloved cousin. I could listen to him and do my best to comfort him in his time of great need and distress and it is exactly what I did then at that moment and continue to do.

It is difficult for me at times because I wish so much that I could see his face as I was able to some years ago. However, I have memories of his image and I use it to help me help him in whatever way that I can.

Im Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day.

Disabled is (not) My Occupation

A few weeks ago I went to the post office to retrieve a money gram. For those of you who do not know what a money gram is, it's used to send funds internationally. The sender buys the money gram and is given a transaction number which they then give to the receiver so that the receiver can then go to the post office and present to the post mistress or master. The number is then used to retrieve the funds and upon successful completion of the transaction, the receiver is presented with a cheque. Nice and easy, right? It should be, but on this day I had a very interesting encounter with the post mistress.

When I presented the number to her, I also had to present personal identification and fill out a form. My friend filled out the form for me and everything was going well until the post mistress asked me, "What is your occupation? Disabled?" Needless to say, both my friend and I were absolutely flabbergasted. I almost fell on the floor but after a few seconds I managed to reclaim my composure and calmly responded, "No! I am a systems engineer." My friend later told me that in turn I had managed to shock the post mistress. He said that if I could have seen the look on her face, I would have been very happy because one surprise was countered with another. The post mistress immediately apologized.

This has been the story of my life, as well as for several of my fellow blind and visually-impaired friends who are professionals. Society as a whole still does not think that blind and visually-impaired persons can and do work for a living. They either regard us as persons who need to be looked after or they do not have any regard for us at all. In short, we are the disregarded. There are the precious few who do respect our abilities, but I will say that on the whole our society still does not give much credence to our existence.

Similar types of reactions often occur when I go to fill out immigration documents. Everything is going along fine until they ask for my occupation and when I tell them that I am a systems engineer, most do not believe me. Sometimes I need to expand on my occupation. In general, people do not believe that I work for a living and in the past whenever I had to list my place of employment I was often met with total shock. Some of the more notable reactions that come to mind continue to be:

"You work for a living?"
"How can you work when you are blind?"
"May be IBM hired you as a token?"

It has taken me many years of cultivated temper to ignore these types of comments, but it has not been easy. I used to get very upset and angry but not anymore. Thanks to wonderful parents, family and friends, I have learned to ignore the naive statements and have replaced my emotional feelings with a dignified smile and calm response. However, because of my wicked sense of humor, I may just respond one day to the next person who asks for my occupation. "Disabled."

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your accessibility and business needs consultant wishing you a terrific day and reminding you to go out there and spread the word that contrary to popular belief, there are many blind and visually-impaired persons who successfully work for a living.