A must do: Making sure to copy the right documents

 

It does not matter if you are sighted or not. The important thing is to copy the right document.

What does this all mean to me? Just this!

Read the name of the document very carefully before copying. Pay attention. Don’t be sloppy and do concentrate on what you are doing.

Do not multitask while doing this!

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly award-winning, sight-loss coach and accessibility advisor wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as a sight-loss coach and author then I invite you now to visit http://www.donnajodhan.com

There you will not only learn about me as a sight-loss coach and author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide-eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and  @author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at
www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

I need to communicate! No electronic documents for me?

 And I need to find a way to make others aware that in order to communicate productively and successfully, I need to be able to send and receive my documents electronically. Some folks definitely understand but then there are those who have no clue why I am requesting this.

Surely, the world of technology has now reached and surpassed the point where there is not any problem or difficulty to produce electronic documents? So what is the problem here?

Let’s work to promote more awareness for using electronic documents.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly award-winning, sight-loss coach and accessibility advisor wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as a sight-loss coach and author then I invite you now to visit
http://www.donnajodhan.com

There you will not only learn about me as a sight-loss coach and author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide-eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and  @author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at
www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

Frustrating times! Condo documents still being requested

 Over the last few months I have had to ask my lawyer to send letters to my condo management board reminding them that it is their duty under provincial law to provide me, as a vision-impaired owner, with documents in an accessible format. In addition, it is my right, as a vision-impaired owner, to receive these documents in accessible formats.

For the most part it has been rough going as at first the office simply ignored my lawyer’s letters but when he wrote letting them know that if things did not change soon he would be taking them to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the situation suddenly improved.

I could say that it all depends on the staff member manning the office and whether or not they care or realize the importance but on the other hand I am always embarrassed any time I need to use my lawyer to remind them of my rights and their responsibilities.

I really do not think that there is any hard and fast solution except to simply speak up whenever things slip.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly sight-loss coach and accessibility advisor, wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as a sight-loss coach and author then I invite you now to visit http://www.donnajodhan.com

There you will not only learn about me as a sight loss coach and author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/donnajodhan
and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodha

Who is listening? The continued request for electronic documents

 

Without having access to electronic documents, I am afraid that blind/vision-impaired persons will continue to struggle to keep up to date with info; especially so in cases of urgent and important information.

As I continue to struggle to encourage and convince the team at the management office in my condo complex, I am finding more and more that this is a challenge that is going to continue to haunt and irritate me for a very long time to come.

It is a weekly struggle for me.  More often than not I have to keep reminding them to send me my documents in electronic format.  They almost never apologize, instead proffering  lame and anemic excuses!

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly sight-loss coach and advisor, wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as a sight-loss coach and author then I invite you now to visit http://www.donnajodhan.com

There you will not only learn about me as a sight-loss coach and author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids, with their wide eyed smiles and infectious laughter, is secured forever.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

A pandemic problem: Filing during a Pandemic

 

Like everything else, filing governmental related papers during the pandemic has also been affected.  Prior  to the pandemic, we used to be able to visit an office to conduct business face to face but now one has to either do it online or via the phone.  

For me, as a blind/vision impaired person, this can be a double-edged sword.  For, if I am able to do it via phone it is easy enough.  But, if I have to do it via the online route, then here is where I require sighted assistance if the website is not accessible/navigable/usable.  

Going the online route means that I need to give up my privacy and independence in order to complete said process and I truly understand that with the changing landscape this needs to be so.  

So, what is the solution?  A call for more accessible/navigable/usable websites.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly sight-loss coach and advisor, wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as a sight-loss coach and author then I invite you now to visit http://www.donnajodhan.com

There you will not only learn about me as a sight-loss coach and author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids, with their wide eyed smiles and infectious laughter, is secured forever.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

A new challenge: Keeping track of FedEx documents

The need to keep track of FedEx documents has become an important task for me; especially so when it pertains to sending and receiving legal documents.

I need to make sure that they are in a safe place and, because they are in printed format, it is even more important for me to know exactly where I have put them.

So, I carefully label them, and then file them in logical locations.

Ah, yes!  The world of printed documents for a blind or vision impaired person to work with.  No way around this; it is as it is!

So on I go and I take everything in stride.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly sight-loss coach and accessibility advisor, wishing you a terrific day.

If you would like to learn more about me as a sight-loss coach and author then I invite you now to visit http://www.donnajodhan.com

There you will not only learn about me as a sight-loss coach and author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and at author_jodhan

And like me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

It is as it is! Scary and horrible

The Covid chokehold has certainly made it scary and horrible for me; especially so when it comes to ensuring that I am able to decipher and process my important printed documents.

Before Covid struck, my trusted friend Gabriella acted as my eyes, so to speak.  She would read my printed documents and then help me to complete any necessary forms.  Now it is a different story.

I have to deploy different mechanisms.  I now depend on the Aira app's agents to read those private printed documents to me.  Then they email the info in those documents to me or they provide images of said documents.

Sometimes I can ask my very willing neighbour, Sandra, to help me out and when it comes to completing forms online, Gabriella is still here to help out.  So many websites are still quite inaccessible and not very navigable for those who are blind and vision-impaired.

This is understandable, to a certain extent, given that everyone is desperately trying to provide vital info but it is also equally as frustrating whenever a vision-impaired person cannot independently take care of their own business.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly sight loss coach and accessibility advisor, wishing you a terrific day!

If you would like to learn more about me as a sight loss coach and author then I invite you now to visit

http://www.donnajodhan.com

There you will not only learn about me as a sight loss coach and author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured for ever.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and at author_jodhanAnd like me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

A Godsend: Taking images with iPhones

I can't tell you how much this technology impresses me despite my not being able to take advantage of it. No, as a vision-impaired person I am unable to do so but my friends and family are always willing to step in and help

whenever I need images and pictures to be taken.

It comes in greatly handy whenever I need to send forms to such recipients as universities, government agencies, and to my doctors.

In so many cases these days, I am often asked to have documents scanned and sent along, but alas! I am not able to do so and here is where the iPhone comes to the rescue.

My friends or family take a picture of said document, send it to me, and then I am able to email it.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, your friendly accessibility advisor, wishing you a terrific day!

If you would like to learn more about me as an author then I invite you now to visit http://www.donnajodhan.com

There you will not only learn about me as an author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids, with their wide eyed smiles and infectious laughter, is secured forever.

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan

And like me on Facebook at

www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

An interesting experience: Shredding documents with Mom

One of the necessary annual tasks for me is to shred old income tax documents and in 2016 I was sure glad to have Mom on hand to help out.

On a quiet Saturday evening in early June, we both sat on our dining room carpet and painstakingly and methodically shredded a ton of old income tax documents.

We lined up the documents; Mom passed them to me and I put them through the shredder.  Each time the container became full, Mom took it and emptied it into a rapidly-filling garbage bag and as she did so she had to keep picking up the pieces of shredded paper from the carpet.

It was slow, tedious, and quite a chore, but after an hour or so our work was finally done.

The carpet was clean and void of bits of paper; the garbage bag was filled to the brim but securely tied, and all ended well.  Nothing for me to be concerned about when it came to not having bits of stray paper floating around my condo.  This is what a pair of eyes does for me.

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

If you would like to learn more about me as an author then I invite you now to visit  jodhanmysterybook.club/about-the-author
There you will not only learn about me as an author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide-eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.

And now my weekly podcast!
From recipes to apps, and 5 minutes mysteries to tips for entrepreneurs and scam alerts!
www.takeanother5.com
And available for download from iTunes and Google music play

Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and at author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

Finding my birth certificate

Just imagine my panic some months ago when I decided to go hunting for my birth certificate and could not find it.

I knew that I had it but the question was where did I put it?  So began the hunt for my birth certificate and I did not want to ask anyone to help me out because I am one of those who guards her date of birth with her life!

My trusted friend, Gabriella, was not around to help and no one else that I trusted with this vital info was close by to come to my rescue.

I spent endless hours hunting and when I felt that I had found it I then used my scanner to verify, but guess what.  My scanner failed to read what I thought was my birth certificate well enough to convince me that it was, indeed, my birth certificate.

So, what did I end up doing?  I had to wait for months when finally my mom came for a visit and then she helped me to locate it.  It turns out that my birth certificate was exactly where I had put it.

Ah yes!  Another challenge as someone without vision.

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

If you would like to learn more about me as an author then I invite you now to visit  jodhanmysterybook.club/about-the-author
There you will not only learn about me as an author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide-eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.
Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and at author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

Signing an affidavit

For the most part, signing an affidavit is not a problem but when you are blind and do not have enough info to know where to sign then it is a challenge.  Add to this that you are totally dependent on someone else to tell you that what you are signing is indeed the affidavit that you are expecting to sign.

You need to have someone show you where to sign.  Some of us who are blind use a signature guide but others may not.  Some of us who have enough vision may be able to see where to sign.

For me, I always take along someone who I totally trust.  It is the best that I can do.  Of course, I could use my iPhone to take a picture through my KNFB reader app and have it read it out to me.  However, there are some challenges with this.

Despite the KNFB reader app being very accurate, I for one will still be a bit uneasy as to whether it is reading everything to me.

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

If you would like to learn more about me as an author then I invite you now to visit  jodhanmysterybook.club/about-the-author
There you will not only learn about me as an author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide-eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.
Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and at author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

Signing important papers

As a blind person, it is so very important for me to be comfortable whenever there is a need to do this.  I know that it is not always possible to have someone that you trust to be with you each time this type of occasion arises but I have some tips for you.

Thanks to the advancement of technology some possibilities have turned into realities but I will say that not all of these tips will work for everyone. So here goes.

For those of you who work with emails and computers: Ask your lawyer, accountant, banker, or real estate agent or anyone else who you are dealing with to send you the document in either an accessible MS Word format or even in a text format. Read it very carefully line by line and make sure that you understand and agree with what has been written.

I recently had an experience where a law clerk sent me some documents which came up woefully short of what I had requested. Additionally, make sure that they state the amounts for their services in either an email or in a readable document that you can refer to.

When you go in to sign the final documents, take a trusted friend or family member with you.  Take along a signature guide and make sure that it is placed on the right line for you to sign.  Most lawyers, bankers, accountants, and real estate agents that I have dealt with and continue to deal with have been very good but that does not mean that somewhere among them you may be unlucky to meet a bad apple.

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

If you would like to learn more about me as an author then I invite you now to visit  jodhanmysterybook.club/about-the-author
There you will not only learn about me as an author but you will also gain insights into my campaign against bullying and why I strongly believe that you need to consider joining me in order to insure that the future of our kids with their wide-eyed smiles and infectious laughter is secured forever.
Follow me on Twitter @accessibleworld and at author_jodhan
And like me on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/donnajodhan and at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan

Distinguishing the documents

Well, I do not think that the method that I am about to describe would come as anything new to most persons who are blind, but for the heck of it I'll tell the sighted world. I use this method whenever I travel.

Each time I go on a trip I need to take all kinds of various documents with me: a copy of my itinerary, a copy of my hotel details, and copies of other documents that I may need on my trip. So how do I keep track of everything?

Each document has a specific place in my carry-on and they are marked in a specific way. No, not with Braille labels because it would be a bit awkward to have them at the front of printed documents. I use staples to help me distinguish my documents and I also count the number of pages for each document. In addition, staples are placed in a specific way. Some are placed horizontally, others are placed vertically, and sometimes I may have two sets of staples on a single document depending on whether or not there are documents with the same amount of pages.

After reading this you may think that this is probably all a lot of work and memorizing and you would be correct. But if I expect to keep things straight in my mind I do not see a choice for myself. It takes a bit of memorizing but it is definitely worth the time for me. At least after I have gotten everything straight in my mind and after I have learned my own system, it is very easy.

I know where to find what I need to find, and I put the documents in order of importance to me. So far so good and fingers crossed that this method continues to work for me.

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

Follow me on twitter @accessibleworld and @author_jodhan
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authordonnajodhan.
Visit our online store to either purchase or subscribe for unlimited access to our library at www.donnajodhan.com/store.html
and you can even take advantage of our free downloads!
Or subscribe to our free monthly newsletter at
There is no room in this world for bullying and each day we fail to take action against bullying it is another day that we allow others to bully us and our kids. Our heroes and role models are the ones who have made us proud; those brave young men and women who gave their lives for us in past wars and those who continue to do so. They are not the ones who choose to be racists and those who believe that their bad behaviour in public is acceptable.

I write and record audio mysteries that are being used at such events as murder mystery evenings as well as at public awareness and team building events. I promote understanding, tolerance, and problem solving and my audio mysteries continue to be broadcasted around the world and you can listen to them anywhere! On the plane or train! In the car or right there in your home! On your i device or computer!

Please join my campaign against bullying (CAB) by supporting my efforts to keep on writing and recording!
If you truly care then you will certainly dare!"

The Disability Divide

This is probably not a term that many of you would be used to seeing so I am going to tell you a bit about it.  So as to be as concise as I can be, the disability divide refers to the difference between what a mainstream person can access through the Internet versus what a blind person is able to and it all refers to information, websites, and technology. 

 

Believe it or not, there are huge and ever widening gaps between what mainstream persons can access and what blind persons can.  When it comes to information, I as a blind person am unable to read documents in PDF format and much too often both governments and companies are guilty of failing to make their documents available in formats that I and others like me can read.  If these documents are not made available to me in any one of the following formats known as alternate formats, then information becomes inaccessible.  Formats such as:  Braille, large print, and electronic.

 

When it comes to websites, a similar situation prevails.  Many experts readily admit that about 97% of websites are inaccessible to blind persons due to various barriers such as:  Graphics and icons that do not contain textual descriptions, forms and fields that are not designed to enable blind persons to use them, files in inaccessible formats such as PDF, pop-up screens and pull-down menus, plus much more. 

 

In the case of technology, blind persons have to depend on manufacturers to develop special software that would enable them to take advantage of such things as:  MP3 players, PDAs, cell phones, plus much too much more.  These gaps unfortunately continue to grow and the only way for me to put it into perspective is like this:  Technology takes two steps forward, but for blind persons it's actually only one. 

 

If you would like to learn more about these gaps then you can visit www.rnib.org or www.nfb.org.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and help encourage companies to help blind persons close the disability divide.