Can Blind People Travel?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions that I am asked and my response is this:  Sure, blind persons can travel and enjoy what the sighted world does.  However, we do things a bit differently.

Here's how I do it.

 

Whenever I travel by plane; I first ask my travel agent to notify the airline that I will need assistance and this has turned out to be not much of a problem.  Air Canada has been excellent to me and has provided me with first class services.  They have always provided me with end to end services that include checking in, boarding, in flight, and disembarking services. 

 

When I arrive at the airport in Toronto, this airport's special needs services department is ready to help because I have notified them before hand that I would need help from my cab to the airline's counter.  I do not know if other airports provide this type of service but if they don't, then I have to depend on sighted assistance for someone to bring me to the check in counter.  I find this a bit nerve racking but I have learned to live with it as I am a frequent traveler.

 

If I take a train, I usually notify the railway company in advance that I would need help so that they can provide me with boarding, in train,  and disembarking services.  Not a problem for me and whenever I get to a station in Canada, the "Redcaps" attendants are right there to help me from my cab to the ticket counter.  Bus services are similar.

 

So you see, it is not as difficult as you may think and if you would like to learn more about how blind persons travel, then visit www.nfb.org or www.afb.org.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and help educate the rest of the world about how blind persons can travel.

Agencies That Walk Away

In the normal scheme of things, many blind and visually impaired persons do not really have a good opinion of agencies that are supposed to be there to meet their demands.  By this I mean; those agencies that promote their mandate to service the needs of the blind are often guilty of doing the opposite.  There are good agencies, and bad agencies and not many fall in between.  Too often, these types of agencies just get up and walk way instead of carrying through with their mandates.

 

Here in Canada we are presently facing a crisis of finding an agency that is able to provide us with decent enough rehab services, employment services, social services, plus more.  I am not going to get into the politics of it all.  Suffice it to say that this is not just a Canadian problem.  It exists all over the world and it seems to be a common challenge for us all.  So, what can we do about this?  The only thing that I could think of, off the top of my head; continue to voice our opinions.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and help advocate on behalf of the blind.  Visit www.nfb.org to learn how advocacy is done in the most meaningful way.

My Favorite Scrapbooks

For as long as I can remember, and with or without sight, scrap books have always been one of my favourite pastimes.  When I was a kid, my cousins used to clip all of my favourite pictures and photos out of magazines and newspapers and then patiently paste them into scrap books for me.  I only had to ask and Nancy and Brenda would do it for me.

 

There were pictures of the Kennedy family; in particular the Kennedy brothers.  The Osmonds, and the Royal family.  I could barely see these but it did not matter.  I had to have them.  Later on, my best friend Charlene continued the tradition for me and my favourites expanded to include Paul Anka, Englebert Humperdink, Julio Iglesias, Wayne Gretzky, Princess Diana, and of course my hero Pierre Trudeau.

 

I expanded my favourites when I got my vision through a cornea transplant and for 25 glorious years I was able to cut and paste for myself.  There were many other favourites that I collected as well.  I collected memorabilia on the death of Princess Diana and JFK JR along with Pierre Trudeau and I extended my scrap book pastime to include videos. 

 

Five years ago when I lost almost all of my vision, my pastime came to a screeching halt but I held on to my scrap books and videos.  A few months ago, I decided to rid myself of some of these treasured scrap books because it was becoming too much for me to store and it was with a very heavy heart and a lump in my throat that I did this.  Before parting with them, I opened each and riffled through their pages doing my best to remember.  Then fighting back tears, I placed them in a large box and took them down to the garbage shoot.  "Rest in peace" was what I whispered as I gently pushed them down the shoot.

 

These scrap books have helped me to keep my memories alive.  I have kept some of the more treasured ones back but I shall always miss the others.  I still have my videos  because at least, I can play them and listen to them.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and inviting you to go out there and tell others how much a blind person can enjoy scrap books and videos.  Visit www.aph.org to learn more.

New Ways of Identifying

Now that I am barely able to see, I constantly have to find and come up with new ways of identifying things to others.  It is no longer possible for me to identify things by color so I need to let my fingers do the identifying for me.  The other day for example, I told my brother that his sweater was hanging in the coat closet and when he asked me which sweater we both hesitated at the same moment.  His first words were "O, you don't know which one" but my comeback was "the woolen one, with long sleeves, and workings on the front."

 

When I was able to see, and had enough vision to identify colors, my mom and others usually identified things to me through color.  It was the yellow book, the black shoes, the bottle with the green liquid, the tin with the red top, and so on.  Now, I have to come up with other ways to identify things to them and in turn, they are constantly coming up with ways to identify things to me. 

 

We usually communicate in terms of size, shape, texture, and where a certain thing can be found.  More work for both sides but it works just fine.  When I was a kid and as long as I can remember, my mom and I have used a very unique way for us to identify things to each other.  We identify things through incidents and memory and who has given something to us.  So for example; it's Gayle's bag because my sister-in-law Gayle gave me this particular bag.  It's Granny's dress, because the dress belonged to Granny.  It's mom's perfume because mom gave me the perfume, and so on.

 

Of course, there are other ways to identify things and there are devices out there that blind persons can use to identify things.  To learn more, visit:

http://www.independentliving.com

Or http://www.maxiaids.com

 

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

Going To The Movies

Much of the sighted world still has the notion that for blind persons, going to the movies is either not possible or probable.  Or, that for blind persons, going to the movies may even be a waste of time.  I can see why this misconception would be present but I'll try to clear it up.

 

The sighted world probably feels that if you are unable to see then you are unable to follow what's going on in the movie.  This is partially true and often time we miss out on a lot when we are able to decipher what is going on during those periods of silence.  We can use our sense of hearing to fill in many gaps but there is much that our sense of hearing would not be able to supply to us.  We can accurately surmise what's going on when the sound of gun fire is heard, sounds of scuffling and fighting, sounds of persons in love scenes, and so on.  However, the fine details are almost often beyond our reach. 

 

Things have improved for us greatly at the movies over the last decade and thanks to descriptive videos and movies our world has opened up a great deal.  More and more, videos, DVDs, and movies are being developed to include audio descriptions.  I am going to leave you with a very informative website to check out and you can see for yourself what audio description is all about.  Visit www.wgbh.org.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and spread the word about audio descriptions and descriptive videos.

The Daunting Statistics

Many more blind persons are unemployed or under employed than employed and it's a chronic problem that is also a global one.  The stats range from a figure of about 70% to over 80% so take your pick.  This problem does not seem to be going away and will not go away unless we change attitudes and break down barriers in the workplace, on the Internet, and elsewhere. 

 

I have been very fortunate to have worked for three of Canada's best companies; the Royal Bank of Canada, the Bank of Montreal, and IBM Canada and I am truly grateful for many of the experiences that I have managed to garner from my employment.  However, there are still so many things that need to be addressed when it comes to employment of blind persons. 

 

I have been working for myself for the past 15 years and I truly enjoy it but again as an entrepreneur like other sighted entrepreneurs, there are challenges to face and as a blind entrepreneur, it is even more challenging.  Somehow we have to work to lower the statistics that I have listed above.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and help spread the word that yes!  Blind persons can indeed become contributing members of society.  Just give them a chance.  Visit www.rnib.org or www.afb.org to learn more.

As a Blind Woman

Being a woman has its unique set of challenges in the business world but as a blind woman?  Well, there are added challenges to face and there is more for me to add.  I am of mixed race; Oriental mix, Part Chinese, part East Indian, and part Italian.  When people ask me if I am discriminated against most as a woman, as a blind person, or as someone of mixed race, my answer is very quick in coming.  I am discriminated against most as a blind person.

 

As someone of mixed race living in Canada, I have not really had much to face as far as discrimination goes and the same could be said for being a woman.  However, as a blind person, I am unable to say the same.  There is definitely a glass ceiling when it comes to career opportunities for blind persons in the workplace.  In speaking to several other blind persons, the feeling persists that blind men have more of an opportunity to climb the corporate ladder or progress in their careers than blind women. 

 

I often joke that in reality I have three strikes against me and in the game of baseball this would mean that I would be out at the plate; but I do not let this keep me back.  I am a blind woman of mixed race and that's that.  I cannot change any of this so I live with it and make the best of it.  In short, I play with the cards that I have been dealt.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and help to create more understanding of the needs and desires of blind persons.  For more information, please contact me atdonnajodhan@sterlingcreations.ca.