Half Empty or Half Full

This is one of the questions that I constantly continue to ask myself and I guess that if I am a positive person as I usually am, I would say that the glass is half full.  However, there are many other blind persons who would take the opposite opinion.

 

For me, the glass is half full because despite my challenges I still somehow manage to come out on top and I have so many things to be thankful for.  For my parents, family, and friends; plus my undying ability to dream, create, and try.  Most of all, my deep and unshakeable faith in God.  For others, the glass is half empty because there is so much that they have to deal with; a disability, no family close by, and not too many friends.  In addition, many blind persons also have to deal with secondary and even tertiary challenges. 

 

More and more blind persons are having to deal with such things as loss of hearing, physical disabilities, plus so much more.  No wonder they find it difficult to see the glass as half full.  We all need to work together to change this and I am asking you to help spread the word.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and help spread the word that blind persons often have to face additional challenges in addition to their loss of sight.  Visit www.nfb.org or www.acb.org to learn more.

Please Don't Patronize Me

As a blind person, one of the most annoying and upsetting challenges for me is when someone patronizes me.  When a person speaks to me in a tone that they would normally use for a kid, when they pat me on the hand and say something like "Okay dear, or "you poor thing."  This absolutely drives me up the wall.

 

Another example of patronizing is when someone speaks to my mom or friend or accompanying friend instead of me.  Something like:  "What would she like to have" at a restaurant or "Would she like to try on those sweaters?"  Getting angry does not really help as I have discovered over the years.  Instead, I speak up for myself or my mom or friend would gently say "You can ask Donna herself."  

 

In my experiences over the years of my life, the worst type of patronization takes place in:  Stores, the doctor's office, the supermarket, restaurants, and at recreation parks.  There is absolutely no need to patronize a blind person.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and spread the word that there is absolutely no need to patronize blind persons.  Visit www.nfb.org and www.rnib.org to learn more.

Yes I Can Enjoy Swimming

Well, here is another misunderstanding for me to clear up.  Much of the sighted world has a very hard time understanding and believing that blind persons can enjoy swimming.  Of course they can and I am living proof.  In addition to ice skating and skiing, I swim as a hobby.  I am a very good swimmer and growing up near the ocean enabled me to learn to swim in the sea.

 

As early as I can remember, my dad and my siblings took me swimming.  Dad taught me how to swim and we started off with life belts but I quickly graduated to swimming on my own.  Naturally, he and my family worried about my safety as with any other kid, sighted or not.  Dad taught me how to do the back stroke, the butterfly, the crawl, plus so much more.  I learned to do summersaults too; both forward and backward.  Then I took my skills to the swimming pool.

 

One of the things that I enjoyed the most while swimming in the sea was to look up at the bright blue sky and the golden sun while I was lying on my back in the ocean.  I cherished seeing that beautiful Caribbean sky and adored the sun and surf.  Dad also taught me how to surf the waves and he and I used to have so much fun frolicking in them.  The foam caps reminded me of lace.  Now that I have precious little vision, I still enjoy it all but without enough vision to see the sky, waves, and color of the sea, I find other ways to enjoy things when I go swimming.

 

Dad was my best swimming buddy and I always feel very close to him whenever I go to the beach.  He passed on many years ago but his spirit still accompanies me whenever I go sea swimming.  Swimming is still one of my most enjoyable hobbies.

 

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 message that yes!  Blind persons can enjoy swimming.  If you would like to know more, then please do not hesitate to send me an email at donnajodhan@sterlingcreations.ca. 

Guide Dogs Are Not for Everyone

Here is the truth about guide dogs; they are not for everyone and not every blind person is suited to have a guide dog.  I myself love dogs but a guide dog is not for me.  Why you may ask?  Because in order to have a guide dog, you need to put your trust completely in the dog and for me this is extremely difficult.  Some dogs make wonderful guides but there are others that do not.  Not every guide dog turns out to be a good guide; and not every blind person who seeks to have a guide dog is a suitable candidate.

 

In a mainstream world, the relationship between a dog and their owner is extremely crucial and in a world of a blind person it is even more so for a blind person.  Both dog and owner need to trust and like each other.  It's all about team work.  There are several guide dog schools scattered across North America and there are many in

England and across Europe as well.  I am going to give you two websites to visit; www.nfb.org, and www.rnib.org.  These two websites can provide you with very helpful information on guide dogs.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and tell the rest of the world that guide dogs are not for everyone.

 

 

All About Audio Description

One question that I often get asked is this one:  How does a blind person follow a movie?  That is, how can they follow what is going on in a movie when there is no talking or other noise to tell them what's happening?  Enter the world of audio description.

 

Up until about a decade ago, audio descriptive movies or audio descriptions were novelties to us or rather a luxury but today, it is becoming more and more popular.  What is meant by audio descriptions or audio descriptive movies?  Very easy.  More and more movies, DVDs, and videos are now being produced to include audio descriptions and this means that audio descriptions are given for those scenes where there is no audible sound.  This is most helpful to blind persons who are unable to see what's going on.  So for example, in a movie, if someone is walking along and there is only the sound of their shoes, audio description would be provided to tell the blind person what's included in the scene as the person is walking.

 

I am going to leave you with an url to check out.  One that belongs to one of the top audio descriptive producers in the world.  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 tell the rest of the world about audio descriptions and audio descriptive videos etc.

A Need to Remember the Buttons

So many times I as a blind person am challenged to remember the position of buttons and keys.  That is, I need to pay particular attention to where each button and key is.  Thank God, telephone keypads are all the same but when it comes to other things, that's a different story.

 

Unfortunately, elevator buttons are not customized across the board and if there is either no Braille or raised print to represent what the button is, then I am in big trouble.  Most computer keyboards are similar but sometimes the differences in the positions of the keys are enough to throw me off.  The same goes for calculators and remote control devices.  The keyboard on an IBM Think Pad for example, is different to the layout of a keyboard on a Toshiba laptop.

 

My dire wish would be for manufacturers to standardize the position of the layout of buttons and keys.  Washers and dryers are also a problem for me in that I have to memorize the buttons.  Radios are the same for me.  However, most cassette recorders are standardized when it comes to the layout of their buttons and keys but guess what?  These are fast becoming obsolete.  I am going to give you the url of a website of a company that is doing wonderful things to standardize the layout of buttons and keys of all of their equipment.  Visit www.humanware.com to learn more.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and help lobby manufacturers to standardize their products when it comes to the layout of keys and buttons.

Pictures That Cannot Be Described

One of the most difficult barriers between the sighted world and a blind person is this one; the inability to truly describe a picture to someone who is blind.  If a person is born blind, then you know that they have never been able to see pictures.  If they have been born with some vision, then chances are that they may be able to see some things but the picture would never be complete. It would be very difficult to describe pictures to them.

 

Even if you were to let them feel the shape of a rose for example, they would not know that it was a rose unless you told them that it was.  From real experience, I can tell you that feeling the shape of something is not the same or does not relate in the same way to when you feel a raised replica of the same thing.  In short, feeling a real rose is different to feeling its raised shape. 

 

Having had vision and now not having very much, I can also tell you that it is very hard to describe pictures to someone who has never seen.  It's not the end of the world however.  I have two urls for you to visit and there you will discover how blind persons deal with pictures.

Visit www.nfb.org and www.rnib.org to learn more.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and tell the rest of the world how blind persons cope with pictures.