Is Anyone in the Elevator?

Whenever I get into an elevator, I always like to know if someone is there.  When I had enough sight, it was never a problem for me but now it is because I am unable to see enough to tell. 

 

So, as has always been my habit, as soon as I enter an elevator, I say hi and if someone answers then that's my cue to tell that someone is there.  If no one answers, it does not necessarily mean that the elevator is empty.  Occasionally, the person in the elevator may not answer or may just nod their head or smile not knowing that I am unable to see.  On these occasions, I use my sense of smell to help me out.  Or, I can normally sense if someone is close by because of a sense of presence.  The one humorous thing for me is getting on to an elevator and hearing someone else speaking.  Sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking that they're speaking to me but truth be told, they are on their cell phone.  It happens to everyone; not just a blind person. 

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out there and help educate others about how I along with other blind persons sense the presence of others on an elevator.

Doing the Laundry Carefully

When I do my laundry, it's really not that much different from what most sighted persons would do.  I use my color detector to help sort my colored clothes from my white clothes.  Next I wash the white ones separately from the colored ones.  All hand clothing is washed by hand and the rest go into the washer.

 

The trick for me is to be able to tell if a piece of clothing has run as they say; creating a disaster for other pieces of clothing.  So, I have to make sure that certain pieces of clothing can be washed together and those that can't I have to wash also by hand.  Not much different from what sighted persons would do. 

 

I am fairly comfortable doing my laundry.  Towels and sheets go together, jeans, sweat shirts, socks, and track clothes go together, miscellaneous go together, and all of my blouses and skirts and other delicate garments are washed separately and apart from each other.  The challenges for me are:  Making sure that stains have been removed, and realizing when something is a bit too worn to keep on using.  So, I use the tried and proven method of discarding anything that has become thin and thread bare.

 

Not much different from the sighted world but I have to depend on touch as well as sighted assistance to help me deal with stains and o yes!  When those darn socks drop from me when I remove them from the dryer.  When they drop without a sound and I have to go looking for them.

 

Dealing with buttons on washers and dryers is another story which I will cover in another blog.  For now, you can learn more about color detectors by visiting www.independentlivingaids.com. 

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and help educate the sighted world about how blind persons do their laundry.

Missing Out on Bargains

Missing out on bargains is one of the most difficult things that I have to deal with on a daily basis.  For the sighted

world, it is easy for them to read about bargains in flyers, the newspapers, and see it on TV or on the Internet.  For

me, I am unable to read newspapers or flyers, and although I may hear it on TV, many ads do not repeat phone

numbers at the end of their infomercial instead choosing to display it on screen.  In the case of the Internet, so many

websites are not user friendly to those with vision problems making it almost impossible for us to access. 

 

When I go grocery shopping, I am unable to read the flyers that are stacked on the counters.  These flyers gaily

display all of the bargains in the supermarket but I do not have a clue as to what they are.  The same applies for

when I enter a store or pharmacy and as a result I am shut out of being able to reduce my shopping bills. 

 

This is something that I'd like to see addressed by the sighted world; ways to make it possible for blind persons to

know about bargains.  One possible solution that comes to mind is this:  Maybe, the larger store and supermarket

chains could have a phone line whereby we could call in and hear the bargains on a weekly basis?  Food for thought.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and urging you to go out and help make it easier for blind persons to learn more about bargains. 

Curb Curve Cuts No Good for Me

Curve cuts have turned out to be a big blessing for many; for those in wheelchairs, moms with strollers, and delivery staff hurrying along with heavy parcels.  However, for blind persons, it is the opposite.

Why is this?  Because when we go tapping along with our canes we depend heavily on landmarks such as; ridges, bumps, and anything else that is raised or has a slight step down or sink to help us identify where we are.  Many of these curve cuts do not help us because the sidewalks slope down into the street and if we are not careful then we can easily find ourselves in the middle of the street before we know what is going on.  So often, I have heard others like myself complaining about this and I am not sure what the answer is.  Curve cuts benefit more persons than they do not and as blind persons are often in the minority, then we have to find ways to deal with this.

 

If you would like to learn more about some of the problems that we as blind persons face when it comes to curve cuts, then visit www.nfb.org.

 

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

How Blind Persons Read Books

When it comes to blind persons being able to read books, we do it in several different ways.  We can read it in Braille,

We can listen to it on CD or cassette, or we can use our computers to download books and listen to them using special

access technology called screen readers.   

 

We can use cassette recorders to play our cassettes.  We can use CD players to listen to our CDs and we can also

use specially developed book readers to read books that have been formatted into DAISY formats.  We can also use

scanners to scan books and listen to them from our computers.

 

A lot has been done and continues to be done when it comes to making books more accessible to blind persons but

there is still much more to be done and this should be seen as a continuing job.  In the meantime, I have some

websites for you to visit to learn more about how blind persons read books and what they use in order to read books.

Visit www.aph.org, www.rfbd.org and www.humanware.com.

 

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

Is It Clean Mom?

This is one of my favorite questions and I constantly need to keep doing this because I am unable to decipher or tell when certain things are not clean.  When it comes to dishes, glasses, and pots and pans, I can usually tell if things are clean by running my fingers along surfaces.  If I feel bumps and sticky stuff, then I know that it is not clean but when it comes to stains it's a different story.

 

In the kitchen, stains are my main challenge because it is difficult to tell if a stain is there unless it is sticky or bumpy.  When it comes to clothes, the same thing applies.  When it comes to carpets and floors and furniture, it's all the same.  So, if mom is around I can as her but if she is not then I have to be super careful.  Walls and doors are also something for me to be careful with.  My fingers can usually tell if surfaces are dirty but in many cases it is impossible to feel spots and stains.

 

I'd like to see the development of some sort of device to tell blind persons when stains and spots are present.  In the meantime, you can learn more about how blind persons deal with such things as spots and stains by visiting www.rnib.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 sighted world about how blind persons deal with spots and stains.

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.