Perusing the online blindness discussions yesterday, I came across the question of how best to handle boredom. It’s understandable that many of us get bored, lulled into a bit of complaissance from time to time. For many, an increasing dependency on doing life online creates an isolation that can become our daily bread. Add to that our high unemployment rate in the blindness community and you have the potentially perfect storm.

Now before I give a few tips for managing boredom I’ve come up with and seen in others who are blind, I will present the fact that boredom isn’t always a bad thing. Particularly after an emotionally draining event-rough job interview, difficult doctor appointment, or frustrating experience when riding paratransit-you need time to unwind. Don’t force yourself to jump right into something stressful right away, especially if you are not working. Let yourself settle out that frustration; pour yourself some coffee or water or a coke and sip slowly. If you want to think-not stew-over things, great. If you set yourself a time to just veg, listen to music, sports, or a talkshow, do it before returning to tasks that need done.

With that said, here are a few ways to keep from letting the boredom overtake you like a weighted blanket or doleful pall.

Get yourself a hobby that has a purpose or sense of fulfillment. Maybe, it could be playing chess, Scrabble, or another adapted board game. Groups abound for us who are blind that bond us who are blind in groups where you can see your improvement in the hobby of your choice.

The United States Chess Association is one such group. It’s website is http://www.americanblindchess.org. You can learn a lot about the game of chess itself and how it’s adapted for us who are totally blind or partially sighted. The club is full of folks possessing all strengths from beginner to expert. Over the next few weeks, we are hoping to hold online voice to voice meetings where we can get to know each other better away from the board while also talking the game we love.

Maybe, you like to cook or are getting back into it after some amount of vision loss. An internet search can bring up not only online recipes but groups of blind and sighted folks who share ideas about making life at the stove or sink easier to navigate.

Another good way to stave off the depression that isolation may cause is to find groups where people share ideas about the experiences with adapting to being blind. And no, it doesn’t just repeat the formal learning that so many of us got from some rehabilitation school or camp. Groups often are much more informal than that. Go to http://www.hadley.edu and you’ll find tons of them. Also various locations of the Lighthouse for the Blind offer opportunities throughout each month when you can join said discussions. From time to time, I post these calendars full of opportunities and links where you can register for them. Joining a blindness related group on Facebook will also put you in contact with others asking many of the same questions that you have. It’s always good to get a plethora of perspectives since there is no one cookie cutter way of doing blindness.

Most importantly, keep active. Even if it means taking your paratransit to some coffee shop or burger joint, you will get outside those same four walls for a few hours. Take something to read on your smart phone or Victor Stream. Maybe, you still get magazines in braille. Count it a great teachable moment when someone notices you absorbed in a book or article and then asks how you do what you do. Most of the time they are just curious. All of the time, it means they haven’t had so much exposure to people who are blind. You get to show them that you are part of, not set apart from, the mainstream society.

It’s very vital that you take up some form of exercise. While some of us hit the ground running with some sport like goalball or Track, that’s not all of us. I am a fitness fanatic, visiting the gym several times each week and working out or doing calisthenics at home. The advantage of being at a gym is the personal interaction. Even if you workout by yourself, you will often be greeted by the folks at the front desk; someone engages you in a casual conversation about how your workout feels. Since most of us pace ourselves, there’s no correct better or worse amount of sets, reps, or machines you have to do. In a gym like Planet Fitness, everyone exercises on their own or with a personal trainer. Many of us compare notes back in the locker room. And there are always people who can help you to get familiar with the weights you’ll use.

Some cities like Fort Wayne, IN where I live have gyms designed for people with many disabilities. Tactile carpeting underfoot or lighted versus darkened tile may help you walk around without tripping over a bench or crashing into a rack of dumbbells. Designated guides can lead you when running the track or coach you through reps in the pool. The Turnstone Center which I’ve mentioned in recent posts is one such gym.

Other places like Planet Fitness go out of their way to make an inclusive environment where trainers and staff get to know your preferences, needs, and concerns from the type of exercise you enjoy, how much assistance you need when running the treadmill or how much space is necessary for you to take in some free weights or mat work.

In any case, physical activity will improve your overall outlook and attitude toward the world around you. You will gain a sense of purpose and endurance that being subsumed by boredom so easily steals away. Of course, there will be set-backs and hurdles to leap over. Still with gaining a better and more mindful approach through being active, you can better navigate all that life has to offer when being boldly blind.

To be the best, you have to remain the best until the very last. For the Manticores (men) and Honeybees (women), Sunday’s semifinal and final games summed up the reason why they remained standing as United States Goalball Champions for 2023. Were each loaded with talent? Yes. Did they ever take the foot off the gas while driving for the goal that had beckoned them all season? Not in the least.

For the Manticores, hard throwing, team communication, and lockdown defense typified their play from way back in March until this weekend. Josh Wellborn, time and again, proved his worth as the indispensable scoring threat regardless of which position he was playing at any given moment. Zach Buhler showed his ParaOlympic prowess and Jordan Main let everyone know his name belonged in the conversation as one of the game’s best players. Together, they made the repeat run come to fruition.

For the Honeybees, dynamic play, defense, and depth set them up for winning their third championship in a row. And when either Denis or Czechowski weren’t sending yet another throw into the net, their three teammates were ready to provide artillery support.

And in the men’s B division, the Atlanta Wolves announced to the goalball world that, given time, they will contend with the longer standing formidables. They took down the Killer Cobras in their final match.

Then when it was all said and done, the postgame ceremonies portrayed once again the class and sportsmanship that keeps the goalball community tight-knit. Outstanding players, coaches, and volunteers, scorekeepers, and line judges were recognized for their efforts. After all, the work behind the scenes and off the court make the competition possible. I am sure that each individual player has his or her family, friends, and other support to thank for the opportunity to step into the spotlight especially this weekend. Now, we look forward to next year when the goalballs will bounce and roll once again; whistles will blow and fans will applaud at the club level all across the country. In the interim, we support the sport’s best of the best as they strive for excellence when qualifying for the ParaOlympic 2024 Paris Games.

For a full rundown of the scores of this past weekend which show the path each team took, visit http://www.goalballscoreboard.net.

If we were looking for upsets at the 2023 Goalball Nationals on day 2, they didn’t come. What we witnessed, though, was a further reason why the teams that have dominated match after match all year do what they do.

Twice today, the Manticores mercied their opponents-Growlers in pool play and Omega in the quarter finals. In their second game of the day, they stopped a young and quick DC Stars team that, till that point, looked as if they might hang around at the top of the standings with the more established powerhouses. The Stars impressive run ended at the hands of the Texas Rattlesnakes who will match up against the New York Empire in one semifinal game tomorrow morning whose winner will face either the Manticores or King Cobras for all the marbles on the men’s side of the ledger.

As the NJ Honeybees are loaded with talent on the women’s side, they swarmed all of their opponents, rotating and substituting players at will so that no one ran out of gas. With a full roster, they can afford to play ParaOlympians Lisa Czechowski and Amanda Denis separately when scoring at will. Yet, tomorrow, when they face a talented Atlanta Blazers team, I’d look for them to bring the whole house full force in their semifinals match. Opposite them, the other semifinal game will feature the Maryland Minks versus the Sirens. While not as loaded with notables as the NJ Honeybees, you can’t count either of these teams out. Maryland, in particular, ran away and hid in two of their games, scoring in double figures and playing lights-out defense.

In the division B gold meddal game, the Atlanta Wolves will face the Killer Cobras, showing why the ATL is a great hotbed for the sport of goalball.

Whoever plays in the men’s and women’s final games, they will prove just how incredible a year 2023 has been from team preparation for the Southwest Regionals, the inaugural Cinco De Goalball Event in Texas, the tournament in Tennessee hosted by Strive For You, the Northeast Regionals, and the Southeastern tournament in Smyrna, GA. It has been a great ride watching well executed goalball.

We have to give a great shout-out to announcers on the Youtube channel like Bill and Marybai and, of course, U.S. Coach Keith Young, among others. Let’s keep the goalballs rolling and the popularity of this amazing sport on the move!

Of course, I encourage all of you to keep up with the USA Goalball page on Facebook as it has already featured upcoming competitions where our national teams will compete in a matter of weeks. No matter the outcomes of this weekend’s matches , we all can come together in support of those men and women who look to qualify our teams for the Paris 2024 ParaOlympic Games. The fight will be tough as previous tournaments abroad have shown. Yet, our teams are certainly up to the challenge. And to them, we cheer: “Go, USA!”

I, along with many of you, are anticipating the new features that IOS 17 will bring to our iPhones. Well, David Goldfield’s blog drew my attention to an article featuring the adjustments to the Siri voice…or should I say voices? Yes, you will be able to adjust the speed and pitch on more accents of Seri in the latest release.

Go here to find out more great stuff coming out on IOS 17. Let’s get in the game early on this one!

Listening to a blindsport like goalball or beep baseball over the USABA’s Youtube play-by-play is one thing. It’s great and you get the color commentary with all the analysis. But there’s nothing like being on the sidelines with a pile of players, fellow fans, onlooking line judges, and keyed-in coaches!

Going in to this tournament, you knew the stakes would be high since the Manticores led by hard-throwing Josh Wellborn, Jordan Main, and paraOlympian Zach Buhler would be on their game. The NJ Honeybees have been dominating every tournament they’ve played in 2023…and for good reason, both Amanda Denis and Lisa Czechowski, paraOlympians, play for them. Of course, nipping at the Honeybees’ heals would be the Atlanta Blazers who features some top players of their own. For the men, the team from New York is looking to build an Empire of their own while The Atlanta Force and the Texas Rattlesnakes wanted their place in the sun.

Right out of the gate, the Manticores put the hammer down mercying the BSO Philly Jawns 11-1. Young guns from the DC Stars lit up the scoreboard by more than doubling up against the well-experienced Western Michigan Growlers 15-7.

Though one of the competitors commented to me after round one that several of the top notable players are not in attendance this year, many of them are and their performances are turning a lot of heads!

You can check out the results of the day at http://www.goalballscoreboard.net.

Turning heads and gaining notoriety is a great goal for goalballers and, for that matter, competitors in all blindsports. As I mentioned on a previous post, it’s time that our athletes become more than just occasionally mentioned in the small, intimate niche of avid fans. There’s no better time than now for the greater blindness community and beyond to take note of the talent our athletes show in and out of competition. You don’t have to play goalball yourself to be a fan just like you don’t have to play NBA or college basketball to follow your favorite team.

Furthermore, we in our own right can take inspiration from goalballers like Tyler Merren whose passion is getting more of us in the blindness community physically active, working out, and fit through His business and app. Others like Eliana Mason, who has been featured on this and other blogs, and past goalball great, Jen Armbruster, are also working hard in their own communities to share their influence and encouragement in bettering the livelihood of people through physical fitness and mental wellness.

It is a privilege to enjoy the sport of goalball and draw inspiration from these athletes as we all, blind or sighted, boldly navigate life’s contours.

For more information and to hear interviews of several of America’s top goalball players, listen frequently to The Eyes Free Sports Podcast, where Greg Lindberg covers all angles and aspects of blindsports.

For the next three days here in Fort Wayne, IN, goalball teams will duke it out in the Turnstone Center’s two main gyms. It’s the high point of the season when we get to crown the men’s and women’s national champions for 2023. Yes, the teams we’ve featured in previous posts about this sport will compete: Manticores, Omega, Honeybees, Minks, and so many more.

If you want to catch the play-by-play, it is here on the USABA’s YouTube channel. Or if you are in the Fort Wayne, IN area, try catching the live action courtside!

I can’t wait for that paratransit ride to bring me there as an avid fan. It should be fun feeling the tension, hearing the roll or bounce of the ball, taking in every tripple whistle that signals a goal has been scored.

Come Sunday, we will see who is crowned champions for this year.

Voting for our elected officials at local, State, and the Federal levels is one of Americans’ most cherished privileges. It’s laudable that many States are putting the foot down on making laws which tighten up ID requirements and the modes for voting, whether that be in person on Election Day or absentee beforehand.

Rightly or not, many citizens had concerns about how Decision 2020 was carried out and trends that continued in 2022. Measures have arisen to clamp down on, among other things, ballot harvesting. Online forms have begun to require more exact signatures and proof of citizenship. These are all very good things as we want to preserve the privilege of having fair elections.

With that said, the disability community has raised concerns that cannot and should not be ignored. The recent matters brought to the fore by Texas Senate bill, SB1 (2021) deserve to be heard and handled well. In truth, this is not a single-party matter but an issue that both sides of the political aisle can and should address. How do we make both the treasured in-person voting experience and the various options beyond that accessible to people with various disabilities.

You can look here to see how the disability-especially the blindness-community in Indiana-called the State election board to account so that the absentee balloting may be available in alternative formats so that each citizen-blind, dyslexic, quadriplegic, et al- may have the privilege of voting.

As a same-day voter, I will always opt for the in-person process on Election Day itself. Yet, who am I to pit one way of voting against another when it comes to accessibility. If ballots are available for people in one format, they need to be there in other adapted formats. That’s why software like Democracy Live has become a big help for many States. You who wish to use it need to preregister with your precinct, get the link and any other needed information from your local election commission, follow the steps, and your vote will count.

Should one side of the political aisle be wary of the process favoring the other? No? Rather, accessibility to voting should encourage people-whatever their political persuasion-to cast their ballots for the candidates of their choice. In the end, our republican form of government is strengthened by having any legal voting method used in our elections accessible to everyone who is registered to vote.

For more on how and where you can register to vote, contact your State’s election commission. Even if the steps prove a challenge, making yourself eligible to participate in the electoral process is well worth your effort.

One of th e phrases that many people use when discussing disability matters really bothers me: Special accommodations. That’s because the truth is the accommodations we who are blind, deaf, quadriplegic et al make are part of the contours we follow everyday in doing work, going to school, living at home, and so forth. They are the things that counterbalance the conditions we have so that we can contribute to our neighbors’ needs and concerns, whatever our vocations.

To say something is a “special accommodation” means to be speaking from the perspective of someone who a. doesn’t use it or b. doesn’t have a usual familiarity with it or even more troubling c. will do what it takes to move on once setting it in place for someone else.

The truth of the matter is that screen readers, large print magnifiers, tactile bump dots on light rail platforms are normal and come most of the time when a new computer, light rail station, et al is built. Part of the reason for such accommodations and things like pedestrian audio signals or descriptive video services aren’t so well-known falls in both the disability community’s court and the mainstream community’s oversight.

On our part, the disability community doesn’t always know how to take full advantage of said accommodations right away when implemented. So a cross-walk may have audio signal capability’s but if very few people use them, folks who drive through or sighted pedestrians may find the beep or robotic voice coming from the light poll to be a strange occurrence. If we use them more frequently, our sighted counterparts will find that such adaptations are just part of the daily experience.

On the mainstream perspecgtive, it’s tempting to be intrigued, enthralled and a bit touched by the fact that such technology exists. But without knowing many people who could benefit from it, the temptation is to move on past and let each encounter with “special accommodations” reopen our eyes. In the interim, it’s easy to forget what you’ve learned or seen.

Hence, the normalization of braille menus in restaurants, audio signals at crosswalks, screen readers at work or school continues to be a venture that we all-blind, sighted, deaf or hearing, quadriplegic or walking all part of.

No one who uses said accommodations is deficient or a separate class in society. Rather, making accommodations and adaptations for the full quality of life should be a part of all our endeavors.

Hence, the reason why I love promoting blind sports so much, though I myself don’t play beep baseball or blind soccer, goalball, or wheelchair basketball. They are all fantastic athletic opportunities and take incredible talent when competitors win at the club or ParaOlympic level. The more the public gets to see goalball, beep baseball or blind soccer being played, the more you get to see another cool sport in action and folks busting their butts taking in all that competition has to offer.

The more we who are blind frequent restaurants, go to the movie theater, and involve ourselves in the workplace, the more our use of the variety of adaptations will become.

One out of every hundred folks, for example, is totally blind from a medical standpoint. Folks, that’s still a ton of people. I don’t know the percentage of wheelchair users or totally deaf in the general population. Nonetheless, the more we are boldly navigating life’s contours, the narrower and narrower the acceptance gap will become. And that, of course, is a good thing to strive for.

Accdess World, the American Foundation Of The Blind’s technology magazine, is out with its summer edition. Of course, I’m all over it . That’s why I’m sharing with you an article from it about advocating for technology access.

We can be very thankful for the amount of web content and functionality that is available to us who are blind. Still, we know there’s a lot of ground to cover. This article will give you not onl7y a firsthand perspective about advocating for changes the author needed but also a plethera of resources that can help us be better advocates for web accessibility.

Here in the U.S., many school systems have been holding class for two or three weeks now while many colleges are just beginning the fall semester. So this article from the British organization, Look, has a lot of basic ways to make adapting to school for both parents and their blind children that much easier.

While references appear that mention parenting groups and advocacy specific to England, the list of tips and resources hold a lot of advice we can all follow.