Category: Uncategorized

You’re NOT Alone Doing Blindness

Have you made that transition from a State school for the blind and visually impaired to public school? Perhaps, you’ve left your home and friends-blind and sighted-to venture into college. Maybe, it’s that time for starting a career.

               It’s tempting to leave one stage and setting behind and remake yourself for the next one. I can remember when transferring to public school, I thought I was done with programs having to do with the blindness community. Maybe, it was family or just my then hard-headed ego, but something urged me to fly solo into the sighted milieu.

               Let’s just say that was not a brilliant move. It took graduating high school and making a couple college transitions to realize I needed the friendship and mentoring of others who were blind like me.

               Of course, I’d heard of the American Council of the Blind and (ACB) and the National Federation of the Blind. (NFB) Yet, only when I ran into questions related to student teaching with an eye to a full-time career did I re-engage with the National Association of Blind Teachers. Only when I became interested in playing competitive chess did I learn that a group known as the US Blind Chess Association (www.americanblindchess.org) existed. Then, after living on my own after college for a couple years and struggling to find employment did I enter Lions World Services for the Blind’s IRS training program. Now called simply World Services for the Blind (www.wsblind.org) , the school had to drop its IRS program when the government went into a hiring freeze a few years ago.

               Needless to say, I kicked against the goads for far too long when it came to getting involved in the active blindness community. Now, I’m very thankful to have been a member of ACB for a couple decades, part of the USBCA for just as long and an outreach center director wherever I’ve lived over the past few years as well. Editing the Lutheran Messenger for the Blind magazine from 2000-2013 also brought me into learning a lot from a lot from others who are blind and visually impaired.

That’s why I encourage anyone going blind or who’s been blind most of their life to keep at least some of their anchors in the blindness community. Let’s look at a few reasons why and groups who can help.

CONSUMER ORGANIZATIONS

There are two major consumer organizations for us who are blind in the United States. I’ve mentioned them already-the American Council of the Blind (ACB) and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) One look at each of these groups’ mission statements shows you that they promote our independence and maximizing our capabilities while engaging the mainstream culture.

               On the ACB’s homepage, we read its motto and purpose:

“Fostering Voice, Choice, and Community

You’re not alone in your journey through vision loss and blindness. American Council of the Blind (ACB) welcomes and accepts you. Guided by its members, ACB advocates for equality of people who are blind and visually impaired, inspires community, and connects you with education, resources, and each other to support your independence.”

The NFB has a slightly different message while also fostering a can-do assertiveness. “You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams.”

Even looking at these basic statements, you can see each group takes a slightly different approach to doing blindness. Still, when it comes to speaking up for our basic rights and desires, both share many of the same aims. Whether it’s supporting fair and equal treatment in the classroom, access to all public transportation, or opposing laws against discrimination, members of the ACB and NFB strive for public awareness while partnering with one another for support.

THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION OF THE BLIND (www.afb.org)

If you’re looking for an overarching go-to repository for things blindness related, here it is. It’s legal representatives assist us with matters of workplace accommodations while giving advice on handling potential discrimination issues. Technology consultants develop software suited for blind and visually impaired gamers, computer programmers, and musicians. If you want tolearn about careers where you may help others cope with their vision loss, the AFB website features perspectives on certified orientation and mobility instructors, vision rehabilitation therapists, and teachers of the visually impaired. When I was once looking at these fields for study, I spent several hours browsing the success stories on the AFB website of those who’d served the blindness community in this way.

Like the previously mentioned consumer organizations, the AFB has a chief publication which they call ACCESS World. Reading it, you can find scheduled webinars on being a blind parent, finding the newest techniques for daily living, and recognizing if you suffer from a given eye condition. One of my frequent stop-offs on the web is AFB’s Vision Aware site which gives pretty much anything I want to know about the latest statistics on employment to blogs of real people sharing their coping stories.

And if you want addresses for places where you can meet others who are blind near you, AFB’s site has them all listed by State. In my beloved Indiana, you can get contact info for Bosma Enterprises in Indianapolis and the League for the Blind in Fort Wayne.

CENTERS FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING

Now here’s where being boldly blind gets real hands on. Places like Bosma Interprises, just mentioned, the Cincinnati Association for the Blind, or Braille Institute (Los Angeles, CA) help lots of people cope. You can take classes on how to cook, use a computer, or gain job readiness skills. Some centers for independent living help people in high school find each other through sports and other social gatherings like movie nights where no one balks at hearing audio descriptions of scenes you can’t otherwise see.

As social support groups have become popular for those suffering addictions or depression, centers for independent living gather people who are blind for times where we can share our quest for better self-esteem. You can talk about strategies for handling conflicts that arise in families over how to make your home as blind friendly as possible. Sometimes, these support groups offer outings for tandem biking, watching a ballgame or Christmas shopping as a group. Of course, COVID-19 has driven many of these social and support times online as many of us have become afraid we might catch or spread the virus when around other people.

For information about what center of independent living may be near you, check AFB’s webpage, www.afb.org. In addition to carrying out the activities, I’ve described, many State departments for the blind or Vocational Rehabilitation offices refer clients to centers for independent living to find help with job searching or orientation and mobility services.

Some of the more well-known centers are:

Braille Institute (locations in southern California) www.brailleinstitute.org

The Carroll Center in Boston, MA

Alphapointe, Kansas City, MO www.alphapointe.org

The St. Louis Society For The Blind, St. Louis, MO

The League for the Blind, Fort Wayne, IN

The Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind, Chicago IL (along with many of the other affiliated centers in San Francisco, CA; Dallas, TX; Rochester, NY; Spokane, WA, etc.)

As you can see, there are so many organizations that help us who are blind or visually impaired maintain our confidence, vigor, and independence. In future posts, we’ll feature these groups, talk to people whose work involves teaching, advocating, and otherwise empowering the blindness community in all areas of life.

Plans For A Podcast

               I’d mentioned to some in person and on other forums that I’d eventually like to expand Boldly Blind into a podcast as well as a written blog. Well, today, I took a step toward that endeavor by researching what steps any podcaster needs to take before that first episode and what considerations we who are blind or visually impaired need to make.

After all, podcasts add that human voice to the milieu of written experiences and linked articles we’ve already begun to feature here. Interviews can expand on the topics we’ve begun to cover or they may bring in someone else’s story that gives even more life. So if we’re talking guide dog legislation, I could contact the office of a State Representative who’s sponsored a bill regarding service animals. Along with doing a write-up about fears a person who’s blind has about doing blindness in college, I could get a current student or certified vision rehabilitation counselor to talk about it.

Now, add to that fun the bumper music to enhance the vibe. Think of your favorite newsie or sports talk shows. They create the mood with some timely or topically oriented tune like Cold Play’s “Viva La Vida or Florida Georgia Line’s “This Is How We Roll.” It would be so cool to bring Boldly Blind into the mix of podcasts. So, tune in for updates as the next few weeks commence.

Sunday to Sunday

The readings for the fifth Sunday after Epiphany are Is. 6:1-8 (9-13); 1 Cor. 6:12b-20; and Luke 5:1-11.

Coming before someone we’ve hurt by what we’ve said or done is one thing; admitting we no longer deserve their friendship is a whole other level. But in our Old Testament and Gospel readings, God Himself draws Isaiah and Peter to do this very thing. Isaiah admits he’s not worthy of being in the presence of such holiness; Peter outright calls Himself a sinful man. Nevertheless, the Lord pardons them both before sending them to tell of salvation that’s free to all who trust in Him.

This same Jesus Christ comes to us today with free forgiveness. Courageously confessing Him, we strive to serve him and others in the body we’ve been given.

Thank-You Thursday: Puppy Raisers

I have always loved the song, “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Both the Gary Morris original and the Bet Midler cover have essentially the same lyrics. They are a big thank-you for that friend, spouse, or just anyone who’s been there and helped through the good and bad times. When my wife, Amy, and I got married, I used that song as that to which my mom and I danced at the reception. Why? Well, she had so much to do with my success going through mainstream public school, encouraged me through the stresses of college, and so much more. “Wind Beneath My Wings” is one of her favorite songs.

Well, on this first Thankful Thursday, we begin our weekly highlight of a type of person who’s been often behind the scenes and yet key in making the livelihood of someone who’s blind or visually impaired successful. We can think of many such people-teachers of the visually impaired, certified vision rehabilitation counselors, mobility instructors, outreach center directors, and the list can go on.

This week, we say thank-you to puppy raisers. Most of us who’ve had guide dogs met the boy, girl, parents, or whole families who nurtured our  four-legged friends from the time they were two months old for the next year or so. Depending on the school or even the State in which a puppy raiser lives, they’ve had to learn the basics of a guide dog’s purpose, a bit about what’s like to be blind, and how to care for and train a dog to act in any number of settings.

Pups in training have the same rights as fully graduated guide dogs. Raisers can take them pretty much anywhere in public from shopping malls, restaurants, supermarkets, and gyms. That’s why these pups where a specific jacket with the school’s colors and logo emblazoned on the chest.

You can be pretty much any age and raise a pup. Kids as young as nine do it  on their citizen track in 4-H or Future Farmers of America. It’s always so neat meeting whoever’s raised our guides. When I graduated from Leader Dogs (Rochester Hills, MI), Edgar’s raisers were a relatively young couple both of whom worked. My second guide, Lali, came from Guide Dogs of America (GDA), and was raised by a kindergarten teacher from nearby Chino Hills.) The exposure Lali had to her classroom was great preparation for the hubbub he’d experience when guiding me around my office in Philadelphia a year and a half later.

Of course, puppy breath is so quickly addictive! Many raisers think they’ll start with one dog but can’t give it up after that. They’re back in their school’s volunteer office before they know it requesting another pup to raise. I’ve known some who’ve been at it for ten, fifteen, or even twenty years nurturing our furry guides-to-be.

They don’t work alone. Schools like Guide Dogs of America in Sylmar, CA www.guidedogsofamerica.org require raisers’ participation in area obedience classes, say with a local Pet Smart or YMCA, as well as joining other raisers for monthly get-togethers. Sometimes, trainers from the school will visit and speak on the pups’ future work. They’ll show the harness which will be the graduated dog’s business suit when leading his person around. They’ll talk vet appointments and encourage raisers to bring their pups into all kinds of places like movie theaters to ballgames and church services. We handlers can tell pretty quickly if our guides were exposed to food courts in shopping malls. The more they were, less prone they’ll be to play centerfielder when that flying fry drops from a table near us.

Lali’s raiser wouldn’t return her dogs to canine college, a.k.a. formal training) until they passed her fried chicken test. That is when she’d leave a sumptuous bag of chicken in the back seat of her car when running errands and have her pup sit in the front. If he kept nose, paws, and tongue off that chicken, they passed. It was great preparation for that part of training when the instructors teach our future guides to resist food distractions. Even when matched with Lali at GDA, he and I went on an obstacle course where one trainer dangled a Twinki, some feet later another threw puppy snacks in our path, then another dangled a big old hot dog in front of his nose.

Guide dogs, after all, must behave in harness. A big part of that is keeping a visibly low profile around food.

So, what do puppy raisers teach beyond the basic house rules? At least with GDA, raisers refrain from issuing commands specific to guiding like “forward,” “right,” “left,” or “follow.” They’ll teach commands like sit, chill, down, heel, and come. The more each raiser works on these with his or her pup, the more that pup gets comfortable following directions in public at obedience meetings or when walking around a park.

And you’ve got to love how much folks get attached to the pups they have for such a short time! I remember coming back to GDA’s open house a couple years after getting Lali. On either side of me during the puppy obstacle race sat raisers I’d previously met on an email list. They treated their girls like they were their own daughters. Both had nurtured two or three pups before, so they knew the question that most people ask when meeting them:

How can you give back your pup for training? Many raisers I’ve known give the empathetic, “It’s hard to do,” response, before explaining that they care for that little lab or golden retriever for a greater purpose, seeing him bring independence and friendship to someone who can’t see. So even with veteran raisers, pups are so much more than replacement parts to “bring back that loving feeling” of needing a snuggly little pooch. Raising pups for the purpose of being guide dogs becomes the unbroken thread in the beautiful tapestry each raiser quilts.

So we say, “Thank-you” to puppy raisers for their zeal in nurturing, joy in caring, and eagerness for seeing us follow our guides on the journey of being boldly blind.

Signs, Signs

Have you ever gone into that building where nothing is labeled? No sign tells you where the men’s or women’s room, a conference hall, or swimming pool might be? Or, perhaps, you’ve stayed in a hotel and someone at the front desk isn’t aware of the labels on guest room doors, fitness center, or conference rooms.

We who are blind or visually impaired rightly can get frustrated in either case. Sometimes, some buildings are so old they’ve never been adjusted to Astandards set in the Americans With Disabilities Act. (ADA, 1990) Sometimes, desk clerks or cleaning staff simply weren’t given the information about signs’ accessibility in their fbuildings. Either that’s because management hasn’t remember to implement such important details when orienting them to their job or they don’t know what to look for when we ask for their help.

The truth is, the ADA has set guidelines and stipulations for which kind of signs get labeled in braille, raised print letters, or in a color contrast suited for people who are visually impaired. I’ve included a very interesting presentation by ADADA Great Lakes Center about the various ways signs are or are not required to be labeled.

Check it out here

How can we help those hotel managers, desk clerks, servers at restaurants or ticket agents at a bus station become more savvy at communicating with us?

Here’s a few suggestions:

  1. If there are no labels in braille or large print in the hotel where we’ve stayed, call the manager of that franchise or a corporate contact and explain the difficulty you had in navigating the premises. Then, you proceed to explaining that you’re not just speaking for yourself but for anyone needing to navigate where they are going. Perhaps, follow up calls or emails may lead to a discussion of ADA compliance, if necessary. The good hotel manager or owner should be versed on ADA stipulations but may need prompting to connect the dots of legalese to hands-on experience.

2. If that desk clerks or server doesn’t quite understand what you mean by a braille or large print label, then describe what you’re looking for (restroom, conference room, and so forth). When you get there, check in the appropriate places, namely to the left of the door or on the door’s face if it pushes away from you. Then you can show the desk clerk or server the braille, raised print or symbolage. That way, they can be better informed for the next time they see you or another traveler who’s blind or visually impaired.

3. It’s hard, for sure, but being courteous is always a must, especially since in the given moment, you’re speaking in the stead of others like yourself.

Tuesday Tips: Winter Safety

One of the big challenges for our confidence as people who are blind or visually impaired is getting around our homes. As the weather gets colder and sidewalks get icy, we’re tempted to reduce our trips out and about.

But do we really have to? MaxiAids has a few tips for our getting around in and outside our homes. Of course, not all of these will apply to all of us. We have to pick and choose. Some of us use canes, others wheelchairs or walkers, others the click of the tongue to hear an echo’s reverb.

In any case, our safety is of utmost importance as we aim to be boldly blind. Check out these tips, and be safe out there, folks.

https://www.maxiaids.com/6-easy-ways-to-help-prevent-winter-trips-slips-and-falls

A Bill Of Rights For Disabled Students Makes Sense.

               Anyone who’s sat through an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) experiences the tension between what’s obvious and what’s administrative i-dotting. Either some school districts are still unaware of what’s available for students who are blind or otherwise disabled or they are fully equipped. It doesn’t seem there’s abig middle road.

Things that teachers of the visually impaired have counted as essential for a child’s upbringing go beyond the classroom tests and homework to encompass life skills such s orientation and mobility. I can recall transitioning from the Indiana School For The Blind to Noblesville High School and, for whatever reason, we didn’t pursue my life skills part of a core curriculum. While I used the red-tipped mobility cane, I didn’t go after further mobility instruction. Hence, when I transitioned to college during the time many States were adopting right-turn-on-red driving rules, I was thrown for a loop.

More pertinent to this issue is that the team of pros who helped my progress through high school never addressed the need for mobility and other life skills work very much. Today, I’m very thankful that more certified rehabilitation teachers for the blind and teachers of the visually impaired are more aware of the total package that goes into a blind student’s trek through school with sighted peers.

With this in mind, this proposed bill of rights for a blind or VI student’s education makes a lot of sense. Not only does it show the link between student, parents, and school. It shows the needed assistance from others who have experience with teaching people with varying disabilities. If this bill of rights were to be accepted formally or informally by State government and rehabilitation agencies, the allotment of funds would allow for more districts to contract with orientation and mobility specialists and daily living skills instructors. The social work of wrapping around a student could become easier and the transition from high school to college and then onto gainful employment might be more achievable. Barriers to social acceptance for people who are blind or visually impaired might fall more quickly.

Take a look at these rights and spread the word.

https://lighthouseguild.org/a-bill-of-rights-for-all-children-with-visual-impairment-and-their-families/

Website of the Week

Here at Boldly Blind, we’re all about a can-do posture when it comes to coping with total blindness and varying degrees of partial vision loss. That’s why we promote other sites and podcast that take a similar, go-getter view toward life.

So we come to this week’s feature: Ambiguously Blind. http://www.ambiguouslyblind.com The host, John, interviews people of all stripes who’ve stepped into mainstream society with cane or guide dog at hand. Yes, the subjects vary, which I hope encourages you. Yet, there’s a commonality shared by the athletes, therapists and writers who appear as guests. They’ve all had to learn their new normal and its contours.

Here’s a featured interview that John does with Becky Andrews. She’s a clinical therapist and author. She encourages us to “look up” and see where our life is going to navigate the journey. She tells of her memoir and the people who have come alongside her for encouragement and professional success. Check out this interview here:

https://www.ambiguouslyblind.com/becky-andrews/

Weekly Plans

               Let’s call this late Sunday night post “Weekly Plans” since I’ll talk a bit about what I plan to research or explore in the world of blindness during the coming days.

One of the big areas I’ve not dabbled in much is audio description, particularly formy smart phone. Today was a big breakthrough in rekindling my desire to get more into audio description matters.

It started when I was playing around with my account on Paramount Plus. I noticed that, yes, on the TV or on any given smart phone, a little bubble lives at the top right of the screen which you can push to activate audio description. How cool is that! So, my wife and I rewatched Season 12, Episode 13 of “Blue Bloods.” We’re huge, I mean monstrous, out of this world fans of the cop drama featuring Frank Reagan (played by Tom Selleck) and his family.

When my wife clicked on the bubble, the show came up and the most conversational narration began. For the first time ever, my wife didn’t have to describe things to me unless I wanted further info than what the narration provided. That only happened once. Otherwise, we just talked about the action while it was going on.

This week, then, I plan on downloading the Paramount Plus app so that I can learn to watch more shows with audio description by myself.

The Blind Abilities podcasts give more information about audio description, tech, and pop culture while their hosts have a lot of fun doing so.

Go to https://blindabilities.com/ and listen to one of the most informative and entertaining podcasts you’ll ever hear. Discussion about audio description begins at the 63 minute mark during the last podcast.