Hello all,  

I've had a few questions since I've been on this site about blindness, so I thought it might be interesting to start a thread where people could ask me anything they've always wanted to about blindness, but, for whatever reason, never got the chance.  Most people say they're afraid of asking something that will offend, but believe me, there's nothing that could.  I've been asked questions like, "Who dresses you?"  "How can you tell if your clothes are dirty?"  "Do you like to touch people's faces?"  "Do you see in your dreams?"  

And since I've written these down, maybe I'll start this by answering them.  

My best friend and her niece go shopping with me, and describe colors to me, and also tell me what looks flattering and what doesn't.  And if Ilike the material and the way something fits, I'll buy it.  I can recognize a lot of my clothes by touch, but there are also color tags which one can sew in to them, so you won't leave the house wearing mismatched clothes.  (Which might make someone pity a blind person, but just wonder what was wrong with a sighted one.)  

I cook, go shopping and clean house.  I lived by myself when I was younger, but rent being what it is nowadays ...  

I do not have a guide dog, nor have I ever had the desire for one.  I think it takes a certain temperament, and patience, because you have to take care of the dog, though I love my friends' guides  

I don't like to touch anyone unless I feel comfortable with them, and they are comfortable as well, so that's usually reserved for my friends.  I do get ideas about what I think people look like sometimes, based on voices.  (I'm not always right, though.)   Which brings me to something else.  Blind people do not have a sixth sense.  We simply use our hearing more because we have too.  

Yes, I do see in my dreams, but I think it is more like what I imagine things to be; in other words, I remember the shapes of things and imagine I can see them.  

Color is another thing, and something I'll save for later, if anyone is interested, because this is already pretty long.  

Anyway, if anyone is interested, please feel free to ask me anything, and share any thoughts of preconceived notionns you have about blindness, and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability.  I can only share my experiences, and what I've talked about with my blind friends.  

Ask away!.

Well, I have one.

How well does the forum work for you?  

I know it is supposed to be friendly to readers, but I have not gotten feedback on it.


Regards,

Mike

Mike,  

I think this is one of the easiest forums for me to navigate.  Signing up was the only problem, and it was so minor I can't even remember what it was.  Going from one thread or forum to another is fast and I never get pushed to places I don't want to be, which happens frequently on other sites.  

It's wonderful to come here and realize just how blind friendly it is.  

Thank you for asking.  

Debbie

This is great!  All of the questions I've wanted to ask but felt too insensitive to ask.  Thanks for the offer!!  I had been thinking about blind people recently because at the airport last week there was a woman with her dog in the restroom.  It was amazing to watch them work.  Which leads me to, I know you said you don't have a sixth sense, but can you tell when someone is paying attention to you?  I watched the woman and her dog for a few moments, and then I stopped because I felt uncomfortable since I felt like I was invading a person's private space.  I would think you could tell because you couldn't hear movement.  Were you blind from birth?  I wonder if that changes what you can "see" in your mind.  When I close my eyes it isn't solid black, I see flashes of light (must be from the 70s   ) what do you see?  Do you have complete loss of sight, including light?   What are the hardest things for you to do?  How are you reading this?  How do you see the smiley faces?  I want to hear (see) all about colors.  I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Thanks again!!

Vicki


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Vicki wrote:

This is great!  All of the questions I've wanted to ask but felt too insensitive to ask.  Thanks for the offer!!  I had been thinking about blind people recently because at the airport last week there was a woman with her dog in the restroom.  It was amazing to Vickie,  

Interesting that you should ask this question.  It's really easy to tell if someone is watching me, especially if I walk past someone and the conversation stops, and then resumes but with hushed voices.  

One time, I was on a bus, and there were people behind me talking about me in Spanish.  I'm fairly fluent in Spanish and so I turned around and asked if they would like to see the book I was reading.    There was a hushed silence, and then embarrassment.  I sometimes smile at people if I think they're watching me, and I think that makes them feel uncomfortable, too.  It would make me feel much better if people would just ask questions! watch them work.  Which leads me to, I know you said you don't have a sixth sense, but can you tell when someone is paying attention to you?  I watched the woman and her dog for a few moments, and then I stopped because I felt uncomfortable since I felt like I was invading a person's private space.  I would think you could tell because you couldn't hear movement.  Were you blind from birth?  I wonder if that changes what you can "see" in your mind.  When I close my eyes it isn't solid black, I see flashes of light (must be from the 70s   ) what do you see?  Do you have complete loss of sight, including light?   What are the hardest things for you to do?  How are you reading this?  How do you see the smiley faces?  I want to hear (see) all about colors.  I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Thanks again!!

Vicki

Yes, I was born blind.  My mom had rubella (Spelling) when she was pregnant with me, and I learned that, if it attacks the eyes of the unborn child they are born blind, or if it gets to the ears, they're deaf.  

I have light perception, and can see shadows, but I couldn't tell you what it was; I just know there's something in front of me.  My sister had a color wheel for her Christmas tree one year, and I could see the differences between the colors.  As they changed she told me what each color was, and I can sometimes recognize them that way  

The hardest thing for me to do?  Drive!   I actually did drive a friend's car in a parking lot over the holidays a long time ago!  

I'm not sure what the hardest thing is for me--well, maybe finding a suite or room in a hospital or hotel.  Or figuring out which side of an elevator the braille or raised numbers are on.  

I'm going to a seminar tomorrow in Pasadena, and I always get nervous because sometimes people aren't always helpful.  They feel uncomfortable, or they point--yes, it's true--or they say,  "Over there where the guy with the blue shirt is standing."  Oh, yeah, that's reeeal helpful!    

As for the smilies?  I go to the field where all the emoticons  are, and it says, after smilies, for instance, colon, dash, right paren, which tells me what to write.  

My screenreader is called JAWS, an acronym for Job Access With Speech.  There are braille displays; I have one, but my desk isn't long enough for me to set it up, and I need a cable  

If I didn't answer all your questions, let me know.  I'm happy to do so, and, who knows? I might start asking questions of you all  

Debbie!.

Hi Debbie,  This is a great idea.  I helped a blind man buy a condo once.  We felt the distance of the walls, managed the stair case to get to know how many steps to the top etc.  The best part was that he was new to Florida and had never *seen* a lizard.  When showing the condo, it was vacant and there was a lizard inside one of the windows.  I wanted to open the window and shoo it away, through a small hole in the screen.  Instead, he asked if I could catch it for him.  We spent about 30 minutes with a plastic cup trying to catch it.  Thought he lizard is fast, he was able to feel it in the cup...squirming around...  he had such joy with feeling it and exclaimed "Oh, now I see".

If you are in public and a stranger starts to help you, is that a no no?  I automatically ask...such as: grocery store, which one do you want?  or, I am getting ready to cross the street, you want to stay with me?  So, things like that.  How do I handle that?  Is it rude of me to ask?


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Mrs Rip Van Winkle wrote:

Hi Debbie,  This is a great idea.  I helped a blind man buy a condo once.  We felt the distance of the walls, managed the stair case to get to know how many steps to the top etc.  The best part was that he was new to Florida and had never *seen* a lizard.  When showing the condo, it was vacant and there was a lizard inside one of the windows.  I wanted to open the window and shoo it away, through a small hole in the screen.  Instead, he asked if I could catch it for him.  We spent about 30 minutes with a plastic cup trying to catch it.  Thought he lizard is fast, he was able to feel it in the cup...squirming around...  he had such joy with feeling it and exclaimed "Oh, now I see".

If you are in public and a stranger starts to help you, is that a no no?  I automatically ask...such as: grocery store, which one do you want?  or, I am getting ready to cross the street, you want to stay with me?  So, things like that.  How do I handle that?  Is it rude of me to ask?

Mrs. RVW:  

I guess I'm a typical girl.  There's no way I'd have wanted to touch that lizzard!  I remember being at camp when I was a teenager and waking up one morning to find a caterpillar in my shoe!  You'd think it was something much worse, but it felt so fuzzy and gross!  

When my best friend, who is visually impaired, and I moved in to this condo, our landlady asked if we would have trouble going up and down the stairs.  I told her I grew up in a two-story house, and used to run up and downstairs all the time.  She then told us a story about how she was coming down these same stairs with her cat box in hand, slipped and fell, and the cat box flew--with all the contents, if you get my drift.  I wrote a poem about it for a roast some friends did about her a few years after that.  She still has it.  

I commend you for asking if a blind person needs help.  There's nothing more annoying to me than someone coming up to me and just grabbing my arm to propell me across a street, usually to some place I don't want to go.  

Which reminds me of something else.  It can be pretty scary for me if I'm in the middle of a street, especially a busy one, and someone yells "Stop!"  Stop for what?!  Is there a huge sink hole?  Am I about to be run over by a truck?  I know that people mean well, but when they yell something like that, it's usually because I'm going to hit an idling car.  There's no way I'm going to veer in to oncoming traffic!  It's much more helpful if someone who is crossing the street with me says, "There's a car to your left," or something like that.  

Debbie