Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Monday, April 27, 2015
Daniel Kish: How I use sonar to navigate the world
Daniel Kish has been blind since he was 13 months old, but has learned to “see” using a form of echolocation. He clicks his tongue and sends out flashes of sound that bounce off surfaces in the environment and return to him, helping him to construct an understanding of the space around him. In a rousing talk, Kish demonstrates how this works and asks us to let go of our fear of the “dark unknown.”
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Sunday, April 5, 2015
What a Week Part 3 – A Scare BY Rebekah Cross
What a Week Part 3 – A Scare
Sunday…oh Sunday. Adam and I took Jingles for her annual vet visit. I’ve mentioned before that sometimes I go sighted guide with Adam when I have the dog, but not today. I wanted to make sure of the route so that Jingles and I could find it alone easily next time. We did great on the way there. Found all the right exits and staircases, and made our way down the street, enjoying Sunday as a family. The vet appointment went fine. Jingles won over the Dr. with her cuteness, and all tests came back great. Her weight is also perfect, which is great, after such a sedentary winter. After the exam, we made our way back to the subway, stopping first at Chipotle for some lunch, and then Starbucks for a coffee to sip on the train ride home. As soon as we got to our right platform, a train came. To catch it, I heeled Jingles beside me and held Adam’s hand. Somehow in all the commotion of catching the train, weaving with dog and coffee in hand, I lost track of where exactly I was in relation to the train. Next thing I know, SPLAT. I screamed as the world fell out from under me, then realized I was on my knees in the train… What the??? Turns out, I had caught the edge of the train car with my foot and tripped. Adrenaline much? After getting over my initial shock and residual embarrassment, I composed myself and calmed down with my caffeinated stimulant.
Once we got home, Jingles seemed sleepy, but after the trip to the vet, weren’t we all? After sleeping a while, thinking she was twitching, I realized she was not twitching, but shaking. My poor pup was shaking like crazy, and wouldn’t stop. Then we noticed she was limping. What was wrong with her??? I was so afraid. I immediately called the vet, who couldn’t be reached at the time because of other appointments. In the meantime, I searched the internet, and found it was probably a reaction to the vaccine she had just gotten. She was still shaking and completely lethargic, but I had basically ruled out analeptic shock. Thank goodness. Even so, I was in a state of freak out. Adam was trying to keep me calm, but it wasn’t working too well. I wasn’t flying off the handle or anything, just super concerned and pensive.
Eventually, the shaking lessened, and Jingles fell into a deep sleep. I still would not leave her, constantly checking on my little Belle. A little while later, the Vet called me back and assured me that Jingles should be fine, as long as she didn’t have facial swelling, hives, or pale gums. She didn’t. I still asked about the reaction. The Vet said it was a common reaction, though usually only seen in smaller dogs. The limp was from pain at the injection site, which happened to be her hind leg. Next time, I can get the vaccines broken up into single doses so that the risk of side effects is reduced. I will do anything to not have my pup go through that again: /.
Jingles slept the rest of the night. She wouldn’t move for anything. It was really sad. She still shook a bit in her sleep. I was restless all night, waking up every couple hours to check on her and make sure she was okay. I didn’t know what I was going to do about work today. I couldn’t take Jingles out in that condition, but I also couldn’t leave her alone all day. What’s worse, I had a meeting at City Hall I needed to attend. I decided to wait and see how she felt in the AM before deciding what to do about work.
This morning, Jingles was happy and semi-bouncy, but spent her energy quickly on a trip to the bathroom, and was shaking by the time I fed her. Then, she wouldn’t even put pressure on her hind leg. Poor thing. I put her back to bed and contemplated work.
I decided to go to my morning meeting, then take the rest of the day off and come home to take care of Jingles. Since she was improving, I figured she just needed some real rest to get her strength back and reduce the soreness.
Unfortunately, this meant that Bob the Stick would have to show his ugly face once again. I know he is laughing at me now, as I write this. I hadn’t used the ol’ Bobberoni in nearly seven months, so I was a bit nervous about my cane technique, but was determined to make it. Thankfully, Adam was home this morning (he worked a little later than me), and gave me a “lift” to the subway, which is awesome because I would’ve definitely been late if he hadn’t. I got off at the right stop, and found the stairs. My coworker, who was attending the meeting with me, was amazingly perched at the exact exit I took, so that was completely seamless.
The meeting (which was a public budget hearing) was long and less than exciting. Literally, one of the public officials was falling asleep in front of everyone in attendance. Yeah…After four hours of that, my coworker and I left to head back to the office and home, respectively.
She helped me to the subway, and I got on the right train. Then it was back to Brooklyn. All I could think of was Jingles, if she was all right, how she felt. I couldn’t wait to get home. I hated being without her. It just didn’t feel…right. Sometimes I let Jingles have a break and go for a walk or meal with Adam or a friend, but this was different. It was miserable being without my Jingle-Pup.
I got off the train at my stop and started on the ½ mile walk back home with Bob. Amazingly, we weren’t terrible. I made it home fairly quickly and smoothly, considering the more than half a year I had not used the stick. It still sucked, and I still hated it, but I noticed my orientation and confidence had improved even with the stick, thanks to Jingles. Of course, this could also have something to do with the fact that the only thing on my mind was getting back to Jingles to see how she was feeling. Boy, I hated having to concentrate on not being the human pinball, finding the curb, and crossing the street in a straight path again.
I made it to the building, burst through my door, and found my Jingle-Pup running to greet me! She was 10x more like herself than when I had left her this morning. Now she was her usual squirmy ball of love and wet nose. I can’t believe how much I missed my sweet girl.
She’s still a bit tired, and sleeping a lot to regain her full stamina, but as the day has gone on, she is more and more 100% my spunky girl. I took her for a quick walk a few minutes ago, and she was back to wagging her tail, and bouncing with excitement. You can imagine my relief. I think she’ll be ready for work tomorrow. In your face, Bob!!!
So ends the saga of my “adventurous” week. Here’s to another week of adventure…though hopefully only the good kind this time around.
**As I post this Saturday, Jingles is completely, 100% fine, and she has been since Tuesday. We also had a much calmer week, with only good adventures, thankfully.**
If you enjoy this story or want to read more from Rebekah Cross is the link to her blog http://blindgirlinthebigcity.com
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The story of Nicole C. Kear By Nicole Kwan -FoxNews.com
“The vision I have left”: One woman’s story of living with degenerative eye disease“
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| Nicole C. Kear |
Nicole C. Kear always thought it was normal when she’d bump into things – but when she turned 19, she soon realized it wasn’t just clumsiness. She was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease that would eventually leave her blind.
In her newly published memoir, “Now I See You,” Kear details the story of how the diagnosis taught her to embrace life.
Just after her sophomore year of college, Kear went to her ophthalmologist for a routine check-up. She offhandedly mentioned an incident at the beach a few months prior, when she realized she couldn’t see any of the stars.
“[My boyfriend at the time] was really shocked, because they were very bright,” Kear told FoxNews.com. “I never suspected it was an actual problem; we joked about it.”
Her ophthalmologist referred Kear to a specialist, who then used an electroretinogram to measure the electrical activity in her retinas in response to light. The device utilizes electrodes in the form of contact lenses, which measure the electrical responses of the eyes’ cells.
“Once he whipped that out, I had a suspicion things weren’t going very well,” Kear said.
“Once he whipped that out, I had a suspicion things weren’t going very well,” Kear said.
The New York City native was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, and she was told that she had 10 to 15 years of vision left. Her doctor advised Kear to ultimately start preparing for going blind.
“That’s when it really soaked in: ‘This is bad; this is like old-school incurable,’” she said.
Retinitis pigmentosa is an inherited degenerative eye disease that causes the death of the eyes’ photoreceptor cells – known as the rods and the cones. The “rods,” are responsible for night vision and peripheral vision, while the day-seeing cells, or “cones,” deal with center vision. Symptoms of the disease include clumsiness, difficulty seeing at night and loss of side vision (having “tunnel vision”), because the rods begin to die first. Eventually, a patient will lose all vision from the sides and, when the cones die, from the center of the eye.
There are currently no treatments for the disease, though progress is being made with gene and stem cell therapy research. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study found that 15,000 international units of vitamin A a day can reduce cell loss from 10 percent to 8 percent.
Retinitis pigmentosa is difficult to diagnose because symptoms are often unnoticed or confused with other disorders.
“The challenge of this is that it’s not so common – about 1.5 million people worldwide – but then most of my patients have seen four or five doctors before me,” Dr. Stephen Tsang, attending ophthalmologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center who has not treated Kear, told FoxNews.com. “Because of clumsiness and side vision problems, a lot have seen neurologists for brain scans.”
Although Kear’s doctor warned her that she should start preparing for blindness, she resisted and instead embarked on completing a bucket list. She traveled with her sister throughout Europe, threw herself into college life at Yale, joined a circus school in San Francisco for a summer, and became an actress.
But the most important priority was becoming a mother.
“The first thing that struck me, even though I was so far from having them: Does that mean I can’t have children?” she said. “I wanted to see my children when they were born.”
Kear married her husband, David, in 2003, and they now have three children, ages 2,7 and 9. The kids know their mom is losing her vision, and Kear is glad she’s been forthright with them, as they understand it and take it very matter-of-factly.
Fortunately, Kear’s vision and her management of the disease have held up well. She is legally blind, with only 10 degrees of vision, and she has developed cataracts, a common side effect of retinitis pigmentosa, which has worsened any acuity she had in the center of her vision.
However, she credits technological developments – such as being able to zoom in on her iPhone, or enlarging text on her Kindle – for helping her manage without giving up too much of her life.
Kear hasn’t learned Braille yet, but she has trained with a cane and expects she’ll have to use it more in the near future – especially at night and in crowded places.
“I’m glad I lived life the way I did, but the doctor was right: At a certain point, you have to prepare,” she said.
Kear’s biggest struggles have been telling people about her vision loss, which she’s been able to confront with the publishing of her book, but also the uncertainty of the future.
Kear’s biggest struggles have been telling people about her vision loss, which she’s been able to confront with the publishing of her book, but also the uncertainty of the future.
“It is hard; you can get dejected about it, but everybody has obstacles. We all have our challenges and hurdles,” Kear said. “This is mine, and it’s not the worst. There are ways through it.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Here is a wonderful story bye globetrotter Amy Bovaird. Follow Amy--butnot too closely--on adventures
Many people dream of seeing the world. Ask vision-challenged globetrotter Amy Bovaird, and she will settle for seeing it in a little sharper focus. Follow Amy--but not too closely--on adventures foreign and domestic as she recounts tales of trips and travel.
A Sight For Sore Eyes
A Sight For Sore EyesThe Lighter Side to Facing Vision Loss
IF THE COAT FITS…
“Let’s go and get you squared away at the hotel,” my new and remarkably energetic friend, Sally, said at the end of a long
I spied my coat on the rack near the door.
conference day.
“It’s so nice of you to volunteer to take me,” I said through a yawn.
“Happy to do it.” She gestured in the direction of a coat rack some distance away. “Grab your coat.”
I spied my coat hanging near the door. Sliding it off the hanger, I slung it over my shoulder, too lethargic to even put it on. ”Brrr,” I said as I stepped into the Kansas wind.
“You’d better wear your coat,” my friend advised. “The wind has kicked up a notch since this afternoon. I don’t know what it’s like in Pennsylvania but Kansas in November is pretty harsh.”
“Huh?” I strained to hear her through the rattling wind. “Oh-h. My coat. I’ll be fine.”
As always, it took my eyes time to adapt to the darkness. My night blindness made it difficult to see anything. I relied heavily on her voice to guide my fumbling steps as I caught glimpses of the shadowy figure I hoped was Sally.
Where did she go? “SALLEEE,” I called as I scanned the darkness around me. I imagined how easy it would be for me to blow off onto the Kansas prairie like some hapless tumbleweed and redoubled my efforts to keep track of my friend.
“Over here, Amy!” Sally laughed as she backtracked to where I’d veered off. I held onto the cuff of her coat and let my cane skip forlornly behind me like a wandering child who had ceased to interest me. Sometimes I find it best to simply go with the flow.
At the car, I uncurled the frozen fingers wrapped around my cane and leaned it against the side of the car. of course, it promptly fell. I shook my finger and addressed my cane, jokingly. “Okay, be that way. You’ll just have to wait.” I opened the back door, dropping my coat onto the seat, my briefcase onto the floor and my purse on top of that.
With my hands finally free, I reached over and picked up my cane and folded it.
Sally opened the passenger door. “Okay, hop in,” she said and dashed around to the driver’s side.
A sudden gust of wind tossed me into the seat and I giggled. “The wind moves at sound of her voice!” I folded up my cane. “H-h-eat, p-please!”
“Coming right up.” She turned the key in the ignition and slid the heat to the highest setting. “Time to get this baby rolling!”
***
The next morning, I woke up early and got ready for the conference. God was going to give me a memorable day. I knew it. “I might as well go down to the lobby and get some orange juice and a doughnut.”
I gathered up that day’s schedule and shrugged into my coat. When I stepped over to the dresser to pick up my purse, I nearly tripped! What … ? My eyes traveled down to the hem. The coat hung to my ankles.
I frowned as I dug through one pocket, feeling for my lipstick No tube of Coral Me Crazy to be found but my fingers grabbed onto a crumpled tissue and … one glove. I checked the other pocket. No glove there. “Hey, this is weird.” Did I drop one or something? Did I even bring my gloves to Kansas?
I ran my hand down the length of the coat and felt a smooth diamond-thread design sewn into the cloth. It must be inside out, I thought, wondering how I could forget that the coat was reversible. I stuck one arm through the sleeve and reversed it, then the other.
Something still didn’t look right.
In a moment of playfulness, I flipped my big hood up; the tip came to my nose!
What was going on?
I ducked over to the mirror. A dwarf looked back at me!
“Wait a minute. My hood has fake fur around it!” This had none. I squinted to see better. ”Hey, my coat is darker. Purple.” I inspected the light gray color that engulfed me. I slid my hand over it. “Nylon.” Mine was suede leather.
This looked nothing like my coat except for the big hood. Wrong color. Wrong size. Wrong design.
I covered my mouth and giggled into my hands. And, ta-dah! Wrong owner!
The laughter spilled out of me as I shook my head in amazement. I couldn’t believe I picked up the wrong coat! This was a new first even for someone losing her vision!
When Sally picked me up, I told her of my dilemma. She said, as if it were the most natural mistake in the world and happened every day, “Well, put it back. The owner will claim it soon enough.”
At the conference center, I furtively looked around before stepping over to the coat rack and ever so casually hung up the coat then sped away. With a cup of coffee in hand, I spied on the rack for a few minutes to see if anyone came to claim the “stolen” coat.
That night I selected my coat with care. I felt for the suede leather and my faux fur around the hood. The length was right. The ultimate test, the pockets. If I had any doubts, they fled when my fingers found the Coral Me Crazy tube of lipstick in my right-hand pocket.
I never knew why I picked up such a different coat. Did I see mine and reach for the one next to it? Was I that tired? Or maybe a combination of the two? Just Call Me Crazy but sometime it seems to me that God feels I need a good laugh to revive me and He uses my low vision to supply it.
My take-away from this winter coat fiasco was: make sure the coat fits … first!
You have just read “If the Coat Fits.” If you liked this story, don’t forget to Like it, Comment and / or Share it in your own so
If you like this story bye Amy Bovaird you can read more of her writings at her blog, http://amybovaird.com/if-the-coat-fits/
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Get to know Robert Kingett
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| Robert Kingett |
You can find Robert Kingett at
Twitter.http://twitter.com/theblindwriter
Facebook:https://facebook.com/robertkingett
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/kingettr
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
My name is Christina Laty
I don't know much about the very beginning of my life, but I will tell you what I know. I was born with Nystagmus and Septo Optic Dysplasia, a syndrome of Optic Nerve Hypoplasia. My parents started noticing that I have low vision when I was about three months old. And then my mom did a bunch of research, and judging by my behavior, she found out that I have Septo Optic Dysplasia. But she couldn't convince the doctors. Finally she found a doctor that wrote a book about the syndrome. She brought me to that doctor and asked him to diagnose me. At first he looked annoyed that she didn't believe the other doctors, but then he came back out of his office and said she was right.
When I was little, I had sensory problems, so whenever something would touch my mouth or if I touched something with unusual texture, I would projectile vomit. My mom had to feed me every twenty minutes with juiced vegetables with no texture in it. That was what the earlier years of life were like.
Four years old was a big year for me, because if I remember correctly, that's when I started my growth hormone shot, thyroid pill, and thirst control pill. For preschool, I went to the Blind Children's Learning Center. It was a great school, and I made some great friends. I went there for two years. Then I remember taking a test, that confirmed that I didn't need to go to kindergarten. So I skipped kindergarten and went to first grade at Killybrooke Elementary School.
From first to third grade I took Braille lessons. In second grade I first saw the BrailleNote. I immediately wanted one. I told my teacher about it (my Braille teacher) and she said (if I remember right, or if not I think something around these lines) we would talk about it when I was efficient in Braille. I don't think it ever got brought up again. But I still wanted one. In fourth grade, I didn't use Braille at all. Then, all of a sudden, in fifth grade at the Braille Institute, (to which I had been going since eight or nine years old) there was a choice between writing in print or Braille, and I chose Braille! I decided that day that I wanted to get back into Braille. I also started wanting the BrailleNote again. Also in fifth grade, sometime before spring break, I found out that the aid that I had been with since first grade was leaving, and after spring break I would be with a new aid. A day or two before spring break, on the day of the Killybrooke talent show, I was introduced to my new aid.
I forgot to add something really crazy in the first chapter. That thing is what a couple doctors wanted to do to me. One doctor wanted to dunk my head underwater, saying that he did it all the time and it would reset my brain, and another doctor wanted to spin me around a bunch of times, saying that that would reset my brain.
When I was in fourth grade, my younger sister, Lizzie, did gymnastics.
One day, when my mom, Lizzie, my little brother, Andrew, and I were walking back from the building where Lizzie did gymnastics. I decided that I wanted to take a shortcut. So I started walking away from my mom, who was too occupied with the younger two to notice. Where I thought was about three quarters away from where I would turn, I said hi to someone on his bike that I passed. All of a sudden, he got off his bike and stepped in front of me. I tried to turn the other way, but he stepped in front of me again. "HEY! HEY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR EYES?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR EYES?!" He yelled. I tried to get away with saying there was nothing wrong, but he kept yelling the same question until I told him that I was visually impaired and couldn't control them. Then he went onto another question. "HEY, HEY! WHO AM I?! .WHO AM I?!" I tried desperately to think of who he could be, imbue I didn't know this person. Then Mom called me, so he knew my name. "HEY, CHRISTINA!! CHRISTINA! WHAT'S MY NAME! WHAT'S MY NAME?!" So I told him that I didn't know him. Then Mom told him that he was scaring me. "I'M NOT SCARING HER!!" he was totally wrong. I was scared out of my mind. Then Mom helped me get through the bars of the fence that separated her from me. That night, Mom called the city about it.
During seventh grade, I went to Costa Mesa Middle School/High School. I was with most of my friends from Killybrooke Elementary, but some of them went to Tiwinkle Middle School. In previous years, I had gone to the Braille Institute with one of my friends, who already went there, and was a junior in high school. We got to see each other at break, and sometimes I would say hi to her during passing period, where our paths occasionally crossed, and once collided! I was in the ASB for my elective there, but I eventually switched to band. I play the flute, starting in the after-school band in sixth grade, and I still play. I still talked to my ASB friends though.
Then, I found out I was moving to Colorado. My dad moved on April 1st, and the rest of my family (including me) stayed in California to finish packing and such. For 8th grade I went to Ranch View Middle School. This coming year I will be attending ThunderRidge High School.
Recently I have created my own blog latywritermusician.blogspot.com
Sunday, July 20, 2014
My name is Ashley Butala I am a visually impaired Woman.
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| Ashley Butala |
I live in Madison Heights, Michigan. I'm 24. I just recently graduated from Oakland University with my bachelors in Communications. I have been visually impaired since birth because I was born three months premature. My eye condition is retnaopothy of prematurity. I'm a twin (identicle) I'm trying to find a job in the music or radio industry being a tour manager.
Life certainly hasn't been easy but it's made me stronger. I have a very positive outlook on life. Just because I'm VI I don't let that slow me down. I live life to the fullest and everyone should be more like me cause in life we go through a ton of changes/relationships and you have to know that people come and go. Don't look at life as a negative look at it as a positive and don't let things hold you back. I love who I am and wouldn't change it! I love meeting new people so don't be shy I'm very outgoing, honest, and a realist. I love music, hanging out with friends, and taking adventures.
Get to know me peeps! :)
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Hello my name is Chris Lyon.
Hello my name is Chris Lyon.I lost my eye sight at the age of 4 and a half to a rare jinetic dizzies shortly known as Cone Distrifee.
This is when the cone in the eye stops working and the cells die off.
I am Deaf Blind but i still have at least 10% of hearing left.
With out my didgetal hearing aids and technology i would be completely cut off from this world.
Meaning with out my Hearing aids or any communication equipment i don't hear anything at all.
Discovering at 18 years old that i have Diabetes was a total shock, just a part of my nightmare come true but finding out that i have a rare organ distroying condition was such a shock to the system i could hardly talk to any1 for a hole week which is not like me at all.
Non the less i control it rather well.
My attitude is that ok i have a disability not that i really see it as a disability any more and i don't let anything stop me doing anything i want to do.
I work on finding away around the things i want to do.
These days i get up to lots and doing pottery is a reel joy for me.
My work has been auptioned in to charity sails.
I don't do it for money reasons at all.
I love reading books.
So much so i have disided to write a book all about my life the highs the lows, coping with living with Alstrom's and much more besides.
When i am not doing pottery or reading books i spend lots of time chatting to meeting and hanging out with my friends.
But having social media has helped me to stay true to my self.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
My name is Stephanae McCoy
Hi my name is Stephanae (Steph) McCoy, I’m a retired mom, gushing first time grandma (or Gigi as I like to be called), advocate, speaker, and animal lover. I’m also a smart, resourceful, introspective, somewhat artistic, computer savvy, perfectionist (code for obsessive compulsive tendencies) who happens to be legally blind.
I’m sure you’ve heard it said that “when you look good you feel good” but I’d like to submit “when you feel good, you look good.” I believe that confidence goes a long way in telling the world that you feel good about yourself and how you look. This is especially true when you are blind or vision impaired because you do not have the visual cues necessary to achieve a certain look and this is where I can help.
My vision loss began nine years ago when I removed one of my contact lenses, looked in the mirror, and saw half of my face was missing. The diagnosis was a macular hole and luckily for me all the statistics pointed to a favorable prognosis; 1 - I was considered very young to have this diagnosis, 2 - odds were it would not occur in my other eye, and 3 - I had a 95% to 99% probability my vision being completely restored in my affected eye. Unfortunately, my eyes refused to fall in line with the statistics and here I am today unable to see the big “E” on the eye chart.
While I do not consider myself to be a fashion guru, I must admit I have a serious weakness for shoes, clothes, jewelry, hair and makeup which led me to create a blog dedicated to these topics for blind and vision impaired women. The idea of the blog came to me as I was preparing for a presentation for thePennsylvania Council of the Blind’s Annual Convention. In researching makeup for blind and vision impaired women I found very little on the subject.
Since the cosmetics and fashion industries are not geared to those of us with vision impairments I felt Ineeded to do something and this is how Bold Blind Beauty was born. I write and post descriptive pictures and video tutorials to help our demographic become more comfortable in the world of fashion.
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~Wayne Dyer
Friday, July 11, 2014
Hi, my name is Keith Edgerton and I am visually impaired.
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| Keith Edgerton |
Hi, my name is Keith Edgerton and I am visually impaired. I was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa and have been legally blind since March 10, 2005. What does that mean to me? Well, basically I do everything I have ever done in life except drive a car. I've never had good night vision and as I grow older, my blind spots grow bigger. I basically have tunnel vision. I love the outdoors! I love to hike. Bicycle, surf, kayak, paddle board, swim and row. I love to travel. I love to play sports but really can't play team sport anymore. It wouldn't be safe for me or others. Someday I will probably have to stop riding my bike by myself but for now I still feel safe.
I live in Olympia, WA and I am currently a Construction Services and Sustainability Coordinator for St. Peter Hospital. I love working in the sustainability field and I have a degree in Architecture from Kansas State University. I have lived in the Pacific Northwest since 1992 but I grew up on Long Island, NY and Northern New Hampshire.
I have an amazing blended family with my wife Kiirsten, my daughters Sierra and Acadia and my stepson Ian. I am surrounded by amazing family and friends who love and support me through all of the ups and downs life has to offer.
I started a blog this year to hopefully help people understand my vision better and what adjustments I am going through to stay active and employed. My visual impairment has brought so much joy to my life and made me such a better person. The road to accepting my eyes has been a long and rough one at times and there are plenty of moments of struggle along the way. I hope my blog can help people understand the many nuances of being legally blind and also be a place where visually impaired people can relate to what my life looks like.
I live in Olympia, WA and I am currently a Construction Services and Sustainability Coordinator for St. Peter Hospital. I love working in the sustainability field and I have a degree in Architecture from Kansas State University. I have lived in the Pacific Northwest since 1992 but I grew up on Long Island, NY and Northern New Hampshire.
I have an amazing blended family with my wife Kiirsten, my daughters Sierra and Acadia and my stepson Ian. I am surrounded by amazing family and friends who love and support me through all of the ups and downs life has to offer.
I started a blog this year to hopefully help people understand my vision better and what adjustments I am going through to stay active and employed. My visual impairment has brought so much joy to my life and made me such a better person. The road to accepting my eyes has been a long and rough one at times and there are plenty of moments of struggle along the way. I hope my blog can help people understand the many nuances of being legally blind and also be a place where visually impaired people can relate to what my life looks like.
Please check out my blog and I would love to hear from you!!!
http://keithdavid.blogspot.com/
http://keithdavid.blogspot.com/
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
My name is Luis Perez I'm a visually impaired gentlemen
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Luis Perez
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Hello my name is Luis Perez and I am an educator, speaker and author focusing on accessibility and inclusive design. As a person with a visual impairment I know firsthand how technology can be a powerful tool for empowerment. In my early 30s I was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that has left me with less than ten degrees of central vision. Since then, I have become an advocate for the adoption of new technologies to transform the lives of people with disabilities. I consider myself an Inclusive Learning Evangelist.
In recognition of my accomplishments in the field of educational technology, in 2009 I was one of 52 educators in the U.S. selected to join the 2009 class of the Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE)Program. ADEs are a select group of K-12 and higher education professionals with an identified expertise in educational technology. In early 2013, I was named to the Advisory Board for the ADE program. I also serve as a board member for the Inclusive Learning Network (formerly (SETSIG) of the International Society for Technology in Education.
In addition to technology and accessibility, another passion of mine is photography. On my Instagram page, you can see some of the photos I take with my favorite camera, my iPhone. You can also read an interview featuring my mobile photography work on The App Whisperer, and my YouTube channel has a video that discusses my vision of “photography for all.”
In the news:
- Sydney Morning Herald Digital Life: Luis Perez finds blindness caused by retinitis pigmentsa no barrier to enjoying photography(6/4/14)
- Tech Guide: Meet Luis Perez, the master iPhone photographer who is legally blind (5/26/14).
- Media Access Australia Access IQ: Q&A: Inclusive Learning Evangelist Luis Perez (5/19/14)
- News Corp Australia: How to take amazing pictures on your iPhone: Three photographers reveal their top tips (5/16/14)
- New York Times: Disruptions, Visually Impaired Turn to Smartphones to See Their World (9/29/13).
- Salt Lake Tribune: At Salt Lake seminar, visually impaired learn how high tech can unleash creativity (3/24/12).
- Centro Tampa: Sus hojos sin lumbre, pero su mente deslumbra. (08/11/11).
Monday, July 7, 2014
My my name is jasmyn polite . I am 19 years old and visually impaired due to glaucoma and Aphakia.
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| jasmyn polite |
When I was a baby, I had to have cataract surgery . As a result, I developed aphakia. Then when I was 9 years old, I found out I had Glaucoma. Because of my eye condition, I must take eye drops for the rest of my life. I use accommodations such as a CCTV, magnifier, victor reader, zoom text, etc to help me with my everyday life.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Hello, My name is Fatmatta Wurie and I am a visually impaired woman.
Hello, My name is Fatmatta Wurie and I am a visually impaired woman. The story around my vision loss have been a very interesting one. I currently suffer from a hereditary macular dystrophy called Stargardts. But that is not the final name because my journey continues. I am still undergoing research to give my disease a name and find out how where it orgininated from. Becoming visually impaired has changed my whole outlook on life and how I spend my days on this earth. I always saying losing my vision is "a blessing in disguise" because I have learned and gained so much from other visually impaired and blind individuals.
I am currently in school studying Information Technology and Business Management. I am in my senior year and hope to graduate soon. Losing my vision and beinf an IT student, I have found a new love for augmented reality and finding adaptable solutions to make working in society a little easier for individuals who are blind a visually impaired. Its sounds like a huge project but, it is one that I truly enjoy. Hope to create an adaptive technology that the world can use.
I have become a self-advocate for the visually impaired community and I hope to meet other self-advocates. Please follow and read my blog at www.maonoyachini.com. I hope you enjoyed my little synposis on who I am. All my contact information is located in my blog.
Thanks,
Fatmatta Wurie
Fatmatta A. Wurie
"What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality." - Plutarch
http://www.maonoyachini.com
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