Simple Question / Part Two

The next thing you want to do is to write a list of mostly adjectives to describe what you love about your favorite color(s).

 

Have fun with this!  Most likely you already have an idea where I’m going with this.  I think you will enjoy the ride anyway. 

 

Having your color in front of you while writing your the list can be helpful.  If you can’t look at it,  just keep thinking about your color between discriptive words. 

I’ve posted my list on comments and invite you to do the same.

 

 Thursday will have the last part, Part Three posted

Simple Question

Would you like to know a little more about yourself? 

Answer this simple question.

What’s your favorite color? 

Sounds silly? 

It is!

Answer it anyway, because it can be fun too.

Post your answer on comments.  If you don’t know how to comment on a blog click here

(…And no, I have not run out of things to talk about on my blog)

I’ll be back to ask the next part of the question ON TUESDAY!

Next Teleconference April 26

Next Teleconference

THIS SATURDAY!!

Just a reminder, my next teleconference is:

April 26

3:00 – 4:00 PM EDT

There are a few “seats” left for Saturday’s call. If you’re interested in participating, fill out the form on the contact page by 9:00 PM EDT this Friday April 25.

Once I get your email I’ll send you the phone number and access code you’ll need to join in the conversation.  After you have done this once you’ll automatically be informed of all future calls.

There is no charge for the teleconference, except what your long distance carrier charges for a call.

The Call

The conference call is set up in an informal question and answer format. Saturday’s conversation uses Anais Nin’s quote,  “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom,” as a topic starter.
You may want to take a few notes.  If note taking is difficult for you, please let me know before the start of the call.

 

 

 

Do You Mind if a Child Stares At You?

I asked the above question on disaboom, a cool web community for anyone touched by disability.  Below are my thoughts and a couple of responses to the questions.

My thoughts:

I personally do not mind if a kid looks at me and asks “why does that lady have that white cane?”

I don’t mind if a child askes me what my cane is for.

I don’t mind if a parent askes on a childs behalf.

I DO mind when a parent shhhh’s a kid when they ask or yanks them clear out of my path as if I was going to plow them down.

I DO mind when someone gives a kid a really miserable answer to why I have a cane. 

Worst answer I ever over heard a mother say to a child about my sight impairment:

“It’s because she does not believe in Jesus enough!”

Let us hope that child never has a disability, they will not only have to deal with all that comes with that but a religious dilemma as well.

Thanks so much,

Rachel

Response #1

i agree with you 100% rachel.. i often have kids aks me, “why do you only have 3 fingers?” and “why are your feet like that?”.. it doesnt bother me one bit. like you, it does bother me when parents try and shush their children. or tell them “dont stare at her”.. i know they THINK they are being polite, but thats when i take it upon myself to tell the little one i was born that way. being a christian, i often use the answer “bc thats how God made me”.. i know this answer doesnt work for everyone, and to each his own, but its my own personal belief. the thought that someone would say you didnt believe in jesus enough as a response to your disability is horrible. i am a very religious person and i cannot imagine someone who SAYS they are a christian saying that. to me, God makes eahc of us beautiful in our own way, and while i dont understand why he made me with 3 fingers, he obviously has a reason for it, and so i am proud to have this birth defect. i teach preschoolers on wednesday nights at my church and i often get asked even by them why i was born without all my fingers. i explain to them bc thats how God made me and i think there is nothing wrong with a child innocent curiosity. and thats all it is.

Response #2

NO I NEVER MIND IF A CHILD STARES OR HAS QUESTIONS ~~~~~ I ALWAYS MAKE A POINT TO SMILE AND SAY HELLO, ITS IMPORTANT  FOR  THEM TO SEE WE ARE WARM HUMAN BEINGS ! I AM WILLING TO EXPLAIN MY DISABILITY TO ANY CHILD

 I ALSO LET CHILDREN FEEL WITH THERE HANDS AND OFTEN TAKE THEM FOR RIDES IN MY CHAIR ~~~ THEY LOVE TO DRIVE THE POWER CHAIR

Response #3

I don’t mind if children stare, they are so honest and innocent. I had a little boy once tell his mother “Look mom that man is in a stroller”, while we were in the grocery store, I still laugh when I think about that

Response #4

Kids?  Not at all.  I work with kids and I don’t often use my cane in front of them but sometimes I do.  It has a stuffed toy elephant on the handle so I often just say “do you like my elephant friend?”  If they ask “what’s that” I just say it helps me walk.  They notice my insulin pump sometimes and I say ”that’s my medicine.”   I wish kids and adults would feel more comfortable asking more because if they don’t ask they just jump to their own conclusions.

 

Adults?  Rather, especially adults in the health professions who really should know better.  My medical school classmates stared at me for months when I started using a cane but no one said anything.  It was like the elephant in the corner.  That’s when I went to the toy store and bought the elephant to give them something real to stare at!  It is interesting who comments on the elephant.  Kids do, and nurses and physical therapists and patients in the elevator and others with physical disabilities in general.  But hardly ever other doctors.  He’s a good judge of character, that elephant!

Born on this day!

Charlie…born 2 whole years ago today! Happy Birthday  lil man!

Blinded by the Sound of a Train

 A true story about my first walk at night, alone.

After falling down a short flight of stairs, I came to my senses and decided to finally use my cane. I worked one on one with an orientation and mobility instructor at Western Michigan University. I had just moved to Kalamazoo to finish an undergraduate degree. As luck would have it, W.M.U. had a program for Orientation and Mobility, but they needed blind volunteers for practical training. I signed up and quickly grew to appreciate the freedom that using a cane gave me.

 

After several months of training, walking alone at night was something I still had not done. That changed one night when I wanted to go see a play and couldn’t find anyone who wanted to go see it with me. I was going to have to go alone or not go at all. I went.

 

I tapped up steps, I found all the curb-cuts and didn’t miss a single turn. By the time I got to the box office I was beaming. I relaxed and enjoyed the performance because I knew there was a well lit

tower in the direction of my apartment that would guide me most of the way home.

 

I lived just before a railroad crossing and during my walk home there was a slow train rolling by. If I followed the sound of the train, it would take me to the last short distance from the tower to my front door. This was going to be a piece of cake. I walked with my ears hyper-focused on the rhythmic rumble. The sound orientation of the train is handy, my instructor would have told me, but you also need to attend to closer audio cues as well. If I would have thought about that advice on my walk, I wouldn’t be telling you this story now.

 

I was so intent on the train sounds, that I had forgotten about the road construction outside my building. On the sidewalk I was walking home on was an extremely large earth mover. So large in fact that the tires were taller than I was, so my cane felt nothing when I walked between two of them. I stopped only when my head had made contact with the body of the earth mover. For a few minutes the only thing I could hear was my own self, cussing like a sailor. I was so upset I became disoriented and had a hard time getting around the earth mover. I found one of the big fat tires and kicked at it. I whacked it with my “helpful” damn white cane, moved around the monster tractor and made it back to my apartment in an angry tizzy. After getting a look at that earth mover the next morning, I was able to laugh, because it was sitting right in front of my kitchen window.

 

White Canes and Able

 

Below I explain a little about white canes and their use. I also talk about my own cane “Able” and why I use him.

 

There are different techniques that are used with the cane to accomplish tasks such as going up or down stairs, navigating escalators, finding doorways, helping to find dropped objects, and many other things.

 

I do not use that tapping method you most likely think of when you think of someone using a white cane. With that method, the cane taps the spot where the next foot step will land. Giving the user important information as to what they can expect as they move forward.

 

 

Because I have a good deal of sight I hold Able at a diagonal across my lower body and let the cane skim the ground in front of me. It’s like having a fingertip on the ground that helps me know what the terrain directly in front of me feels like. Neither method, unfortunately, can give a visually impaired person any indication that they are about to walk head long into a low hanging branch.

 

 

I can move about the world without Able, because I’m only partially blind, or partially sighted, however you want to look at it. I chosen to use Able for a couple reasons.

 

Walking is much faster and safer when I use Able. I had gotten some remedial cane training a few years before I made using Able a habit. I fell down a short flight of stairs that were just out of my field of vision. It hurt.  After my tumble, I got some great O&M (orientation and mobility) training and started to use a cane.  

 

There are other really good reasons for me to use Able aside from less trips to the emergency room. I can use my available sight to look at the scenery and not down at my feet so much. Most important perhaps is it gives YOU information. It tells you “I’m crossing the street now and I might not see you coming”. Another plus of cane use is I don’t look drunk trying to navigate an uneven terrain…just blind.

 

Able is 48″ tall. Most white canes, like the one I use for mobility, extend from the floor to the users sternum. I have a collapsible cane (like a tent pole), made out of aluminum with reflective white and red tape on it. At the end of Able is what is called a marshmallow tip. It’s a hard plastic bobble that looks like, you guest it, a marshmallow, and glides over most surfaces easily.

 

White canes are, for the most part, a universal symbol for the sight impaired. In the UK if someone has a white cane with two red bands added, it means the user is deafblind.

 

Electric Chairs

Electric Chairs are used to kill criminals in Texas

 Chairs often used by people with mobility issues are called motorized or power chairs.

 

What to do when you meet a gimp.

Since I’m a member of the “disabled community” I have special privileges to talk candidly on this topic. Candidly talk is what I plan to do.  

First up, we all don’t know one another.

Last summer, for example, we were Chicago for an art festival when someone asked me… “Oh you live in Orlando, do you know Bob Smith, he lives in FL and he’s blind too?’ At that point what I really wanted to say was… “maybe, what does he LOOK like?” But I didn’t. I’m not sure why people think I must know every disabled person in a three thousand mile radius but this type of comment is not that uncommon. 

So what’s really going on there? I think it’s just part of human nature to want to connect and sometimes we’re a wee bit clumsy. Maybe it’s been so instilled in us to believe that talking about, hell, even notice, a persons differences is taboo. That’s nuts. Little kids left to be themselves will notice all sorts of things. That’s because they are curious.

 

Curiosity is normal, natural and healthy. Maybe we can (re)learn something from our children? What’s wrong with noticing a dudes wheelchair or my white cane? I think…I think, if we were not so uptight we could move very quickly from the chair and the cane, to other things that are interesting to talk about.

Next Teleconference April 12:

Next Teleconference

THIS SATURDAY!!

Just a reminder, my next teleconference is:

April 12

3:00 – 4:00 PM EDT

There are a few “seats” left for Saturday’s call. If you’re interested in participating, fill out the form on the contact page by 9:00 PM EDT this Friday April 11.

Once I get your email I’ll send you the phone number and access code you’ll need to join in the conversation.  After you have done this once you’ll automatically be informed of all future calls.

There is no charge for the teleconference, except what your long distance carrier charges for a call.

The Call

The conference call is set up in an informal question and answer format. Saturday’s conversation looks at how to live out your dreams despite any limitations (real or perceived) you may have. As a group we’ll look at one or more participants dreams and see where limitations may be holding them back.

You may want to take a few notes.  If note taking is difficult for you, please let me know before the start of the call.