[Blindtlk] 10 natural ways to relieve stress

[Gary Wunder]

Good morning, Peter.  This is getting to be quite a lengthy thread, and I'm
not sure that I've read all of the messages.  One of the things that is
difficult is to offer one's story as a guiding light, without suggesting
that anyone who doesn't do it the way we did it is somehow in error.  If I
tell you about my job success, it will not be with the goal of making you
feel badly, but will be to offer hope.  It will not be to imply that my way
is the best way or the only way or that we all started from the same place
or have the same opportunity; life is not like that.  We don't all have the
same opportunity, and this is a given.

When you ask for advice on the list and people tell you their stories,
perhaps it is good to do what is suggested in the Alcoholics Anonymous
literature: take what you like and leave the rest.  None of us know all the
answers for you; the best we can do for you is to tell you what is work for
us.

I used to have a friend who admired Kenneth Jernigan's ability to read
braille so much that he would keep a tape of one of Mr. Jernigan's speeches
in his machine, and he would play it for every sighted person who came
along.  He was quick to tell them that Mr. Jernigan could read as fast and
as well as they could.  At the same time, if Dr. Jernigan wrote an article
in which he emphasized the need to learn braille, my friend became defensive
and said that his diabetes simply wouldn't let him do it.  Of course, Dr.
Jernigan wasn't suggesting that people who suffer from the tactile problems
diabetes can create have the same opportunity as those who don't.  He was
simply saying that those who can learn braille should, in the same way that
we would say that those who can learn print should.

You are going to face challenges in your search for a job that Dr. Jacobus
tenBroek did not face.  He did not have to worry about inaccessible
computers or kiosks for checking in at an airport or checking out at a
grocery store.  Still, he found a job in a society where every piece of
print was inaccessible unless he did something to make it so.  Nothing he
wrote in braille was automatically translated into print. I am no Jacobus
tenBroek, and if the bar was set as high for my life as it was for his, I
think I would have fallen short. 

The world makes everyone walk uphill; for some of us that Hill is a bit
steeper than for others.  Sometimes that Hill stops people; sometimes it
builds muscle and stamina.  I hope for you that it does the latter.  I wish
you much success in your journey, and I hope that we can offer a helping
hand now and again when you need it.

Warmly,

Gary