[Blindtlk] non 24

[Gary Wunder]

I have enjoyed reading the comments about non-24, and when I 1st heard about
the efforts of a pharmaceutical company to market to blind people, I was
suspicious. I think I was also a bit defensive, assuming that the worst
would happen.

I suspect that I suffer from non-24. There are times when I have to work
very hard to stay awake, even when I find things around me to be interesting
and thought-provoking. There are times when at 4 o'clock in the morning I am
totally wide-awake and mad about it. Then I will be walking through a store
or working at my desk or even exercising, and I find that I am exceedingly
tired. This suggests to me that I do have a body clock and that periodically
that body clock gets off.

I relate to the comments about being embarrassed while at work and
unintentionally falling asleep. It does not reflect well on any employee
when this happens, and I admit that more than once I have been embarrassed
about nodding off at times when I was paid to be awake. I have developed a
number of strategies for combating this, but I can't claim that they work
100% of the time. If I catch myself in time, I can always stand up, pace, do
toe touches, or engage in other activities that I can blame on needing to
stretch my legs or my sore back. Sometimes they too require attention, but
it is more likely that I am trying to ensure that I stay awake.

I don't know that this adds anything, but I do believe that the subject is
important enough that I am likely to put it on our convention agenda here in
Missouri. If non-24 is real, we should not try to run from it. If the
marketing is not what it should be, we should not run from that either.