[Blindtlk] struggling with blindness skills

[Heather Field]

Hello all,
I have two simple but very effective suggestions.
1. Solve the, where is the food issue, by using and fork in the left hand 
and a knife in the right. It seems to be a uniquely American tradition to 
eat with only one utensil. In Europe and the Commonwealth countries it is 
generally the practice for people to use both a knife and fork when eating. 
Although Americans have a knife at their place, they pick it up and lay it 
down when not cutting. The idea is to hold both knife and fork during the 
meal and not lay the knife down.
It is relatively simple to locate, identify and move food about on the plate 
using two utensils. This removes any need to mess around with pushing bread 
about on a plate.

2. Leave the butter out of the refrigerator. Butter can be kept in a butter 
dish, which is a container made for that purpose which has a lid, and can be 
made of ceramic or hard plastic. However, there's no need to have a butter 
dish as any low-sided, flat container with a replaceable lid will do. Butter 
can be left in the pantry or food cupboard in all but the hottest of summer 
weather. If you have air-conditioning then butter can be left out of the 
fridge at all times. . It will then be soft and very spreadable. Of course, 
butter will go rancid and go off in the cupboard quicker than it will in the 
fridge, but if you use it regularly it will usually be used up long before 
that. Store butter in the fridge until you are ready to put a new stick in 
the butter dish, and wash the butter dish with detergent after every two or 
three new sticks of butter. It needs to be cleaned of old butter every 
couple of weeks because the residue of the stick of butter that was in the 
dish before adding each new one is going to go rancid and affect subsequent 
new sticks. But, you don't need to wash it before every new stick. I just 
wipe mine out with a paper towel and throw the butter dish and lid in the 
dish-washer about every two weeks or so.

I hope these suggestions are helpful.
Warmly,
Heather

-----Original Message----- 
From: Julie J. via blindtlk
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2017 6:41 AM
To: Blind Talk Mailing List
Cc: Julie J.
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] struggling with blindness skills

For the potato's, I use the fork to check the plate to see if there is
anything on the plate, similar to what you describe for the meat.

Others suggestions for the butter are good.  I'd just add that if you are
trying to spread cold butter, it's pretty much a lost cause.  It isn't a
blindness thing, it just doesn't spread so well.   If you are using
margarine, it does spread easier, even when cold. I think margarine is
disgusting though. *smile*

Other than what has already been said, I think it's just about practice.  I
like to try new things when I'm alone.  then I don't have to worry about
being rushed or someone stepping in to help.  Having all the time I need to
try out different approaches and find what works for me is really helpful.



Julie
-----Original Message----- 
From: Jen via blindtlk
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2017 7:39 AM
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Jen
Subject: [Blindtlk] struggling with blindness skills

Hi guys,

I'm struggling with blindness skills in two areas. One is eating food
without my fingers, and the other is spreading condiments and butter. What
are your strategies for eating without using your fingers, for non-finger
food? Some foods are feelable, like meat, so it's easy to use a knife/pusher
to shovel them onto the plate. With hot cereal, I tap the spoon around to
see if there is anything left. But Some foods are harder, like mashed
potatoes on a plate.

Spreading condiments / butter is hard for me, especially butter. I try to
feel with the knife to see if I've spread around the whole length of the
bread, and frequently, I've hadn't.

I would appreciate any tips or alternative techniques on all these things!


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