[Blindtlk] struggling with blindness skills

Tue Jan 17 03:21:01 UTC 2017

Hi Everyone,

I've been following this thread and all of your suggestions are great.  I'd like to add to the one about using the fork to check around on the plate.  I have put my fork with the tines flat or parallel to the plate and patted it around in a systematic pattern.  This covers more area than using the tips of the tines.  As far as continuing to hold the knife in the right hand and the fork in the left when eating, this can be very challenging when not cutting anything if one is right handed.  Judy, I like how you said about corraling the food together, usually at 6 o'clock.  When I do this, I make sure I'm using a systematic, overlapping pattern starting from the right and moving to the left side of the plate and starting at the edge and moving to 6 o'clock.  Keep the questions coming.  We'll try to have the answers.  Take care and God bless everyone.

Annely
--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 1/14/17, Judy Jones via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] struggling with blindness skills
 To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
 Cc: "Judy Jones" <sonshines59 at gmail.com>
 Date: Saturday, January 14, 2017, 3:02 PM

 I didn't think about
 that, but the knife idea is very true.  Having lived in
 Europe for a while when younger I picked up the
 semi-habit of eating
 left-handed with the
 fork when cutting with the knife, instead of putting it
 down every time.  Now, I find myself switching
 between the eating modes.

 Judy

 -----Original Message-----
 From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
 On Behalf Of Heather
 Field via blindtlk
 Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2017 10:55 AM
 To: Blind Talk Mailing List
 Cc:
 Heather Field
 Subject: Re: [Blindtlk]
 struggling with blindness skills

 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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