[BlindTlk] Question about societal attitudes toward blindness

[Lloyd Rasmussen]

Although I haven't read it, I would recommend reading "Crashing Through" by 
Mike May, which is available as a talking book on BARD. I knew him while he 
was studying here in DC in the late 70's and participated in the DC NFB 
chapter. Having functioned as a quite independent blind person for a long 
time, he had an operation that brought his vision back to around 20/60 
(according to measurements). Functionally his vision didn't work quite as 
well as the measurements indicated, but it worked well enough that he 
learned to do a lot of things using vision. He has been involved with the 
Sendero company that makes accessible GPS software for various platforms. 
Anyway, I think his book would be a good one to read.

Michael Hingson's book is called Thunder Dog." In addition to his harrowing 
experience on 9/11, people may not realize that he had a lot to do with the 
NFB's involvement in development of the first Kurzweil Reading Machines in 
the late 70's, helping the engineers who worked on the project to design an 
audible user interface that would work for the average blind person.

Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, MD

-----Original Message----- 
From: Walker (US), Michael E via BlindTlk
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2019 8:47 AM
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Walker (US), Michael E
Subject: Re: [BlindTlk] Question about societal attitudes toward blindness

Peter,

Thank you for sharing your views on how you accomplished your challenges. I 
understand all of this to mean that what matters most is the standards we 
hold ourselves to, instead of what society thinks. It is important to define 
the right goals for ourselves.

What is the name of Michael Hingson's book?

I would also like to hear more from people who have been blind since birth 
and a breakthrough happened where their eyesight was restored. What was that 
like to adapt to?

Thank you,
Mike