[Ct-nfb] Question

Fri Sep 29 14:27:36 UTC 2017

Hi Mary Ann,
It is actually called a Pen Friend, I always mix it up. It  looks like a microphone. It comes with recordable stickers. You can put the stickers on almost anything, except fabric. There are several buttons on the “pen” , one allows you to record your voice onto the sticker by holding the button down, touching the sticker with the point of the “pen” and talking into the microphone part.  
I use rubber bands with pieces of cardboard taped to it and put the sticker on the cardboard so I can reuse the stickers.I also put them on my spice bottles (On the lid so when I get a new bottle, I just switch lids to reuse the sticker) so I can find what I need when cooking.
I work at the Hartford Artisan’s Weaving Center and use the rubber bands on the spools and bobbins to help me identify colors.
I don’t know how much it costs, but it has made life much easier for me. Since I reuse the stickers, the cost is low once you have the pen.
I recently found a phone app called “SeeingAI”. It is free for now and it is very, very helpful. It can read documents by taking a picture of it. The app helps you center the document so it gets the whole thing. It can also help you with products by the bar code. If you move your phone camera lens around the product and it starts to “see” the bar code, it beeps faster and faster until it “sees” the whole code. Then it takes a picture(by itself) and tells you what the product is and other information. I find this app helpful in cooking.
I hope I explained these clearly without rambling. If you have any other questions, I would be more than happy to answer them.
Best Regards,
Joanna
From: Tom_&_MaryAnn_Lally via CT-NFB 
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2017 11:56 PM
To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing List 
Cc: Tom_&_MaryAnn_Lally 
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Question

What is a 'friend pen', as you mentioned in your suggestions, Joanna?

Mary Ann Lally

On Wednesday, September 27, 2017 11:41 PM, Justin Salisbury via CT-NFB <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Hi Deb,

I'm glad to hear that you are exploring the possibilities enabled by nonvisual techniques. These will generally be more dependable once you practice them. Anything you learn nonvisually is still useful while you have some residual vision, and the research and collective experience of Blind people indicate that sleepshade training can get you the best results. 

I think, if you want to narrow down what kinds of things you want to focus on after looking at general things like cane travel and Braille, it might be best to start with the areas where you are finding yourself struggling. It's hard for many of us to just churn out a list of things to learn, but if you give us certain activities that matter to you, we could probably help even more.

Aloha!

Justin M. Salisbury, MA, NOMC, NCRTB, NCUEB

Legislative Committee Chair

Honolulu Chapter

National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii

Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury 

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” 

William Butler Yeats

-----Original Message-----

From: CT-NFB [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of stanley torow via CT-NFB

Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2017 10:07 AM

To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing List <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>

Cc: stanley torow <setorow at optonline.net>

Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] Question

i have low vision{ still can see , middle vision blurry}, but i thought that the ideas  sent to you were great. even though I can see some, still have difficulty with seeing things. thanks to all who send in suggestions. thanks to Joanna, her tips are great, use all of them. i just got stick on lights in my cabinets. helps really good{ if you still have some sight}.

Eileen Torow

On Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 11:46 AM, jobo15--- via CT-NFB wrote:

> Hi Deb,

> I have RP so I lost my vision slowly. Here are a few things I did 

> while I had some usable vision left :

> 1. Got a cane as soon as I could. It helped me "see" more than I 

> really did.

> 2. Streamlined my wardrobe: Black, Navy, gray and denim for skirts and 

> pants. Got tops that I could use with any of the bottoms. Also, I 

> can't do braille (I'm told I am a scrubber, can't pick up dot 3 and 6) 

> So I use safety pins in different combos to tell me colors.

> 3. I streamlined the cleaning products in my house. Each product is in 

> a totally different type of container that I can pretty much touch the 

> container and know what it is.

> 4. Got a "friend pen" to label my spices. I also found a new app 

> called SeeingAI which is free for now. It can find the bar code on 

> products and tell me what it is and any cooking directions. It also 

> reads documents and short text easily.

> 5. I found the biggest help was to DE clutter while I could (I wasn't 

> as good as I should have been with this). Organize as much as you can, 

> it will keep you from being frustrated with not seeing like you did 

> before.

> 6.When people offer to help, take them up on it. If you keep saying 

> no, they will stop offering and we all need help sometimes.

> 7. This is the most important! Be kind to yourself. Find something 

> that you can do alone that gives you peace.

> I had the hardest time giving up the last of my vision. It got to the 

> point that trying to see took up so much energy that I had no energy 

> left to do things. I gave up trying to see and decided to "Walk by 

> faith, not by sight".

> I hope this helps.

> Good Luck and God Bless.

> Joanna

> -----Original Message----- From: Deb Reed via CT-NFB

> Sent: Saturday, September 23, 2017 5:59 PM

> To: ct-nfb at nfbnet.org

> Cc: Deb Reed

> Subject: [Ct-nfb] Question

>

> Hi Everyone,

> I still have some usable vision, but have recently lost some. What 

> things that you use as a blind person, would be advantageous for me to 

> learn while I still have some vision? Thanks.

>

> Deb Reed, President

> National Federation Of The Blind

> Central CT Chapter

> Phone - 860-973-3679

> Email - deb.reed57 at gmail.com

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