[nabs-l] Serving Yourself Food

Thu Nov 13 03:34:47 UTC 2008

Good idea.  However, I have a problem with the paratransit bus
service.  Since I live in a dorm, I can't necessarily designate a
place for the paratransit driver to pick me up.  Worse, I have to wait
an hour more than necessary for them to pick me back up.  Hence, my
friend and I have nicknamed it "dial-a-wait."
Beth

On 11/12/08, Linda Stover <liamskitten at gmail.com> wrote:
> Beth,
>
> What about paratransite?  I have a friend who schedules them to take
> him to a particular place, and then pick him up in their next window
> of opportunity.
> Courtney
>
> On 11/12/08, Beth <thebluesisloose at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Good thinking, Heather.  Trick is to get someone with a car to bring
>> me down there.
>> Beth
>>
>> On 11/12/08, H. Field <missheather at comcast.net> wrote:
>>> Hi Beth,
>>> Take your own tray to the dining hall with you.
>>>
>>> Places like Walmart have a huge array of tray choices, many of them
>>> value for money. Spend half an hour choosing the inexpensive tray that
>>> would most fit your needs. Then, simply take your own tray with you to
>>> all of your meals in the dining-hall. This will improve your ability
>>> to be independent and will lessen the ability of others to impact your
>>> day.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Heather Field
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Beth" <thebluesisloose at gmail.com>
>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 4:02 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Serving Yourself Food
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank God I found this e-mail, Arielle.  I'm having a huge problem
>>> with staff at my dining hall who are not willing to help me get my
>>> food or serve myself.  Since I have to hold a cane in my right hand
>>> and since they don't have trays and since the stations are mre than
>>> one and helter-skelter and since nobody taught me how to maneuver
>>> around that big cafeteria, I'm blown away by how rude the staff has
>>> behaved lately.  During peak hours, I'd walk in and say that I needed
>>> some help, and nobody helps out.  Their excuse?  Short staff.  I spoke
>>> to a few people on the matter, and since the cafeteria people aren't
>>> willing to help, they say I should talk to a manager about this.  I
>>> wish I could see now so that I could serve myself and not have to hold
>>> a cane in my right hand and not have to be so precise with holding
>>> stand-alone bowls and stuff.
>>> Beth
>>>
>>> On 11/12/08, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> With serving food as a blind person there are two issues. The  first
>>>> is knowing what you're dishing out without seeing it, and the second
>>>> is properly maneuvering the food with the utensils from the serving
>>>> container to your  plate and ensuring that you are dishing up an
>>>> appropriate  amount.
>>>>
>>>> To resolve the first issue, since touching is not really an option,
>>>> the best thing is to get information--either from people ahead of
>>>> you
>>>> in the buffet line  or  from whomever is serving the food/setting up
>>>> the buffet. Obviously once you've learned the  order of the buffet
>>>> once,  it'll be easier to go back and serve  oneself independently
>>>> the
>>>>  second time  around. When serving "family-style"  and passing
>>>> dishes
>>>> around the table,  this problem is virtually nonexistent since it's
>>>> easy to find  out  what someone has passed  you before serving
>>>> yourself from it.
>>>>
>>>> The second issue, though, is one that does take practice to overcome
>>>> especially for those of us who  were not expected to serve ourselves
>>>> growing  up. I wasn't really expected to do it at all until I was a
>>>> teenager, which  caused  me to struggle a bit with the mechanics of
>>>> maneuvering  the food and  gauging the portion size. I improved at
>>>> this  a lot when I was in training at  the Louisiana  Center where
>>>> we
>>>> had to serve ourselves in a buffet line (with sleepshades  on)
>>>> whenever someone prepared their final cooking project (a meal for
>>>> forty). Like others  have said, operating the utensils correctly
>>>> does
>>>> take practice and trial and error. A training center is a great
>>>> place
>>>> to develop this skill because everyone else is practicing, too, and
>>>> so
>>>> there's  not  as much pressure to do it exactly right or move
>>>> quickly
>>>> through the line. You can also  practice by  cooking yourself
>>>> something and transferring some of it from one  container to
>>>> another
>>>> (even if  it's just Ramen or  Easy Mac).
>>>>
>>>> To gauge portion sizes  I've used two techniques.  One is  to feel
>>>> how
>>>> much weight I've added to  my  plate  or  bowl and how the weight is
>>>> distributed. The other,  if it's  hot or steaming food that  I'm
>>>> serving, is to hold my hand a little above the  plate/bowl and  feel
>>>> how much heat is rising from the food  and how far  it is spreading.
>>>> If I don't have enough food, there won't be much heat and it'll be
>>>> confined to one little spot instead of spreading across a wide area.
>>>>
>>>> One more thing that hasn't come  up yet is the  proper way to serve
>>>> soup, stew, etc. with a ladel. I used to have the toughest time with
>>>> this  until I went to the center and figured  out what my problem
>>>> was.
>>>> Because ladels have a sharp curve in the middle, when I was holding
>>>> the  handle straight, the bowl part of the ladel was actually
>>>> tipped
>>>> and I was spilling stuff before I could get it in the bowl. I had to
>>>> figure out how to angle the handle (so it felt crooked) but the bowl
>>>> was actually facing straight up. I think other  blind  people have
>>>> been fooled by this deceptive handle as well which is why I bring it
>>>> up. You can practice this by playing  with an  empty ladel (like
>>>> while
>>>> you are doing dishes) and hold  the bowl in your non-dominant hand
>>>> while  you  angle the handle with your dominant one. Bend the handle
>>>> until you can feel that the  bowl is  facing straight up (even
>>>> though
>>>> the handle will feel crooked) and then try to remember the angle
>>>> when
>>>> you are serving things with the ladel.
>>>>
>>>> HTH,
>>>> Arielle
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 11/12/08, Serena <serenacucco at verizon.net> wrote:
>>>>> I pretty much use the same type of bowl, what we Italians call a
>>>>> maccaroni
>>>>> bowl, so i usually just put as much maccaroni in there as will fit.
>>>>> I
>>>>> love
>>>>> to eat! lol  Meat is trickier, but I usually have only one piece of
>>>>> that,
>>>>> anyhow.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> From: "Harry Hogue" <harryhogue at yahoo.com>
>>>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 9:53 PM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Serving Yourself Food
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Serena, this may sound like a slightly silly question, but do you
>>>>> learn
>>>>> what
>>>>> an appropriate portion size is by weight, etc, or by how many
>>>>> ladle-fulls,
>>>>> spoon-fulls, etc? I have never really wanted to do that because I
>>>>> didn't
>>>>> want to slowly anybody down or look awkward, etc. But I agree it is
>>>>> important...
>>>>> Harry
>>>>>
>>>>> --- On Sun, 11/9/08, Serena <serenacucco at verizon.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> From: Serena <serenacucco at verizon.net>
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Serving Yourself Food
>>>>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Date: Sunday, November 9, 2008, 6:47 PM
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Harry
>>>>>
>>>>> I always serve my own food at home with immidate family.  I think
>>>>> it's
>>>>> important to learn that skill.  At family gatherings and on buffet
>>>>> lines,
>>>>> however, others do it for me cause we're all having pretty much the
>>>>> same
>>>>> things.  Even at State Convention this weekend, there was a survor
>>>>> serving
>>>>> the
>>>>> breakfast buffet to everyone.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harry Hogue"
>>>>> <harryhogue at yahoo.com>
>>>>> To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 5:39 PM
>>>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Serving Yourself Food
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hello everyone,
>>>>> With the holidays coming up, here's an interesting point for
>>>>> discussion.
>>>>>
>>>>> At family gatherings, or perhaps even at home with immediate
>>>>> family, do
>>>>> you
>>>>> serve your own plate or do you have someone else serve the plate
>>>>> for you?
>>>>>
>>>>> As for me, I have always had someone else always serve my plate at
>>>>> family
>>>>> gatherings and at home with my family, for that matter, simply
>>>>> because it
>>>>> is
>>>>> quicker and there is less risk of spilling, etc. I am, however,
>>>>> reminded
>>>>> of
>>>>> the
>>>>> importance of being comfortable with this task by my Costa Rica
>>>>> experience.
>>>>> My
>>>>> host mother told me what was where and even made sure I knew where
>>>>> the
>>>>> serving
>>>>> spoon was--but I was not comfortable at 20 years old to serve my
>>>>> own plate
>>>>> and
>>>>> had to ask her to serve the plate for me. This, then, set up a
>>>>> precedent
>>>>> that as
>>>>> a blind person I needed help with getting food.
>>>>> 'm interested in hearing ohter thoughts. And if we serve ourselves
>>>>> at
>>>>> home/at family gatherings, I then have to ask what is so diferent
>>>>> about
>>>>> buffets,
>>>>> especially if you're with someone else and they're getting rice,
>>>>> chicken, potatoes, etc. and it's likely you would want some of the
>>>>> same
>>>>> things.
>>>>>
>>>>> Just some thoughts to consider.
>>>>>
>>>>> Harry
>>>>>
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>>>>>
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>>>>
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