[nabs-l] Serving Yourself Food

Thu Nov 13 05:06:41 UTC 2008

Beth,

If you want to shop at Walmart or somewhere paratransit is not a good idea 
since they can be unreliable keeping you waiting or come before your are 
finished shopping.

I'd suggest getting a ride.  Much easier said than done.  I had that problem 
too.  But ask around.  Ask your hall mates.  Ask your roommate if she 
drives.  Any friendly faculty or staff?  Once or twice a nice nursing 
faculty member gave me a ride to the mall.  If you do get a ride offer to 
pay gas or something for it.

Ashley
----- 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 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Serving Yourself Food

> 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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>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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