[nabs-l] color and clothes

[Sean Whalen]

A lot of good advice here already. I would just add that it is often
possible to find a way to tactilely identify garments without needing to
label them. For instance, I have a few shirts that are the same style and
feel the same, but are of different colors. I left the tag in the green one,
tore the tag out of the yellow one, and partially ripped the tag on the
black and white one.

 

I also have a list of descriptions of ties that correspond with numbered
tags I pin on each. If you understand which colors go well together and
which do not, and you know what color your shirts are, you can coordinate.
You can also note which parings of shirts and ties or skirts and tops go
well together.

 

While it isn't important that we as blind people make a statement with our
color selections if we are not into fashion (which I am not), it is
certainly important, in professional settings especially, that our clothes
match and look decent. Notwithstanding all the dyeing children, cancer
patients, and other misery in the world, the notion that what we wear and
how we look doesn't matter is ridiculous. Surely there are blind people who
have attained success with no regard to their personal appearance, but there
are blind folks who have attained success without any number of important
blindness skills. Does this mean that none of them are worth learning or
worrying about? Certainly not. If I roll up into a meeting with brown slacks
and a black jacket, like it or not, many people will focus more on that than
what I have to say, and the professional competent image I try to present
will be damaged.

 

It's not hard to do, and it matters, so pay attention on some level to what
you wear.

 

All the best,

 

Sean