[nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?

Tue Mar 30 17:32:09 UTC 2010

Mark,

I think you're absolutely right about the insecurity factor.  I really hope
I don't do that to others, but I do sort of get the motivations behind the
judging.  Then there's going the other way and doing the same comparison on
yourself, which is more familiar ground to me.  Now that I'm a competent
traveler, for instance, and don't have to put so much work and concentration
into the process, I suddenly suck in my own estimation because I don't read
braille...  Well that was true a couple of months ago, now I just don't read
braille fast enough, and also I'm not spending an hour a day using computer
braille on the refreshable display and programming things like the wind and
OMG! I don't know Nemeth!  I suck!

Well, I usually catch myself before I get too emotionally involved in all of
that.  It's sort of how I've always been, and it is an integral part of my
goal setting process and all that blather.  But with all the newness and
weirdness of vision loss, I get more uptight or whatever than I'm used to
being.  Then, of course, I can play the game on myself over not just being
perfectly cool and calm and altogether while I'm losing my vision...  /lol/

Right now, my big thing is the braille, because I really did just get to the
final hurdles and begun to cross them.  You know, achieving dot recognition
but still having to work out what each letter is...  Then recognizing a word
at a time and...  So on.  Now the building symbol recognition translates
into my brain as thoughts and ideas, which is what I consider reading.  So
now I'm all ticked off at myself for not reading enough or...  Yeah,
whatever, Tami.  /grin/

So I do want to thank all of you who have mentioned that you don't read
braille perfectly at 9 zillion words a minute and have been doing that since
your first lesson.  /grin/

Oh, and for the record, if someone else were to walk up to me and start
going on about my inferiority on the braille subject or any other...  I
*would* bite them.  Just so you all know.  /evil grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Mark J. Cadigan
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 2:28 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?

Hay Julie, in that case, you are a chicken! LOL  I also find it difficult to

know if chicken is completely cooked. I have decent cooking skills, but by 
no miens am I an expert chef. But the fact that I am not a 5 star chef, does

not make me les capable than the next guy.

I think the reason that this list focuses so much on mobility is it is a 
mobility oriented list. On other lists the deciding factor seems to be 
reading ability. In reality there is no good litmus test for competency in 
blind people. I can travel around for what I have to do, but I am not 
confident enough to go across the country on my own. Note I said confident. 
If I had to, I could probably make it there in one piece.

I am also a slow Braille reader. I would like to be faster, but for what I 
do, it is sufficient.

In my decidedly uninformed opinion people declare other people as less 
capable, because they are insecure about there own abilities.

Mark

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Julie J" <julielj at windstream.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 4:27 PM
Subject: [nagdu] mobility-the deciding factor?

 Some of the recent discussion got me to thinking about how we, as blind 
people, perceive independence or who is more capable than who.   It seems 
that we always use travel to judge who has better skills than who.  I know 
we have discussed this before, but I still have no clue why we don't use 
Braille or cooking or something else to base our judgments on.  I'm guilty 
of it too.  I've caught myself thinking if not actually saying that so and 
so isn't as well adjusted as they could be because they are always needing 
help to get places.

 I happen to be a very good traveler with cane or dog.  But you know what? 
I read Braille at about 40 wpm.  By any measure that's slow, like 
incredibly, snails pace slow.  But no one has ever said to me, "You know, 
you should really attend a center where you could get better Braille skills 
so you could be more independent."

 Then there is the kitchen...I really like to cook.  Generally I'm okay in 
the kitchen.  I cook most meals from scratch.  But, getting the meat, 
especially the chicken, thoroughly cooked is a constant stress for me.  I'm 
frequently freaked out about whether or not there is any pink in the meat. 
I know the skills.  I know how to check nonvisually, but I totally and 
completely lack chicken confidence.

Am I crazy?  or don't you think that blind people always judge other blind 
people on the basis of travel skills and virtually nothing else?

 Thoughts?
Julie 

_______________________________________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast
.net