[rehab] Blindness mannerisms:

[Ericka]

I chose to do this. I do not get reliable information from my outside world using my residual vision. Not all of us learn the way you do about computers and such, nor have all of us have the same vision you do.  Please understand and respect that. To me, the students who do cheat are only hurting themselves in the future. Having usable vision now is not a guarantee for the future. 

You're lucky that you can play with things and learn on your own. However you need to remember that we are all different people. There are training centers that do not require them but they are not for me. I have very limited computer skills and find them extremely frustrating. I miss the days when everything was in print and I could read it. Computers were very rare in homes. I grew up in a very small community and was given very limited travel training. This does me no good since my adult life I have never lived in a rural community.  Braille I have caught onto very easily because I love to write and read. Mind you I've only been here two weeks. I knew how to do many things like cooking and cleaning because my parents did not baby me and required me to do household chores like my sighted siblings. They made sure I could cook and clean just as well if not better than my younger sisters. 

Please respect my decision. Those who cheat should find a center which does not require them to wear shades during classes and community-based center run activities. I do not know your diagnosis nor your possibilities to lose the rest of your vision. You do not know mine. I have no specific diagnosis nor certain prognosis for the future. All I know is my current reality and I need to do things non-visually. 

Ericka Short
 from my iPhone 6+

> On Sep 30, 2017, at 10:45 AM, Olusegun -- Victory Associates LTD, Inc. via rehab <rehab at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I say, get rid of the shades, or else make them optional!  No need putting
> all blind folks in the same boat, let each advance based on his or her
> capabilities, but deny exposure to none.  I don't care what training centre
> I may find myself in, but I shall never wear any shades especially if they
> make me feel uncomfortable. Sighted folks don't wear shades unless they
> choose to; so, why should I wear one against my wishes as a blind person?  
> 
> I should advance or progress at my own pace, not at some artificial pace set
> by anyone else!  I am computer literate, 99% self thought through
> experimentation of my own.  I help a lot of sighted folks with
> computer-related issues.  I use a touchscreen smartphone in Android land.
> Some, blind and sighted alike, still want phones with regular keypads!  They
> each have a right to this choice; each will adjust and make other choices
> when their desired choice is no longer available.  A touchscreen phone was
> DAUNTING for me in the beginning; but, I kept throwing punches at it until I
> got it to submit and now, we're the best of friends!  Yikes, I even send and
> receive faxes on my Shiny touchscreen Android toy!  In a few months, I do
> plan to WALK AWAY completely from a Windows OS computer and its associated
> screen readers.  Why so?  Well, my preferred Windows Screen Reader went out
> of business!  I have work to do and I won't pay somewhere between $200 to
> $250 per hour to have new scripts written for the apps I use for work daily
> for any other screen reader.  I've found comparable apps in Android land,
> and their deployment is so much cheaper.  Besides, I am able to interact
> with app developers in Android land and have them make the necessary changes
> that have rendered the apps I need more accessible.  
> 
> I don't agree that blindness is a characteristic; I never chose to be blind,
> but, so what?  I am, and I'm comfortable with it!  The absent-mindedness of
> sighted folks, young or old, always knocks my socks off my feet!  In my home
> I mow my own lawn, turn on and off my own sprinkler systems and even set its
> timer, use a flat top stove, flat screen microwave with no additional
> labels, use scrubbing bubbles to wash my three bathrooms, vacuum my carpets
> with a regular vacuum cleaner, etc.  At a restaurant, if I am having
> difficulties with cutting my steak, heck, I tear them apar with my fingers
> and eat!  It's my food, I paid for it.  You can watch or stare at me all day
> long, I am not bothered.  What matters is that I am doing that which works
> for me!  I do travel pretty well, familiar area or not, and I use a cane.  
> 
> My mannerisms DO NOT make me superior to myself or anyone!  I am open to
> learning anything and everything new, but I am not available for
> insults--cheap, expensive or priceless--on account of my blindness!  
> 
> Sincerely,
> Olusegun
> Denver, Colorado        
> 
> 
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