Living with the blind

Strangely, one of the things I was most worried about when coming to the Royal National Collge for the Blind was being around blind and disabled people.  None of my friends or aquaintances have problems and I'm just as guilty as the rest of us of having reservations about being around people with disabilities. How would I react?  What would they think of me, still with useful vision (and what vision I had being pretty good at the time I started)?

When I initially visited the college on an open day and came for my pre-entry assessment, there were people walking around with white canes and guidedogs, obviously totally blind.  Would I be thought of as a fraud, being (as yet) not totally blind?

When I arrived at the college I was shown to my accomodation.  Rather than being in halls, as I had independent living skills, I would be living in a lodge, a prefab building with four bedrooms and lounge/kitchen/diner and two bathrooms.  Something like a holiday chalet.  I share it with two other guys, both totally blind.

One guy from Scotland, is about my age and has been blind from birth.  He has a guide dog and has lived and worked as a muscian for years.  We're both on the Music Technology course.  The other is 21, from Sunderland, who lost his sight at an early age.  He's doing sports therapy, plays blind football for Hereford and the national team and is a fitness freak.

I needn't have worried about living with blind people.  The college itself has students with all ranges of vision problems, highlighing just how many conditions and problems there are associated with the eyes.  It was so easy slipping into the routine of saying hello and announcing who you are when, walking to the right, holding doors, giving people a hand if they need it, making others aware you're there, whatever.  You realise that most people just get on with things and everybody helps each other out.  People laugh and joke about their disabilty, the stupid things that have happened because of it.  It's all quite easy.  The staff are very helpful and trained to deal with disabilty though half the time everyone just wants to get on with things their own way, as normally as possible.

I couldnt have asked for better lodgemates.  The lads I'm with are pro-active, get on with life and are fully independent.  I could have ended up in the halls of residence with no way of getting away from the partying youngsters and locking myself away in my room.  You can chose a bit of company or spend time in my room without being disturbed.  We have a great laugh. 

It's actually very inspiring seeing how they live life to the full, just get on with things and don't let their lack of vision get in the way.  Having been fully sighted I can understand how easy it could be just to give up and sit around depressed thinking that the days of enjoying things has gone.  These guys have shown me that if my sight does go completely then there are ways round the problem, different ways of enjoying things I've done as a sighted person.

We do the things together "normal" people do: argue about football, watch tv, go for a pint.  We have music wars, (trying to play music as loud as possible and tracks you love yourself but know the others will hate (just for fun - kids these days don't know a good tune when they hear one!).    It's great seeing how they do everyday things in life like preparing food, doing their washing or the dishes.  They go shopping and they travel to and from home independently by train. 

Sometimes they might ask me that I can see, such as how good looking someone off the TV looks or where they've put something.  Not because they have to but just to make things easier or quicker, or confirm some assumption they've made. At the same time, they check my Braille writing for mistakes or answer questions about how they do certain things without vision.  It's imteresting, as someone who has experienced the world cisually, how they experience and understand things, how they talk of things and express things in visual ways: watching TV, describing things as a certain colour and such like. 

The only difference with my new friends is that they have some degree of sight loss or no vision at all.  They still have opinions, different tastes, enjoy sport, entertainement, books.  Why shouldn't they?  (Shoud I say, why shouldn't WE?).  They've shown that they're not people with disability but with plenty of abilty.

Creating a blog post in JAWS screen reader

I'm currently in an IT lecture at RNCB and using the JAW screen reader. THis program allows blind readers to navigate their way around a computer without the vision.  JAWS reads whatever is on screen and allows the user to find their way around the screen without using a mouse.

So I am writing this post without looking at screen, something very unnatural whilst I have some sight left but good training in case my vision continues to deteriorate.It takes a lot longer and can sometimes be very frustratingg for someone who is used to using computers with vision and correcting mistakes in typing can be awkward but screenreaders like JAWS opens up the world of computers to those who could otherwise not use a monitor screen and .mouse

Learning Braille

Yesterday was the anniversary of Louis  Braille's birth (b. 4 Jan 1809) and on my first day back at the RNCB I had my first Braille lesson.

Braille is the worldwide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing using raised dots signifying the alphabet and numbers.  Originally developed by Braille in 1821 as a replacement of a system of communiation devised for Napolionic troops so they could communicate silently and in the dark.  The original method developed by Charles Barbier was deemed to complex as it used a system of 12 dot which could not be feel by a finger all in one go.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind in France was approached and the teenage Louis Braille (blind himslef) created the system.  Braille letters are made up of raised dots within retangular cells, in a six dot positions (two rows of three).  The configuration of the raised dots and blank positions can be felt with a single finger, making it quick and easy to read and not confuse each letter.

You can read more about Braille and it's history and different form on the About website by clicking here.

So today I learnt how to position myself to make reading Braille easier, and how to read four letters, A, D, L and T.  Well, it's a start.  It wasn't too difficult as the configuration in those letters are very different.  It'll become more tricky as other letter and numbers are added.  I also learned how to type them using a Braille machine, similar to the old fashined typewriters but with three keys representing the appropriate dots, which imprint the page when depressed.

By the end of the course I will have a qualification in Level 1 Braille and possibly, depending how quick I pick it up, Level 2.  Levek 2 is more advanced, using a form of shorthand for certain letter sounds or words, such as CH or ST.  I'll keep you posted.

VWS - winner of 2010 Vision Impaired Blog Award

Happy New Year!

So it's 2011 and I'm back at the Royal National College for the Blind (and am back at the computer!).

Well it seems Vision Web Sight has been named one of the top 20 blogs for the vision impaired by Medical Assistant Schools! 

And nominations for 2011 are being taken now, so if you like VWS please click here to vote.

"This award highlights the very best blogs about being vision impaired on the internet as determined by the internet community. With the growing prominence of the internet in today's society, allowing for more people to have more access to information, the medical field is a very important niche. More and more people are trying to diagnose themselves, and although this tendency cannot be helped, the information they are using can definitely be ensured to be top notch. And so Medical Assistant Schools has provided the Top Blog Awards, not only to recognize those bloggers who are blogging with great content, but because we want to provide any information seeker with the best resources possible."

Quote from Medical Assistant Schools