Can someone tell me if you can clearly see me walking with Dee, and if you can tell that we are walking quickly? I might include it in my guide dog application but only if it is possible for them to judge my walking speed.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Goodbye Dee
I was so tired when I left my house; I’d only slept 3 hours. Before we left for the airport, I took a 3 minute last walk with Dee, and my driver filmed it so I can add it as part of my video for the guide dog schools. Dee was giving me her old fast pace, and her tail was wagging.
We had no problems getting to the gates, and my flights were on time. Dee was stressed out, and she had an accident in the airport in Denver.
On my flight from Denver, I cried for awhile. The person sitting next to me tried to have a conversation, but I just turned away to face the window. We got to Portland 5 pacific time, and we met Shelley outside of the gates. She asked me how I was, and said sad and started sobbing. I calmed down a couple minutes later, and I was able to talk. We went to some restaurant where we had burgers and tator totts.
Afterwards, it was time to say goodbye. Shelley went to find someone to show me where the gate was, while I hung out on the floor with Dee. Dee licked my face, panted, and was whining a little. She rolled over, and I rubbed her belly. She was all excited when I took the baggies of food and a new kong wubba toy from my back. When I got the elk antler, she took it from Shelley, and tried to run in circles on her leash. I disassembled the harness, took of the leash, and put her tags in my bag. Shelley hugged me, said she was sorry, and I cried some more.
After that, I went back through security again. I was too upset to talk, and all I could was nod or shake my head. The airport person wanted to know if I was ok. I kept walking into everything with my cane and wasn’t judging my distances and turns well. I was so thankful that the flight from Oregon to San Francisco was relatively empty, so I had a row to myself. I faced the window again, put a handkerchief over my face, and tried to cry silently for the first hour of the trip.
I know Dee is happy with Shelley. She remembered her, and we saw her at the airport, Dee jumped in the air and licked her in the face. I miss her. I’ve been ok since the flight from San Francisco; I was able to talk about her and even saw another dog. But now I’m crying again, so I’m going to post this and read a book or do something to try to distract myself from the sadness.
We had no problems getting to the gates, and my flights were on time. Dee was stressed out, and she had an accident in the airport in Denver.
On my flight from Denver, I cried for awhile. The person sitting next to me tried to have a conversation, but I just turned away to face the window. We got to Portland 5 pacific time, and we met Shelley outside of the gates. She asked me how I was, and said sad and started sobbing. I calmed down a couple minutes later, and I was able to talk. We went to some restaurant where we had burgers and tator totts.
Afterwards, it was time to say goodbye. Shelley went to find someone to show me where the gate was, while I hung out on the floor with Dee. Dee licked my face, panted, and was whining a little. She rolled over, and I rubbed her belly. She was all excited when I took the baggies of food and a new kong wubba toy from my back. When I got the elk antler, she took it from Shelley, and tried to run in circles on her leash. I disassembled the harness, took of the leash, and put her tags in my bag. Shelley hugged me, said she was sorry, and I cried some more.
After that, I went back through security again. I was too upset to talk, and all I could was nod or shake my head. The airport person wanted to know if I was ok. I kept walking into everything with my cane and wasn’t judging my distances and turns well. I was so thankful that the flight from Oregon to San Francisco was relatively empty, so I had a row to myself. I faced the window again, put a handkerchief over my face, and tried to cry silently for the first hour of the trip.
I know Dee is happy with Shelley. She remembered her, and we saw her at the airport, Dee jumped in the air and licked her in the face. I miss her. I’ve been ok since the flight from San Francisco; I was able to talk about her and even saw another dog. But now I’m crying again, so I’m going to post this and read a book or do something to try to distract myself from the sadness.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
obstacles in retirement
This is my post for The Sixth Assistance Dog Blog Carnival Because of back and shoulder problems, my four-year-old guide dog, a black lab Dee, is retired. We've had other obstacles in the past, but this is the one in my heart right now.
First, there are situational obstacles that do not allow me to keep her as a pet. I live in an apartment complex where no pets are allowed. the other major problem is lack of money. I am a grad student living on SSI and disability income. By the time I pay rent, electricity, and maybe the phone bill, I have enough money to pay for cabs or drivers and dog food for the new dog I will hopefully get some time this year. Even if I moved to somewhere pet friendly, it is not possible to pay for food, vet bills, toys, and grooming for two animals.
My next one was where did I want to place Dee. The guide dog school can placed retired dogs, but I would have no idea where she ended up, and I want updates for whoever has her. I had a few possibilities. One person who liked Dee would have given her a good home and attention, except there was no fenced in yard and Dee's off leash recall isn't as good as it should be. Another person was interested, but since she had a baby, she couldn't handle that and a new dog at the same time. Finally, I've been in contact with Dee's puppy raiser ever since I got her in 2009, and she gladly agreed to take her back.
Once she decided she wanted Dee, I had to figure out how to get her from Louisiana where I live to Oregon where she lives. GDB wanted to ship her as cargo, but I didn't like that. I was worried about her being under the plane in winter or that she would be lost in the airport transfers. I also want to say goodbye, and it feels like a better send off than putting her in a strange situation that might be scarey for her.
As I wrote before, I am on a fixed income, and plane travel is expensive. I talked to the guide dog school who will reimburse the price that it would have cost to fly Dee in cargo. I didn't have the money up front for the plane ticket. Fortunately,Dee's raiser paid for the ticket, GDB is sending her the check they would have sent to me, and I will give her the rest when I am able in a couple months.
Finally, there are emotional obstacles. I miss her guiding me; she was with me through everything: global issues conferences, interviews for journalism and research projects, my job working with blind children and adults, blindness training in Minneapolis, graduation from college, and my move from Pennsylvania to grad school. She was always so confident with her head held high and her tail enthusiastically wagging, except when it rained. She was the reason why I gained confidence crossing busy city streets with my cane, so I could teach her that traffic wasn't scarey. She helped me balance when my hips were hurting and after I sprained my ankles. She kept me crossing in a straight line when I was dizzy from problems with anemia and hypoglysemia, so I wouldn't veer into oncoming traffic. I will miss her companionship, just lying on the floor and petting her or watching her excitedly play with the other dog and person who live with us.
Sometimes situations cannot be avoided or overcome. Even though it breaks my heart to put her in a new home, the dog who guided me through everything needs me to get past these final obstacles, so she can be free to enjoy her well-earned retirement after her two years of service.
Monday, January 16, 2012
good news
Things have gotten much better since my last post. My old boss talked to the lions club where he is a member, and they have graciously agreed to cover my $3,000 tuition bill from last quarter. That means I will now be able to register for classes in February, and the classes will start in March.
Shelley, Dee's puppy raiser and new owner, paid for my flight. GDB is going to reimburse her $500 and I will give her the rest. It's going to be a very long day. I leave Monroe, La at 9 am, get to Houston at 11, Denver at 2, Portland at 5 where I will transfer Dee, Sanfrancisco at 9, Chicago at 5:30 the next morning, and finally Baltimore at 12:00. After that, I am going to take a train to D.C. to spend a few days with my best friend Beckie who is in seminary there. Later that week, I will be attending a teacher leader seminar for teachers of blind students. I've also been able to get a few of the vitamin and other supplements that I need to keep me functioning ok. My medicare prescription card came, and I am so relieved!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
unwell state of being
Things tend to go like this for me. I can usually handle a problem but when it causes multiple problems or little ones add up to issues, that’s when it’s bad.
I’ve said it before, but I’m exhausted and have no energy. I am also very broke. I get $720 per month. $570 of that is rent plus $30-$40 for electric. My guide dog Dee’s food is $50. That leaves me $70 to have readers for grocery shopping and going out to dinner a couple times with friends. Because of this, my phone has been off for the past 2 months, and even though it is off, I’m still charged the $120 service, even though I’m not using it. I owe $400 to them plus $30 for late fees and $30 to reactivate my number. I owe $200 to a doctor in Minneapolis after I sprayned my ankles and needed treatment, $260 to a former roommate when I borrowed it last year to buy groceries, $120 or something to my current roommate, $100 to my uncle who shipped me the rest of my packages from Pennsylvania to Louisiana, and $300 for something, maybe a former internet service provider? Thank God for food stamps.
I was supposed to have classes this quarter, but I don’t. I should have qualified to at least get stafford loans, but I did not. I cannot get a private student loan because I do not qualify, my mom doesn’t have enough money and thanks to me, not a good credit history, to cosign. Other family members plus other people I have asked can’t or don’t want to cosign for me. Rehab will cover me for the rest of my tuition for this degree, but because of ridiculousness on my end and others, I didn’t get unconditional admission last quarter. Since there was no unconditional admission, they weren’t able to pay. I owe $4,000 to the university, and until I can find some way to pay it, I can’t register for classes and rehab can’t pay until this balance is gone. Since I am not taking classes, rehab can’t pay for my rent.
Also, Dee is retired, which just makes me feel sad and all that horrible stuff. Her puppy raisers want her, but they live in Oregon. GDB wants me to take Dee to Dallas and ship her as cargo. First of all, I have no money; Dallas is a few hours from here, so I would either have to fly, take the bus, or hire a driver. Second, I don’t feel safe having Dee travel under the plane during the winter. If I did that, I would have to buy a crate which is like $100. The best way for her to get to Oregon is if I fly her as a service dog in the cabin. GDB says it’s too expensive and too long of a flight for them to cover the cost. I’m going to ask them if they can give me whatever amount they would have paid for shipping towards the cost of my plane ticket. I wanted to have Dee go this month, but that is definitely not happening now.
For some reason, I am having issues with both of my insurance providers. I am not getting medicare anymore, even though I changed my permanent address with the post office and social security. I should also have Medicaid, but I still have no card. I’ve called them five times requesting new cards; they have said each time that they mailed one. I verified my address is correct with them, and still no card. No card means no prescriptions which are necessary to my health. I am supposed to have a vitamin b12 shot as well as iron and other things for my severe anemia.
I usually take supplements in addition to my prescriptions. Omega 3 oils, multi vitamin/mineral, vitamin c, antioxidants, b-complex, glutamine, tryptophin, and probiotics/digestive enzymes. These help me to manage my hypoglysemic tendancies and depression. Since I am out of all of these and that adds up to about $250 per month, my ability to concentrate, have motivation, digest well, and overall handle stress is making me feel awful. Since I will not have money any time soon, I will be off for the next few months, more than I usually am.
Pray or send good vibes or whatever; something needs to give soon.
I’ve said it before, but I’m exhausted and have no energy. I am also very broke. I get $720 per month. $570 of that is rent plus $30-$40 for electric. My guide dog Dee’s food is $50. That leaves me $70 to have readers for grocery shopping and going out to dinner a couple times with friends. Because of this, my phone has been off for the past 2 months, and even though it is off, I’m still charged the $120 service, even though I’m not using it. I owe $400 to them plus $30 for late fees and $30 to reactivate my number. I owe $200 to a doctor in Minneapolis after I sprayned my ankles and needed treatment, $260 to a former roommate when I borrowed it last year to buy groceries, $120 or something to my current roommate, $100 to my uncle who shipped me the rest of my packages from Pennsylvania to Louisiana, and $300 for something, maybe a former internet service provider? Thank God for food stamps.
I was supposed to have classes this quarter, but I don’t. I should have qualified to at least get stafford loans, but I did not. I cannot get a private student loan because I do not qualify, my mom doesn’t have enough money and thanks to me, not a good credit history, to cosign. Other family members plus other people I have asked can’t or don’t want to cosign for me. Rehab will cover me for the rest of my tuition for this degree, but because of ridiculousness on my end and others, I didn’t get unconditional admission last quarter. Since there was no unconditional admission, they weren’t able to pay. I owe $4,000 to the university, and until I can find some way to pay it, I can’t register for classes and rehab can’t pay until this balance is gone. Since I am not taking classes, rehab can’t pay for my rent.
Also, Dee is retired, which just makes me feel sad and all that horrible stuff. Her puppy raisers want her, but they live in Oregon. GDB wants me to take Dee to Dallas and ship her as cargo. First of all, I have no money; Dallas is a few hours from here, so I would either have to fly, take the bus, or hire a driver. Second, I don’t feel safe having Dee travel under the plane during the winter. If I did that, I would have to buy a crate which is like $100. The best way for her to get to Oregon is if I fly her as a service dog in the cabin. GDB says it’s too expensive and too long of a flight for them to cover the cost. I’m going to ask them if they can give me whatever amount they would have paid for shipping towards the cost of my plane ticket. I wanted to have Dee go this month, but that is definitely not happening now.
For some reason, I am having issues with both of my insurance providers. I am not getting medicare anymore, even though I changed my permanent address with the post office and social security. I should also have Medicaid, but I still have no card. I’ve called them five times requesting new cards; they have said each time that they mailed one. I verified my address is correct with them, and still no card. No card means no prescriptions which are necessary to my health. I am supposed to have a vitamin b12 shot as well as iron and other things for my severe anemia.
I usually take supplements in addition to my prescriptions. Omega 3 oils, multi vitamin/mineral, vitamin c, antioxidants, b-complex, glutamine, tryptophin, and probiotics/digestive enzymes. These help me to manage my hypoglysemic tendancies and depression. Since I am out of all of these and that adds up to about $250 per month, my ability to concentrate, have motivation, digest well, and overall handle stress is making me feel awful. Since I will not have money any time soon, I will be off for the next few months, more than I usually am.
Pray or send good vibes or whatever; something needs to give soon.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Why is it always the woman?
Recently, one of my friends told me about an experience with a date. He pinned her wrists and pressured her for sex. She told him to stop and it was making her uncomfortable, yet he told her that she wanted it and to relax.
Some people say it’s the woman’s responsibility for her actions as well as the man’s. Not true! A woman has the right, at any time, to say stop and that she doesn’t like it, and the man will ideally respect her wishes. That also goes the other way around if the man is uncomfortable.
It is a form of victim blaming. “if she didn’t want to have sex, she shouldn’t have started something.” I think the question should be, “why is it automatically the woman’s fault, and why does the man not have to have self-control?
Some people say it’s the woman’s responsibility for her actions as well as the man’s. Not true! A woman has the right, at any time, to say stop and that she doesn’t like it, and the man will ideally respect her wishes. That also goes the other way around if the man is uncomfortable.
It is a form of victim blaming. “if she didn’t want to have sex, she shouldn’t have started something.” I think the question should be, “why is it automatically the woman’s fault, and why does the man not have to have self-control?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
tired as usual
I woke up at 7:30 when someone east coast time called my phone. After that, I tried to scan mail, but of course it kept freezing every two minutes. Eventually, I fed and relieved Dee, vacuumed, did laundry, and ran out the door to go to my practicum. It wasn't a bad drive; my professor is a nice person to talk to, and she gave me good advice about working with the student. She said I need to be friendly with the secretary and the principal as well as the child's teacher, so they can realize I am a competent person and that I am helping him.
Whenever someone sighted is with me, other people tend to talk to that person and assume I can't do anything. For example, one of the staff I spoke with asked my adviser if "how will she get here every day?" I responded that I have a driver and that I will be calling every morning to make sure he is there before making the trip.
This is the hard part for me; I am a business kind of person. I'm not good with small talk and doing the social niceties; I'm there to do a job and would like to get on with it. It's also my north mentality. I've noticed in the South that people like to have long conversations. For example, I went to the scrapbooking store a few weeks ago. The lady wanted to show us books her daughter made as well as cards and other things she designed; she also told us all about her wedding and her daughter's boyfriend and other things. All I wanted to do was get my paper and go; I also had a major headache which was not helping my patience.
Anyway, after we drove back to campus, I worked with another blind girl. We are reading the Barenstein Bears book, and we are half way through. She is having trouble with the ou sign which stands for out when written alone as well as the sh sign and the ch sign.
After that, I came home and attempted to make fudge. What a disaster. I didn't read closely enough to see that it said "powdered" sugar and used white sugar instead. I feel kind of nauseated from eating a piece of that fudge.
Monday, November 28, 2011
first field experience
I have five years of experience working with blind kids and adults, helping them learn to use the computer, elelectronic Braille devices, cooking, and other independent living things. But tomorrow is my first time working alone with a student. I have always worked alone with the adults, but with the kids, there was a Braille teacher and a travel teacher. Now, I am the only one. I am nervous; what if I don’t do well helping him learn to read? What if I have no idea how to teach? I’ll be dressed in a nice blouse with wool pants and my hair braided. Sometimes I feel as if I am playing at being an adult and more as if I am playing at being a teacher. Please God, help me to do well with this student.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Three wise women
There are many people who have affected me regarding my blindness and life in general.
One was Rose; she was my parapro from seventh through the middle of tenth grade. She helped me orient myself to the school, brailled things, made accessible pictures for math and science, ETC. I was terrified of entering junior high; elementary school was small, and I knew how to find everything. Suddenly, I was going into a junior high with four floors and 1,000 other students trying to get to class before the 3 minute bell rang. As I’ve written before, I was terribly shy and didn’t want to say anything to anyone in authority. She was always asking me questions. “you read that poem for English; what do you think the symbols mean? You talked about the death penalty in class; are you for or against, why?” At first, I just kept saying, “I don’t know,” and she said you have to have an opinion in there somewhere. Eventually, I began sharing my thoughts, even if I didn’t tell anyone else. We talked about race and racism, how I didn’t enjoy being catholic, family, ETC. She had high expectations for me academically and independence. I slowly gained confidence traveling the halls of the school, even when she was not walking with me
Another one is Doreen. She was my parapro after Rose took a different job. Besides all the scanning, editing, and brailling with AP Euro and three foreign languages, along with four other subjects she had to Braille, she listened to me as well. By this time, I knew how to be articulate with my feelings and beliefs and wasn’t afraid to share, even if they went against others around me. I talk to her about my mom problems. I told her my point of view on politics and religion. She is liberal and Methodist, so we have the same points of view. It was nice to find someone to share these ideas with and not have them be angry because of my beliefs. I told her about what I wanted to do in the future. Back then, I absolutely loved foreign languages, especially Spanish. I was born in Paraguay South America, where Spanish is the native language. I had four years in high school, and I planned to minor in it in college. I eventually wanted to live in a Spanish-speaking area to write and live in a bilingual community. When I told her that, she was like, that's great; I think you can do it. When I told my mom, she was like, why do you want to move so far away, to get away from me? Why do you want to live where there is Spanish culture; what's wrong with English.
Besides problems, I talked to her about things that were happy. When I got my first guide Valerie, she was the first person, besides Beckie, that I called. When I completed my first solo, I talked to her about it. When I got my AP scores, scholarships, my first job at kids camp, being able to go to Texas for NFB national convention, joined clubs, I told Doreen. She went with me to foreign language competition, where I was the top winner in Spanish for our region. The top winner in each language gets an Oxford dictionary for that language. It is a HUGE book!!! When I told my mom, she was like, what are you going to do with a print dictionary? I was like, that's not the point; the point is that is a prize for winning. We also went to New York to see hairspray. My mom was llike, what is soo great about new York and musicals; they are borring. We still talk every six months or so; I tell her about my life, and she tells me about hers.
Finally, there is Cheryl. I had posted on the NFB national association of blind students e-mail list that I was interested in being a journalist; Allison, one of the board members, emailed with contact info for a totally blind journalist from Michigan. I was so excited; finally there was someone who worked in the business for 30 years I could ask technical questions, writing help, and how to complete aspects of the job related to blindness. I was unsure what to say in the email, so I just said I was a 16-year-old blind student looking to talk. I think I wanted to know if I could do page layouts and how I could edit stories in class since everyone turned them in in print. To my surprise and happiness, she wrote back. “Dear Martha,
Well, I have a little more time to write and think about your
questions. I got your e-mail last night while I was at work to write
a story for Monday's paper, and I had to scoot pretty quickly, so I
didn't write much.
I was thinking - is there any way you can print up the dummies to a
braille embosser? That would be a pretty cool thing if you had one at
school and it could interface with the print printer.
I'll try to get information on a woman who edits and does design layout for a newsletter.
Unfortunately, you might have to have a little adaptation for your editing, and perform those tasks on a computer exclusively. I edit on my computer, but really don't know of any other way except the
braille embosser idea. I have one at home, not at work.
What I most want to tell you is that, yes, a totally blind person can
work at a newspaper. I never had anyone to tell me that when I was in
school, so i planned on getting two college majors just in case the
journalism one didn't work out. But it did!
As a professional, the biggest thing you need is a good support
system of several people who can drive for you if your local bus
system doesn't go everywhere you want it to. It's a good idea to get
retired people who are strongly civic minded; they know how important
it is for you to get there on time and come off as the class act that
I bet you are.
Where do you live? Would you ever be interested in coming up here and
job shadowing with me? It'd be swell!
By the way, I took graphics, but I worked with a reader and told her
verbally what I needed done, and she did it. That's the only way I
could think of at the time to get through it. I also took editing. I,
too, worked on the literary magazine as a high school sophomore. What
I never did is yearbook - I'd love to hear about that.
This probably is the most challenging job you'll ever have. Get ready!
Cheryl”
After that, we exchanged many more emails. We expanded to talking about guide dogs, other aspects of blindness, religion, and just life. We met some time when she came to my hometown for a Christian conference and again when I went to Michigan for a dog scout camp in 2008.
That first email was 8 years ago; we both are now on different paths; I had depression as well as journalism burn out, so I went to grad school to become a teacher of blind students. The field is ever changing, and she also went back to grad school to become a rehab counselor. Even though I am no longer interested in journalism, we are still good friends. We email and have 2-hour long phone conversations. She listens to my dog ramblings and omg I don’t know if I can do this’s! She talks to me, and sometimes I have no idea what to say, so I listen and hope that is enough.
Writing is not as easy for me as it once was; it is hard for me to put things together with good detail and descriptions, especially when it is an emotional subject like this one. Being an inspiration and being thankful often brings up feelings associated with negativity, gratitude for accommodations, or pity disguised as compliments from the able-bodied public. However, in this case, I raise my virtual glass to these three women. Thank you for your overflowing cup of kindness and always treading lightly on my dreams.
This is my submission for this month’s edition of the disability blog carnival Please consider reading the other submissions and leaving comments for the authors.
One was Rose; she was my parapro from seventh through the middle of tenth grade. She helped me orient myself to the school, brailled things, made accessible pictures for math and science, ETC. I was terrified of entering junior high; elementary school was small, and I knew how to find everything. Suddenly, I was going into a junior high with four floors and 1,000 other students trying to get to class before the 3 minute bell rang. As I’ve written before, I was terribly shy and didn’t want to say anything to anyone in authority. She was always asking me questions. “you read that poem for English; what do you think the symbols mean? You talked about the death penalty in class; are you for or against, why?” At first, I just kept saying, “I don’t know,” and she said you have to have an opinion in there somewhere. Eventually, I began sharing my thoughts, even if I didn’t tell anyone else. We talked about race and racism, how I didn’t enjoy being catholic, family, ETC. She had high expectations for me academically and independence. I slowly gained confidence traveling the halls of the school, even when she was not walking with me
Another one is Doreen. She was my parapro after Rose took a different job. Besides all the scanning, editing, and brailling with AP Euro and three foreign languages, along with four other subjects she had to Braille, she listened to me as well. By this time, I knew how to be articulate with my feelings and beliefs and wasn’t afraid to share, even if they went against others around me. I talk to her about my mom problems. I told her my point of view on politics and religion. She is liberal and Methodist, so we have the same points of view. It was nice to find someone to share these ideas with and not have them be angry because of my beliefs. I told her about what I wanted to do in the future. Back then, I absolutely loved foreign languages, especially Spanish. I was born in Paraguay South America, where Spanish is the native language. I had four years in high school, and I planned to minor in it in college. I eventually wanted to live in a Spanish-speaking area to write and live in a bilingual community. When I told her that, she was like, that's great; I think you can do it. When I told my mom, she was like, why do you want to move so far away, to get away from me? Why do you want to live where there is Spanish culture; what's wrong with English.
Besides problems, I talked to her about things that were happy. When I got my first guide Valerie, she was the first person, besides Beckie, that I called. When I completed my first solo, I talked to her about it. When I got my AP scores, scholarships, my first job at kids camp, being able to go to Texas for NFB national convention, joined clubs, I told Doreen. She went with me to foreign language competition, where I was the top winner in Spanish for our region. The top winner in each language gets an Oxford dictionary for that language. It is a HUGE book!!! When I told my mom, she was like, what are you going to do with a print dictionary? I was like, that's not the point; the point is that is a prize for winning. We also went to New York to see hairspray. My mom was llike, what is soo great about new York and musicals; they are borring. We still talk every six months or so; I tell her about my life, and she tells me about hers.
Finally, there is Cheryl. I had posted on the NFB national association of blind students e-mail list that I was interested in being a journalist; Allison, one of the board members, emailed with contact info for a totally blind journalist from Michigan. I was so excited; finally there was someone who worked in the business for 30 years I could ask technical questions, writing help, and how to complete aspects of the job related to blindness. I was unsure what to say in the email, so I just said I was a 16-year-old blind student looking to talk. I think I wanted to know if I could do page layouts and how I could edit stories in class since everyone turned them in in print. To my surprise and happiness, she wrote back. “Dear Martha,
Well, I have a little more time to write and think about your
questions. I got your e-mail last night while I was at work to write
a story for Monday's paper, and I had to scoot pretty quickly, so I
didn't write much.
I was thinking - is there any way you can print up the dummies to a
braille embosser? That would be a pretty cool thing if you had one at
school and it could interface with the print printer.
I'll try to get information on a woman who edits and does design layout for a newsletter.
Unfortunately, you might have to have a little adaptation for your editing, and perform those tasks on a computer exclusively. I edit on my computer, but really don't know of any other way except the
braille embosser idea. I have one at home, not at work.
What I most want to tell you is that, yes, a totally blind person can
work at a newspaper. I never had anyone to tell me that when I was in
school, so i planned on getting two college majors just in case the
journalism one didn't work out. But it did!
As a professional, the biggest thing you need is a good support
system of several people who can drive for you if your local bus
system doesn't go everywhere you want it to. It's a good idea to get
retired people who are strongly civic minded; they know how important
it is for you to get there on time and come off as the class act that
I bet you are.
Where do you live? Would you ever be interested in coming up here and
job shadowing with me? It'd be swell!
By the way, I took graphics, but I worked with a reader and told her
verbally what I needed done, and she did it. That's the only way I
could think of at the time to get through it. I also took editing. I,
too, worked on the literary magazine as a high school sophomore. What
I never did is yearbook - I'd love to hear about that.
This probably is the most challenging job you'll ever have. Get ready!
Cheryl”
After that, we exchanged many more emails. We expanded to talking about guide dogs, other aspects of blindness, religion, and just life. We met some time when she came to my hometown for a Christian conference and again when I went to Michigan for a dog scout camp in 2008.
That first email was 8 years ago; we both are now on different paths; I had depression as well as journalism burn out, so I went to grad school to become a teacher of blind students. The field is ever changing, and she also went back to grad school to become a rehab counselor. Even though I am no longer interested in journalism, we are still good friends. We email and have 2-hour long phone conversations. She listens to my dog ramblings and omg I don’t know if I can do this’s! She talks to me, and sometimes I have no idea what to say, so I listen and hope that is enough.
Writing is not as easy for me as it once was; it is hard for me to put things together with good detail and descriptions, especially when it is an emotional subject like this one. Being an inspiration and being thankful often brings up feelings associated with negativity, gratitude for accommodations, or pity disguised as compliments from the able-bodied public. However, in this case, I raise my virtual glass to these three women. Thank you for your overflowing cup of kindness and always treading lightly on my dreams.
This is my submission for this month’s edition of the disability blog carnival Please consider reading the other submissions and leaving comments for the authors.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
no pet bottles
I try to find ways to minimize my carbon footprint. One way I do this is to not buy disposable waterbottles. They are made from petroleum, which is disasterous for the environment. They are made of PET which is harmful plastic. I can tell because it smells funny when I open it, and the water has a disgusting plastic taste if it is a few weeks old.
Having a reusable water bottle saves me money. I also have a britta pitcher; while it is also a plastic item, one plastic item with a one-time expense is much better than putting hundereds of bottles in the trash because where I live does not have a recycling program. I drink at least 80 oz of water per day; I love how it tastes, and I love knowing that no matter how long it is in my stainless steel klean kantine bottle that it will stay cold and not taste or smell awful when I drink.
Having a reusable water bottle saves me money. I also have a britta pitcher; while it is also a plastic item, one plastic item with a one-time expense is much better than putting hundereds of bottles in the trash because where I live does not have a recycling program. I drink at least 80 oz of water per day; I love how it tastes, and I love knowing that no matter how long it is in my stainless steel klean kantine bottle that it will stay cold and not taste or smell awful when I drink.
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