FAQ About Visual Impairment/Blindness

[ARTPOP]

Hiya, my question was awnswed fine

New question: were you ever taunted or bullied for your blindness? Or taken advantage of at all (shoved into Men's toilets, drawn on, grass shoved in mounth [all things that happended to a blind girl I once knew]) ?

[Kate*]

Originally Posted by Agoraphobia♥

Thanks, both of your answers helped me now I have another question lolz.

For Kate: Assuming I'm not the only one, do you get annoyed when people hold up fingers like 2 feet away from your face and ask how many fingers they're holding up? I know it's curiosity but whether I have my glasses or not, if your fingers are shoved in my face, I can see them...

I was pretty lucky in that this never happened to me. I get more annoyed when I'm expected to read a fast tood menu for example and I ask my mom or dad for help and I have to explain what exactly "I can't see it" means. It means it's blurry because it's too far away and I need you to help me, what do you think it means?!

Or they have trouble understanding what poor depth perception looks like so when I'm standing in front of a curb they ask me if it looks flat. It doesn't. If I'm facing a curb or stairway from the bottom (in other words looking up at it) I can see that the steps have depth, however, if I'm standing on top of steps or curbs I can't tell how far down the steps are hence I fall down curbs, trip over uneven sidewalks and hate escalators.

Also, people don't understand that my glasses don't correct my vision completely, and I don't qualify for accommodations so I would often have teachers and other people tell me to just get new glasses and some teachers were less than accommodating, and I ended up embarrassed in front of everyone.

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Originally Posted by Agoraphobia♥

Wow, I'm sorry, that must be terrible. Sadly people do fake such disabilities just for attention, but I believe people if they say something. Even being able to see their fingers it's so annoying, and then once you say you can see them up close they yell to take off your glasses and run away a few feet and ask again, and then it's usually a "No I can't see them, now leave me alone" kinda deal. Also is there a way to write in braile without the special writer, or is that it? Sorry for all these questions. .

Don't be sorry at all.
Also, that sounds dreadful about people doing that to you too. I try to think of it as them just not being educated.
There are three ways to write in braille, there is the braille writer, known most times as the brailler. The slate and stylus (not used much now but some people use it, I do not), it is taking a metal slate, putting the paper in it and then writing from right to left the braille symbols backwards and then when the paper is turned over, if done correctly, you can read what you wrote. This is mostly used for people to write down information quick and for small things.
The third way to write braille is to use a notetaker, such as the one I linked to in a previous post, there are many different kinds and some are better than others. I really like the Braillenote, which I have now, but I have used a PAC Mate before.

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Originally Posted by Kate*

I was pretty lucky in that this never happened to me. I get more annoyed when I'm expected to read a fast tood menu for example and I ask my mom or dad for help and I have to explain what exactly "I can't see it" means. It means it's blurry because it's too far away and I need you to help me, what do you think it means?!

Or they have trouble understanding what poor depth perception looks like so when I'm standing in front of a curb they ask me if it looks flat. It doesn't. If I'm facing a curb or stairway from the bottom (in other words looking up at it) I can see that the steps have depth, however, if I'm standing on top of steps or curbs I can't tell how far down the steps are hence I fall down curbs, trip over uneven sidewalks and hate escalators.

Also, people don't understand that my glasses don't correct my vision completely, and I don't qualify for accommodations so I would often have teachers and other people tell me to just get new glasses and some teachers were less than accommodating, and I ended up embarrassed in front of everyone.

I definitely can relate, I get yelled at for not deciding what I want fast enough after I am read the entire menu. Or if we are in a restaurant, they ask me what I want to order and then when I ask what is on the menu, they get annoyed and just tell me to make up my mind.
I try to ask for Brailled menus, some places have them some don't.

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Originally Posted by Unicorn ♥✿

Hiya, my question was awnswed fine

New question: were you ever taunted or bullied for your blindness? Or taken advantage of at all (shoved into Men's toilets, drawn on, grass shoved in mounth [all things that happended to a blind girl I once knew]) ?

None of those things you mentioned happened to me but other things.
Like a kid throwing food at me once, making plans with people and them "forgetting" they invited me, having to try and fight my way out of a room that was being blocked by three people (happened several times), people coming in my room when I was not in here and then when I came in, they would jump out of the closet or wherever they were standing and scare me, trying to take food I held in my hands away and then not giving it back to me which ended up in me having to chase the person around until they gave it back (usually with ice creams), moving my belongings on me or taking them and then having me look for them in order to get them back, and so many other things...

[Apple Of Your Eye]

Hey YOU!
You're awesome!

Okay so my questions are-

-How are you able to use TH ? Like I understand you're using something that reads out whatever is written. But like your text has been edited to a font and colour. And like you use a lot of other features like quoting what others have said and all that. How do you do that? Also like if we're browsing the Internet, we can see where to click. How do you do that? How do you find out where to click?

-How do you cross roads? Can you do it on your own or do you need help?

-I once read this novel in which the protagonist was blind. So he had developed his sense of hearing all to make up for it, like you said you have too. In the book there was detailed description of how he could make out a lot about people's physical built just by hearing their footsteps. Like how tall a person is. Or if he shaked hands with someone, then by observing the angle of their hand's bending, he could make out a lot about their height. So can you do stuff like that too?

-How do you make out stuff in capitals on the internet? Like I wrote the "you" in the start of this post in capitals. Does it like change the tone or something?

That's all I guess

[Kate*]

Originally Posted by Childish Giggle

Hey YOU!
You're awesome!

Okay so my questions are-

-How are you able to use TH ?
-How do you cross roads? Can you do it on your own or do you need help?

-I once read this novel in which the protagonist was blind. So he had developed his sense of hearing all to make up for it, like you said you have too. In the book there was detailed description of how he could make out a lot about people's physical built just by hearing their footsteps. Like how tall a person is. Or if he shaked hands with someone, then by observing the angle of their hand's bending, he could make out a lot about their height. So can you do stuff like that too?


That's all I guess

I wonder about the first one too, my computer does have a program that reads the screen if I wanted to use it I could, but it won't read posts here so yours is probably different.

To answer the second question, I know that most crosswalks (at least where I live) have a feature where you can push a button and a voice will tell you when it's safe to cross, when there's traffic the thing beeps so you know where it is and also not to cross until it says to. You can also listen for traffic in places where the crosswalks don't exist.

Thrid question, LightStorm can probably answer this one. I don't need to do this because I can still see pretty well, but my hearing is well developed and I can tell this about people when they come up behind me, especailly indoors, but I can just tell weight and maybe height based on the way the floor creeks and the way it feels.

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

You all have AMAZING questions!!

Originally Posted by Childish Giggle

Hey YOU!
You're awesome!

Okay so my questions are-

-How are you able to use TH ? Like I understand you're using something that reads out whatever is written. But like your text has been edited to a font and colour. And like you use a lot of other features like quoting what others have said and all that. How do you do that? Also like if we're browsing the Internet, we can see where to click. How do you do that? How do you find out where to click?

-How do you cross roads? Can you do it on your own or do you need help?

-I once read this novel in which the protagonist was blind. So he had developed his sense of hearing all to make up for it, like you said you have too. In the book there was detailed description of how he could make out a lot about people's physical built just by hearing their footsteps. Like how tall a person is. Or if he shaked hands with someone, then by observing the angle of their hand's bending, he could make out a lot about their height. So can you do stuff like that too?

-How do you make out stuff in capitals on the internet? Like I wrote the "you" in the start of this post in capitals. Does it like change the tone or something?

That's all I guess

1. I use a program called JAWS (Job Access With Speech), it takes and reads what is on the screen.
When I come to a link on the page, it says "Link" just before it, for example, if I were going to the support forums, it would say
"Link Support Forums"
There also are a ton of features, like if I hit t on the keyboard, it takes me to the nearest table. (The forums are in a table format, which I really like) Also, I like how this site has a lot of lists and the organization is really perfect for someone using a screen reader.
About making capitals, there is a feature that allows all words in all caps to be spoken in a higher pitch tone but I have that turned off because the voice is really annoying. It will sound when I am making a capital (by hitting the shift with a letter or turning on caps lock) but other than that, I am not told capitals.
There are features available that allow many different things to be explained but I turn a lot of them off because they mostly are unnecessary and do not affect what I need to know about the screen I am on and they do not help with what I am doing.
I click links by hitting enter, I also can use keyboard commands to click the left or right mouse buttons but I rarely use those because enter is sufficient for most clicking purposes.
2. I use a red and white cane, the tip is red for cars to see and the rest of the cane is white and has reflective tape on it. I have to practice learning how to cross streets with an O&M (Orientation and Mobility) instructor. I usually have O&M on Saturdays because it does not conflict with my school time that way and I can get more practice that way.
I use my hearing a ton and rely on it for knowing when cars are coming. At traffic lights, where I live, we do not have the beeping for the crosswalks or the one that talks unfortunately, so I have to rely on the cars and my previous knowledge, my skills and mostly common sense. (Don't cross a road if a car is coming and do not cross if the road is empty (unless it is a t shaped intersection) and always go with the parallel traffic) In O&M, we learn that the parallel traffic are our "friends" because they help us be able to cross without having to worry about the perpendicular cars.
3. Yes, I can tell how tall a person is, somewhat, by listening to there voice or footsteps. Usually someone really tall has their voice above you, hence needing to look upward a little to speak to them while a person that is short has their voice below meaning to look a little down.
I also can, if I have known someone for a while, tell by their shoes on the ground who they are. Hahahaha, it is really cool but kinda creepy, cuse I can be like "Hi (insert someone's name here), how are you?" and then they usually are like "How'd you know it was me?" Also, I can tell by the way there shoe sounds on the floor, if the person has heavier steps, I can narrow down the people I know that have steps like that with those that do not.


If I feel up to it at some point, I will record JAWS reading maybe the home page of TH or something so you guys can see what it sounds like with the voice I use.

I hope that your questions were answered well and you are awesome too.

[ARTPOP]

Originally Posted by Total Light Storm

None of those things you mentioned happened to me but other things.
Like a kid throwing food at me once, making plans with people and them "forgetting" they invited me, having to try and fight my way out of a room that was being blocked by three people (happened several times), people coming in my room when I was not in here and then when I came in, they would jump out of the closet or wherever they were standing and scare me, trying to take food I held in my hands away and then not giving it back to me which ended up in me having to chase the person around until they gave it back (usually with ice creams), moving my belongings on me or taking them and then having me look for them in order to get them back, and so many other things...

That's awful. Why would people take advantage of a disability?

Okay, so is there any way to make things easier for JAWS to read for you? Like would it find me writing *STICKS OUT TONGUE* easier to understand than

So I know how to type to you on teen help

xx

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Originally Posted by Unicorn ♥✿

That's awful. Why would people take advantage of a disability?

Okay, so is there any way to make things easier for JAWS to read for you? Like would it find me writing *STICKS OUT TONGUE* easier to understand than

So I know how to type to you on teen help

xx

Yes, that is easier than writing :P because JAWS cannot read :P on this site for some reason, it used to be able to but I'm not really sure what happened...maybe I have to play with the settings again.

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Also, thank you for wanting to make things easier, I really appreciate that.

[Tigerlily.]

Okay so this might seem like a stupid question but, how do you play online games. Like can the reader tell you what's on the screen or is there a special kind of device, or do you just not play online games?

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Originally Posted by Agoraphobia♥

Okay so this might seem like a stupid question but, how do you play online games. Like can the reader tell you what's on the screen or is there a special kind of device, or do you just not play online games?

I do not play any online games. I have before though, a majority of them do not work with JAWS. I like roleplay games, I used to play one but I quit because they take up a ton of time and are usually mindless entertainment anyways, at least for me.
I like playing chess against the computer, have recently figured out solitaire and am trying to figure out how to play a couple of other games that came with my laptop.
Also no question is a stupid question.

[George^^]

Okay, I have a few questions, not sure if they've been asked, buuut...

Are you totally blind? My grandpa was blind, but... he could see a bit in little slivers in certain places (but then again, he wasn't born blind.)

I know blind people can dream, but do you? -It says so on this list of Dream Facts, and it depends on how old you were when you lost your sight, so, do you only sleep with sounds? (that's how they explained it...)

Do you ever wonder what you look like?

I'm sorry if these are rude, but I've been wondering about the dream one for a while, I would have asked my grandpa, but... It's hard to make a phone call to heaven to ask.

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Originally Posted by George^^

Okay, I have a few questions, not sure if they've been asked, buuut...

Are you totally blind? My grandpa was blind, but... he could see a bit in little slivers in certain places (but then again, he wasn't born blind.)

I know blind people can dream, but do you? -It says so on this list of Dream Facts, and it depends on how old you were when you lost your sight, so, do you only sleep with sounds? (that's how they explained it...)

Do you ever wonder what you look like?

I'm sorry if these are rude, but I've been wondering about the dream one for a while, I would have asked my grandpa, but... It's hard to make a phone call to heaven to ask.

Yes, I am totally blind.
I sort of dream but not really, nothing I remember. I can't remember my dreams, I know I have them but I do not always remember them. They are like sounds sort of but I kind of feel things too.
I always wonder what I look like. I wish I knew because I have people giving me differing opinions about my appearance quite a bit and it is hard and frustrating not knowing within yourself or being able to make a definiteve and personal decision as to whether or not I am pretty or not.
Also, I am sorry to hear about your grandfather, I bet he is glad you are curious about such things. And none of those were rude, so do not worry.

[George^^]

Yes, I am totally blind.
I sort of dream but not really, nothing I remember. I can't remember my dreams, I know I have them but I do not always remember them. They are like sounds sort of but I kind of feel things too.
I always wonder what I look like. I wish I knew because I have people giving me differing opinions about my appearance quite a bit and it is hard and frustrating not knowing within yourself or being able to make a definiteve and personal decision as to whether or not I am pretty or not.
Also, I am sorry to hear about your grandfather, I bet he is glad you are curious about such things. And none of those were rude, so do not worry.

Thanks, it's really cool to have an answer to the dream question...

Anyways, your not the only one who doesn't remember your dreams, I've only remembered one whole dream in the last 5 years or so.

Not knowing you, I'm guessing your beautiful, because beauty isn't just about apperances, it's about the way you feel about yourself and the way you are personality wise. A kind person is always prettier than someone who isn't. (Or at least that's the way I see it, it took a whole to get that way.)

^^'(*up arrow up arrow apostraphy as happy embarrased face* -just remembering the JAWS thing... which is really cool) It's alright, It's been a few years, so I'm more or less okay.

[George^^]

Yes, I am totally blind.
I sort of dream but not really, nothing I remember. I can't remember my dreams, I know I have them but I do not always remember them. They are like sounds sort of but I kind of feel things too.
I always wonder what I look like. I wish I knew because I have people giving me differing opinions about my appearance quite a bit and it is hard and frustrating not knowing within yourself or being able to make a definiteve and personal decision as to whether or not I am pretty or not.
Also, I am sorry to hear about your grandfather, I bet he is glad you are curious about such things. And none of those were rude, so do not worry.

Thanks, it's really cool to have an answer to the dream question...

Anyways, your not the only one who doesn't remember your dreams, I've only remembered one whole dream in the last 5 years or so.

Not knowing you, I'm guessing your beautiful, because beauty isn't just about apperances, it's about the way you feel about yourself and the way you are personality wise. A kind person is always prettier than someone who isn't. (Or at least that's the way I see it, it took a whole to get that way.)

^^'(*up arrow up arrow apostraphy as happy embarrased face* -just remembering the JAWS thing... which is really cool) It's alright, It's been a few years, so I'm more or less okay.

[Alone&Forgotten]

JAWS kinda annoys me I'm not saying its not helpful it has helped me but it has also messed me up in some ways. I'm visually imparied an info a speech each year at my high school for the freshman because we have many programs for kids who deal with different disabilities. One thin I always say " my vision doesn't stop me from what I want to do I get A's an B's in my classes and I'm not going to be labeled as a blind girl, but the girl who stood up and took the risk the one who people said that would graduate because my vision was bad or because I wasnt smart. If you believe in yourself and follow your dreams trust me you will get there like I will one day"

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Originally Posted by Kira-Kira

JAWS kinda annoys me I'm not saying its not helpful it has helped me but it has also messed me up in some ways. I'm visually imparied an info a speech each year at my high school for the freshman because we have many programs for kids who deal with different disabilities. One thin I always say " my vision doesn't stop me from what I want to do I get A's an B's in my classes and I'm not going to be labeled as a blind girl, but the girl who stood up and took the risk the one who people said that would graduate because my vision was bad or because I wasnt smart. If you believe in yourself and follow your dreams trust me you will get there like I will one day"

I really love your outlook on your future. You are very correct that your visual impairment doesn't stop you from succeeding. It does not stop anyone unless they let it.
I agree, some things about JAWS can be a bit annoying but it is like all technology and anything in life really, never will be perfect and never has been perfect.
If you ever need help with it, just let me know and I will be glad to help. I'm not sure how much you have used it or how used to it you are but you can PM or VM me any time for anything.

[Dr.Bobby]

The things you learn about people...

I have just learned that your strength and courage shall always serve you well, even in those darkest moments.....

[Kakorrhaphiophobia]

Originally Posted by Dr.Bobby

The things you learn about people...

I have just learned that your strength and courage shall always serve you well, even in those darkest moments.....

Thank you. I hope so...