Category: Visual Impairment

3 Ways to Custom ID Your Keys

Pictured: Four keys on a silver key ring. Two of the keys have brightly painted tops, one white and the other pink. The two remaining keys are unpainted.

How many keys do you carry with you? I have four keys on my key ring. Sometimes it is hard to tell which key I need in the moment.

My four keys can be distinguished by size and shape. There is one small key, two medium sized keys, and one large key. Unlike the others, the large key has a square shape to it. It is the two medium sized keys that often pose a problem. Left in their original state, It is difficult to distinguish them due to their similar size and shape.

There are a number of ways to customize keys so that they can be distinguished by touch and by sight. Your vision can impose more specific needs. So here are some ideas.

Pictured: A selection of customizing materials. There are bump dots of various sizes, colors, and textures, two jars of nail polish (one white and one pink), and a braille label maker.
  1. Place a bump dot at the top of the key used most often.  A second key might have two bump dots, and a third might have a bump dot on the front and back of the top of a key.  Bump dots are available in different sizes, shapes, colors, and textures,so finding what works bests for you offers many choices.
  2. Add braille by using a braille label maker. A brailled F for front door and a B for back door or M for mail might prove helpful. These are just suggestions to get you started.
  3. Paint the tops of your keys with nail polish. Nail polish is very durable. There are lots of colors to choose from, even glow-in-the-dark types. I painted my 2 medium sized keys with nail polish to differentiate them – one white, one a dark pink.

Customizing the look and feel of your keys could be your key to success.

BOOK REVIEW: A Brush with Darkness

A BRUSH WITH DARKNESS: Learning to Paint After Losing My Sight by LISA FITTIPALDI - FIRST EDITION - 2004 - from Gian Luigi Fine Books Inc. (SKU: 037026)
Pictured:  Book Cover – A Brush with Darkness

by Lisa Fittipaldi

What happens when you lose your sight? How do you feel?  What do you feel?  How do you go on?

Lisa Fittipaldi lost her sight.  It was unexpected, unplanned. She was thrust into a world without sight and suddenly everything was different. Even the simplest acts, like brushing her teeth, became an overwhelming ordeal, one event among countless others that had to be relearned and conquered.  It was her husband who  put paints and brushes in her hands and told her to go with it.  I suspect she had painted before, or at least expressed an interest, but this was different.  This was learning to paint when she did not even know how to walk.

Lisa Fittipaldi articulated so many of my experiences.  I could relate to her trials and tribulations, her awarenesses, her triumphs and failures.  Yet I was born that way, always having to learn to do things my way, all the while dealing with people who just do not get it.

This book is inspirational. A must-read for anyone who has lost their sight, or hearing, a finger, a leg, or anything else that others may label a disability. You just may find an inner strength that makes you even better.

 “Being blind is like being blond. It just is.”    (p. 125)

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Available through BARD and bookshare:

Count on This

I need a pedometer.  A pedometer will help me focus on staying active and healthy.  The search is on!

iPhone XR
Pictured: iPhone XR with step counter app displaying large, clear step count.

But first a confession. I actually already have a step counter, and I use it all the time.  My iPhone has a step counter, a good one too.  The screen is large, bright, and easy to read. Using it, however, means keeping the phone with me at all times.  I even bought a holster that clips onto my jeans pocket to host my iPhone, keeping it with me every step of the day.

There’s a problem. The iPhone is heavy.  Add the weight of the holster and it really is a drag to carry around all day every day.  After months of doing so, decided I need a tiny gizmo to count my steps.  My phone can stay in my purse or at my desk, or wherever and just be my phone.

WiWoo MP3
Pictured: Tiny MP3 player by Wiwoo about 1.5 inches square that includes a pedometer.

I studied the market.  I need a simple step counter that is small, lightweight, and can live unobtrusively in my pocket.  I finally selected a tiny MP3 player that includes a pedometer, made by a company that calls itself Wiwoo.  The screen is clear, and backlit, and the whole thing is less than two inches square.  I soon learned, however, that the screen is too tiny to read and getting into the pedometer part of the gizmo is a major hassle.   So I returned it.

VoiceZone
Pictured: Talking pedometer by VoiceZone, about 2 inches tall.

Next I tried a talking pedometer by VoiceZone. With that, I don’t have to worry about screen size.  After all, the gizmo will read the step count aloud to me.  Since that is all this gizmo does, it appeared to be easy to operate.  It disappointed me big time!  First, it was difficult to hear and understand, especially outdoors with street noise, or even indoors with the TV on or a pot boiling on the stove in the next room!  The screen  (no backlighting) is impossible for me to see.  Finally, it did some crazy step-counting!  I could easily reach 5,000 steps in about an hour with this thing.  So I returned it.  This company, by the way,  doesn’t accept returns, they were quick to tell me.  When I responded that I understood and would simply write an honest review on amazon, they immediately granted me “an exception” of a full refund.

Omron
Pictured: A pedometer by Omron, about 2.75 inches long, with tiny screen and no speech.

Finally, I ordered a small pedometer from Omron, a healthcare company.  They offered free shipping and promised accuracy.  Remarkably it turned out to be the least expensive of the three gizmos I tried.  And I love it.  So I have to hold this pedometer close, up to my nose, and then squint to read it.  I can do that!

 

 

The Door Did It

broken
Pictured: Broken eyeglasses, one lens out, frame broken.

Last night I walked, full speed, face first, smack into a heavy glass door.  BAM!  ! I was stopped dead in my tracks.  Well, not dead dead, but, well, you know what I mean!  I was stunned! I was hurting.

Still standing, I was trying desperately to figure out what happened.  My husband at my side  pointed out that my glasses were broken.  I was actually glad to hear that, because all I could see was blobs and blur.  One lens was retrieved from the floor.  Did glass shatter into my eyes?  The orbit around my right eye was sore.  Was I bleeding?  Did I crack the door?

Once I realized I was essentially okay – I was still standing, after all, and there was no gushing blood – I started to feel embarrassed.  I was standing in a glass enclosure – the well-lit entry vestibule to a busy restaurant.  I was clearly visible to passersby on a busy street, seated diners within the restaurant, and lots of wait staff.  Surely the loud thud caused people to look.  But no one approached.  No one checked on me.

We had dinner.  Yes, we really did!  I sat in a hazy blur and ate dinner.  We weren’t as chatty as usual, still processing what the heck happened there!  I had two thoughts running through my head over and over again: how am I going to get home (a half-mile walk in the dark of night with street lights and car headlights creating huge albeit beautiful starbursts and no practical vision otherwise),  and maybe I should order a scrumptious dessert – you know, comfort food!

Once home, I checked a drawer where I keep a few pairs of old eyeglasses in case of emergencies such as this.  My eyeglasses are extremely expensive and they take weeks to make, not an hour as advertised on TV, so I only get new glasses every 4-5 years or so. The glasses in that drawer could be 5, 10, even 20 years old.  I had apparently saved two old pairs that undoubtedly were better than nothing.

I opened each eyeglass case and uncovered a pair of glasses that looked practically brand new.  Where did these come from?  Could they possibly help now?  It seems they work remarkably well!

So aside from a little bruising and soreness, I’m good now.  I walked into a heavy glass entry door last night…

#BlindAbilities

People who are blind or visually impaired can do anything!  Sometimes we do things differently.

This video is dedicated to all people who are blind or visually impaired.

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Your comments are welcome –

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Choice Magazine Listening – and it is FREE

Choice Magazine Listening (CML) is a nonprofit organization that provides audio recordings of memorable articles, stories, interviews, essays and poems from outstanding current magazines, completely free of charge, to blind, visually impaired, physically disabled or dyslexic adults in the United States.  Based in Port Washington, NY, CML has proudly served the blind and print-disabled community since 1962.

Every winter, spring, summer and fall, thousands of eligible people in the United States receive Choice Magazine Listening in a specialized format exclusively for use by people with disabilities.  The special digital talking-book player needed to listen to CML is provided, free of charge, by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.  The player is portable, extremely easy to use, and offers outstanding sound quality.  These audio selections will not play on just any computer, phone, or portable player because special formatting is required for them to work.  If you are already a member of the National Library Service, then you are well on your way to even more interesting reading.

New recordings are made available four times a year.  All eligible people can download complete and unabridged selections from the CML website or, by choice, have a digital cartridge mailed to them.

For more information, please visit their website.  While you are there, sign up for their newsletter.  Enjoy!

Choice Magazine Listening

6 Best Uses for Dawn Dish Detergent

DIY Dawn Cleaning
Pictured: DIY Shower Cleaner, bottle of Dawn dish detergent, and DIY All Purpose Cleaner.

Original blue Dawn has so many uses. It has been tried and tested and proven to be safe and effective.  For people who are blind or visually impaired, it is best to minimize the toxic cleaners we think we need in order to keep our homes clean and manageable.  Of course, this is best for everyone, not just the VIP community. Instead of a shelf full of assorted bottles and jars that can be harmful and confusing, try paring down your cleaning supplies with a few very effective nontoxic cleaners.

Remember to label all of your bottles containing homemade cleaning products.  Use a bold indelible (permanent) marker and/or a braille label maker.

Be safe and save money!

1.  All Purpose Cleaner

Keep a bottle of all purpose cleaner handy.  Wipe fingerprints from walls and dirt and spills from tile floors.  It is great for removing grease and scum from kitchen cabinet doors and hardware, and cooktops too.

Spray all purpose cleaner in pots and pans after cooking and let stand while you enjoy your dinner.  Then wash pots and pans as usual, but with amazing ease.

Ingredients – Fill a spray bottle with 1/3 Dawn, 1/3 distilled vinegar, and 1/3 water. For more difficult jobs, spray and let stand for 10 minutes, then wipe clean.  Note: Vinegar does not behave on stone (porous) countertops including marble, granite, etc., so use Dawn without vinegar on such surfaces.

2.  Carpet spot cleaner

Apply a few drops of dish detergent to the soiled carpet area. Scrub with brush, even an old toothbrush. Let stand for 5 minutes or so. Rinse with just a little clear water. Blot dry.

3.  Shower and bath cleaner

Prepare all purpose cleaner as above.  Spray down shower walls, bathtub surfaces, and especially faucets.  Let stand for a few minutes.  Then rinse and wipe clean.  I leave a filled spray bottle in the shower and spray faucets and known problem spots at the beginning of the shower.  At shower’s end, I just wipe clean.  The shower practically cleans itself.

4.  Ice Pack

Fill a good quality zippered sandwich bag ¾ full with Dawn.  Remove excess air.  Place in freezer. This DIY ice pack will be soft and malleable and will remain cold longer.

5.  Clean your eyeglasses

Just place one drop of Dawn on each eyeglass lens, rub with fingertips over both sides of the lenses, and rinse clean.  Dry with a microfiber cloth.

And my favorite…

6.  Unclog the toilet

Pour about a cup of Dawn dish detergent into the clogged toilet bowl.  Let stand for about 15 to 20 minutes.   Then flush.  Repeat if necessary, but it probably won’t be necessary.

BONUS:

7.  Bug spray

Fill a spray bottle with water and add just about 2 teaspoons of Dawn.  Shake.  Spray directly on targeted insect.  Bugs do not die instantly, but still quickly.

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Do you have a favorite Dawn dish detergent DIY?  Please share.  We would all be happy to hear about it.

 

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You Must See This

Do you see what I see?  Can you see what you can’t see?  What is it, and how do you know?

Visual impairment is a spectrum.  It is seeing something between all and nothing.

The following video gives first hand information about what some blind and visually impaired people see.

What do you see?

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