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.
You don’t have to be blind or visually impaired to experience panic, but it helps.
For me, there are 4 things that cause me to experience panic.
Pictured: The inside of a crowded New York City subway car. All seats are taken and there is standing room only.
1. Crowds. I do not mind crowds in a mall or at a concert. I do not mind crowds at the beach or in a packed subway car. I do, however, mind crowds greater than 5 or 6 people where I am expected to know at least some of the people.
I cannot see who is there or who is where. When I enter a room, I cannot assess the space and know whom to approach. I know these people. I belong there. But who is here? I have been known to strike up a conversation with a lamp, ask a mannequin for directions to a bathroom, and greet a golden retriever that was impulsively snatching food from a table. So I wait for someone to notice me, to greet me, and if that does not happen, I am overwhelmed with not knowing what to do and where to go.
I have avoided family gatherings most of my life. I did not attend my high school graduation, or my college graduation, I have declined invitations to weddings. My own wedding was limited to just 10 people including me, the groom, and a five-month-old baby; any more would have ruined my special day.
Pictured: A white smoke detector hung on a ceiling just waiting to sound its ear-piercing alarm.
2. Smoke detectors. I do not know why smoke detectors upset me so. We lived in a small apartment in Portland, Oregon, and there were 3 smoke detectors in our small place. Normal cooking set off all three smoke detectors – frequently. They were ear-piecing! I tried so hard to avoid anything that would set them off, but sometimes just the toaster would do it. Cooking makes my heart pound.
We moved three years ago. There is only one smoke detector in our current apartment. The first time I used my oven, the smoke detector went off. I have not used my oven since.
Pictured: A pre-schooler on a scooter. He is protected with helmet and elbow guards. When he is around, I need those protections too, and more!
3. Kids on scooters. Little kids on scooters scare me most. They roll themselves along the sidewalk at a faster pace than they can handle. They cannot steer to avoid objects in their way, including people. The parents or guardians are often far in the distance, sometimes calling to the seemingly deaf wee ones. These kids are essentially untethered and unattended. When they are headed straight at me, I usually do not know until they are near enough that I feel the air movement they generate. They do not comprehend the meaning of a white cane; they do not understand that their path is not automatically cleared for them. I have redirected quite a few of these speeding demons with my hand or body just in the nick of time, or not. I am afraid those little speed demons just might kill me one day!
Pictured: A public restroom with a lineup of sinks opposite a row of stalls.
4. Public Bathrooms. Public bathrooms drive me crazy – even without considering all the germs. First, they have to be found. Just ask. It’s over there, wherever there is! Too many are too dirty and I flat out reject them, immediately. But the nice ones – the ones that are clean and tidy and everything appears to be in the right place, best I can tell, – those are the ones that too often baffle me. I hate the ones with automatic flushes that flush before I am ready. Then there are the ones with delayed mechanisms to get the flush going. After waiting long enough to feel like nothing is going to happen, I start looking for the flush handle or the button or the pedal or something. Then on to the sink. Where are the faucets? I wave my hands here and there and if I am lucky, a measured amount of water appears, but my timing is off and I missed it. So I try again. Look for the soap. I do not think I even once have succeeded in getting the soap dispenser to dispense. Then on to the hand drier. Sometimes I pull a cloth towel through a machine; sometimes it turns out to be an empty paper towel dispenser. Sometimes I place my hands in a magical place and hot air loudly gushes forth. And sometimes I wave my wet hands here and there and nothing more happens.
The following list of novels features characters who are blind or visually impaired. All of these books stand out as great reads and are recommended. This list is a work in progress. Additional books featuring characters who are blind or visually impaired will added to this list as they become known. This page can be accessed at any time under the BOOKS tab at the top of this and every page on this blog.
Click on a hyperlink if you are interested in reading my review.
Men do it, women do it, even dedicated blind do it. So grab your hooks or your needles and let’s look at some tips to make yarn crafts more accessible, organized, and fun.
Pictured: Crocheted items include hotpad, hat with pompom, scarf, and towel holders.
Tip #1
Good lighting. A task light can be the best tool of all.
Pictured: A desk lamp with soft-light fluorescent bulb is designed for task lighting. The head can be positioned and directed as needed. This lamp is directed on a cone of red cotton yarn and a crochet hook with beginning slip knot.
Tip #2
Use chunky yarn and larger hooks and needles. Larger gauge materials are easier to work with. With some experience, common 4-ply yarn can be doubled and even tripled for some projects.
Pictured: Two skeins of red yarn. On the left is worsted weight and on the right is super chunky. The super chunky yarn is much thicker and requires a much larger crochet hook, as shown.
Tip #3
Use large print or audio pattern instructions. (Duh!)
Pictured: YouTube icon. YouTube has many crochet tutorials and patterns in audio format.
Tip #4
Consider loom knitting. Loom knitting can be easier to work with, especially for newbies, with fewer dropped stitches.
Pictured: A pink knitting loom with a pink knitted hat in progress.
Tip #5
Use paper clips as stitch markers. The colorful vinyl-coated paper clips work well with little or no snagging. The paper clips are also great as a place holder at the end of your knit/crochet session. Slip a paper clip through the last stitch, and even the cat won’t be able to unravel your work overnight while you sleep.
Pictured: Six paper clips, all vinyl coated, assorted colors.
Tip #6
Use plastic blunt-tipped needles for weaving in all those ends at project’s conclusion.
Pictured: Three blunt-tipped plastic sewing needles with large eyes for working with yarn.
Tip #7
Use a needle threader. Some needle threaders are better than others. The needle threader pictured below is my favorite. I have been using just one of them for years now. I have not needed to use any of the backup threaders.
Pictured: Three identical flat metal needle threaders. Each has a small hook on one end for threading embroidery threads and a larger hook at the opposite end for threading yarns of various types.
Tip #8
Keep a magnet in a small sewing box with your needles. This will save you from crawling on your hands and knees hunting for that dropped needle or pin. A magnet holds onto my needle threaders too.
Pictured: A small metal box with two magnets inside, one on the inside lid and one on the inside bottom. Paper clips and needle threaders are held in place by the top magnet, and sewing and embroidery needles are held in place by the bottom magnet.
Tip #9
Store project – all yarn, hooks, instructions, etc. – in a plastic bag or box. Keep a written or voice recorded record of yarn type and color, hook/needle size, and any special instructions. You might add the date in case it becomes a time capsule.
Pictured: A clear plastic zippered bag with crochet project, working yarn, crochet hook and written instructions inside. The instructions card says: Hat, Caron Simply Soft white, hook H, scrap colors #4.
Tip #10
Keep your working yarn in a container to keep the yarn balls from rolling around and onto the floor. A colander works well for multiple balls of different colors. A coffee can can be repurposed to fit the need, as can a shoe box or almost any other container.
Pictured: A colander with two skeins of yarn (one pink, one white) with yarn ends poking through colander holes from inside to outside. A crochet hook is seen with white yarn ready to be worked.
Bonus Tip
Replace your sewing straight pins with sewing clips. When you drop one without even knowing it, sewing clips are so much less painful to step on!
Pictured: Four sewing clips of various colors. Each clip is pressed open and clamps onto the fabric much like a miniature clothespin.
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The following products are presented for information only. They are not specifically endorsed.
Pictured: Gray floppy sun hat and gray sneakers. Ready for summer.
I have a love-hate relationship with the sun.
The sun warms my heart and my soul. It is also painful to my eyes. I love a sunny day; the sunshine lifts my spirits. I hate a sunny day; the sunshine whites out my vision and I see nothing, my eyes tear, and I feel pain.
I have tried all kinds of sunglasses: prescription sunglasses (very expensive), wraparound sunglasses that go over eyeglasses (very bulky), and flip-ups that don’t – don’t flip up enough and out of the way, that is. I have tried various tints – dark green, mirror, gray, blue, brown, and yellow – all of which have benefits in direct sun, but when I step under the shade of a tree, my vision is reduced to seeing nothing.
I had mobility training last summer. I learned a lot from this wonderful teacher. Best of all, she suggested I try a hat.
So, hats I tried. I started with sun visors. Then I tried brimmed sports caps. Both styles did block the sun and let light in for shade, but those looked – let’s just say odd, not me at all. So next I tried floppy sun hats. Yes!
Floppy hats work for me. I found one that rolls up to carry in my purse, and unrolls beautifully when needed. It blocks the sun yet lets in the light. It even matches my shoes!
Hats off to Karen, my mobility instructor. Hats on to summer sun!
Pictured: The author, Renee, outdoors on a sunny day, wearing floppy gray sun hat.
Do you see what I see? Can you see what you can’t see? What is it, and how do you know?
Assistive devices for vision impairment can be very helpful, and very expensive. CCTVs, braille writers, magnifiers, and audiobook players cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars, to name just a few things that could help blind and visually impaired people. Even audiobooks can be beyond our budget. Too often, even tools that can help us with our daily activities and special needs are not even made available for us to try, or even know about. And then, can we afford them? We must rely on word of mouth, and even then the results can be disappointing. It is not like I see what you see, or that you see what someone else sees. With vision impairment, we all see (or don’t see) the same things differently.
Talking about different devices can often lead to success. Even better, there are so many common household items and stationery supplies, and even things we never gave much thought to that provide so much benefit. Sometimes we just have to think outside the box.
For example, did you know you can cook perfect bacon in the oven instead of a fry pan and avoid all the hot oil spatter? Did you know a child’s whiteboard can be the perfect tool for your notes and reminders? Did you know you can easily connect your tablet to your computer screen or TV so you can benefit from greatly enlarged print and images? Did you know there is an online group that gives away used audiobooks and braille books, magnifiers, and more?
We have a lot to talk about. So let’s explore together.
Legally Blind 