Hey Richie, so now that the iPhone is accessible, what does she think about that? Considering she thought it was possible and now it is, she must be pretty impressed. :) On Nov 30, 2009, at 4:54 PM, Richie Gardenhire wrote:
> Scott, I never would have had my interest peaked about the iPhone, > were it not for my niece, Elisabeth, who had one and though she didn't > show me how to operate it, she thought it could be adapted so that > blind people could use it. Richie Gardenhire, Anchorage, Alaska. > > > On Nov 30, 2009, at 12:12 PM, Scott Howell wrote: > > Mark, very interesting. I once was on a flight and this nice young > lady started asking me about my dog. The conversation quickly turned > to questions about being blind, about how I work with computers and > the like and eventually to her showing me an Iphone. THis was before > the iPhone was accessible and even then I thought it was very cool. > The point was she became very interested in me as a person and not > just some blind guy. I think I left her with a very different > perspective and understanding. I think it was one of the most > intelligent convversations I have had in a good while and one where > she really wanted to learn something and share her experiences. So, > instead of seeing me as a disabled person, she saw me as a person with > different abilities than herself and being a fellow Mac user, made for > some really neat conversation. Of course I just knew she was cute and > that didn't hurt either. :) > > On Nov 30, 2009, at 4:04 PM, Mark BurningHawk Baxter wrote: > >> As long as the blind define themselves as "disabled," they will have >> this problem. It's paradoxical, because as I said, I don't really >> like to be around lots of blind people all together in a group, and >> yet we, the blind people, need some sort of cohesive teaching / >> enabling power that will allow us to not be disabled any more. It's >> idealistic as hell to think that every single blind person can escape >> from the disability of blindness without some cohesion, but also it's >> just as dangerous to try and develop a "blind culture," as the deaf >> have done. If we allow others to see us as disabled, then we will be, >> but how do you change an attitude which I believe to be literally >> hard- >> wired into the brain stem, which says that if a stranger can't meet >> your eyes, then they are not to be trusted but instead are to be >> ostracized and shunned, cast out? I personally don't have an answer, >> except for myself; I do not allow people to act toward me as if I were >> disabled, as much of the time as is feasible. Of course I ask for >> help when I need it, directions or, in the case of a mailing label the >> other day, the help of a sighted person to ensure the label she >> printed for me went on right--I'm not naive, but I struggle constantly >> to escape from the "disabled box," that people on the street put me >> in. >> >> Growing up as an only child, born blind, with things like Braille a >> fact of life, rather than the exception, in a small town, in a very >> constricted and confined environment where I didn't even need a cane >> to get around, I could literally forget that I was blind--to this day, >> when people come up to me and start talking to me like a blind man, it >> often takes me a few moments to realize what's happening; until then, >> things people say to me sound nonsensical or outright rude. Until I >> remember that they're talking to my blind eyes, not to the man before >> them. It causes me no end of social hassle because I don't know that >> a person is "helping," me when I'm just doing my thing, and so I >> respond as a "normal," person would to someone who came up out of the >> blue and made a random comment about steps, or the curb, or whatever. >> The other day, someone in the post office thought they were helping by >> repeating everything the clerk said to me after she was done saying >> it. I turned and snapped, "Wait your turn!" and it was only when the >> person in question started yelling at me about how ungrateful I was >> that I remembered that, "Oh yeah; this is probably someone trying to >> help me the blind guy, not talking to me the guy." By then, as in >> numerous other instances, it was already far too late. (Eventually >> they had to call security to get the woman to leave me alone...) >> Whether that's a sign of my near-complete adaptation to blindness, my >> ADHD rearing its ugly head again, or what, I don't know, but I >> personally don't think of myself as disabled, don't act as if I expect >> people to give me a handicap. What would happen if every blind >> person, instead of going out the door with the assumption that "I'm >> blind, and people who come up and talk to me are talking to the blind >> me, not the true me," instead walked out the door with the assumption >> that "I'm just doing my thing, I'm as able as the next person, more or >> less, just different, and people who come up and talk to me as if I'm >> blind are rude?" This is the kind of universal change that I think >> needs to be made, and which I despair will ever be made. If thousands >> of blind people got on the phone to Microsoft, for example, and said, >> "What's wrong with this computer that I can't use it!? what's wrong >> with you for not making a computer I can use?" instead of waiting for >> an agency or a specialized software company to fix the problem for >> them?... >> >> >> Mark BurningHawk Baxter >> >> Skype and Twitter: BurningHawk1969 >> MSN: burninghawk1...@hotmail.com >> My home page: >> http://MarkBurningHawk.net/ >> >> -- >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en >> . >> >> > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en > . > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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