As I’m writing this, my wife is unpacking Holiday decorations and has Christmas music playing on Pandora. The air in our house is just soggy with good will and love of our fellow man. The only problem with all of this seasonal festiveness is that it means that shopping is just around the corner. For me, this is a torture of which the Spanish Inquisition would have been proud.
Let me assure you at the outset that this is not a blog about politics. I’m not commenting on the election or results. Instead, I’m going to look at what goes on behind the curtain when you’re trying to vote as a blind person. Traditionally, whether you were using an old-fashioned paper ballot or a voting machine, you had to
If you think you have anything like medical privacy when you lose your vision, think again. I suspect that there is a secret clause in HIPAA that says, “This doesn’t really apply to anyone who is blind.” Some years ago, my eighty-year-old mother came to visit. Since she would only be in town for a few days and we wanted
Pursuing a degree in the sciences can be a challenge with a visual impairment. Classes require a great deal of attention to detail and are often reading-intensive.
The legal distinctions between service animals, therapy animals (comfort dogs), and emotional support animals are discussed in this post.
I need to preface this blog by letting you know that this story is no urban legend. It really happened. It was time for my wife to renew her driver’s license. She had lost her vision since the last time the license had to be renewed and assumed that, no one in their right mind, was going to actually renew
I am pleased to announce that, in the near future, in conjunction with some of my male friends, we will be launching a new program to help other men experience what it is like to give birth. We plan to call it “Baby Maybe.”
A willingness to help others is a laudable personal quality. We value it in friends and family. We want to develop it in children. It makes us feel better about ourselves. But, it can be like a narcotic for someone who is blind or visually impaired; that is, beneficial under the right circumstances, but profoundly damaging if not used appropriately.
Recently, I was asked by the friend of a friend if I would be the speaker at the annual banquet of a local professional organization. The group would have no difficulty locating a good speaker, so I was perplexed as to what they thought I might have to say that they would be interested in.
Almost every time I hear someone say, “Do you mind if I pet your dog,” I hear The Bad John whispering in my ear, “Would you mind if I put sugar in your gas tank?” Of course, I never say it and really do appreciate people asking, but there are some very good reasons for not wanting people to pet