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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2017 - 04 - 17 - ID#65xjnf
10
What are your hobbies? (self.Blind)
submitted by onetwothreemarlenas
I'm curious - what do you do for fun? I've recently been struggling with vision difficulties and am often finding myself bored, or just watching shit TV because I don't know what else to do. So far, I've been big on audiobooks, and have taught myself how to knit. What do you do?

Apologies if this isn't an appropriate thread for this subreddit.
Terry_Pie 3 points 6y ago
I've got a bunch of hobbies, most of which require some sight (I've still quite usable central in my left).

I'm into tabletop wargaming and can still paint my own miniatures. Nothing fancy, basic paint jobs, but they look decent and nice on the table. When playing, I have a habit of losing dice, so I usually rely on my opponent finding them for me. I can still read the pips though. In the future, I'll keep playing even if I can't paint or read the dice any more.

I've a boardgame collection that numbers over 40. I often get others to help with the reading, and will also double check colours and images too. I don't tend to play as much as I'd like though. Certainly you can play regular card games without sight (crib, hearts, canasta etc) or assistance.

I run both Dungeons & Dragons and Shadowrun. Tabletop RPGs are great because you can do it all as theatre of the mind. The only thing you'll need sight for is dice rolls, and even then with technology you could have a dice program that could be read out to you (I've not actually done this myself, but I'm pretty sure it'll be possible). Even if props are involved, you're working with a party towards a common goal (or running the game for said party), so it's a collaborative effort and others can assist where needed to position your miniature say on a battlemat/dungeon tile etc.

I'm learning the banjo. I'd never learnt a musical instrument in my life, but this year decided I wanted to. I picked the banjo because I like the sound, and I listen to a lot of Irish rock and folk music that uses it. Admittedly I'm still reading tabs and watching videos, but you could have someone convey the information verbally to you, or learn by ear.

A couple of other hobbies I have, which I haven't done much with recently, are shooting and model railroading. I really enjoy shooting and I know guys with much less sight than I do who hit the range regularly and even compete in competitions. I just haven't been able to find the time recently to get to the range myself. As for model railroading, again I just haven't had the time. You'll need some level of sight to do certain things, so you'll likely need assistance to build your layout. But you can certainly operate a layout when you're totally blind (my grandfather was totally blind before I was born and he has had a couple of layouts since then).

Oh, and finally, I've not done any in quite some time, but I also play PC games. This year it has mostly been Civilization VI.
Prefect316 2 points 6y ago
Tabletop gaming has quickly become one of my favorite hobbies too. Let me know if you need any suggestions for dice programs or generally anything that will make the game easier for you to play.
Terry_Pie 1 points 6y ago
Not yet for me, but I'm sure there are others on this sub who would benefit.
Dyshonest 1 points 6y ago
I have some experience with losing dice and let me recommend using a box of some sort. When I roll into a smallish box it is much much easier to locate my own dice. Just use the cover from a board game!
Terry_Pie 1 points 6y ago
That's a good idea, dice trays are expensive but boardgame boxes are all inclusive!
cookiemanluvsu 1 points 6y ago
You're a busy boy.
Terry_Pie 1 points 6y ago
Aye, I work full time too. Gotta get busy living or get busy dying!
cookiemanluvsu 1 points 6y ago
This guy should be a mod
Voxalizer 3 points 6y ago
Simracing has always been and still is my biggest hobby. Some people would call it racing games, or just video games but it's a bit more serious than that.
I'm slowly losing my sight but I plan on keep doing this for as long as I can. It's alright. I'm nowhere near as quick as I used to be but I'm still competitive. However, whenever there's new tracks to race at I struggle learning compared to others. Still, it's a very satisfying hobby for me. It can be pure adrenaline rush sometimes.

I'm also teaching myself to play the piano. I had lessons when I was a kid, recently I've started to pick it up again. Slowly making progress. I figure it's a pretty good instrument to play blind.

Other than that, not much. I work out but would't call it a hobby.
onetwothreemarlenas [OP] 1 points 6y ago
Whoah, the piano sounds excellent! I hadn't even thought of instruments.
k00l_m00se 3 points 6y ago
This is something I'm really, really struggling with right now.
onetwothreemarlenas [OP] 2 points 6y ago
I'm with you. I'm sorry that I can't offer you much more than solidarity.
cupcake6740 2 points 6y ago
Music is my number one escape. I love the sounds and vibrations. It's also something I can do being visually impaired as I can just bring my stand into my 6max inch range and just use the shapes of the conductor to keep in time.
Another is singing. When I sing I feel a high like I can accomplish anything. You don't need eyes to sing.
A last one is phone games. It sounds stupid as I can't see much, but it really helps me keep the feeling and ability to use my eyes. I have single vision so I use only one eye. The little iPhone/android games really help me build strength in them. While it'll never get better, it won't get worse.
EndlessReverberation 2 points 6y ago
My hobbies include, audio editing, recording, mixing etc. Playing the guitar, Texas Holdem Poker, going on walks, cooking, taking care of my demanding kitty, reading,my wife and I are in a book club, general tech stuff, podcasts, and watching bad movies. By the way, if anyone is interested in Texas Holdem poker there is a great community called blind adrenaline that has several exceptionally accessible game clients and a number of tournaments every week. The Texas Holdem tournaments happen on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, and usually get around thirty players, all of which are blind. There are also cash games and sit and gos up pretty much every night.
FlashingRedBobOmb 2 points 6y ago
Audio books, podcasts, Dungeons & Dragons (husband made me a large-print character sheet), board games, though I can't play as many as I used to. I've just about given up on drawing/painting, but sometimes I will do digital art on the computer because I can zoom in and colors are easier to see.

I used to write/contribute to a lot of open source software, but these days I'm so busy with work that I just don't find it fun to write more code after doing it all week for someone else. I still put out a few things, though.

Lately I've been thinking of getting back into music. My daughter just got a sax and I used to play the clarinet, so I'm considering getting a 2nd mouthpiece so I can noodle around on that when she's not using it (it's not her main instrument).

snow671 2 points 6y ago
I've been doing a lot of baking lately. Other than that - long walks, video games (mostly fighting games,) movies, some super lazy gardening. I go to the gym to play a racing game they have on the stationary bikes, which is kind of fun. It's easy to tell if you've gone off of the track by how difficult it is to pedal.

How did you teach yourself how to knit?
onetwothreemarlenas [OP] 2 points 6y ago
Sorry I should have phrased that differently - I had some knitting experience before, and had to teach myself to do it without being able to see. If you're able to practice with large yarn & needles, it helps to be able to feel the stitches easily. I also read some encouraging things on r/knitting and googled around for some resources (such as $1 and $1 that translate patterns.)

What are you growing?
sneakpeekbot 2 points 6y ago
**Here's a sneak peek of $1 using the $1 of the year!**

\#1: $1 | $1
\#2: $1 | $1
\#3: [\[FO\] Just some kitty socks I knitted this week.](https://i.redd.it/x84x6nfg9s6y.jpg) | $1

----
^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| $1 ^^| $1 ^^| $1
snow671 1 points 6y ago
Oh wow, that sounds like a lesson in patience. My sister gave me her stash and I threw it in a drawer after browsing YouTube for knitting tutorials ("And just wrap the yarn around the needle like so. Then again like this." AUGH!) I'll have to check out those websites, thank you!

I'm growing basil, tomatoes, anaheim peppers, and zucchini on my balcony. I forget about them for weeks and they still grow!
PinkMistress 1 points 6y ago
I figured I'd tell you about some my hobbies and some with people I know.

I've always enjoyed baking and I recently started sewing. The sewing machine is fun and difficult. I work a lot, but I'm always looking for a good hobby. When I'm home, I watch a lot of horrible TV as well. I also got an adult tricycle so I can focus on my surroundings more.

I know someone who enjoys writing and she does fanfiction. Another person I know writes stories of his own.

I know this one girl who does tactile art. With tiles, buttons, and so many other things. She creates some of the most beautiful art and you can feel it all. She makes money in it at conventions. She does sculptures as well.
onetwothreemarlenas [OP] 1 points 6y ago
I haven't been online in a long time, so I just got this - thank you for passing these ideas along. :)
Vaelian 1 points 6y ago
I used to code when I was just legally blind, both as a job and as a hobby; I also used to play video-games like World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls, and Dragon Age because I had enough sight for that. Now that I'm blind, however, things are much different and the lack of things to do is killing me. I know that there are blind programmers out there and I even have a project that doesn't need assistance from anyone (a compiler front-end), but I can't enjoy coding with a screen-reader, and I won't even try Braille because I read Braille at like 2 words per minute.
blindjo 1 points 6y ago
I love drawing and painting (partially sighted, i use large canvases and sketchbooks), listening to music, scrolling through youtube, and improv. If you can, i'd really recommend taking improv classes. Shortly after i started losing my vision, i joined an improv group for visually impaired people. It was so much fun and it was a great way to make friends and come out of my shell
pxlgirl 2 points 6y ago
I also love drawing, I've been doing this since I was a little girl and I also have been visually impaired all my life as well. Here's an example of my work: $1
blindjo 1 points 6y ago
Oh that's lovely! I'll try to find one of my pieces to post. Btw, life pro tip- if you don't already have one, get an easel so you don't have to hurt your back bending over the drawing
pxlgirl 1 points 6y ago
Actually an easel causes me to have a stiff neck and shoulder, but I found my optimal sitting position over the years. :)
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