Was interviewed by Celena this morning. It's legit. She is respectful and professional and takes constructive criticism of the website's accessibility very well. Plus she's cool!

Upvoted.

It’s been a while are you still looking for people?

I just wrap an elastic band around the bottles. Two bands for garlic powder, three bands for nutmeg, and so on. I don't use a spice rack, I keep everything in a kitchen cabinet. It doesn't take a lot of elastics because the spices are in different shaped bottles. I only wrap an elastic around one if I have two bottles of the same shape and size.

I also wrap an elastic band around the shampoo so I can tell which bottle is shampoo and which is conditioner. This solution isn't confined to spices.

Nothing's changed in my kitchen since I went blind, except I make sure the dishwasher door always stays closed. Banging my shin on that thing hurts like hell. I wash dishes by hand and use the dishwasher as a drying rack. Not sure why I do that, I guess it's just nice to feel like a contributing member of society again.

There's nothing special about my sense of flavor. I like the taste of things that aren't all that healthy for me, just like everyone else does. I haven't eaten for comfort until recently, but I don't know if that's a coping mechanism related to going blind or part of growing old or just a coincidence. Doesn't matter, I was probably too skinny to being with.

Next time you're shopping for groceries listen to your surroundings in the different aisles. Really pay attention when you get to the toilet paper and paper towels. It's the quietest aisle in the whole store because soft, fluffy paper absorbs sound. Hard surfaces reflect sound. That's the basis of echolocation. I can't tell where a roll of paper towels is in a hard room. I can't hear quiet in a loud place. But I can tell about where a Buick is if it's parked on grass because it's easier to hear loud stuff in a quiet place. I'm certainly no expert but that's a quick overview. If an airport lounge is carpeted but the main concourse is tiled I can sort of tell how close to the lounge I am just because it's so much more quiet than the ambient sounds reflected up from the tile floor.

Hello! You can call me Sarah! I am a visually impaired 14 year old aspiring writer!

I hope I can be of some help to you!

>Reading the FAQ I know that alternate senses aren't necessarily better, they are paid attention to more. This made me think of the movie Ratatouille where Remy describes the sensation of flavor and I was wondering if you have any unique associations with flavor beyond just taste.

Kind of, I can't eat anything too bitter, spicy or minty because of it, its like a built sensitivity to those items but other than that, Not really

>The appearance or smell of food is usually what makes me particularly hungry. On the topic of alternate senses, what kinds of things stimulate your appetite?

Smell and sound, If I hear someone cooking it will automatically make me hungry, The same goes with smell

​

>If you know braille, how or where did you learn it? (Growing up I've never seen these services offered in any of my schools and any signage only appeared to be very standard stuff, like signs for the bathroom).

I do not know braille but I do have the option to learn it if I want to, It is offered to any visually impaired student

​

>How do you organize the common elements of your kitchen and how much space do you need? (Common items I would consider like pots/pans, knives, cutting board, sink & cleaning supplies).

They are all given their little spaces in the kitchen, For the knives its a long magnet set on the wall, For the pan's and other various utensils (spatula's tongs silicone spoons) they are hung up, The pan's are above the coffee, sugar and tea storage pots while the utensils are hung on the cabinets, cleaning supplies stay beside the sink, the cutting board is left out on a specific counter ready for something to be cut on it

​

>On the topic of spices, how do you organize and locate your spices? (For total blindness my friends thought of taste/smell, but this ignores odorless spices, knowing what all the spices taste/smell like and some can be pretty unpleasant pure like vanilla extract or fish sauce. How do you avoid this?).

We have a magnetic tilted spice rack with clear lids for the more common spices but for the less common spices they are on a spinning rack inside the cupboard with large labels, for people with complete blindness id assume they would have it set up with a specific texture on the pot each one associated with a different spice, or have someone put big labels on them and have a text to speech reader on standby to read out each spice (I know this is possible as I used to have a little gadget that I would put on the side of a cup and it would beep when the cup was full, Google liquid level indicator, its the little yellow one with three prongs)

​

>Lastly, this one is specifically about the project. Doing some web browsing I don't really see many commercial options and braille doesn't seem to be the best option because based on the visual impairment classifications, not everyone needs it and based on the National Federation of the Blind, not too many people actually know how to read braille. If someone were to make a spice rack just for you, what would you like to have included for your specific needs? If you do have a custom spice rack set-up and are comfortable a picture would be great!

Like I said, there are two set up but I cannot give a photo since I'm writing on my laptop and I have no clue where my phone went and I have already described them lol

Thanks for reading!

Signing off!

Are you still looking for people to interview I am willing to help.

DM me please, I'm available and happy to help!

I don’t know if it’s too late but I filled it out.

Have you guys decided on something yet? What about a point of sale system?

It sounds like you are at the very beginning of your project. Start $1.

Are you still taking responses?

1. What age group describes you best?

29.

2. Degree of blindness.

Totally blind. Been totally blind most of my life.

3. Do you use phones for assistance in your daily life?

Yes. But this question is asked very awkwardly. Hahaha! I use my phone a lot, and I use all sorts of apps on it.

4. What apps or programs help you in your daily life?

Bus apps like moovit, ocr apps like voice dream scanner.yelp to find places and restaurants sometimes I use blindsquare for this too. I use my bank’s app, and also fitness to keep track of my workouts. Cash app to identify money, if I have some on me, and others.this question is pretty general not sure what you wanted.

5. Do you use finance or grocery-related apps that provide special services for the blind.

Most grocery and financial apps do not offer services for the blind. I have used some of these things a little

6. Will you be willing to change your bank if it offered distinctive services for visually impaired people?

Probably not, I am quite satisfied with my current bank. They are pretty accessible and I don’t know what features I really need that dramatically or drastically to change banks. But probably not. I also don’t require that type of service.

7. What is the most challenging task in your daily life due to your sight limitations?

Hmm…. Nothing is all that challenging but definitely walking around a spacious campus can be a challenge. Nothing really sticks out that much though. Cleaning can be a pain sometimes.

8. What services or products would you like to be more accessible for visually impaired people?


Point of sale machines self check outs, accessible vending machines.

>What age group describes your best?
>
>*Mid fifties*
>
>Degree of blindness.
>
>*Legally blind, deteriorating fast, probably a year or two away from total blindness.*
>
>Do you use phones for assistance in your daily life?
>
>*No, I use it to make calls and send text messages. I have family for everything else.*
>
>What apps or programs help you in your daily life?
>
>*My white cane. I zoom in on my laptop so I don't need a screen reader very often.*
>
>Do you use finance or grocery-related apps that provide special services for the blind?
>
>*I shop with my wife or one of my kids, so I don't really need an app to help shop. My wife and I share a joint checking account so there isn't much need for a special financial app - I just look cute and ask her for money.*
>
>Will you be willing to change your bank if it offered distinctive services for visually impaired people?
>
>*Probably not, but I would consider it if the distinctive service was good enough. The people at my local branch have always been respectful and helpful to me.*
>
>What is the most challenging task in your daily life due to your sight limitations?
>
>*Our finances have fallen off a cliff since I quit working. Seriously, being blind isn't nearly as hard as being unemployed. I don't want more gadgets for the blind as much as I want an answer from Social Security.*
>
>What services or products would you like to be more accessible for visually impaired people?
>
>*Honestly there isn't much in my life I'd change. Blindness is more of an inconvenience than a tragedy for someone with a close family and a good support system in their life. I'm sure it would be much harder being blind and alone, and hopefully you'll get other perspectives than just mine.*
>
>*But since you mentioned it, what I'd absolutely love is a camera installed underneath a kitchen cabinet that can read aloud the print on any package I set on the counter beneath it. Something to tell me if this can of chili is gluten free, how much water to add to this box of Mac & Cheeze, when this carton of milk expires, is this can of soup tomato or chicken noodle, how much potassium is in this bottle of coconut water, and how many calories are in this granola bar.*

The most important thing to understand is blindness isn't a tragedy, it's an inconvenience. As strange as it sounds, blindness isn't a big deal. *Going* blind feels tragic, but *being* blind is much easier than I expected. It's actually fun!

My life is certainly different now that I'm blind, but it's not worse. Not at all. I'm just as loved as I was before. Warm cookies are still delicious, dancing still feels great. Life goes on, but for blind people it goes on in a different direction.

Try not to treat your niece any different than you did before. She just lost her eyesight, don't make her feel she's lost her favorite aunt, too. Don't censor yourself around her. Just be yourself - the self she already loves. Many things in her life are changing right now and knowing you're still the same aunt you've always been will comfort her.

If you don't act like this is a big deal she won't think of it as a big deal.

She likes watching birds. I bet she'll like listening to birds, too. Take her bird watching with you. Describe the birds you see to her, and ask her to identify the different species by their songs.

She likes drawing and painting. I bet she'll like pottery making and sculpture. Let her try making art out of clay she can shape with her hands.

She likes books and stories. I bet she'll like audio books, and I bet she'll love making her own stories. Give her a voice recorder and show her where to find sound effects she can use and ask her to record a story for you.

She's lucky to have you in her life. Feel free to visit r/Blind again and let us know how you're both doing.

Well first off school and acomodations there is important. Make sure you and her mother is fighting for the best education for her and getting the appropriate acomodations and equipment. The best kids has parents and family that fight for them and along side them especially when they get older. Make sure she gets braille training, assistive tech training, and learn to use a cane. They can teach this to her all at school. And needs to. Teach her how to cope. There may be agencies out there that can come to the house and help her adjust to blindness with her daily chores and task. Teach her day by day how to live independently blind people can be every bit as independent. Blindness is not the end of the world and blind children and adults can live a full and fullfilled life.


Teach her and have training centers teach her how to be independent. Do not shelter and coddle her. You don’t have a new child or a different one, the same one actually. Treat her like any other child and encourage her to be a fully functioning member of society. Learn independent skills, do well in school and have no excuses. Teach her not to use her disability as an excuse.



With books she can either read audio, or braille books. But this is why braille training is so important so she can read words again, in a different format. If she can see some use large print but if she will progressively lose vision teach her braille. If the school doesn’t want to do this insist on it. It will help her in the long run. Keep practicing it for a while.

Get the right technology magnifiers and magnifying software. Learn to use a screen reader so she can rest her eye or not even use her eyes as much so she can eliminate eye strain.


Do other forms of art like clay or crafts like beading, or crocheting, or knitting.

Finding and developing new things to do will be crucial. Is she interested in other things what else is she interested in or was she interested in, maybe studying bird calls and facts? Maybe just a completely new hobby. You can always create those.

Also label things around your house get some dots and label things. So she can at some point help you out in the kitchen.

That sounds interesting, I’ve never done an escape room but if it was. Blind friendly and was multi sensory that could be fascinating. As of now though I don’t have enough information.

As the last personsaid, RP is different for everyone. And it especially differs depending on the age of onset and how much it has progressed.

As a child my vision was relatively "ok". It was always worse than normal visionbut basically my distance vision was bad and my near vision was worse than normal but definitely useable. I could read and write and do most activities except a lot of sports. But I esspecially suffered in low lighting; getting around at night or in a heavily shadowed room. I loved being in light because it helped me to see better. Transitioning into a darker room from outside was always a big problem for me. My eyes took substancially longer to adjust to low light than the average eyes and that did cause problems. As a child my mom said I used to trip over my younger siblings a lot, I think I even remember that a bit.

Typically in early stage RP more light is good, but when your vision begins to get worse and worse your eyes seem to get more sensitive to light and you begin to have issues with glare. That is why I always use dark mode or invert colors on white bacgrounds nowadays and always wear sunglasses outside. Sunglasses have honestly changed my life because I can just go into my house or a random building now without being nearly blind. If you're not really sure what glare looks like when I am outside during a sunny day I cannot really see traffic lights very well from across the street, even with sunglasses on. But in the dark or cloudy day I can see the traffic lights depending on the distance because there isn't so much light entering my eyes from the environment. The closer the better of course.

My visual field loss is different than what I see as "typical" RP progression. I began losing my central and lower vision first. It started around high school I noticed that I was having more trouble reading than usual. I even did start to notice a bit of a foggy spot that "covered" letters when I would read but it didn't occur to me that that was a blind spot developing. I also began struggling with differentiating between colors in middle school. I think lighting helped with this a bit but i became pretty self conscious about answering "what color is this?" because I felt like I honestly couldn't tell. Your central vision is responsible for seeing clear ddetail and colors especially up close. The cones ere located in the part of the retina called the macula which is the center of the retina so everything I went through makes sense to me now.

I began struggling in school during high school because I kept it secret that I was losing vision. I absolutely refused to tell anyone not even my parents. It brought me a great deal of shame and I nearly failed at least 2 classes because of it. I did horribly during gym class. I think the gym being fairly dark contributed to it as it was a dark blue color but I never told anyone why I always missed the tennis ball or why I couldn't catch worth a damn. I truly made a bigger fool of myself avoiding telling the truth and not getting the help I truly needed. Probably because I didn't think there was help available. I'd been to so many doctors as a child and they always told me there was no cure. I don't know why but I just simply could not muster the strength to tell anyone about what was happening. I didn't know how to communicate that I had a eye disease that prevented me from seeing normally. I always felt really embarrassed during the yearly eye screenings because they would say I needed new glasses but I knew that wasn't the case but I couldn't explain it. I felt very lonely and had no self esteem at all.

I will fast forward to nowadays though to cut out all the depressing stuff lol. I am in my late 20s and am legally blind. My acuity i think is 20/400 in my worse eye. As Isaid before i have lost a lot of central vision but I think my lower visual field has been bad my whole life. If I don't look down I will likely step, kick, or bump into something which is why I started learning to use a cane last year. Other than that though I am considered to have a lot of useable vision left on the sides and above.. So what does it look like when i look out right in front of me? Well it depends on a lot of things like the distance that I am to something, the lighting, the amount of contrast, and how small/bold an object is. When i look at my laptop screen from about a foot or so away as long as I am zoomed in I can see the words. HOwever if I were to lower my magnification or back away letters start to "disappear" They look very distorted and unclear. Kinda looks like there's fog there to some dgree.

When i go to sign my name with a normal ballpoint pen, looking in front of me I do not actually see the writing at all because it is too thin. It basically looks like there's nothing on the page there. But if I look off in a different direction like to the right I may be able to see the writing but probably not read it. Using a bold pen to write like a sharpie is helpful but the fumes are pretty strong and I still need to write realy large to be really be able to read it comfortably on a piece of paper. When I look at myself in the bathroom mirror up close I cannot see my entire face very clearly. Even if I stand right up to it it is still hard to see my features clearly. The further I step away the more of my face disapears into haziness. And the same goes for any object. The closer and bolder it is, the easier it is to see it, including faces, stripes on a shirt, anything really. If someone is more than a couple feet away from me their face is a hazy mess. If I look at anything at a distance if it is not bold enough for me to see it it will likely disappear in the void of my blind spot. I can try using my peripheral vision where it is more clear but the "blind spot" is fairly large at a distance and seems much smaller up close.

Then there's all the floaters, flickering lights, swirling, spinning shimmering. THere's a lot going on in my visual field. I think I have more floaters now but I've had them likely all my life. Some days they are not as noticeable or bad and other days it feels like my entire visual field is covered in something. Vision is something that is difficult to explain and I could probably go on forever about random details. The way I see is very specific to me. There are gonna be a lot of common things amongst RP patients but vision is super complicated and unique and is affected by many factors. Living with RP is to live with poor eyesight that changes. It is to live in the reality that you will likely go completely blind at one point, at least that is how it was for me growing up and it wasn't easy. Nowadays there are a few treatment options available and I am one of the lucky ones who get to receive the treatment when I still have enough retina cells. But the reality still stands that many people with RP will be left out because they simply were born too early and will go completely blind or at least close to it.

Reach out if you wanna know anything else.

We meet again!

I have RP. But RP is a blanket term used to describe 160 known diseases. It's like cancer - there's lung cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, and brain tumors; they're each different diseases with different treatments but they're all still types of cancer. I mention this because your character's RP might manifest itself differently than mine.

My field of vision is about 12 degrees horizontally and 8 or 9 degrees vertically. But those are just numbers. If you want to understand what it's really like then here's three things you can do -

1. Make a fist with your hand and hold it at arm's length. Everything I can see is the size of your fist. Nothing outside of that area exists for me.
2. Keep your arm outstretched but open your hand and spread your fingers apart, pointed upward. When I directly at my middle finger I see it, my ring finger, and my index finger. The pinky finger and thumb are outside my field of vision.
3. Keep your hand open and outstretched but rotate it so your fingers are pointed sideways instead of up. Now I can only see two fingers. My visual radius from top to bottom is smaller than from left to right.

I see the world through a straw, but it's not quite a round straw. It's shaped like an American football or, ironically, a human eye.

I've had people ask me if the stuff surrounding my field of remaining vision looks black. It's not really like that. If you want to understand it try looking at your ears. Do they look black? No, they don't look like anything. They're just outside your field of vision. It's more of an absence than just simply black.

The visual radius hasn't changed since last summer but everything just keeps getting darker. I figure I'm on pace to be NLP (no light perception, or totally blind) in another year or two. I haven't been able to read a book or a magazine for a year but I can still read my laptop screen and my phone. Books are just too dark but computer screens are their own source of light. That makes a huge difference to me.

I prefer white text on a black background. White backgrounds make my eyes ache. So does being outside during the day. I usually wear dark sunglasses outside to stop the headaches. I wear dark glasses when we're traveling at night because the headlights from oncoming cars hurts, too. I don't just close my eyes because I get a little bit car sick if I do.

I often forget I'm blind. In fact I almost never remember it. How often do you think about the fact you can't see your own ears? If you lost a tiny bit of your peripheral vision each day chances are pretty good you wouldn't think about it until you accidentally step on the dog or something like that.

Back in junior high school my brother and I laid down on the 50 yard line of the school's football field and looked straight up. I could see the goal posts in both end zones at once. If I stood on the 50 yard line today and looked at the center of a goal post I might not even be able to see the uprights on the sides anymore. The change happened over an 18 month period so I didn't notice it happening.

But I do notice the encroaching darkness. Every week the grocery store and the dance club seem darker than the week before. Sometimes the bathroom and kitchen seem darker than they were the day before.

I am legally blind and I avoid going to a restaurant alone unless I am familiar with the menu. The idea of going to any place I am not familiar brings about anxietybecause I dont really know what I should do. This was especially true before I started using a cane because I wwas not comfortable disclosing my visual impairment. I don't want to feel like a burden on everyone else by holding up the line if I ask the cashier to read the menu to me. Would they even want to do that? I don't know

I even avoid going out to eat with family because I don't wanna feel like a burden to them because I know I will not be able to read the menu at the table. To mitigate this I often look up the menus online to at least get a feel for what the restaurant has and the prices, however the menus are not always the most accessible. So I will literally look at a menu for hours to days to familiarize myself and might even pick all 3 courses before we go there (I will admit I am pretty indecisive LOL but it also takes me a really long time to look through a menu). And any fast food or convenience store that uses a kiosk is a no for me. I miss the old soda machines too lol. They were so much easier to use.

I can think of so many times that I wanted to try a new place out but just didn't because I didn't want to make a fool of myself in public. That is probably more related to my social anxiety but it is closely tied to my blindness. One time my Orientation and mobility (O&M) instructor offered that we could get a coffee after a lesson and I was anxious that I wouldn't be able to order. We ultimately didn't have the time and I felt relieved I could avoid that situation altogether.

Feel free to use my story if you would like.

Are you still looking for answers or is it over.

Just in case if it’s not over you can ask more questions. Yes you can share it.

I feel comfortable walking up to the counter usually what I do. Then I ask them what they have, and then saying okay I want this. I honestly don’t go very often so I usually ask what they have on their menu. If I already know I may say hey okay I want this. I have usually had no problems and have gotten my food. Usually and sometimes the issue is the workers not wanting to help me find and to a seat. And that can be frustrating because I don’t want to spill my food while walking and navigating. I usually but not always get them to get me to a table but sometimes it takes arguing.

The first thing to understand is I don't go to fast food restaurants alone. I can't drive. The only time I find myself getting fast food is when I'm out with my wife and we decide to stop for a bite to eat.

Fast food restaurants usually have a kiosk where the customer can order or a big menu on the wall above the counter. But neither one is really necessary in a national fast food chain. The customer already knows what he wants before he walks inside. That's why he chose Burger King instead of KFC.

What really helps me is a human being behind the counter. I can't see well enough to use a kiosk but if I tell the employee at the counter I want a Whopper without pickles and a diet Dr Pepper I don't need to see.

Again, I rarely do the fast food thing, and I never do it alone, but if I did I would rather go to my second favorite fast food chain and talk to a human being than go to my first choice if I had to order from a kiosk.

It’s been many days. Is it over?

Hello! You can call me Sarah! I am a visually impaired 14 year old aspiring writer!

I have filled out all the question's on your survey in hopes that I can help you in writing your blind character!

>If someone was using a mobility cane, could they use a white cane (long or guide) at the same time or would they have to travel with a human guide? (This character has one arm, so this question is more for my own curiosity than for my writing.)

Well, what my mother does sometimes instead of just grabbing my free arm is putting her hand on my free arms shoulder blade if i do not want her to hold my hand so yes it is possible (assuming your characters shoulder is still intact)


>Does anyone use the talking prescription medication labels? How well do they work? Do you ever have to change the batteries or does the pharmacy replace them?

No experience on this one sadly, Again my mother helps me with a lot when it comes to mobility


> How do you set a clock with no display? Do you have to just sit there and listen to the numbers go by until it reads the correct one?

Someone in the RNIB set it up for me when it was delivered, it was a small bright yellow pocket watch as I'm severely visually impaired and not fully blind

​

>If your sleep-wake cycle is affected by your blindness, will schools and employers understand if or when you show up late?

Yes! If this happens and I show up late or not at all one day they will put all my undone work/assignments in a large folder and allow me to catch up on it at home and bring it in the next day! if its an assignment I can complete in one day that is, if not, i am given a one day extension for it.

​

>When writing braille (for those of you who read and write it), do you prefer writing by hand or typing your notes? Why?

I do not read or write braille but I have used a type writer like machine to write braille once.

​

>Related to the previous question, does a combination braille typewriter and digital keyboard exist?


I don't think so no but i could be wrong.

​

>How do you orient yourself in a new place? What details do you focus on and memorize?

Depending of the size of the place, A new house? Corners, Tables, Chairs, Plants and rooms, A new school / workplace? Building's, Bathrooms Offices, café's but mostly just memorizing the path I need to take every day!

​

>If you shave your face, do you prefer manual or electric? Why? (I do not shave, so any insight into shaving at all is appreciated.)

I don't either lol.

Thanks for reading, I hope this can be of help to you!

Signing off!

* If someone was using a mobility cane, could they use a white cane (long or guide) at the same time or would they have to travel with a human guide? (This character has one arm, so this question is more for my own curiosity than for my writing.)

Yes you certainly can indeed, but it’s usually awkward. I will do it if I can’t trust the person or the person guiding me seems incompetent. Or really isn’t doing a great job at guiding me.

Traditionally and usually it is either or honestly it is human or sighed guide or using a cane. When I was younger some ssighted volunteers would insist we do both. Kind of awkward and defeats the purpose of them being the sighted guide. If someone were to guide then they are task to guide, keep the person safe and to watch for the obstacles that you may run in to.

I imagine if they only had one arm they would either use the cane or hold on to the person’s arm. What I do sometimes is say I don’t have a hand to hold your arm so would you mind holding this for me, thanks. So maybe the guide can hold their cane for them so that the character could hold on to an arm. Since they only have one.

* Does anyone use the talking prescription medication labels? How well do they work? Do you ever have to change the batteries or does the pharmacy replace them?

No don’t use them. I think either can do that and I think its pretty simple to do. Also sometimes really they just give you the bottle and have little to do with the device. Most of scriptalk can be used via an iphone or android app now. So no extra device needed.



* How do you set a clock with no display? Do you have to just sit there and listen to the numbers go by until it reads the correct one?

The watch has a different setting for hour and minutes so you wouldn’t have to go through the entire clock cycle and listen to it. I would imagine that would be torture. So you would set the hour to the right one, you would cycle it 12 to 24 times at max. And then find the right minute. You may have to press a different button to get the minute adjustments though. Blind people can set these clocks and watches by themselves. I am totally blind and had many of these watches. I currently have one really, but it’s a watch in another language besides english and it works that way.

* If your sleep-wake cycle is affected by your blindness, will schools and employers understand if or when you show up late?

Uh… no….. you better do your best to make it on time and to either stay up or try to lay there and sleep. What I do is if my sleep schedule is messed up is to stay awake do the task and then take a nap and use that day to fix my sleep schedule. Or I make sure I spare enough time for sleep for a few hours and then get up and use nnot sleeping that much as a help to sleep more or be tired for that evening so I can readjust my sleep schedule. If you miss work or school because you slept through yes it’s your problem. And it’s probably best you don’t do this. There’s no excuse unfortunately. You have to make due with what you have and sometimes it’s trying to do the next best thing.

* When writing braille (for those of you who read and write it), do you prefer writing by hand or typing your notes? Why?

Write it by hand like how? Like typing it on a keyboard verses braille or writing braille by hand verses typing braille?

I have used a slate and stylus. And it’s rather slow and tedious. You don’t want to write braille by hand without a braille typewriter trust me! You have to poke each individual dot. You can do it quickly but it’s still tiring and tedious. It’s better to use a perkins type brailler and type it out with like the braille manual type writer.it braille one letter at a time verses one dot at a time! A big improvement!

As to typing and braille I think It depends what it is. If the thing is very math and logic heavy then I prefer braille and seeing it all written out. If it’s more like words and this, then screen reader and typing it on a computer with a regular qwerty keyboard is okay.

If it’s written notes with words I rather type it. I mostly use the braille type writer to write on a physical piece of paper for mathematics and science content so I can see it. It has to be something I need to solve or work out.

* Related to the previous question, does a combination braille typewriter and digital keyboard exist?

I do not think so no, but the electronic perkins may do that but dont quote me. As far as I know not inherently and sometimes it’s hard to interpret which letter that braille symbol mean, because sometimes it depends on context and what it is with, so probably not. This would be difficult. I am told there’s braille embossers that would do this but that’s more like a braille printer.

* How do you orient yourself in a new place? What details do you focus on and memorize?

I tend to find landmarks and or streets. Find and explore the environment and logically deduce where I have to go. Apparently there was a name for it and I didn’t know about it. I found out that it existed and I was already doing it for a long time myself. It is called structured discovery. Once I have traveled and explored the area, I memorize it and build a mind map. Sometimes I can ride a bus and recognize the bigger streets first.

The streets or landmarks to give you direction is the most useful. If it’s a city with streets that’s the most sensible tactic.


I dont shave but I know blind people who use both. I know one who does it manually. And think it does a better job and they can so they prefer it.

If I can add a little, self checkout stations aren't as hard for blind people as one might imagine. It's just a matter of holding a box or can over the scanner and rotating it until the machine beeps, just the same as I did before I lost my eyesight.

Still, I much prefer a human cashier. They're able quickly identify the type of produce to weigh on their screens.

When my wife and I shop for groceries we shop together, but sometimes we'll separate at the check out. I'll go through the line while she runs to the pharmacy. If there's nothing for her to get at the pharmacy that week we'll go through the self check out together, so I only use smart retail technology when I'm with my wife or if there are no check out lines open.

I'm not really in favor or opposed to smart retail tech. It's a pretty minor consideration for me so far, but that may change as it becomes more ubiquitous.

I hope this helps!

Yay! Someone is working on this issue!

Self check outs are not accessible! Especially if totally blind. Neither are pos or point of sale machines. The interface of either will not speak to you.

The other stuff will not talk to you and also is not accessible.

Basically bilding in a screen reader in it is essentially the solution.

I heard a different one too. Build an app and then link the app to the machine and have the user do everything on the app and send it back to the machine.

And if you are still interested to talking to people we can certainly talk.

1. What is cooking or baking like as a blind person? The character I'm writing is a cook and I want to make sure I portray the process of cooking as realistically as possible

You can totally do this most of us totally blind people label our spices and jars and packages or we use bar code scanners or ocr apps to read the boxes of food and their instructions. I know a blind guy who got a cullinary degree and went to school for cullinary and was a totally blind guy and born that way.

You touch your food a lot and are very hands on with it. Not sure what you want to know please ask more questions.

2. Speaking of cooking/baking, how do ovens work for a blind person? Is there accessibility settings or do you have other things to help with seeing the temp of the oven?

we use bump dots to stick to all the appliances and we label the different positions of the oven.

I have 50 degrees increments on mine labeled. I have every 20 minutes. You can remember and label the other knob which is usually different oven type settings either with dots or else braille labels if enough space. There is cooking thermometers though it’s always good or you can always check if the meat is hot enough.

Also with microwave you can label that if there’s no tactile buttons it must not be a changing touch screen display. I have labels on my microwave like braillle labels but the person must be able to read it of course otherwise a set of dots is the best method. You can likewise label the stove with dots though my experience is the dots often come off. So sometimes listening is also a trick.

I have a grill like a george forman type it’s cusinard though I believe. I also have the controls labeled. I labled every 50 degrees. The other side I think I labeled it too. Probably just low medium and high. If there are other things and you get accessible units you can likewise label them.

3. (If you know braille) How/where did you learn it?

I had never had enough vision to read print like you or other sighted people. A character had to be as large as a sheet of paper for me to read it. They decide it was probably not worth it or the effort haha! Obviously probably smart. Can you imagine your book if every single character or letter was a different page. Hahaha!

When. You learnt to pick up a pencil and learnt your A B Cs that’s when I learnt how to braille my letters. I was pulled aside after that in. 3rd grade or so maybe even 2nd grade to learn how to write contracted braille, or grade 2. This is a short hand or a abbreviated version and combination of some common letters. Imagine if all the letters was written out that would be a lot of braille and it would take up a lot of space. As it is, a book can take up to 3 shelves on a bookcase. A bookcase can probably hold up to 3 or 4 books in braille if lucky with many different volumes.

In first grade I was introduced to this big metal type writer called the perkins brailler. I was taught how to use it, load paper in to it and type on it. And write braille. Later on I was given a braille notetaker called a braillenote. I know how to use a regular keyboard too and computer. I am typing this using regular touch typing on a bluetooth keyboard hooked up to my iphone. It’s a regular qwerty keyboard one of those larger magic keyboards by apple with the numbpad, actually.


I have been using braille ever since and read braille too. I have a perkins brailler right in front of me at the moment. I am a slightly older student and I am a stem major studying for a compsci degree.



4. How long does it take to train a service dog, and how long does it take to apply for a service dog? Also, how much of a level are service dogs treated as pets when not working?

Not too sure but it takes about a year or 2 to train. One. Guide dogs are raised by private individuals, puppy raisers, and train them. Then they go to the guide dog school where they get trained and then paired and then the blind student is paired with the dog. If the person never has had a guide dog then they get training, if they do they go through it with the new dog to train it and make sure they are a compatible team.

It can take a couple of months, but if you apply you already have to know how to get around, can use a cane fairly well, can show a person who comes and interview you that you can navigate on your own, can cross streets. The dog is there to help but not to absolutely replace your responsibility or awareness or knowing how to get around.

Yes if off harness and not working then a guide dog can relax and be more like a pet but they are usually pretty well behaved anyway.



5. How accessible is the average city to the blind? Also, how accessible is a college/university campus for the blind?


Modern cities are usualy fairly accessible, but it does depend on the city and how big it is. The bigger the city the big ones in the world are accessible, the smaller one it all depends. I live in metropolitan los angeles and it is actually quite accessible here. I live in the suburbs so it’s a bit less on the transport but it is still really very good, the buses just come once an hour vs like every 15 or 30 minutes. There is one bus that does come every half an hour but because of the schools that it is on it’s route. Cities are very walkable and a lot of stuff and people are in reach. There’s a lot to do things are handy and shops are accessible. The best place for blind people to be in are big cities but they are quite a bit more expensive.

Colleges are usually fairly accessible but again it depends on the campus. There is always open spaces though and that can be tough or tricky. And some buildings if larger and shaped weird and mostly are outdoor facing classrooms can be trickier. But doable.

Campuses are usually quite accessible though unless they do something weird to it.

The last one I went to decided it was a good idea to install a bike path and it was part of the side walk. But didn’t bother demarkating it for us blind people and thus two of us wasn’t aware we were standing right in the middle of the bike path. Oops! When I brought it up to the big wigs, yes I had a chance serving as an advocate, which i have been for many years, they didn’t particularly want to do anything about it. To this day not much has been done to it. I also don’t see too many bikers on campus though but sure there are probably some.


6. Speaking of college/university, how accessible are the dorms and campus for a person with a guide dog?


They are required by law to be accessible. So they are pretty accessible in that regard.

>What is cooking or baking like as a blind person? The character I'm writing is a cook and I want to make sure I portray the process of cooking as realistically as possible
>
>*I do most of the cooking in our family. Not much has changed since I went blind. I'm a little more cautious slicing vegetables with a knife and I can't tell if the mushrooms have gone bad just by looking at them anymore, but cooking isn't much different. I wrap elastic bands around some of my spice bottles so I know what's in them. One elastic for the nutmeg, two for the curry, etc.*
>
>Speaking of cooking/baking, how do ovens work for a blind person? Is there accessibility settings or do you have other things to help with seeing the temp of the oven?
>
>*The illuminated display on the oven is big enough and bright enough for me to read. Our oven is digital and each press of the button raises the temperature 5 degrees, so when the day comes I can't read the temperature display anymore I can just count the beeps when I push the button to set the temperature.*
>
>*The knobs that adjust the heat on the stove are accessible just by their shape. Even without seeing the markings everybody knows simmer is at one o'clock and high is at eleven.*
>
>*For an oven timer it's often easier to just say "Alexa, set timer for 45 minutes."*
>
>(If you know braille) How/where did you learn it?
>
>*Haven't learned it, don't intend to. Modern technology has made Braille less necessary than it was when I was a kid.*
>
>How long does it take to train a service dog, and how long does it take to apply for a service dog? Also, how much of a level are service dogs treated as pets when not working?
>
>*I have two dogs but they aren't service dogs - they're derpy little shoe eating tripping hazards - so I really can't answer this question.*
>
>How accessible is the average city to the blind? Also, how accessible is a college/university campus for the bind?
>
>*I live in Texas, which is considered a poor place for the blind, yet I have no trouble. People are good and helpful. I worked at a community college before losing my eyesight and in general, campuses are more accessible than the surrounding city.*
>
>Speaking of college/university, how accessible are the dorms and campus for a person with a guide dog?
>
>*Again, I can't answer this question. I lived in my own home while attending school, not in a dorm.*

Are you still interested in this? Are you still doing the project? I will help.

Cleaning isn’t that hard, most of what is actually the issues are missing spots if anything. And that’s why robots exist for cleaning. But what are you thinking about/ do you still need some help with this?

I'm really late replying here because I rarely look at these threads, but this is an interesting question I can answer, so hope you see this. For cases such as this, there's a symbol (dots 5-6) to indicate that the following characters will be letters. A number sign would then be used to switch back, if necessary.

Scroll up a little bit to see my reply to someone else asking a similar question.

Good luck with your project, Potato. You can DM me to ask something more specific here if you'd like.

Are you still wanting responses?

Also it’s a white cane not a stick. But white stick is pretty creative hahaha!

My white cane isn't connected to sensors or anything. It doesn't need to be. It already tells me where the stairs are, where the telephone poles are, where the crosswalk is, where the sidewalk ends, where the railroad tracks are, and if the door I'm trying to walk through is open or closed. The only sensor I'd even think of adding is one that tells me where the low hanging branches are, and even that isn't a big deal.

The main purpose of my white cane isn't to help me navigate, though. It's my conflict de-escalator. It's my incarnate apology for running into your daughter at the grocery store, for knocking your luggage over at the airport, for cutting you off when I didn't see you while we walked. People see the cane and the anger dissipates. My cane spreads love and forgiveness. It's amazing, really, how helpful and tolerant people become when they see me with it.

People *want* to be good. Seeing my cane gives them permission. It brings out the best of human nature.

How is a smart cane going to improve on that?

If you really want to make a tech hack to improve my everyday life make a camera I can install underneath my upper kitchen cabinets that reads aloud information printed on my packaged foods when I set them on the counter beneath it. Is this can of soup tomato or chicken noodle? What are the cooking instructions for this box of Mac & Cheese? Has this cup of yogurt expired yet? How much Vitamin D is in a serving of this rice? Is this barbecue sauce gluten free?

My cane doesn't help me with that.

The link to the Google form you posted takes me to a page that says I need permission to access it.

Sure happy to help are you still looking?

Hey! I go to SFSU as well! I'd be happy to fill your survey, I was wondering if I may ask you some questions on a project my team and I are doing for ENGR 696. PM me if possible and I can give my contact information. Thanks.

Hey scru,

It's the little things nobody ever thinks about. Everybody wants to make some life changing invention for me to be able to walk around without a cane, but my cane enables me just fine. The technology of a cane hasn't changed in 5,000 years because it works so well. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

What I really need is something to warn me when the dishwasher door is open so I don't bang my shin on it. Simple stuff like that, stuff I'd actually use at home. A smart home for the blind type of thing. An hourly reminder that a window is left open, a voice command to tell Siri or Alexa to ring my phone when I can't find it, a camera in my kitchen that can read the cooking instructions and expiration date on a box of Mac & Cheese aloud to me, a photosensor that reminds me a cupboard door is open before I run face first into it.

I'd rather see dozens of small tech hacks that each make my life a little bit easier than one solution to all my needs.

You mean the colorino? I own one.

Download the app Seeing A.I. leave the channels in app it offers. See*

I can imagine situations where this would be useful, but it's not something I would carry around with me all the time.

If you can make it a smart phone app instead of a separate device I'd download it.

>not see distinguishing features in humans, but see them as shapes or blobs
>
>be able to move in forested areas by themselves
>
>be able to see better up close when given a strong magnifying glass

Yes, those can all be compatible.

On moving through the forest, trees could actually help a blind person navigate. The trunks are silent - they absorb sound waves. The rougher the bark the more noise they absorb. And if there's enough wind to rustle the leaves your character could tell which type of tree it is by the type of sound. An aspen in the wind sounds much different from an oak, and both sound different from a pine.

You might want to have a few night scenes in the forest, too, where the blind character has an advantage over the sighted people in the group. Once all light is gone the one with the most practice navigating without sight will naturally do best.

Sure is it still going on and are you still looking for people? I can help.

Black everyone in my family has them and that’s what is common with asians.

Brown

Babying people or denigrating people because of disability or blindness is not okay.


Blind people can do just as much as you can. Don’t also do their job. They are capable of it. Don’t over step your boundary and do their job when they can on top of them.

Treat the blind person with dignity and respect just like anyone else.



Don’t doubt their abilities.

That's a really vague question. What type of work do the people getting these handbooks do?

Without knowing what's applicable my answers probably won't make much sense, but here we go -

* A dark mode option on all software the employee uses
* Make sure all the software is accessible to screen reading programs
* Free Dr Pepper just 'cause we're awesome
* Don't make changes to the workspace without telling us or we will walk into stuff that wasn't there before
* A few work stations should have lighting options controlled by whoever is working there. Extra florescent light fixtures they can turn on, yellow bulbs in desk lamps instead of white, stuff like that. Give them options
* Teach every employee to announce their name each time they encounter us. A simple "Hi, it's Sara, got a minute?" saves us the awkwardness of trying to identify you by your voice.
* More Dr Pepper because, well, just because
* Give us an option to get tech help at our desk instead of over the phone
* Don't leave anything in our workspace. Don't take anything from our workspace. Don't move anything in our workspace
* Working from home is great because we already have our homes configured to meet our needs and our transportation options are limited

Not sure if it works like that. It’s a life long thing honestly a life long struggle.

Any font that is plain and not too thin. Arial and calibri are fine. I especially hate the fonts that so many sites use nowadays that is kind of a lighter gray and thin. It actually does look really nice and clean but it is a pain to read for visually impaired people like myself. I am not really sure what that font is called but you probably know what I'm talking about lol. Because it is not really a dark font when I iinvert colors it doesn't stand out against the background well and that is the only way I readtext on a screen now. But i cantypically by pass the problem now that windows magnifier can read to you. I use it for everything and I love it. So maybe this isn't really a question for me because I do not read anymore if I do not have to. \^\^

The font isn't important to me. Size and contrast matter far more.

Your survey is kind of hard to understand. A scale of 1 to 10 works great *if people understand what the numbers mean.* This survey could really use some clarification, something like "How often do you need help navigating outside, with 1 being never and 10 being always?"

I think I understand what you're trying to ask, so allow me to explain with words what I had a hard time explaining by choosing a number on an undefined line.

I don't go places alone. I can't - I don't drive. Whenever I go anywhere it's with other people, usually my wife. I walk holding her hand with my left hand and feeling around with my white cane in my right.

My eyesight is good enough that I don't need the cane outside during the day, but as soon as I step inside a store I deploy it. While we're shopping I keep my left hand on the shopping cart and probe around with the cane in my right, relying on my wife to steer the cart and not run me into other people. She's good enough at it that I could just leave the cane in the car and let her guide me without it, but I feel a little safer having it with me, both to avoid running into people and to de-escalate the situation if I do.

This method works well for me. I'm not interested in a guide dog or a smart cane. I would be much more interested if I didn't have a wife or a kid holding my hand and guiding me.

Hope this helps!

No that wouldn’t help that much.


I would say look at wcag standards.

To be honest with you, if I get an unsolicited email from a big corporation I delete it without opening it.

There are times when I put an item in an online shopping cart from Home Depot or Lowes or Wal-Mart. I put it there while I open another tab and compare similar items from other stores. If I haven't make a decision in a day or so I start getting emails from those stores advertising the items I put in the shopping cart. In cases like that a CLICK HERE TO VIEW IN BROWSER option won't give me any more information than I'm already getting from the email.

Please understand I don't speak for the blind community. There are lots of different kinds of blindness and other blind people might think this is a good idea, but I wouldn't find is helpful, personally.