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Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

anabatica posted:

What jobs do other blind people you know do?


If you're talking about all the possibilities, that question is probably better answered by this website.
https://www.careerconnect.org

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ShardPhoenix
Jun 15, 2001

Pickle: Inspected.

Greefus posted:

:colbert:

It's a smiley face guy (except he's not smiling and he kind of just has his mouth closed) with his arms folded all sarcastic like - I guess like Steven Colbert. It's a funny icon to use when you are sarcastically arguing, sarcastically being a jerk, or sarcastically sticking to your opinion on something, etc.
:v: is better for more of an "I'm joking" kind of thing. :rolleyes: is good for "mean" sarcasm and :colbert: is good for what you describe.

edit: :v: is a circle with two eyes and a wedge taken out on the side for a mouth. It's reminiscent of someone with a cheeky grin or similar. :colbert: has a kind of "well, hmmph to you too" feel to it, while :rolleyes: is more like "what an idiot".

edit2: having been blind from birth, do you actually make standard facial expressions given that you haven't seen them yourself?

ShardPhoenix fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Apr 24, 2007

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

ShardPhoenix posted:

:v: is better for more of an "I'm joking" kind of thing. :rolleyes: is good for "mean" sarcasm and :colbert: is good for what you describe.

edit: :v: is a circle with two eyes and a wedge taken out on the side for a mouth. It's reminiscent of someone with a cheeky grin or similar. :colbert: has a kind of "well, hmmph to you to" feel to it, while :rolleyes: is more like "what an idiot".

Helping me to fit in, one icon at a time. Thanks!

geera
May 20, 2003
How do you cope with losing or misplacing things around the house? For example, what if your cell phone wasn't where you remembered leaving it? Ever lose your keys?

edit: great thread by the way :awesome:

Kimmalah
Nov 14, 2005

Basically just a baby in a trenchcoat.


I've been trying to keep up with the thread, but I'm not sure if this has been covered or not. What do you do about paperwork? Like bills, bank statements, etc. Do you have it transcribed into braille or have you just found other ways to deal with them? It might be a problem if you get some letter or form in the mail from a place that didn't know you were blind.

I kind of wondered about this when I was stuffing envelopes for a mass mailing at work today.

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

geera posted:

How do you cope with losing or misplacing things around the house? For example, what if your cell phone wasn't where you remembered leaving it? Ever lose your keys?

Usually I leave things in the same place, and everything is fine. I have a set place where I drop my keys, for example. Of course sometimes I'll misplace something; then I swear some and start looking. I use things like keys all the time, so they hardly ever become lost. I'm not so lucky with other things. and of course, when you find something, you have that "Oh, I knew it was there all along" moment.

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

NaturalLow posted:

I've been trying to keep up with the thread, but I'm not sure if this has been covered or not. What do you do about paperwork? Like bills, bank statements, etc. Do you have it transcribed into braille or have you just found other ways to deal with them? It might be a problem if you get some letter or form in the mail from a place that didn't know you were blind.

I kind of wondered about this when I was stuffing envelopes for a mass mailing at work today.

I'd be surprised if any of the places that send me bills know that I'm blind. They provide a service, I provide money, and that's that. Different people have different solutions for this problem. I use a scanner and OCR software to reade my mail--I figure that the only person who really needs to be reading my mail is me. This works for everything except handwritten things, and I don't know when the last time is that I got something like that.

I've discussed how I organize bills and track who's been paid a bit earlier in the thread.

Kimmalah
Nov 14, 2005

Basically just a baby in a trenchcoat.


Caffeinated Sloth posted:

I'd be surprised if any of the places that send me bills know that I'm blind. They provide a service, I provide money, and that's that. Different people have different solutions for this problem. I use a scanner and OCR software to reade my mail--I figure that the only person who really needs to be reading my mail is me. This works for everything except handwritten things, and I don't know when the last time is that I got something like that.

I've discussed how I organize bills and track who's been paid a bit earlier in the thread.

Yeah, I didn't think until later that the braille idea would be a confidentaility problem for your mail and stuff. It sounds like there's some very cool technology out there to help you out. This thread has been quite a learning experience for me because I didn't know some of this stuff existed until now.

beuges
Jul 4, 2005
fluffy bunny butterfly broomstick
Sloth, this has been probably the most interesting thread I've read so far, anywhere.

I'm a software developer also - I write server-side code so there's no GUI's to muck around with, but even so, I can't imagine being able to not see what I'm working on - all the developers at my company have at least two monitors, just because they make things so much easier. I know you mentioned you make a lot of use of debugging statements printed out, and I know a lot of sighted developers also use the same technique to debug, but do you often come across the situation where there are too many variables to work with at a time, and keeping track of the problem in your mind gets a bit complicated?

Following on from that, do you think you have a better memory than average?

How does your screen reader handle things like IM/chat applications? For instance, if you're reading the forums, and someone sends you an instant message, do you have your IM client set to make a sound whenever you get a message? or does JAWS notify you somehow? I'd imagine it wouldnt just start reading the new message that came through, until you specifically activated the chat window. Also, visually, a chat window contains a bunch of text, which gets lines added each time someone in the conversation says something. Does the screen reader have to restart the entire conversation each time? Or does it know enough about chat programs to only read out the new lines that have been added?

I've been contemplating laser eye surgery because my moderately thick glasses are becoming annoying now, but this thread has appreciate my crappy sight a lot more now... Thank you.

Nevergirls
Jul 4, 2004

It's not right living this way, not letting others know what's true and what's false.

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

[SA] seemed interesting, but in order to log in you had to pass a CAPTCHA (type the letters in the box) test. There was no audio alternative, so I just shrugged and went on my way.
Continuing on this, do you find that a lot of web sites are outright inaccessible due to CAPTCHA without backup or other poor design decisions? And, do you find the lack of coherent alt text on websites (like this one) to be a barrier or just an annoyance?

LOLLERZ
Dec 9, 2003
ASK ME ABOUT SPAMMING THE REPORT FORUM TO PROTECT ~MY WIFE'S~ OKCUPID PERSONALS ANALYSIS SA-MART THREAD. DO IT. ALL THE TIME. CONSTANTLY. IF SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE THREAD, SHE'LL WANT TO TALK TO ME!
First

I know it was sort of touched on in the last page, but how do you need computer science concepts described to you in order to learn them effectively? Most of my explanations to others, and the explanations that taught me were of the "boxes and arrows" variety, which would probably have little to no meaning to you.

For instance, how do you visualize a tree, or a bridge table in a rdbms?

Second

Do you make any gestures or otherwise move around to indicate things to sighted people?

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer
I'm back from the gym, so let's take care of some more questions.

beuges posted:

I'm a software developer also - I write server-side code so there's no GUI's to muck around with, but even so, I can't imagine being able to not see what I'm working on - all the developers at my company have at least two monitors, just because they make things so much easier. I know you mentioned you make a lot of use of debugging statements printed out, and I know a lot of sighted developers also use the same technique to debug, but do you often come across the situation where there are too many variables to work with at a time, and keeping track of the problem in your mind gets a bit complicated?
The programs that I work on are relatively simple. Most are scripts in VBScript or Perl for manipulating data. I've also done quite a bit of coding in php. I try to break down problems into the smallest possible chunk and deal with that before continuing, to minimize the number of variables that I need to keep track of. If I'm free of interruptions it works pretty well.

beuges posted:

Following on from that, do you think you have a better memory than average?
I think that I may have to depend on my memory more than the average person, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily better.

beuges posted:

How does your screen reader handle things like IM/chat applications? For instance, if you're reading the forums, and someone sends you an instant message, do you have your IM client set to make a sound whenever you get a message? or does JAWS notify you somehow?
I haven't received any IMs on SA, so I don't actually know how JAWS would react. If I'm using MSN or some other client I'll get the standard message sound. I can then press alt-tab until I get to the specific message window and read the text. The common messengers have had JAWS scripts written to customize how the screen reader interacts. One of the features is that only the last message is read. I can scroll up in the chat window and read the previous text if needed.

beuges posted:

I've been contemplating laser eye surgery because my moderately thick glasses are becoming annoying now, but this thread has appreciate my crappy sight a lot more now... Thank you.
Glad you've found it to be useful...

wntd posted:

Continuing on this, do you find that a lot of web sites are outright inaccessible due to CAPTCHA without backup or other poor design decisions?
It's becoming more prevalent in some areas. I've heard that some webmail sites are now requiring passing a CAPTCHA to send messages, and the CAPTCHA has no audio alternative. This pretty much means that those sites are no longer usable. Another interesting question is what to do about deafblind users, who can't see the text or hear the audio alternative. I don't know what the answer is on that score.

wntd posted:

And, do you find the lack of coherent alt text on websites (like this one) to be a barrier or just an annoyance?
The only area where this site really lacks in alt tags is for the emoticons in posts. You can go in your forum settings and toggle between displaying graphics and displaying the text representations. I have the forums show the text, which works well. If this weren't an option I'd have to write something to add my own alt tags, which would be annoying. XPath doesn't look like much fun.

LOLLERZ posted:

I know it was sort of touched on in the last page, but how do you need computer science concepts described to you in order to learn them effectively? Most of my explanations to others, and the explanations that taught me were of the "boxes and arrows" variety, which would probably have little to no meaning to you.
My algorithms professor was the same way. Very nice guy, really smart, and in love with his drawings. :) For a lot of concepts I'd google for lecture notes from other universities that described them without using pictures. This is not recommended as it takes forever. My professor actually wasn't all that bad at describing concepts when I visited him during office hours and explained the situation.

LOLLERZ posted:

For instance, how do you visualize a tree, or a bridge table in a rdbms?
I can visualize binary trees, but anything more complicated than that is pretty difficult. I don't actually have to write code to traverse trees. Table structures just sort of come to me. I'll look at the schema and relations for a while and it will all start to make sense. I don't actually visualize an ERD or anything like that though.

LOLLERZ posted:

Do you make any gestures or otherwise move around to indicate things to sighted people?
I'll point in the direction of things that I'm referring to. For example if I'm telling someone where something is, I might say "It's over there on the dining room table" and I'll jesture in that direction with one hand. The motion is pretty much without thought.

anabatica
Feb 17, 2006

by angerbutt

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

If you're talking about all the possibilities, that question is probably better answered by this website.
https://www.careerconnect.org

No, I recognize that many jobs would be options for blind people. I'm wondering what the blind people you know actually do. You have said that you know some other blind people, so a brief description of some of their occupations (along the lines of describing yourself as a database guy or programmer) would be interesting.

Thanks for this thread, by the way, it's been great.

Smackbilly
Jan 3, 2001
What kind of a name is Pizza Organ! anyway?
Three questions:

1. Do you have any problems with staying awake when you're tired? Tired sighted people can usually force themselves to stay awake by keeping their eyes open and receiving visual stimulation, but will tend to fall asleep quickly with closed eyes, unless there is really lound or really annoying audio stimulation. Is there a method you use to keep yourself awake when you're tired if you don't have things like coffee or an MP3 player to help you out?

2. Does JAWS have any kind of a visual interface? Due to its function and intended use, it can obviously get away without one, but it's just weird to think about writing an application that takes keyboard input but doesn't display anything.

3. You mentioned earlier that when you get non-braille paper documents like mail, you scan and OCR them to read them. How do you know how to orient the document on the scanner so that you don't scan it upside-down or scan the blank side? Just trial and error, or is there some hueristic?

mohay
Apr 11, 2007

by Lowtax
Do you ever "see spots?"

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

anabatica posted:

No, I recognize that many jobs would be options for blind people. I'm wondering what the blind people you know actually do. You have said that you know some other blind people, so a brief description of some of their occupations (along the lines of describing yourself as a database guy or programmer) would be interesting.
Gotcha. Here are the jobs I can think of right off. A couple programmers, receptionist, government contracts administrator, helpdesk, and a bunch of people in school or looking for jobs. Wow, that looks really sad. Almost all of the blind people that I know well are my age.

Smackbilly posted:

1. Do you have any problems with staying awake when you're tired? Tired sighted people can usually force themselves to stay awake by keeping their eyes open and receiving visual stimulation, but will tend to fall asleep quickly with closed eyes, unless there is really lound or really annoying audio stimulation. Is there a method you use to keep yourself awake when you're tired if you don't have things like coffee or an MP3 player to help you out?
I use the "annoying audio stimulation" method. I almost always have mp3s. I usually get to a certain point and after that I know I won't be able to do anything else until I sleep.

Smackbilly posted:

2. Does JAWS have any kind of a visual interface? Due to its function and intended use, it can obviously get away without one, but it's just weird to think about writing an application that takes keyboard input but doesn't display anything.
JAWS has actual windows for adjusting settings and that sort of thing. It's also used by sighted trainers so it needs a visual interface.

Smackbilly posted:

3. You mentioned earlier that when you get non-braille paper documents like mail, you scan and OCR them to read them. How do you know how to orient the document on the scanner so that you don't scan it upside-down or scan the blank side? Just trial and error, or is there some hueristic?
This is something that the OCR programs are able to take care of, even COTS ones like Omnipage. They can determine the proper orientation. If a page is blank then I'll need to turn it over and scan the correct side.

mohay posted:

Do you ever "see spots?"
No.

Net Boners
Mar 2, 2002

did you go to town with hot wheel tracks, Joan Quinn?
I'm the umpteenth person saying this but I mean it when I say that this is one of most fascinating threads I've ever read. I was so taken back imagining you living without any lights on and using a computer without a monitor. Of course doing these things make perfect sense, but they are so foreign to my way of life, that these ideas along with plenty others from this thread have had me completely enthralled.

Someone asked about your favorite smells, but do you have any favorite sounds?

Ramseyk
May 30, 2005
hi
Would you like to have children someday?

How much of an impact has the Internet made in your life? I'm assuming its similar to having a TV, because you're just hearing stuff as you are with JAWS. But I'm sure its made some other things easier for you and more accessible?

If you don't mind me asking, what was your longest relationship (as in, Girlfriend)?

Do your parents live near you? How often do you visit them? Do they get worried a lot?

Am I right in assuming movies with a ton of action (like, the Matrix for example) aren't as enjoyable because of the 5-10 minute fight scenes. I know you could have someone describe the action, but am I wrong in assuming you appreciate movies with more dialog? Like say, Batman Begins. Sort...of. :v:

And yeah, for the billionth time, what an awesome thread. I've learned so much about blind people from hearing your experience. This is very interesting. I also have to commend you, you appear very content and happy with life---thats awesome.

Toastmaker
Jul 12, 2004

crazy as a fish with titties
Any chance of you posting a picture of yourself? We'll pick apart your sister's fashion sense for you :)

IDigress
Apr 27, 2006
On the contrary...

Toastmaker posted:

Any chance of you posting a picture of yourself? We'll pick apart your sister's fashion sense for you :)

He didn't release the name of his dog because he wanted to remain anonymous. I can't imagine him posting a picture that would do much more then that.

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

buns of molybdenum posted:

Someone asked about your favorite smells, but do you have any favorite sounds?

Glad you're enjoying the thread. The only sound that immediately comes
to mind is the "swish, swish" of passing cars. I find it calming for
some reason, even moreso if I'm listening to it from within a moving
vehicle.

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

Ramseyk posted:

Would you like to have children someday?
At this point in time, definitely not. Someday, maybe. That's a pretty
slim maybe though. I like kids and seem to get along well with them, but
I also like handing them back to their parents after a while.

Ramseyk posted:

How much of an impact has the Internet made in your life? I'm assuming its similar to having a TV, because you're just hearing stuff as you are with JAWS. But I'm sure its made some other things easier for you and more accessible?
It's made a huge impact. I use it for everything from wasting time on SA to ordering dogfood. Information is much more accessible given the Internet. Browsing and looking for new products is made much easier with online shopping. Bookstores are of little use without someone to help browse, but Amazon takes care of that. (well it totally fails in the social department but what can you expect?) Anyway, yay Internets.

Ramseyk posted:

If you don't mind me asking, what was your longest relationship (as in, Girlfriend)?
The longest was two years.

Ramseyk posted:

Do your parents live near you? How often do you visit them? Do they get worried a lot?
They live in the same city. Incidentally, I never expected to be here after graduation. It's interesting how things work out. I try to go out to dinner or something with them every couple months. I can't speak for them, but they don't seem particularly worried to me.

Ramseyk posted:

Am I right in assuming movies with a ton of action (like, the Matrix for example) aren't as enjoyable because of the 5-10 minute fight scenes. I know you could have someone describe the action, but am I wrong in assuming you appreciate movies with more dialog? Like say, Batman Begins. Sort...of. :v:
The Matrix was actually pretty cool after I had some idea of what was going on. It did take someone describing the action sequences though. A while after watching it I found a copy of the movie script and read that; it clarified some things. Movies with more dialog are easier, but not necessarily better.

Ramseyk posted:

I also have to commend you, you appear very content and happy with life---thats awesome.
Life is going well for the most part, I agree.

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

IDigress posted:

He didn't release the name of his dog because he wanted to remain anonymous. I can't imagine him posting a picture that would do much more then that.

True, though I've given that some thought. It's not like I've posted
anything that I wouldn't say in person. Unfortunately I don't have any
recent pics.

sulley
Aug 15, 2004

Not just an urge - more than that. It was my destiny to be here; in the box.
How do you open those insane plastic box contraptions that most electronics manufacturers place their products in these days? I swear I need scissors every time for them. Do you have someone else do it?

Harry Krishna
Jul 2, 2004
I am not your body
What is your perception of body language like? Can you tell in intimate conversation when someone gestures, do you notice more subtleties in things like handshakes and hugs?

art of spoonbending
Jun 18, 2005

Grimey Drawer
Cool thread!

Watching a movie recently, we were playing with the sound options and came across one obviously designed for blind people. Some person was describing everything seen on the screen, such as descriptions of the characters as they're on screen and things like 'a stormy sea' which makes me think it might have been Das Boot. I don't know how many movies have this option but were you aware that this even exists? It would be awesome if every movie had that option.

Also, you say you like Nickleback (among other music) but if you saw how cheesy and phony those people in that band looked you might not. It's probably good that you can enjoy music without being put off by superficial things so I don't know where I'm going with this.

On another tangent, colours tend to have emotions tied with them in case nobody ever mentioned it. Some colours are supposedly warm, some are cold, some can drive you insane, some are supposedly depressing, some make you want to puke. Some are calming, some are full of energy. If you like, this could be expanded on but I wouldn't blame you at all if you didn't care less.

With your text reader programme, does it read in a monotone or does the voice tend to go up if there's a question mark at the end, and does it sound excited if there's an exclamation mark? Or does it just tell you that those things are there.

Do you have a braille keyboard or the usual one with the upraised things on the F and J keys?

Thanks again for the excellent thread!

baboon
Aug 18, 2006
Do you know how to swim? I imagine that it would be impossible to tell when you are nearing the end of the lane unless you had somebody with you

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

sulley posted:

How do you open those insane plastic box contraptions that most electronics manufacturers place their products in these days? I swear I need scissors every time for them. Do you have someone else do it?

I use scissors, or a knife. Depends on how annoying they are.

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

Harry Krishna posted:

What is your perception of body language like? Can you tell in intimate conversation when someone gestures, do you notice more subtleties in things like handshakes and hugs?

It's really easy to notice subtleties when none actually exist. :)

I've found that trying to pick up on to much using only tone of voice leads to a lot of misunderstandings--that or I'd pick up on emotions that the other person would rather I not notice. "What's wrong? Nothing's wrong. You sound unhappy. I'm fine. Blah blah blah." Communication is better than guesswork IMO.

I try to pick up on peoples' boundaries and pay attention to those. For example if someone doesn't normally hug people, a hug means more than if they hug everyone they come across.

Polpettina
Apr 15, 2007
Do people ask you or tell you beforehand they are going to hug you?

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

Harmony In My Head posted:

Watching a movie recently, we were playing with the sound options and came across one obviously designed for blind people. Some person was describing everything seen on the screen, such as descriptions of the characters as they're on screen and things like 'a stormy sea' which makes me think it might have been Das Boot. I don't know how many movies have this option but were you aware that this even exists? It would be awesome if every movie had that option.
It's called Descriptive Video, available on some dvds and also by purchasing special copies of movies. For the curious I think one of the major websites is https://www.wgbh.org. I personally think it's helpful once or twice in figuring out what's going on, but after you know it's more pleasant to watch the movie without description. The voice disguises some of the sound from the movie.

Harmony In My Head posted:

Also, you say you like Nickleback (among other music) but if you saw how cheesy and phony those people in that band looked you might not. It's probably good that you can enjoy music without being put off by superficial things so I don't know where I'm going with this.
I laughed at that. That's probably very true actually. I'll keep it in mind for the next "what's good about being blind" question.

Harmony In My Head posted:

On another tangent, colours tend to have emotions tied with them in case nobody ever mentioned it. Some colours are supposedly warm, some are cold, some can drive you insane, some are supposedly depressing, some make you want to puke. Some are calming, some are full of energy. If you like, this could be expanded on but I wouldn't blame you at all if you didn't care less.
I care in a way, but it's just information to me, sort of tacking color tags onto emotions. It's an interesting concept.

Harmony In My Head posted:

With your text reader programme, does it read in a monotone or does the voice tend to go up if there's a question mark at the end, and does it sound excited if there's an exclamation mark? Or does it just tell you that those things are there.
It pauses at the ends of sentences with periods and has a little questioning pitch-change for those sentences. I found a great E/N thread that I think would be amusing, so I'll come up with a recording so you can see what I'm talking about.

Harmony In My Head posted:

Do you have a braille keyboard or the usual one with the upraised things on the F and J keys?
It's a regular Dell keyboard. I saw a braille keyboard once. The keys were much larger, all square, and I think they had braille and raised print labels on them. I already knew how to type by this point and couldn't actually imagine using it. Also the transition between it and a normal keyboard (after you somehow learned how to type on the braille one) would be difficult IMO.

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

baboon posted:

Do you know how to swim? I imagine that it would be impossible to tell when you are nearing the end of the lane unless you had somebody with you

I know how to swim. I tend to use strokes that will involve my arms being in front, so they're more likely to hit the end of the lane before I do. Backstroke was never one of my favorites. ;)

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

Polpettina posted:

Do people ask you or tell you beforehand they are going to hug you?

No, they just hug me. It's never been an issue.

Escher
Dec 22, 2005

If only...

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

Thanks. I don't really consider my writing to be all that exceptional.

It really is. This thread is incredibly clear and vivid.

I hope you aren't getting tired of questions about judging people's appearances, and I hope this isn't too personal, but... One of the most important indicators of beauty is facial symmetry. The human eye can detect very small assymsetries (or their absence). We do this because symmetry indicates a strong immune system (fighting off infections at a young age that can deform bones), and therefore, good genes to be passed to the next generation. So, do facial features matter to you? Can you discern symmetry by touch? What makes a beautiful face, to you, if anything?

I don't mean to misprepresent you, but reading this thread, it seems like you associate physical appearance almost exclusively with someone's body. Is this the right reading?

Also, what do you think of optical illusions? Have people tried to describe them to you? Is their such a thing as an aural illusion, or a tactile illusion?

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

Escher posted:

It really is. This thread is incredibly clear and vivid.

I hope you aren't getting tired of questions about judging people's appearances, and I hope this isn't too personal, but... One of the most important indicators of beauty is facial symmetry. The human eye can detect very small assymsetries (or their absence). We do this because symmetry indicates a strong immune system (fighting off infections at a young age that can deform bones), and therefore, good genes to be passed to the next generation. So, do facial features matter to you? Can you discern symmetry by touch? What makes a beautiful face, to you, if anything?
This is pretty interesting, and I wasn't aware of it. I don't know if I'd be able to gauge symetry by touch or not--I'd have to look at symetrical and unsymetrical faces for comparison. I'd probably focus more on proportion. I'd also notice how well she takes care of her skin.

Escher posted:

I don't mean to misprepresent you, but reading this thread, it seems like you associate physical appearance almost exclusively with someone's body. Is this the right reading?
What else would you consider as part of physical appearance? (I'm confused.)

Escher posted:

Also, what do you think of optical illusions? Have people tried to describe them to you? Is their such a thing as an aural illusion, or a tactile illusion?
Optical illusions have been described. I think they're rather facinating. I tend to assume that it's impossible to trick the sense of sight and that's not so true. I'm not aware of auditory or tactile illusions.

This is a great thread. I've learned a number of new things.

anabatica
Feb 17, 2006

by angerbutt

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

Optical illusions have been described. I think they're rather facinating. I tend to assume that it's impossible to trick the sense of sight and that's not so true. I'm not aware of auditory or tactile illusions.

The only thing I can think of that's similar is a tactile illusion where you place one hand on a hot surface and one hand on a cold surface for a while, and then put both on the same warm surface and they feel different temperatures. They're just means of tricking the body and the mind.

LOLLERZ
Dec 9, 2003
ASK ME ABOUT SPAMMING THE REPORT FORUM TO PROTECT ~MY WIFE'S~ OKCUPID PERSONALS ANALYSIS SA-MART THREAD. DO IT. ALL THE TIME. CONSTANTLY. IF SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE THREAD, SHE'LL WANT TO TALK TO ME!

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

I'm not aware of auditory or tactile illusions.
If you place two objects on your skin close enough together in certain areas of your body, they feel like one object. (The example I've seen is tongue depressors poked into someone's back)

Someone could probably make an aural illusion by faking a doppler shift.

DataCloset1306A
Feb 12, 2005

Just like the tight ass of a young man, you must push through to get to the goodness inside

Caffeinated Sloth posted:


DS handles things like scanning textbooks, administering tests, making accessible graphs, providing notetakers, etc. As I went through I found that it was often better to work things out individually with professors. The biggest thing was that I'd need book information as early as possible. I'd email professors shortly after registration and let them know that, if possible, I'd need book information so I could work on getting a usable book.

Have you ever used a program called Wynn? It's what our blind students use at my university. I quoted your post because I work at my resources for disabled students office, and I'm the person in charge of all textbook conversions. Scanning them, copying them, converting graphs, proof reading (which takes FOREVER), as well as turning them into Mp3s in the end for the people who need them. It's odd though, we have way fewer blind students who use the Mp3s than we do students with learning disabilities. Normally our blind students want everything in braille.



Does your DS have a braille printer for things that don't makse sense in Mp3 format?

Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer

DataCloset1306A posted:

Have you ever used a program called Wynn? It's what our blind students use at my university. I quoted your post because I work at my resources for disabled students office, and I'm the person in charge of all textbook conversions. Scanning them, copying them, converting graphs, proof reading (which takes FOREVER), as well as turning them into Mp3s in the end for the people who need them. It's odd though, we have way fewer blind students who use the Mp3s than we do students with learning disabilities. Normally our blind students want everything in braille.



Does your DS have a braille printer for things that don't makse sense in Mp3 format?

I graduated in 2004, and I'm not sure of what they have currently. They had a braille printer of some type. They mainly used braille for things with math, and scanned everything else.


I'd much prefer electronic text to mp3s--you can't use the Find command in an mp3.


If I remember correctly, WYNN is a reading program used more by people with learning disabilities. I haven't actually seen it in action.

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Caffeinated Sloth
Apr 12, 2007

Grimey Drawer
I've made an mp3 to let you all hear what the speech synthesizer sounds like when reading an SA post. Here it is:

http://csloth.nfshost.com/synth.mp3

Forgive my nervousness.