Ask me about Blindness

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Ask me about Blindness

misterbrilliant: Jan 2, 2007; Harpoon-ed

Does feeling somebody's face really give you an idea of what they look like? Do you instinctively know what a human being looks like, having never actually seen one? Can you feel something and then imagine the three dimensional object in your mind's eye? I recently read Flatland, a book about these two dimensional people who can only see lines and how a sphere tries to teach them about three dimensional space but can't because it's so utterly incomprehensible to them.

I know you're not a two dimensional being, but I thought maybe the same rules apply. Also, what do you think of when I say the word 'blue'?

# ? Apr 20, 2007 23:46

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 12:45

Fish Ladder Theory: Jun 7, 2005

Are web pages written in flash completely unusable for you?

# ? Apr 20, 2007 23:49

Sergeant Hobo: Jan 7, 2007; Zhu Li, do the thing!

Have your other senses, especially hearing, been "improved", for lack of a better word?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 00:22

Nermal: Mar 16, 2004; Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?

Ender.uNF posted:

He simply had no pathways in his brain able to recognize the visual cues and process the binocular vision necessary to make his sight useful.

But they can be developed, even by adults, no? I recall reading about someone who gained sight at the age of forty, it might have been in 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat'. It did not progress smoothly and was a difficult process but he did learn to make sense of the world.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 00:32

altazakin: Aug 2, 2004; So you're not that special. Welcome to the human race!

Do you have theories or feelings about what sight is? Or what it means to see something? I imagine that if someone told me I was lacking a sense named "ugnito" I would not be able to understand what "ugnito" was, no matter how someone explained it to me, because I lack that sense. If someone says this object is "fleg" because of ugnito, it seems as incomprehensible, potentially, as someone telling a blind person "this object is orange when I see it." I know you may not really know if you're correct, but you must have formed some ideas about what the sense called "sight" is all about.

If you are trying really hard to remember something, or listen to something faint, do you close your eyes like a sighted person might?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 01:15

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Time to answer some questions. It's really a shame that SA is blocked at work, or I would have done this earlier today.

toadee posted:

What type of area do you live in? (urban, suburban, etc) Do you find that there are sufficient resources available to make everyday life as comfortable as can be expected? Do you ever encounter people who are rude to you because of your condition? Do you have any assistance animals?

I live in an urban area with buses, cabs, and a paratransit system (you schedule a ride far in advance, one of those large vans shows up and hopefully gets you to your destination on time). Each method has its time and place. I live within walking distance of most of life's necessities (grocery store, Veterinarian, restaurants, coffee shop, a couple bars). I've encountered relatively few people who are outright rude. A lot of people have questions, and I think a lot more simply have no clue at all. I've had my first guide dog for the past eight years; he'll be retiring probably within the next year.

thrawn86 posted:

I guess I just have a hard time figuring out how you know where your mouse is on the screen?

I don't really consider things in terms of moving the mouse. It's more "I need to click on that icon" and then I use the keyboard to perform the action of clicking.

thrawn86 posted:

Do you tend to stay away from really long discussion threads/can it sometimes be a chore to read (er, listen to) things that interest you?

I'm not jumping on you at all, but I figured that I'd mention this sometime, so why not now? I use the words "read", "see", "watch" all the time, because that's what everyone does. I think of "watch" more as experiencing something, not as only experiencing through purely visual means, if that makes sense.

I try to find ways of quickly skipping posts. I've mentioned my strategy for SA forums above. It's also helpful that I don't have to be sitting here at the computer while reading. I can "read" while cooking or doing dishes or laundry or whatever. I look for interesting threads, regardless of length.

onceling posted:

Do you have above average other senses? If so, which ones?

I don't think that I have above average senses. I have to use other senses to make up for the loss of information from not being able to see, so I might pay more attention to my sense of hearing than someone else.

TShields posted:

This is probably the dumbest possible question someone could ask, but since you can't see, what do you "see"? Is it just like us if we closed our eyes, as in simply blackness, or... what? I guess its always confused me a bit... Having sight makes it hard for me to imagine not having sight, if that makes sense at all.

This is a difficult question to answer since I've never been able to see anything. As far as I understand it, my brain simply doesn't receive visual information from my eyes, so it's just an absence.

TShields posted:

Also, how do you get around? Do you have a dedicated friend who takes you to the grocery store or something?

I pick relatively low-trafic times to go to the store, walk there, and ask for assistance from an employee. The success of my shopping trip is partially determined by how much of a clue this person has. They're usually fine and I get all my things and go on my way. Occasionally they're a bit lacking (you should not need to call over 4 of your closest coworker friends to locate a common item when you supposedly work in that section of the store), so I get the things that I can easily identify and call it a day. I have whoever it is show me each thing before it goes in the basket so I can make sure that it's at least vaguely what I expect. If I ask for a large package of Tyson boneless skinless chicken breasts (has about eight) and I'm handed something that's only large enough for two, there is a problem. I usually walk to and from the store, but if I'm getting a lot of things I'll walk to and cab from.

Destro posted:

Have you ever had a major physical injury due to blindness? I imagine navigating an environment is difficult without sight.

I haven't had any injuries at all because of blindness. Most blind people have formal instruction in how to use a cane, and anyone getting a dog will have around a month of training. A cane can be used to detect things in your path (steps, broken sidewalks, people) and a dog is trained to maneuver around obsticals or to stop in front of them if there is no easy way around.

Drei posted:

Also, what sort of accommodations were made for you at college? There's a kid in my English class who has a seeing eye dog, and I was wondering what he did when we were shown a 3 hour silent film.

My first reaction: cry? (Ok so sarcasm isn't communicated so well through text). Your friend would need to find some other means of getting the information that you got by watching the film. The easiest thing would probably be to have someone describe it while watching. It doesn't sound like my favorite way of killing three hours.

As for accommedations, I used a laptop to take notes (and read email, listen to music, and many other not-so-academic things). I'd talk with my professors and either take tests using my laptop and email answers, or go to the Students with Disabilities place and use their equipment. I'd have diagrams converted into a usable form (basically enlarged and on paper with raised lines and brailled labels) for classes that used them.

mrmcgoogle posted:

Would you rather be blind or deaf?

That's probably a better question for someone with both senses, so they can fully consider what it would be like to be without each in turn and then decide what they'd rather live without. Anyway, I'd rather be blind since at this point that's what I'm used to.

Query posted:

How do you know when your butt is clean after you make a poop, since you can't see if there's anything left on the toilet paper?

You can tell if the paper is wiping across clean skin or anything else. (People actually look?)

Query posted:

Is it enjoyable to watch ANY show on television without the visuals?

It depends on the show and how much I can pick up without being able to see. Things like South Park (when it's actually funny anyway) are pretty easy. Sites like Television Without Pity are amusing and also do a pretty good job of filling in the gaps.

Query posted:

Have you read John Varley's story "The Persistence of Vision"?

No, I'm afraid not.

Query posted:

Who picks out your clothing, for purchase and to wear each day?

I have a yunger sister who is into fashion and trustworthy in such things, so I go shopping with her when she's in town. I'm a guy; while I'm interested in being presentable, I'm not going to spend hours each day on every little detail. It seems to be working well so far. Clothing and styles are interesting because people will use them to form first impressions, and I have to rely on other people to figure out what works and what doesn't. I wish I could see what others are wearing and then the "oh my God WTF is that" or "wow I like" expressions from passersby.

Xeras posted:

What do you do in regards to clothes shopping? Do you have your wardrobe set up to differentiate colors or something along those lines or do you have clothes that are mostly the same?

Clothes for work are pretty easy, since the dresscode is business casual. Otherwise I get things so that nothing will horribly clash.

Xeras posted:

Does any of that even matter to you?(Not trying to be rude)

Yes, it does. After all, people judge others by how they look.

Xeras posted:

Also, do you have any pets not for assisting you with day to day living, just because you like that animal?

I only have a guide dog. I don't remember exactly what the pet policy is for this apartment building, but I've only seen/heard small yippy dogs, which aren't my idea of great pets.

tirinal posted:

What do you do for a living?

I work for a government agency, mostly dealing with data. It's a lot of SQL and a little coding here and there.

tirinal posted:

For lack of a better word, can you "visualize" color? Not with any degree of accuracy, obviously, but can your mind process anything aside from greyscale?

I think that in order to process greyscale you'd have to be able to determine shades of grey. I think of color as an attribute that's attached to objects (that tree is green), but I can't actually visualize what "green" looks like.

tirinal posted:

Any particularly acute ability to echolocate?

I can hear sound bouncing off objects if they're a foot or two away. It's helpful for figuring out where poles and things like that are, but that's about it. I couldn't rely on it as a means of navigation or anything; steps don't really provide enough of an obstruction for sound.

tirinal posted:

How fast can you read/process Braille? I've always wondered if it's possible to just run a cupped hand over the page and absorb material (or data, at least) far faster than it would take somebody reading sequential text.

I haven't timed my Braille reading speed in quite a while. I only use it for things like labeling, taking notes, and the occasional restaurant menu. You read by running your fingertips from left to right across each line, receiving one character at a time. I've heard that the maximum speed, attained by those who must have nothing to do but read Braille, is around 400 words/minute. I think the average is between 100 and 200 words/minute. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I'm sure Google does.

RubberDucky posted:

What attracts you to the opposite sex? I often wonder about the rolls of pheromones, perfumes, and voice.

I'm attracted to women, so perfume and pheromones play their part. I also pay attention to voice, speaking style, word usage, things like that. It's helpful if we have similar personalities and can carry on a conversation. I'm interested in looks, but they're a bit lower on the scale--important but not to the exclusion of everything else.

rectal rebuilder posted:

Have any friends played really cruel jokes, like rearranging furnature or some poo poo?

Hmm, not that I can recall. I'd definitely have fun finding a way to get back at them though. What a great E/N thread that would make.

rectal rebuilder posted:

and also, how big is your music collection?

Looks like about 30GB altogether.

Tendai posted:

How difficult is Braille reading? I see it and run my fingertips over it, but my fingertips aren't sensitive enough to pick up much of a difference.

The differences are pretty small, so it might be difficult to do at first. If you're in a part of the world with Braille elevators, take a look at what's next to the button for the second floor. I'd use the first floor but that doesn't always have a number. You should see two groups of dots. The one on the left that looks like a backwards L indicates that the remaining dots until the next space or punctuation are numbers, and the second group, which is two vertical dots, is the actual number 2 in this case.

Tendai posted:

I know that with various physical situations, there's often compensation in other areas - I imagine that to someone who can't see, feeling is more of a focus.

I've explained it more above, but I rely on my other senses sort of by default.

Tendai posted:

So is it as difficult to read Braille as it seems to me? Do you prefer audiobooks?

I don't prefer to read lots of material in Braille, but that's just because I'm faster if listening. Other people have other opinions. I usually read using synthesized speech so that I can adjust the speed. Sometimes audio books seem a little slow.

Tendai posted:

I'm a dwarf, so there are a number of things I can't do because of my lack of height. I have a number of small things (like being able to stand at a counter without a stool, et cetera) that are my "I wish I could do that just once!" things. Do you have anything like that in regards to seeing? "I wish I could see ____" at least once, or anything of that variety.

I mostly wish I could People Watch, interestingly enough. If I'm in a car with someone, it's always amusing when they comment on other drivers. I didn't know you could drive while applying makeup, eating a sandwich, and yelling at your kids in the back seat, all at the same time.

Tendai posted:

I've read a lot about deaf culture, is there a similar movement among blind people, or is that something you're really aware of?

Their are a number of organizations and groups of blind people representing themselves. If you're interested, sites worth a look (in alphabetical order) are https://www.acb.org https://www.afb.org and https://www.nfb.org. Groups can differ in some ways and don't always present the same message, but I guess that's the case in everything. I'm not involved with any of them at present.

AlbertGator posted:

Do you ever worry that you'll be kidnapped by rogue philosophers who are frustrated with theorizing about Molyneux's Problem?

That's an interesting problem. My guess is that, if I were to regain sight, I would have to start from the basics (this is a point) and progress to (this is a line) and finally (this is a cube). I'd probably have to feel objects and then look at them to map between things that I know and this new data. Then again these philosophers have had something like 320 years to ponder, so they've probably gotten further than I have with my couple minutes of thought.

Literacy Is Dead posted:

You mentioned working in the "government sector". What do you do exactly? What were your past jobs?

I've mentioned what I do in my current job above. I've also worked in politics, on the technical (data management) end of things. I've had a couple "code this for us" internships also (Mysql/php, and Access/VBA). Other than nabbing another intern to drag objects around on forms, it was all pretty doable without sight.

Literacy Is Dead posted:

I can only assume that blindness limits what you can do career-wise. How do employers and coworkers react to it?

I think there are a lot of misconceptions that employers have, and to a degree I can understand why. I had a number of interviews before getting this job, and it was very frustrating to come across people who assumed I couldn't do whatever I was interviewing for. Believe me, I'd spent considerable time thinking of the potential problems and coming up with solutions. That's really all there is to it. Identify all the possible problems (paperwork, inaccessible software, things like that) and then come up with alternatives that are workable and that allow me to accomplish the same task. Understandably this isn't something that employers have a lot of practice with.

In every case so far, if given the chance and after seeing what I can do, employers and coworkers have been cool. Sometimes I'll come across something that isn't doable, but I can trade off with someone else so they can design the form while I write the code, or I'll gather the data and they'll make it look nice and pretty.

Literacy Is Dead posted:

Are there any rumors or stereotypes you'd like to dispel? What should we know about being blind and interacting with blind people?

Hmm. What are the rumors?

It really comes down to the fact that blind people are foremost people, with all that comes along with that.

Fast Food Caper posted:

Do you currently have a girlfriend/boyfriend? In the past do you normally date people who can see or other blind people?

I'm currently single, and I've dated both blind and sighted girls. I've had some relationships that were terific and others that I'd categorize more as learning experiences, but a person's sight or lack thereof hasn't really been a deciding factor.

Fast Food Caper posted:

Do you have other friends who are also blind?

Yes, I have a few.

Redbeard posted:

I guess you use a printer that creates Braille writing, but is there any way for you to write by hand?

I can write my signature, but that's about it. At one point it was even somewhat legible; now, not so much.

Redbeard posted:

I guess it is inevitable that blind or deaf people have certain careers and activities naturally prohibited to them, but have you at any time felt truly malignantly discriminated against?

I'd rather assume ignorance rather than discrimination. Dwelling wouldn't really accomplish much.

Redbeard posted:

Can you easily recognize a person by his sound signature - the way he breathes, walking rhythm, keyboard tap frequency - and thereby determine which known persons surround you?

I can do that with some people, if their patterns are distinct enough. For example one of my coworkers has a distinctive walk (or I've just gotten used to it over the past couple years), so sometimes I'll look over in her direction as she's passing by and make some comment. Of course during that split second between when I finish speaking and when she says something, I get to wonder if I've made a mistake.

Redbeard posted:

Are you easily distracted by noisy surroundings?

If I'm trying to cross a street or something, loud constant noises can mask the sounds of trafic. That's the only time when they really affect me.

Redbeard posted:

A fifth one: do you think we should label...unsavoury texts, like extracts from "Agony in pink" (unless you already know, do not look for this) "not work safe for the blind unless the volume is turned down"?

Wow. I looked it up to be sure, and I remember seeing that around the time it was originally posted to usenet. Definitely not one of the more enjoyable things that I've read. I still remember cringing. I wear headphones while at work, so no one else can hear any speech. I'd vote for sticking with the same NSFW markers that are currently used.

Xynobia posted:

What's the first thing you notice about the opposite or preferred sex? Scent, sound of voice, height (based on projection), etc?

I look at people when speaking to them so that I can show interest. (I can't actually make eye contact, but it's worth a try.) The first things that I notice are voice and height. Scent follows those, and then I start focusing on what she's saying and how she says it.

mrs. crow posted:

Every time someone quotes something, does that program have to repeat it again? Can you skip large blocks of text if you want to?

I can arrow quickly through quoted text. When the quote ends, "block quote end" appears on the next line. Check out the Fangs extension for FireFox to see a text representation of what I'm hearing.

mrs. crow posted:

Would you give up two legs to be able to see? Or rather, how important is the idea of sight to you still?

That's an interesting question. I haven't had sight, so I'm not chasing after something that I once had and have now lost. At this point I think that the loss of both legs would be more of a negative than sight would be a positive. I'm also considering the fact that it would be some time before I would be able to interpret the data from sight well enough to rely on it completely. (Months? Years? Never? Who knows.)

Hamclam posted:

Have you ever gotten lost somewhere? like in a city?

Yes, I have. If other people are around, I can ask questions about where I am and what's around me, and get back on track. If for example it's raining (which distorts most sounds), I get lost, and there are no people around, it can be somewhat less than exciting. Things like GPS can help somewhat with this problem. In the situation with the rain, I was eventually able to identify a certain building by smell and orient myself.

Pixelante posted:

There had better be some answers by the time I get up, or I'm gonna be irked. I'm especially curious about how you can quantify attraction when you can't see.

Mmm. Judging by the time, I'm guessing that's a no.

Again, if I could get on SA from work...
I'm mostly attracted to qualities that don't require me to see the person, and of course if the relationship continues long enough you can learn a lot through touch. In the end I think that I learn as much about the physical characteristics as someone looking at the person. Of course this takes a while.

Lead Pineapple posted:

What would you say is the biggest thing that society falls short in when it comes to accomodating the blind? Basically, is there anything that makes you scream "Argh! Not everyone in this world can see!"

That changes from time to time. Sometimes it's the use of CAPTCHA (type the letters you see) on websites. Filling out a long form only to get to a CAPTCHA test at the end that I can't complete is extremely annoying. Even though I can't type the letters, I'm still human. Promise. (Some sites have audio alternatives, which is good.) I actually think that the days of CAPTCHA in its current visual form are numbered. More and more variants are being cracked. I understand the need for CAPTCHA, and I support that need, I just have an issue when I can't complete the test.

At other times it's transportation. Arranging rides or waiting for cabs can be a drag. Public transit is good; unfortunately at least in the US it's a car-based society lacking the necessary infrastructure for the most part. I guess I just need to make enough to hire a driver full-time.

Roloc posted:

I have built sites for the state of California for the past 5-6 years. I am considered an "accessibility" expert for Web sites. I have talked with a few impaired people about this, but how do you feel about accessibility on the Web? Are we anywhere near where we need to be in your opinion?

If a site uses proper markup, especially properly-nested headings, I'm pretty happy. I've met with some website accessibility people, and they still assume that I'd use the tab key and go through every single link until finally coming across the one I'm interested in. That hasn't been necessary in the past several years. What I'm mostly looking for is a way to quickly jump to the information I'm interested in.

Roloc posted:

I have used JAWS before in testing. I actually turn my monitor off and try to navigate like you do, which almost always has me saying "Well it will do, but man there has to be something better"

I think part of the problem is that their is only one stream, so to speak. If I'm reading a page I won't notice that large flashing thing saying "here's the information you want" until I happen to come across it in the course of reading.

Roloc posted:

Ninja Edit: Are you ever disappointed that you miss out on all the whimsical wicked cool avatars considering absolutely none of them have alt tags?

I turned off the emoticons so I just get the words separated with : . It would be helpful if text descriptions were available. I'm trying to get an idea by paying attention to the context, but that's a little tricky.

Halloween Jack posted:

Do you find that your enjoyment of SA and integration into the community is lessened by the fact that a portion of the humour revolves around image memes?

I've only been here for about a week, so I'm still getting a handle on the culture. I'll probably be able to pick up enough from the discussion to get the jokes. We'll see.

andre patton posted:

Here's a question for the OP. How was it explained to you that you were blind? Seems like a pretty hard concept for a kid to grasp.

I'm honestly not sure. My guess is that it was explained at a very early age. I can remember being 3 or 4 years old and knowing that I was blind, so I must have had some understanding at that point.

Rocky Top Hennessy posted:

Do you/Have you ever played a muscial instrument of any sort?

No; I show that stereotypes are not universal by having no musical ability at all.

Slave posted:

Better question then, you said you would have written some script to make things easy, but isnt writing code pretty difficult when blind? Debugging and code tracing can be a pretty visual thing, and i would be suprised if you accessibility software was much help with all the various windows. Much respect for that.

I've had decent experience with Perl, php, VB .Net, VBA/VBScript, and a class in COBOL (don't remind me). COBOL was loving annoying. I've looked at Python, and I could probably deal with the indentation, but it seems unnatural; I'm used to braces. I tend to use print statements or pop up message boxes when debugging.

Slave posted:

Oh and ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

If there is a repeated set of characters, only the first 3 are spoken. This really sucks when I forget to disable that so-called feature and I have a nested if or an SQL query with more than three parentheses in a row.

Big Wreck posted:

Rcneet sdtueis hvae shwon taht the hmaun bairn wlil ittlnnsay rgoceizne eervy wrod in tihs stnecnee if the fsirt and lsat wrod rmaien csitsneont.

Can you raed taht?

Recent studies have shown that the human brain will * recognize every word in this sentence if the first and last word remain *.

I had to look at the words letter by letter and put them back together. I think it has to do with the fact that when you visually read a word, you look at the entire word; when I read a word I either hear the entire word or I have to go letter by letter. I can't just take it in at a glance.

jonawesome posted:

You probably base a lot of your attraction on personality, and maybe voice timbre, but outside of that, do you get your friends to check out the girls, and tell you if they're hot or not? Or do you maybe pull a Ray Charles and try to feel their arms or wrists to see if they're fattys?

I think the whole "feeling someone you've just met to try and see what they look like" thing is a little creapy, but maybe that's just me. If I'm walking with someone and holding their arm, of course I'll incorporate whatever information I get from the contact into my overall view. I'll ask friends if they're around, or send a pic to a few different people to see what the consensus is, but I've usually done all the first impression judgements by that point.

jonawesome posted:

What about popularity? Popular girls will likely be attractive.

Popular girls will likely be attractive if your definition of attractive fits with the people causing them to be popular.

Sometimes mine does, and sometimes not.

ZhaoRi posted:

Is one of the reasons you joined the something awful forums because it's one of the few forums out there that does not tolerate lovely AOL talk? Is it even possible to decipher other forums that are full of people who can't spell?

I joined because, at least in some forums, people have a clue and have interesting things to say. It's possible to decipher text from people that can't spell, but it's easier to just read well-formed text instead.

badson posted:

I wonder about the attractions as well. Our society is inundated with the image of thin being attractive. I always wondered if this was natural or if it was just how we are brainwashed after years of media exposure. What is your basis for attraction without having a visual image of a person? Is thin a basis for your attraction?

I think that our standards of attraction are very influenced by the media. I've read somewhere that in countries with food shortages, girls who are less thin are considered attractive because they're more likely to be healthy. Something like that, anyway. I've discussed my own thoughts on attractiveness above; ask for clarification if something is unclear.

badson posted:

How do you clean your house? Do you have a service that handles this?

I have a service, but I think that's more because I see it as a worthwhile expense than because I'm incapable of cleaning. People coming over will in a way judge me by how things look, so they should look their best.

badson posted:

As a kid, was Daredevil your favorite superhero?

No. I don't really identify with any fictional blind characters.

badson posted:

Do you get angry when people treat you differently, or as if you were a child\crippled when they meet you? Does this happen?

This happens occasionally, and it can be frustrating. Showing anger towards the person doesn't accomplish much. I hope that through observation they'll change their misconceptions. Then again sometimes I think it's a lost cause and just wish that they'd go away.

badson posted:

Do you turn down offers for "help" such as someone leading you to a bathroom or across a street because you need to be self-reliant?

If I decline help, I always try to remember to thank the person for offering it in the first place. "No, thanks." is fine. The idea is that if I don't need help now, I or someone else may need it later. I think that it's important to do as much on my own as possible, simply because help won't always be available. If I'm crossing a street, and there is little trafic, I'm more likely to have someone tell me when the light is green and cross on my own than I am to have them lead me all the way across.
[/quote]

badson posted:

Do you enjoy movies? Do you have a favorite actor or movie, and if so, why this particular actor or movie? I think it would be interesting to know this as your decision is based on sound only.

I enjoy movies, but I can't think of a favorite at the moment. I might revisit this question later though.

badson posted:

What exactly is the cause of your blindness? Is something missing in the eyes or is it something in the part of the brain that processes information from the eyes?

I linked to an explanation in the first post. My understanding is that the visual signals don't make it to my brain for processing.

badson posted:

What kind of hobbies do you have? How do you spend your free time?

Various Internet-related things, reading, working out, and socializing. Not so much socializing lately; meeting people can be tricky.

badson posted:

Pardon me if these questions seem ignorant or offensive, but I've never actually known a blind person and this is great to be able to learn more.

Isn't that the whole point of Ask/Tell?

Infinite Karma posted:

When you say that you are blind, do you have literally no visual ability? Or do you have some ability to sense light and dark, but not enough to see with?

I had light perception at one point, but it faded over a period of a few years and is totally gone now.

Infinite Karma posted:

I'd also like to know how you pick what clothes to wear? Or even accomplish hygiene issues like shaving? How long does it take you to get ready for work in the morning?

Clothes are discussed above. Shaving is done by touch; I can tell if I've gotten rid of all the hair or if some remains. I'm clean shaven, so all I have to worry about is getting rid of everything. Including time for a decent shower (so I feel human) it takes me about 40 minutes to get ready.

Infinite Karma posted:

When you go somewhere new, how do you process the unfamiliar space in your mind? Do you avoid going to unfamiliar places because you don't know what's around you, or is it just something you are used to?

It's something that I'm used to. I prefer going places with other people, but I think that has more to do with my personality than blindness. If I'm going to be going somewhere repeatedly I'll try to form a mental map of the surroundings. Otherwise I just go wherever I need to go and leave it at that.

Raskolnikov2089 posted:

What do you fantasize about when you're uh, relieving pressure? I mean like, okay straight guys probably think of breasts or nice legs, etc, but as a blind person, I'm assuming you don't have that much of a visual concept of what a breast looks like, so what about the opposite (or same) sex tends to get your motor going?

I usually focus on past experiences. I've definitely taken the time to become very well aquainted with girlfriends' bodies.

Raskolnikov2089 posted:

**Edit Also, whats your stance on people helping you get around. I walked by a blind guy trying to cross a busy street, and at first I kept walking b/c I assumed he wanted to be independent, but then I went back and asked if he needed help and he was totally lost. He was going to cross the street going west thinking he was going north. I felt really guilty about not helping right away because that must be absolutely terrifying to be that lost. Like, do you want people to ask if you need help? If you do need help, do you prefer people take your arm or just walk beside you and tell you what to expect?

I've been in that situation, and it does really suck when you realize that you aren't going the direction you'd thought and you're not quite sure of when you got off course. I'd prefer that you just walk up and ask if I need help. "Can I help you?" Then I can either say "No, thanks." or "Sure. Is this Blahblah street?" or something similar. I'd personally rather just walk beside you, but it's probably better to just ask or wait for the person to say something. You could also just say "hi" if you're unsure and hopefully the person would ask a question if they needed help. I certainly would.

I have a new found respect for all the other Ask/Tell OPs. That took a while.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:07

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

...and a few that slipped in while I was answering the previous batch.

misterbrilliant posted:

Does feeling somebody's face really give you an idea of what they look like? Do you instinctively know what a human being looks like, having never actually seen one?

I can picture a person, but it's more of an outline with parts in the right places. I can remember hugging someone, and what I was able to tell about their body shape from that hug, but I can't really take that information and form an image of their entire body.

misterbrilliant posted:

Can you feel something and then imagine the three dimensional object in your mind's eye? I recently read Flatland, a book about these two dimensional people who can only see lines and how a sphere tries to teach them about three dimensional space but can't because it's so utterly incomprehensible to them.

I can, but I imagine it as if I were feeling it again. If I touch this keyboard and then later picture it in my mind, it would have the same information that I'd get from touching the keyboard.

olmjrhux posted:

Are web pages written in flash completely unusable for you?

Advances have been made in terms of Flash accessibility over the past few years. I don't know the specifics on how to code usable Flash, but it's possible.

altazakin posted:

Do you have theories or feelings about what sight is? Or what it means to see something? I imagine that if someone told me I was lacking a sense named "ugnito" I would not be able to understand what "ugnito" was, no matter how someone explained it to me, because I lack that sense. If someone says this object is "fleg" because of ugnito, it seems as incomprehensible, potentially, as someone telling a blind person "this object is orange when I see it." I know you may not really know if you're correct, but you must have formed some ideas about what the sense called "sight" is all about.

I think I've mentioned some of this earlier. That's actually a really good explanation of what it's like. I think of sight as the ability to receive information about things at a distance.

altazakin posted:

If you are trying really hard to remember something, or listen to something faint, do you close your eyes like a sighted person might?

I don't close my eyes, but I will look away from someone (usually upward) if I'm trying to think of something. I don't have control over where my eyes are actually looking, so this is actualy a slight movement of the head. It's more of a "I'm not paying attention to you while I'm trying to think of whatever" thing.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:19

Raskolnikov2089: Nov 3, 2006; Schizzy to the matic

Thanks for the reply! This is really quite fascinating. I've been working on a story with a blind protagonist for a long while, but it's hard to find someone to answer my "inside his head" questions, so you and this thread are both fascinating and a great help.

Do you memorize steps? Like say, if you had to get to the fusebox would you know that it's 20 steps to the front door, turn right, 10 steps forward, stop, turn left, 3 steps forward, on the wall? How fast can you get around areas you're really familiar with? Like can you walk really fast in your house without your cane?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:22

Gone Fashing: Aug 4, 2004; KEEP POSTIN
I'M STILL LAFFIN

Have you ever tried any recreational drugs? If so, can you attempt to describe the experience?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:28

Popcorn: May 25, 2004; You're both fuckin' banned!

Amazing thread.

This is kind of a dumb question but how 'confident' do you feel, exactly, when getting up and walking around? This is obviously massively influenced by a lifetime of dependence on sight, but if I walk around with my eyes closed, it's absolutely loving terrifying to the point of irrationality. I could be walking in a straight line in a big flat empty desert with nothing but sand for miles and miles, absolutely certain in the knowledge that I couldn't possibly bump into anything, and not be able to resist opening my eyes to check every three or four seconds. I understand you will be a lot more confident in walking around without sight than I would be, but how confident are you exactly? How frequently do you walk into things, trip over stuff etc?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:34

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Raskolnikov2089 posted:

Thanks for the reply! This is really quite fascinating. I've been working on a story with a blind protagonist for a long while, but it's hard to find someone to answer my "inside his head" questions, so you and this thread are both fascinating and a great help.

Do you memorize steps? Like say, if you had to get to the fusebox would you know that it's 20 steps to the front door, turn right, 10 steps forward, stop, turn left, 3 steps forward, on the wall? How fast can you get around areas you're really familiar with? Like can you walk really fast in your house without your cane?

No one that I know actually counts steps, because the size of your step changes from time to time. I make a sort of mental map of the areas that I'm familiar with. For example I can picture where almost everything in my apartment is. If I'm going to the fridge I'd stand up, turn around, walk into the kitchen (it's smaller so the sound will change), walk forward a few feet, turn right, and there's the fridge. In college if I needed ice or something, or especially when doing laundry, I'd often walk downstairs with no cane.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:39

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Brillo_Pad posted:

Have you ever tried any recreational drugs? If so, can you attempt to describe the experience?

I've tried marajuana a few times. It does really interesting things to my ideas of where things are spacially. For example I'd be walking with friends along a street and I'd hear a car coming towards us. After the car passed us it would seem to curve around as if it had made a 90-degree turn and was driving on the sidewalk. I'm glad I was with friends and didn't have to worry so much with orientation.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:42

razz: Dec 26, 2005; Queen of Maceration

Maybe you don't even know, and maybe this is a totally retarded question but...what do your eyes look like? Do they look like normal eyes? Do you wear some sort of sunglasses at all times?

Also, I'm very impressed with your typing abilities. How do you know if you are spelling words correctly? What happens if you make a typo?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:45

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Popcorn posted:

Amazing thread.

This is kind of a dumb question but how 'confident' do you feel, exactly, when getting up and walking around? This is obviously massively influenced by a lifetime of dependence on sight, but if I walk around with my eyes closed, it's absolutely loving terrifying to the point of irrationality. I could be walking in a straight line in a big flat empty desert with nothing but sand for miles and miles, absolutely certain in the knowledge that I couldn't possibly bump into anything, and not be able to resist opening my eyes to check every three or four seconds. I understand you will be a lot more confident in walking around without sight than I would be, but how confident are you exactly? How frequently do you walk into things, trip over stuff etc?

That depends a lot on the area. When I was yunger I'd actually run through our house, dodging around objects. I'm sure it was interesting to watch. If I'm in a familiar area I move pretty quickly. If I'm not, I'm using a cane or a dog, so I generally don't trip over things because I have some type of warning that something is in front of me. I agree that it's all due to experience.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:46

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

razz posted:

Maybe you don't even know, and maybe this is a totally retarded question but...what do your eyes look like? Do they look like normal eyes? Do you wear some sort of sunglasses at all times?

Also, I'm very impressed with your typing abilities. How do you know if you are spelling words correctly? What happens if you make a typo?

I've been told that my eyes look relatively normal but are usually more closed than open. As for spelling, it's an unfortunate fact that many blind people haven't learned how to properly spell. This is probably because they use speech for everything and don't take time to check the spelling of words they're unfamiliar with. I'd rather have people comment on what I say rather than my lack of spelling skills. If I make a typo, and it sounds phonetically correct, I might not notice. If I type "enflect" instead of "inflect", the synthesizer will mispronounce the misspelled word.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:50

mawrucre: Feb 8, 2004

How do you think of race/skin color?

Do you use braille that is around buildings. I see braille all over the place but can't imagine blind people would ever be able to find it, walking around with their hands on walls, hoping to find a sign that also has braille.

Are you like Whistler from Sneakers?

edit: What do your eyes look like? Do you wear sunglasses all the time to signify that you're blind?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:50

Xachariah: Jul 26, 2004

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

I've been told that my eyes look relatively normal but are usually more closed than open. As for spelling, it's an unfortunate fact that many blind people haven't learned how to properly spell. This is probably because they use speech for everything and don't take time to check the spelling of words they're unfamiliar with. I'd rather have people comment on what I say rather than my lack of spelling skills. If I make a typo, and it sounds phonetically correct, I might not notice. If I type "enflect" instead of "inflect", the synthesizer will mispronounce the misspelled word.

Deaf people are the complete opposite of that funny enough, they can't speak for poo poo and spell well. I'm apparently quite rare as a deaf person because I speak perfectly, annoyingly this gives people the impression I can hear better than I can and they dont speak as clearly as they would have. What is your favourite genre of books?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 03:59

mawrucre: Feb 8, 2004

When you answer "Yes, I am blind" on the 1040, what does it get you?

Do tpyos mess you up a lot?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:03

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

commonbrick posted:

How do you think of race/skin color?

Do you use braille that is around buildings. I see braille all over the place but can't imagine blind people would ever be able to find it, walking around with their hands on walls, hoping to find a sign that also has braille.

Are you like Whistler from Sneakers?

edit: What do your eyes look like? Do you wear sunglasses all the time to signify that you're blind?

Skin color to me is just a characteristic, and so is race. I look more at peoples' actions.

I use Braille when I come across it. For example it's pretty handy on elevator keypads. If someone points out a sign in an unusual place I'll read it, but I definitely don't go looking for it. I agree that Braille signage isn't really in standard places.

If you lock me in the trunk of a car, I'm afraid I won't be able to recreate the sound of the tires on the road (or whatever it was) and figure out where I was taken. (I haven't seen the movie in years so I might have a couple details wrong.)

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:08

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Xachariah posted:

Deaf people are the complete opposite of that funny enough, they can't speak for poo poo and spell well. I'm apparently quite rare as a deaf person because I speak perfectly, annoyingly this gives people the impression I can hear better than I can and they dont speak as clearly as they would have. What is your favourite genre of books?

I can see how deaf people might not be able to speak well. I'd think it would be difficult to form sounds if you can't hear anything to determine how well you're reproducing speech.

Scifi is my favorite fiction genre.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:11

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

commonbrick posted:

When you answer "Yes, I am blind" on the 1040, what does it get you?

Do tpyos mess you up a lot?

I think it gets you a small deduction, but the standard deduction is higher in my case so I just go with that. I'm not completely sure though. I got my taxes out of the way a few months ago. As for typos, I either figure them out from context or go letter by letter and figure out what the word should have been.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:13

ZhaoRi: Oct 25, 2005; "You can't live on hopes and dreams alone."

quote:

I joined because, at least in some forums, people have a clue and have interesting things to say. It's possible to decipher text from people that can't spell, but it's easier to just read well-formed text instead.

Well, you're a step ahead of me already. :shobon:

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:18

Xachariah: Jul 26, 2004

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

I can see how deaf people might not be able to speak well. I'd think it would be difficult to form sounds if you can't hear anything to determine how well you're reproducing speech.

Scifi is my favorite fiction genre.

Yeah, we also have that deal where if a deaf person got their hearing back immediately, the brain simply cannot understand the words. Without the lips moving for context english sounds like a foreign language to me. I guess the brain is just like that, loving brain.

My favourite genre is scifi too, and fantasy to a lesser extent. It seems all of the visually and hearing impaired friends of mine all like scifi and fantasy too, there is probabley some psychological explanation but I dont care.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:19

angel opportunity: Sep 7, 2004; Total Eclipse of the Heart

Xachariah posted:

Deaf people are the complete opposite of that funny enough, they can't speak for poo poo and spell well. I'm apparently quite rare as a deaf person because I speak perfectly, annoyingly this gives people the impression I can hear better than I can and they dont speak as clearly as they would have. What is your favourite genre of books?

Have you always been deaf? (I'm assuming not)

If so, how can you speak well at all? I can't imagine it's possible to know how to form the sounds without hearing them.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:26

Tiger Crazy: Sep 25, 2006; If you couldn't find any weirdness, maybe we'll just have to make some!

Are you highly organized such as using tags for labels and such in order to figure what something is or is it now just memory?

Also what kind of dog do you have and how long do guide dogs usually work for? And what will be done with the dog once he is retired?

Edit: How large is the city you live?

Tiger Crazy fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Apr 21, 2007

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:31

badson: Jul 1, 2005; "I saw the Bound 2 video on Ellen. First time I've ever heard a Kanye West song. "

Ahahahahahaha NEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Are there things the dog is trained to do besides keep you from walking into objects and being a companion? People love to pet dogs, but are you fairly protective of strangers walking up and petting your dog?

Do you monitor technology for the blind to see if there is reasearch and possible solutions for your particular type of blindness?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:34

andre patton: Jul 20, 2003; softly...as if I played piano in the dark

When your dog retires this year, where does it go? Florida?

Also, tell me if this game sounds feasible. A group of people, both male and female take showers. All use the same shampoo, body wash, lotion et cetera. Then they all stand in a line, and a blind person walks by and sniffs their crotch from about 6-8 inches.

At the end, the blind person says which ones are girls and which ones are guys.

Possible?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:34

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Xachariah posted:

Yeah, we also have that deal where if a deaf person got their hearing back immediately, the brain simply cannot understand the words. Without the lips moving for context english sounds like a foreign language to me. I guess the brain is just like that, loving brain.

My favourite genre is scifi too, and fantasy to a lesser extent. It seems all of the visually and hearing impaired friends of mine all like scifi and fantasy too, there is probabley some psychological explanation but I dont care.

I like postapocalyptic fiction too. I prefer not to dwell on what that might say about me psychologically.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:38

Xachariah: Jul 26, 2004

Oyo posted:

Have you always been deaf? (I'm assuming not)

If so, how can you speak well at all? I can't imagine it's possible to know how to form the sounds without hearing them.

Airborne virus when I was 2 years old wiped out both ears. The best I can describe it is that I can imagine what people are saying by the movement of their lips, I can sort of pick out the way they say things and sort of translate it to speech in my head - imagined sound, I'd call it. :shobon:

Maybe I picked up enough of language during those first two years of my life to allow me to do this. :cool:

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:41

settes: Feb 20, 2006

My original question was answered

so, instead I'm going to ask you if you ever saw the old Twilight Zone about the guy who loves to read and works at a bank and then an a-bomb hits and he has all the time to read until his glasses fall off his face and break

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:51

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Tiger Crazy posted:

Are you highly organized such as using tags for labels and such in order to figure what something is or is it now just memory?

I have labels on some foods that are hard to tell apart otherwise. Frozen hamburger patties are similar enough to porkchops (at least when I make the patties) that it's easier to separate them into different large ziplock bags and then label the bags. With most other things it's just memory, or the objects are identifiable by touch.

Tiger Crazy posted:

Also what kind of dog do you have and how long do guide dogs usually work for? And what will be done with the dog once he is retired?

I have a black lab. Dogs usually work for 8 to 10 years, depending on the dog and breed. Mine will live out the rest of his life with my parents, being a regular pet and probably enjoying every minute.

Tiger Crazy posted:

How large is the city you live?

It's a couple hundred thousand people, I believe.

badson posted:

Are there things the dog is trained to do besides keep you from walking into objects and being a companion? People love to pet dogs, but are you fairly protective of strangers walking up and petting your dog?

He's trained to avoid things in my path, follow people when I command him and show him who to follow, and also to disobey and not begin crossing a street if there are oncoming cars. It's worth noting that I have to determine when to cross by analysing the flow of trafic; the dog just makes a decision about whether or not there are oncoming cars. Those are the major things.

badson posted:

Do you monitor technology for the blind to see if there is reasearch and possible solutions for your particular type of blindness?

I don't think that technology will be able to restore sight in my particular case, since I've never had it to begin with. I don't seek out this information but I'd probably hear about it if there were a breakthrough.

andre patton posted:

When your dog retires this year, where does it go? Florida?

Also, tell me if this game sounds feasible. A group of people, both male and female take showers. All use the same shampoo, body wash, lotion et cetera. Then they all stand in a line, and a blind person walks by and sniffs their crotch from about 6-8 inches.

At the end, the blind person says which ones are girls and which ones are guys.

Possible?

lol Depends on the elapsed time I'd guess, and how much of the natural scent had reasserted itself. I don't know if it would be possible or not.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:52

mrmcgoogle: Sep 6, 2006; red x of death

when someone uses a spoiler tag do you know?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:56

Tobbs Gnawed: Apr 4, 2007; All round mafia nice guy

Have you ever accidentally touched someone inappropriately because you didn't sense their presence and stumbled into them?

Have you ever pretended to stumble into someone to cop a feel?

More generally, what have you done, if anything, to use your lack of sight to do something immoral?

There's been talk in this thread of restoring sight to the blind, and it's caused me to have an idea. We have our 5 distinct senses that are innate to most people, but through biological or mechanical means, could we add a new sense? Could we artifically create a whole knew way to perceive the world around us?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 04:59

Abisteen: Sep 30, 2005; Oh my God what the fuck am I?

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

I think it gets you a small deduction, but the standard deduction is higher in my case so I just go with that.

Actually, and sorry for the slight derail, but being blind causes your standard deduction to be increased by a certain amount. I'm not sure if it changes from year to year, but I'm pretty sure it's always $1,000 extra on your standard deduction.

I want to thank you for this thread. Your insights and the questions of many of the posters have really made me think about the small things I take for granted in my life.

As for a question for you, I know you have mentioned how your software treats words with transposed letters, but if there was a slight typo, would it read the syllables that it recognizes and spell the rest, or would it spell the whole word? For example, if I wanted to say "National" but I accidentally typed "Nationasl" would it spell the whole word letter by letter, or simply pronounce the part it knew and spell the rest?

Abisteen fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Apr 21, 2007

# ? Apr 21, 2007 05:00

Tokit: Dec 16, 2004; I was doing the composing.

What type of headphones do you use for listening to music/speech? (High end ones, Lowish pick up at a dollar store ones, Open design, closed design?)

# ? Apr 21, 2007 05:07

povodude: Sep 10, 2005

When buying things, how do you know what amount of cash you are giving? Has anyone tried to rip you off in this situation?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 05:12

Caffeinated Sloth: Apr 12, 2007; Grimey Drawer

mrmcgoogle posted:

when someone uses a spoiler tag do you know?

I don't remember seeing one on these forums, but if they're entered the same way the emoticons are, I'll pick it up.

Adahn1986 posted:

Have you ever accidentally touched someone inappropriately because you didn't sense their presence and stumbled into them?

I've probably stumbled into a breast or two, but that's about it. The dog will generally go around people so that isn't an issue. If I'm using a cane, it will come in contact with the person before I will.

Adahn1986 posted:

Have you ever pretended to stumble into someone to cop a feel?

Probably a few times when much yunger, but not recently. It makes the legitimate "feels?" so much better.

Adahn1986 posted:

More generally, what have you done, if anything, to use your lack of sight to do something immoral?

I've used it to cut ahead in lines sometimes, but that's about it. I haven't done anything recently that I can think of.

Adahn1986 posted:

There's been talk in this thread of restoring sight to the blind, and it's caused me to have an idea. We have our 5 distinct senses that are innate to most people, but through biological or mechanical means, could we add a new sense? Could we artifically create a whole knew way to perceive the world around us?

Given enough advances in technology I don't see why not. I'm invisioning something tied into GPS so you would have an awareness of objects' locations at a range where you couldn't actually see them.

Abisteen posted:

Actually, and sorry for the slight derail, but being blind causes your standard deduction to be increased by a certain amount. I'm not sure if it changes from year to year, but I'm pretty sure it's always $1,000 extra on your standard deduction.

You could very well be right. I've used the online Turbo Tax website for the past couple years. I just enter the information from my forms, run through the possible deductions and click what applies, and let the software do the rest.

Abisteen posted:

As for a question for you, I know you have mentioned how your software treats words with transposed letters, but if there was a slight typo, would it read the syllables that it recognizes and spell the rest, or would it spell the whole word? For example, if I wanted to say "National" but I accidentally typed "Nationasl" would it spell the whole word letter by letter, or simply pronounce the part it knew and spell the rest?

The software has pronunciation rules for the English language, but other than applying them it doesn't know correct words from incorrect words. It will pronounce the entire word as if it were an actual English word.

Tokit posted:

What type of headphones do you use for listening to music/speech? (High end ones, Lowish pick up at a dollar store ones, Open design, closed design?)

The headphones I have at work are pretty cheap. I keep thinking of replacing them, but haven't gotten around to it. They have a plastic band that goes around the back of my head. At home I'm using a USB headset with microphone for VoIP. It's made by Sennheiser, but I forget the model number. The screen reader and all the other Windows sounds use the headset and Winamp outputs to a different soundcard connected to speakers.

povodude posted:

When buying things, how do you know what amount of cash you are giving? Has anyone tried to rip you off in this situation?

I fold the different denominations of bills in different ways so that I can tell the difference. I also use plastic whenever possible. IMO if you confidently give whoever the correct amount of money, you're less likely to be wripped off. There is an element of trust involved; when getting change, unless it's all 1's or a single bill, I have to ask which is which. If the person seems a little shady I'll separate the bills from my regular set and verify them later. I can scan the bill and a program will identify the denomination. I've done this a few times, but things have always been cool.

# ? Apr 21, 2007 05:25

purity control: Jan 2, 2005; i look better in real life. seriously.

Caffeinated Sloth posted:

I had light perception at one point, but it faded over a period of a few years and is totally gone now.

Could you elaborate on this, please?

Also, on the money thing, I remember reading about some advocacy group wanting to alter the US currency into different sizes for blind people. What do you think about that? Will it be more helpful for you?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 05:51

Mercury Hat: May 28, 2006; SharkTales!
Woo-oo!

On campus last semester, I saw a blind girl using her laptop outside one of the buildings, except she didn't seem to have any headphones on or anything. She was tapping at it and I could never figure out whether she was making a quick memo and had just memorized the keystrokes needed or what. I'd seen her do this on a few separate occasions.

What do you think about guide ponies as opposed to guide dogs?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 05:55

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 25, 2024 12:45

Elvis_Nixon: Mar 9, 2004; You may already be a winner

If I had a magic wand that could give you sight, would you want me to use it?

Do you feel you're able to judge the quality of people better in this text-based world of ours than we seeing people?

# ? Apr 21, 2007 05:57

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Ask me about Blindness

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