Hi there! It’s Donna and thank you for allowing me to come into your inbox.
Today, I’d like to talk about odds and ends.
ODDS & ENDS
To identify keys, put a piece of brightly colored tape, which can be easily seen or felt, around the key. Similarly, put a colored plastic hood (available from hardware and department stores) over the key top. Most laces which copy keys have them available in a wide variety of colors.
Each household item should have a specific place and should be returned there immediately after use. Don’t just drop something! That way you won’t have to spend a lot of time looking for it when it is next needed. Encourage other family members to also return items to their proper place. After all, organization makes it easier for everyone to find things!
It is not necessary to rearrange furniture in a special way in your home, but some changes may be helpful. For example, a coffee table with sharp edges may be moved out of the main circulation area. Also, remember to keep doors, closet doors, and cupboard doors all the way open or all the way shut. Half open doors are dangerous!
Stairs can be hazardous! Mark the leading edge of each step with a paint or non-skid material of a color which contrasts with the stairs themselves. Paint the handrail in a bright contrasting color. It should extend past the top and bottom steps as a guide to know where the steps begin. Use a contrasting color and/or a different texture floor material, such as carpet, on the top and bottom landings.
Good lighting is important for many people who are visually impaired. Incandescent lighting is usually best. Attach lights to the underside of cabinets, over work areas, above the stove, or above your favorite chair. If you find you don’t have enough light, move the lamp closer or try a stronger bulb. Three-way bulbs and dimmer switches provide flexibility when more or less light is needed. A goose neck lamp often comes in handy, and a battery operated flashlight to look at dials is another useful idea.
Low vision aids such as hand held magnifiers, telescopes or binoculars often allow persons to continue many tasks that they did prior to their vision loss, for example: reading print, knitting, watching television and locating street or bus signs.
Low vision aids do not restore vision!
However, they do make things appear larger, closer, clearer or brighter. Using your low vision aid(s) requires some patience and practise, as well as good contrast and lighting. And remember, low vision aids will not harm your sight, they enhance it.
Large print numbers, raised numbers, and/or Braille on elevator panels and outside the elevator doors (marking the floor number) are helpful, especially in large buildings. If you live in an apartment complex, place an identifiable marker such as a decoration or door knocker on your apartment door. In a hotel, place an elastic band or twist tie around your door handle to ensure you are at the right room.
To easily identify baggage when travelling, place several large strips of contrasting colored tape on your suitcase.
When walking with a sighted person, use the Sighted Guide Technique. Hold onto the sighted person’s arm just above the elbow in a C-grip, with your thumb on the outside of their arm and your fingers on the inside. You will be able to feel and follow the motion of the sighted guide’s body, making this a safe and comfortable method of travel.
When walking alone, plan the easiest and safest route to take. Think of landmarks that are easily recognized to assist in keeping travel bearings.
When taking a bus, ask the bus driver to announce your requested stop, and sit near the front so that the announcement can be easily heard.
When grocery shopping with a sighted person, it’s easy to manoeuvre through the store if you stand behind the grocery cart, holding the cart handle, and let the sighted person lead, guiding the cart from the front. If you plan to grocery shop alone, call the store in advance and request assistance. Most grocery store managers are more than willing to arrange a mutually convenient time for a clerk to help you find the items you require. Some individuals prefer to have a volunteer do their grocery shopping. Also many grocery stores (and drug stores) deliver for a small fee.
If you would like to become a member of my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you
will receive unlimited access to any of the following libraries.
Recipes – A collection of hard to find recipes
Audio mysteries for all ages – Comfort listening any time of the day
Home and garden – A collection of great articles for around the home and garden
Or you can subscribe to all 3 for the price of $30 annually.
The Albert A. Ruel Road to Blindness
A 21 year old man stood on the beach at the Sproat Lake Provincial Park with friends early in May of 1977, and upon gazing across the lake found the Gulf Oil sign missing from the dock-side filling station there. When this fact was shared with his companions they glanced at him with puzzled looks and said, “No Albert, the sign is still there”.
That was the beginning of a road through confusion, anger, isolation, loneliness and discovery for me. It all began with a visit to a local Optometrist who could see that my vision wasn’t right, but that corrective lenses wouldn’t help. He then referred me to a General Practitioner, where I received a clean bill of health and an additional referral. This time to an Ophthalmologist. Immediately upon peering through the dilated pupils, Dr. McKerricher was able to see the problem, Retinal Vasculitis.
Now, you would think that all would start to improve at this point, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You see, CNIB, from 1918 until 1985 only served the needs of people who were “Legally Blind”, a level of vision loss I wouldn’t reach until November of 1979. The words of Dr. McKerricher still echo in my mind today, “Albert, I don’t know what has caused this and nothing we’ve tried is helping to stop it, and you’re not blind enough for me to refer you to CNIB”!
In the middle of this transition from 20/20 vision to “Legally Blind” came the Motor Vehicle Branch and it’s rules of the road. On August 3, 1978 I drove a car for the last time as my vision had reached the level at which operating a motor vehicle became too dangerous, further intensifying feelings of fear, isolation and anger. Sadly, through this period the only available guidance and support was through family and friends, but not the experienced professionals I needed at the time. Although these support systems are critically important they can often be smothering and facilitating, rather than encouraging and supportive.
With gratitude, and some trepidation I finally was able to access CNIB services in November of 1979, and the world opened up then. There I was able to meet other blind people and receive the daily living and mobility skills required to live independently in this sighted world. I learned elementary braille and began to discover technology as necessary tools of independence.
Thankfully, in 1985 CNIB’s National Board altered the course of service to visually impaired Canadians forever. They added a third prong to their Mission Statement, “To promote sight enhancement services”. This opened the door to all Canadians who were beginning to lose sight, as well as those who had a fear of vision loss to access the full range of CNIB Support and Rehabilitation Services. So now, whether it’s someone’s Mother who is experiencing Macular Degeneration, or an Uncle experiencing the affects of Glaucoma, all have the ability to seek information, guidance and support as all involved deal with the fear and anxiety that accompanies such life altering experiences.
With the help of professional Rehabilitation Workers and Employment Counselors I was able to continue traveling independently within my own community, and even more remarkably anywhere in the world I desired to go. I managed to attend College in Nanaimo and New Westminster, as well as traveling to the Mayo Clinic and to doctor’s appointments in Nanaimo and Vancouver without assistance. All of this while living with some usable vision, but not yet needing a white cane for travel.
During the mid 1980’s I was a stay-at-home Dad and did all that was required of that challenging work, from changing diapers to preparing meals, and from cutting the grass to maintaining our home. I even took a woodworking course through Alberni’s Adult Education program and built and restored several pieces of furniture. Of course the 1958 Chevy Impala in the garage was my pride and joy, and I devised ways to do much of the work it required.
I also joined and participated in many community activities, like the local Car Club, and a disability support group that catered to the needs of people with many different disabilities. Of course, continued participation in family life remained of critical importance through this period.
In 1989 a secondary condition began to extinguish the vision that remained, which set into motion a new stream of professional rehabilitation services and supports. By the spring of 1990 Glaucoma had turned out the lights completely, and the darkness I had feared so desperately was upon me. Strangely though, I found this to be a great relief rather than the tragedy I had imagined it would be.
Through several professional rehabilitation sessions, and by joining peer mentoring and advocacy groups I was able to come to terms with this strange feeling, and to learn additional skills and strategies for living with no visual cues of the world around me. This is also about the time that I decided to explore CNIB as an employer, and to see if I could provide the sort of guidance and support to others that had been my pleasure to receive. Those 14 years were a wonderful experience of ongoing discovery for me, as teaching may be the best way to solidify one’s own learning. In other words, those we assist through this transition in turn help us all as we develop best practices and improved service.
Following a 14 year career with CNIB I also served the blind community as the first National Equality Director employed by the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC), and as a Basic Computer Literacy Trainer with the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB). Most recently I have enjoyed coordinating the CCB’s newly launched Get Together with Technology Program in Western Canada, which brings to the fore my passion for assistive technology and the power of peer mentoring.
Without sight I have continued to travel far and wide, with trips to Conventions of and for the Blind in Anaheim California and Melbourne Australia, as well as to many events and activities in Toronto and Vancouver. Of course my work has taken me to many communities throughout Western Canada, and most particularly nearly all regions of BC and on Vancouver Island. None of which would have been possible without the services and support of organizations like CCB, AEBC and CNIB.
For most people blindness generates a fear of extended movement, both within one’s home and community, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Independence comes from personal desire and increased skill. Many community organizations can assist with both through their mentoring and skill development programs. I remember always that life has little to do with what happens to me and 100% what I do about/with it. There is a quote I like to use from the National Federation of the Blind in the USA, “With adequate skill development and opportunity blindness can be reduced to the level of a nuisance”, and nothing could be closer to the truth.
Helen Keller said many years ago, “There is nothing more tragic than someone who has sight, but no vision”. She also challenged the Lions Clubs of the world to become the “Knights of the Blind, and to take up the crusade against darkness”. I too joined a Lions Club in 1992 and continue to work on the crusade that Helen Keller began in the 1920-s.
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