Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind the source for blindness news and information since 1907

From the time we are children, our mothers have a direct influence on our lives. My mom would often impart little quips and words of wisdom in times of trouble or uncertainty that always helped to put things in perspective.

If I sulked or acted disappointed for a long time, the saying “smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone,” brought me to my senses. This gentle admonition would ground me and bring a smile to my face. She always taught me that it was more fun to laugh with everyone and not dwell on trivial disappointments.

As I grew into adulthood, I started ignoring her old fashioned concepts of self-discipline and self respect. These virtues seemed antiquated in the laid-back era of the late sixties. Though, when I became a college student in the mid/late 70’s, these values began to make sense. You had to have self-discipline if you wanted to get assignments in on time and earn good grades. Self-respect also began making sense in personal and interpersonal relationships. Both became good concepts to live by.

If I was trying to make an important decision, but waffled back and forth, Mom would say, “He who hesitates is lost.” This phrase would influence how I jumped on opportunities even if I questioned how things would work out. I found this to be true multiple times. In 1974, I went to a workshop in Squantom, which benefited me by my getting psychological counseling and making two lasting friendships. In 1975, her counseling would help me make the decision to go to college. I would also have the confidence to try a taste-testing job, learning teamwork and cooperation along the way.

When I was in dating relationships, I often had doubts about what direction to go in. One gem of wisdom from her has stood the test of time–”Be true to yourself and with love you can get through anything.” This idea would take years to make sense, but when I made big decisions which felt right to me; I knew I was being true to myself. When Marshall became ill during the late nineties, our love got us through many a crisis.

Most of all, my mom always encouraged me to develop my writing talent. When I was published in the early seventies, she would say, “This could be your future.” Before she passed away in 1987, she hoped that I would devote more time to my writing.

One piece of advice I have to Ziegler readers is if your moms are alive, treasure every moment you have with them. Listen to their advice which comes from lifelong experiences. If you are not getting along, try make amends and treasure the loving bond you can experience. She can be your ally and your best friend.

You don’t often hear the words magnificent and menace together. However, both words describe our new young cat, Mickey. For two weeks, he has led us on a merry chase that has had us running behind him and bolting upright during the night to figure out what objects have been unceremoniously dumped to our carpeted floors as he explores his new environs. Believing himself to be a superhero, he leaps tall computer desks and counters in a single bound. It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s Mighty Mickey!

How did this ball of flying fur come into our home? A friend emailed a picture and implored us to take him. Plucking at our heart strings, she said he would be sent to an animal shelter, where he would be euthanized if we were unable to accept him. Thinking for about an hour, we decided we could not allow that to happen. He was described as easy-going, playful, and friendly. We certainly hoped this were true as he would have to learn to get along with Mellie and Caley. We believed he’d be a good companion for Caley as Mellie is older, crankier and a complete recluse. Somehow our friend and the animal rescuer, while touting Mickey’s virtues, neglected to warn us of one little important detail.

Let the games begin! After getting over his brief shy stage, we were rudely awakened early one weekday morning by the sound of several objects landing on the floor. What on earth?! Maria, whose room is a study in organization and neatness, began picking up her jewelry boxes, brushes and containers. Mickey had bounded up to the top of her computer desk and, I suppose much like Alice in Wonderland’s cheshire cat, sat grinning down at her. He jumped down, albeit, grudgingly. This frolic has taken place on several mornings. I think it’s beginning to have an effect on poor Maria as she has since left the apartment on two occasions with two different shoes and mismatched socks.

And the fun continues…

Mickey may not want to be thrown into a bathtub full of water, but he certainly is fascinated by it. As we go through our daily routine, he jumps up on the sink to stick his little head as close as he can get to the flowing faucet. He doesn’t even mind getting a bit wet. He shakes it off and keeps on going. He has also decided that getting from room to room by simply walking on the floor is not as exciting as prancing over tables and countertops. What are we going to do with him? Well, we’ll keep him, of course. He is a source of endless amusement and we hope he’ll be around for years to come.

Do you have any stories of pet antics to share?

This past week I faced a problem. I had lost my eye drops and it is necessary for me to use them daily. After forgetting to refill the prescription for over a week, I knew I needed to get this matter taken care of quickly and I needed to stop procrastinating about it.

I have never walked anywhere alone in a regular city before. Of course, when I lived on the campus of Western CT State University, I walked around all the time, but that was a college campus and there was only one road that intersected our campus at the time, so it was nothing like walking in a city. After graduation from college, I moved back home to a small town where there was no public transportation and if I did walk, it was with my parents on quiet roads with no traffic lights and minimal traffic. When I moved into my condo, the only independent travel I did was to take my trash out.

Once I had my guide dog, Whitlee, my life changed, I did daily walks with the dog and on some days, we walked twice a day, 2 miles each walk. I went to restaurants, stores, and shopping malls with my dog. Now that I am waiting for my next dog, I’ve reverted back to that person from many years ago and I’m not doing any independent travel. It all seems scary again, and it is a tough thing to overcome.

But with my eye drops, I couldn’t wait any longer, and I came home from work and waited no more. I picked up my cane, walked out my apartment door, and started walking up the driveway. After leaving campus, I turned right and headed down the hill. What a strange time it was, I was walking with only my cane, no dog, no treat pouch, no back pack. I didn’t know what to do with my left hand, which is the hand where I would be holding the dog’s harness. When I got to the four-way intersection, I walked all the way to the curb, but, whoops, no need to go that far, there was no dog there to lead me to the curb, so I turned right and headed along the sidewalk. As I walked, I realized how much I had to concentrate, pay attention and focus on everything around me. There was lots of evening traffic on my left and lots of bumps in the sidewalk as I walked. I really realized how much work my dogs did for me. Over time, I developed a rhythm with the dogs and just worked in tandem with them and allowed them to make 90% of the decisions for me.

I arrived safely at CVS and headed back to the pharmacy to get my prescription. As I waited for them to fill it, the store manager came over and started talking to me. He asked where the dog was and I explained the situation to him. He wants me to be sure to bring my new dog in so I can introduce the dog to him. After the prescription was filled, I headed home.

When I got back home, I realized that this was the first walk I had taken in a city all by myself. It sure was a confidence builder for me, but I must say, I would have never done such a walk if I didn’t have all the experience of walking with the dogs in the past. I have both Whitlee and Meyer to thank for helping me to realize that even though I did many walks with them, that it is ok to do walks without them and I don’t have to be afraid, but thankful for the confidence they both gave me and to use it as I wait for the next dog to arrive someday.

Being acknowledged in the Guinness Book of Records can be a very distinct honor in itself, but entering twice for the same reason puts one in an entirely different category. In the near future, that club will welcome a new member, once Peggy McAlpine’s latest trick is officially recognized.

Ms. McAlpine, a Scottish great-grandmother will etch her name in history for the second time at the age of 104. Last month, Ms. McAlpine traveled to Cyprus, and took a flying leap that should land her into the record books again, after becoming the oldest female paraglider. Her pilot for the stunt off of a 2,400-foot peak happened to know Ms. McAlpine well, because this dynamic duo have quite a history together.

Back in 2007, when Ms. McAlpine was only 100, she joined forces with the same pilot to capture the initial record. Although it would take several years, Ms. McAlpine was bumped to second place when 101-year-old Mary Allen Hardison came along last September. Technically the record still belongs to her, but there is enough video corroborating Ms. McAlpine’s second go ’round that Ms. Hardison will most likely have to relinquish the top spot. Adding to that, just in case another centenarian would like to bump Ms. McAlpine, she vows to return for round 3 if necessary.

To understand how Ms. McAlpine arrived at such a risk taking status is even more remarkable, when you consider that she only began such activities as an octogenarian. Despite the fact she never really feared heights, Ms. McAlpine had to be convinced into bungee jumping when she tried that for the first time.

Certainly Ms. Hardison and Ms. McAlpine provide great inspiration with their stories, but at this point, amazing women probably come as no surprise to anyone. For all they have overcome, and all they continue to endure, they seem to get better no matter how difficult the challenge. With that said, I hope all women had a wonderful Mother’s Day, because even those without biological children take on the roll in one aspect of their lives or another. Music legend James Brown said it best in a song when he said, “this is a man’s world, but it wouldn’t be nothing without a woman or a girl.”

Source: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-04-30/news/31503204_1_paragliding-oldest-person-extreme-sports

I am inspired everyday by people who stare adversity and challenge in the face. I recently told you about the two blind to ride team who are riding their tandem through South and North America to raise awareness about blindness, and this week I learned about another story that I hope will be just as inspirational.

Doug Pace was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa over 10 years ago. He’s lost most of his vision, but he hasn’t let that stop him from doing what many thought would be impossible. He’s already earned a blue belt in karate and hiked the Grand Canyon, and now he plans to kayak down the Mississippi River all by himself.

Doug will begin his two month journey on May 31st in Minnesota, the north end of the Mississippi. The river is over 2,300 miles long and Doug hopes to travel 35 miles per day. He’ll be living in his boat, so all of his gear will be stored in the two small cargo holds and he’ll pick up more supplies along the way. Throughout this two-month adventure, Doug will face off against grass-choked rivers, formidable currents, fog, thunderstorms, giant-sized cargo ships, and barges.

Doug is doing this trip not only to become the first blind man to paddle the Mississippi solo, but also to raise money and awareness about Retinitis Pigmentosa. If you want to donate to his cause you can contact him by visiting his Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/blindkayaker. That’s also where you can go to follow his progress throughout this journey.

I wish Doug the best of luck tackling the Mississippi. If you have an inspiring story about a blind person doing what some may find impossible without sight, please share it in the reader’s forum.

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped is making some positive changes to the Bard web site that I think you might like. First and foremost, you will be able to read talking books on iPhones, iPads, and Android based mobile devices. However, these mobile apps will have to protect Talking Books from unauthorized use. All of their files will have to be encrypted so that only devices authorized by NLS and used by registered patrons will be able to access books. This process was one of the biggest hurdles to overcome while they were developing the app.

Plans are also in the works to distribute audio magazines including Talking Book Topics on digital cartridges. At least three magazines can be put on a single digital cartridge. Because of the higher cost of these cartridges, though, users will have to mail them back to the library so that more magazines can be put on them.

Web-Braille, which was started in 1999, will be on the Bard website as well. Now, you will be able to download Braille magazines, music scores, and Braille books all from just one website. Previously, Web-Braille had its own website.

The NLS collection will now also have a broader selection of materials with synthetic-speech narration because they will be joining forces with commercial audiobook producers. NLS still has to be granted permission from the rights holders to use commercial audiobooks, but they are constantly working on that issue.

In recent years, audiobooks have come from one producer, Brilliance Audio. NLS has only had the money to obtain 200 audiobook titles a year. Now, they are reaching out to other audiobook publishers. “For the most part, people are pretty happy with BARD: it is simple, it provides a basic need, and it does that well. [But] it is growing like crazy, and we have to plan for that,” said Michael Martys, an NLS automation officer.

It costs $4,500 to produce a talking book from scratch. However, it costs much less when you have the master files of a commercial audiobook. This includes the work that NLS has to do with the book which includes navigational markup and metadata and convert the files into digital talking books. Because the commercial audiobooks don’t cost as much to produce, this could free up funds to produce more books each year.

Working with commercial audiobook producers will also allow NLS to “get the book out much, much faster,” said Neil Bernstein, NLS research and development officer. And patrons will get to hear a wider variety of narrators–perhaps even discovering some new favorites.

In the months ahead, NLS will evaluate the quality of various text-to-speech programs and begin to experiment with producing books using that technology–not to take the place of live narration, but to augment what they have. For example, it could be used, by patron request, to produce download-only audio versions of books that are not in the collection.

Finally, a remote control unit will be available for those with limited mobility and dexterity issues in early 2012.

It’s good that NLS is making an app for mobile apps. It’s also good that they are adding Web-Braille to their site and also adding commercially-available audiobooks to the Bard website. These changes to the site, along with adding magazines, will make the site even more user friendly to the blind and visually impaired and will be a one stop resource for reading.

Source: http://www.loc.gov/nls/newsletters/news/2011/oct-dec.html

On April 11, 2012 Helen Ziegler Steinkraus, a director of the E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind, passed away peacefully at her home after a brief illness. After William Ziegler passed away in June of 2008, Mrs. Steinkraus was the last remaining individual of the third generation of family members who had been running the foundation. The foundation has been run by previous generations all the way back to its inception, when it was started by E. Matilda Ziegler in 1907. Both William and Helen involved their children in the foundation as well, and now the fourth generation of family members will continue on in their legacy to enrich the lives of the visually impaired community.

Mrs. Steinkraus was an intelligent, generous, well-traveled woman with an endless passion for life and enriching the lives of those around her. She is survived by her husband of 51 years, her three sons, and three grandchildren.

Hello Everyone,

As always I hope you had a wonderful weekend. To all the mothers out there, I hope you were all adequately doted on yesterday–you all deserve it.

Moving on to a couple of announcements, I just want to let you all know that I’m putting the finishing touches on the Summer Events Supplement and I plan on sending it out this week. I won’t lie, it’s going to be a large document. It’s already about 27 pages long and I’m not done yet. But I promise that it’s full of some great stuff.

Also, this week I’d like to draw your attention to yet another sighted parent of a visually impaired child who has been kind enough to contribute to the magazine–Lori Planson. Lori has also been involved with Café Mom’s “Our Special Life” video series on families with special needs children. A link to her YouTube video can be found at the end of her article.

As for the rest of this week’s magazine, we’ve got another great line-up of articles for you with everything from inspiring kayak journeys and death-defying aerial centenarians, to mischievous cats and words of wisdom from mom.

I wish you all a fun-filled week. Take care, and as always, thanks for reading.

Sincerely,
Ross Hammond, Editor

Submitted by Dave Hutchins

Makes 32 appetizer servings

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef, (95% lean), or ground turkey
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 Tablespoons chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Sea salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
2 to 3 Tablespoons hot pepper sauce
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 Tablespoon Honey
Blue cheese dressing
Celery sticks

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine ground beef or ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, onion, garlic, Sea salt and pepper in large bowl, mixing lightly but thoroughly.

Shape beef mixture into 32 1-inch meatballs; place on rack in broiler pan.

Bake in 350F oven 18 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine hot pepper sauce, butter and honey in large bowl; mix well.

Add meatballs; stir to coat.

Serve with dressing and celery sticks, as desired.

Note: Cooking times are for fresh or thoroughly thawed ground beef. Ground beef should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160F. Color is not a reliable indicator of ground beef done-ness.

Nutritional Information Per Serving:
Calories: 33; Protein: 3 g; Sodium: 78 mg; Carbohydrates: 1 g; Fat: 2 g; Cholesterol: 16 mg

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to a Reader’s Forum post on JoyBubbles, Alison wrote:

I’d like to comment on the article about JoyBubbles.

First let me say, that I understand that his life was difficult and that he had much to contend with. I can’t imagine how awful it must have been for him.

Having said that, it disturbs me that he has somehow become a folk hero and a source of inspiration. His childlikeness may have been the only way he could cope, and if so, who am I to judge him for that, but his breaking the law and tapping in to phone systems and defrauding phone companies is breaking the law, pure and simple, and I refuse to see him as a folk hero or an inspiration.
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In response to recent comments about computer operating systems not being compatible with adaptive software, David wrote:

Oh, can I relate to the reader with the computer woes. I had the same thing happen to me and must pay $150 to upgrade my Openbook 7.0 because of this 64-bit issue. I also have to buy a parallel port because the newer computers don’t come with one and I need to still use my old Braille Blazer printer. I know of no other Braille printer/embosser that ran for $1800. I used mine quite a bit.

Computers: can’t live with them, but can’t live without them either.
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In response to Feature Writer Karen Crowder – (Not So) Easy Mac, Danni wrote:

First, this is not my story, but a friend who has since passed away–one of his favorite foods was meatloaf and he always poured a can of tomato sauce over top. Well his vision was very poor and he was really bad about checking what was in the cans before dumping. So this time he didn’t have tomato sauce on his meatloaf, instead it was fruit cocktail. Ugh haha.
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In response to Feature Writer Steven Famiglietti – An iPhone Full of Tricks, Richard wrote:

I’ve not had any luck with ZoomReader either and sighted people tell me the magnification isn’t that great either.

If you want a decent OCR experience, try Prizmo for $9.99. It also takes some practice, good lighting, etc., but can yield some very good results.

Also, to double check the lighting, try Light Detector, I believe for $1.99.

Richard Turner
Rehabilitation Instructor
Oregon Commission for the Blind
535 SE 12TH AVE
Portland, OR 97214
Phone: 971-673-1588 X 31615
Fax: 503-234-7468
E-mail: Richard.turner@state.or.us