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

While Valentine’s Day has come and gone and the chocolates are all eaten and decorations put away, I still wondered how it all began. So I went searching. Have you ever wondered, like me, if there was actually a person named “Valentine” in whose honor this holiday is celebrated? Well it turns out that there was such a person, and he was actually quite remarkable.

The reign of Claudius II was marked by significant persecution of Christians in Rome. As part of that sentiment, it was unlawful to render any aid to Christians. Despite that illegality, Valentinus, believed to be either a priest or a bishop, was helping Christians by marrying them. Valentinus was subsequently arrested and jailed for his good deed, but even incarceration couldn’t stop him from living and spreading his faith.

According to one account of his time spent in prison, Valentinus tried to convert his jailers. During this process, one guard allegedly told the priest, “I have a daughter who is blind,” and asked the priest to pray for her. The priest prayed, and was later informed that the daughter’s sight had been restored.

The night before Valentinus was executed, according to this account, he wrote a note to the guard’s daughter in which he said, “Be my Valentine.” The year in which Valentinus is believed to have been martyred was 270 A.D.

Though we may never know which parts of the history of Valentine’s Day are legend or speculation, what is true is that there really was a saint who demonstrated the purity of unconditional love by being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to practice a loving faith.

I obtained the above information from an Internet radio show entitled, “Embrace Your Vision,” hosted by Judy Redlich. To hear a podcast of Judy’s program about Valentine’s Day, visit www.judyredlich.com and follow the links, or access the program directly by going to http://webtalkradio.net/2012/02/14/embrace-your-vision-%e2%80%93-more-than-just-valentines-day/.

Judy’s website will also tell you about the full life and career of this dynamic woman who just happens to be blind.

To suggest a topic for Judy’s show or to tell your story, E-mail jredlichspeaks@att.net

In the early to mid 1960’s, many American teen and preteen girls were crying, screaming and fainting over the Beatles. Though I loved many Beatles’ songs and still do, my preferred genre at the time was soul.

Several nights ago while unable to sleep, a Time Life Music infomercial took me back to the mesmerizing melodies of B. B. King, Garnet Mims and the Enchanters, James Brown, and the Miracles led by Smokey “Bill” Robinson. The 10-CD set being advertised and containing 150 classics was entitled, “Smooth Soul.”

“I’d really love to order this,” I told myself in a voice that was half sleepy and half annoyed with my inability to go back to sleep.

As I lay listening and reminiscing, I began to wonder when I would ever hear a toll-free number for placing an order. By the time the story of Smooth Soul had woven its way into the ‘70’s, Don Cornelius and “Soul Train,” I had yet to hear even a website on which I could order or look up a number. By the end of the ad, information had no doubt been flashed on the screen, but no ordering information had been given verbally.

“This is ridiculous!” I grumbled. “I just have to find a number for Time Life Music so that I can express my concern and remind them of the informational accessibility mandated by the ADA,” I decided.

Before searching, however, I listened to another infomercial. “Surely,” I thought, “Time Life will finally give a website, number or both.”

As sleep continued to elude me, I listened to an ad about a CD set featuring singers and songwriters that included Carol King, Gordon Lightfoot, Carly Simon, and James Taylor. Again, no verbal ordering information was given. That being the case, I decided to investigate, starting with a Google search.

Upon finding Time Life’s website, I also found a toll-free number for Customer Care. I was going to call it until I became confused–first, by being told that phones are answered 24 hours a day with some holiday exceptions, and then that Customer Care answers only between 9am and 9pm Eastern Time. Given that mixed message, I used the website’s Contact Form to E-mail Time Life Music.

As of this writing, I received a response in which a company official acknowledged receipt of my message and promised to answer within 24 hours. I’m hoping that, in their response, Time Life staff will tell me that they plan to make their infomercials blind and vision impaired friendly by verbally giving a number for placing orders, a website, or both. After all, we who are blind or vision impaired love music, too, and want to be able to order favorite music menus spiced with the nostalgia of yesterday’s memories.

What experiences have you had getting ordering information from Time Life or when listening to infomercials in general? Tell me about it in Reader’s Forum.

Joe Paterno was born on December 21, 1926 and died on January 22, 2012 at age 85.

In an article published in the January 24, 2012 edition of The Press Democrat, Bob Padecky chronicled the last several months of Joe Paterno’s life. Padecky began by recounting Paterno’s firing on November 9th, 2011 by Penn State University’s Board of Trustees.

The end of Joe Pa’s 46 year career was fallout from the sex abuse scandal in which former Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky is alleged to have molested 10 boys over a 15 year period.

Paterno’s dismissal came 11 days after Penn State’s 409th football victory, led by a man described as “the winningest coach.”

Since the coach’s death came 74 days after his employment was terminated, some speculate that Paterno died of more than complications from lung cancer. These individuals, including former Penn State players Keith Dorney and Matt Millen believe that something else was at play, as well. To quote 54-year-old Dorney, a college Hall of Famer: “Joe Paterno died of a broken heart.”

“My wife said it was cancer,” Dorney continued, “But I believe his demise was exacerbated by this terrible Jerry Sandusky scandal. It really hurt him,” Dorney concluded.

Keith Dorney, who played for the Detroit Lions for 9 years, also expressed his opinion that Joe Paterno would never knowingly harbor an alleged pedophile. When Paterno learned of Sandusky’s misconduct in 2002, he reported it to Penn State officials. Joe would later say, however, that he wished he had done more.

Not everyone sees Joe Paterno as a man who died of a broken heart, though.

According to an article written by Bernard Fernandez entitled, “Joe Paterno Finally At Peace,” those who had access to Paterno during the last few days told fans to “Dry their tears because he would have wanted it that way.” At the end of his article, Fernandez described Joe Pa as “being at peace with himself.”

According to Joe Posmanski, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who wrote an article based on two weeks of interviews after Paterno’s firing, “He harbored no ill will toward anyone.” (To read the entire article, visit www.si.com).

Though no one knows for sure if someone can die of a broken heart, studies have shown that grief can take a physical toll. In a January 25th article which appeared on www.time.com, Health Land writer Alice Park discussed two studies which demonstrated a relationship among loss, grief and an increase in heart attacks.

In a small 2005 study, researchers followed 18 older men and women, some of whom had lost loved ones. Investigators discovered that persons who experienced the death of a loved one were 21 times more likely to suffer a heart attack the day after the loss.

In a January, 2012 study on which Park also reported, investigators observed that levels of stress hormones increased 34 times in individuals who lost a loved one, a job, or were experiencing a health challenge.

Although these findings are not meant to imply that we are fragile vessels that fall apart with every trauma, they do suggest that grief takes many forms, one of which is a heavy toll on the griever’s heart.

Maybe all that’s left to say about Joe Paterno is, “May he be at peace.”

Do you believe Joe Paterno was at peace with himself, or did a broken heart hasten his death? I’m interested to hear from you in Readers Forum.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 14, 1929 in Atlanta, GA and died on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN where he was supporting striking African-American sanitation workers. Shortly after 6pm, Doctor King left his second story room at the Lorraine Motel to go to dinner when a gunshot to King’s jaw severed his spinal cord.

When I think of Doctor King’s legacy and nonviolent approach to achieving racial justice, I reflect on the Prayer of Saint Francis. To better understand the relationship between Doctor King’s philosophy and Saint Francis of Assisi’s Prayer, the beginning of that prayer is presented below:

“Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring your love.”

Countless were the times during his civil rights leadership that the Reverend Doctor King met the venom of vicious hatred with the soothing salve of love. In his “I Have a Dream” speech to which I will refer several times in this article, Doctor King urged his supporters to respond to hatred with the nonviolent resistance of love.

Where there was a desert of despair, Doctor King brought an oasis of hope. In his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Doctor King encouraged the half million people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to go back to their communities and continue fighting for equality and justice (By Googling “I Have a Dream,” you can hear an MP3 version of this August 28, 1963 speech).

Where there was the darkness of discontent, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. brought the light of his dreams for better tomorrow. Again referring to his “I Have a Dream” speech, Reverend King expressed his hope that one day, his four little children would be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Tragically, Doctor King, Jr. paid the ultimate price for daring to dream of wrongs righted and injustices invalidated. In March, 1969, James Earl Ray, an avowed racist who escaped from a Missouri prison in 1967, was convicted of Doctor King’s assassination.

Another point worth noting here is that, though achieving racial justice and equality was Doctor King’s primary focus, he was also concerned about economic equality. One way Doctor King addressed this issue was by organizing an interracial Poor People’s Campaign that was held in Washington, D.C. in 1968.

What has made Doctor King’s legacy a lasting one is that, out of the ashes of the violence he deplored and the economic inequality he fought against arose new hands, hearts and voices building bridges to peace, highways to hope, and pathways to justice.

When I heard the news of Doctor King’s death, I was doing my homework at the Overbrook School for the Blind where I was a 15-year-old sophomore. Where were you when you heard the news?

Additional Sources: www.doctorkingonline.com, en.wikipedia.org, and www.history.com.

Is driving while sick with the common cold or flu as dangerous as driving while drunk? According to a recent study conducted by Young Marmalade, a U.K.-based car insurance company, and Cardiff University, it just might be.

The motor safety experts who conducted the research reported that the driving skills of subjects who were ill dropped by 50 percent compared to healthy drivers.

In an ABC News report, researchers are quoted comparing the dangers of driving while sick to those of driving while drunk. Concentration and reaction time were affected so significantly that driving while sick was like driving after having four double whiskeys, investigators said.

Since neither Marmalade nor Cardiff researchers shared enough about the study for it to be reviewed, we can draw no definite conclusions. Clearly, though, this report gives us food for thought. To quote a marketing director from Marmalade: “The study serves as a warning to all drivers that being behind the wheel with a cold can impair a driver’s mood, concentration and judgment.”

To relate these findings to cold sufferers in the United States, Americans experience about 500 million (that’s half a billion) colds a year, and around 90 percent of people in the U.S. are on the road on any given day. This means that, on any day, one million Americans might be driving with a cold.

Though I would never want to be driven by someone who had been drinking, I’ve never thought about being driven by a person who has a cold or the flu and might be drowsy from routinely taking medications. It’s also a safety hazard for pedestrians as well if there are sick drivers buzzing around America’s roads. I’m eager to hear your thoughts in Readers Forum.

Source: Chattanooga Injury Blog: www.masseyattorneys.com/…/new-study-dangers-driving-with-cold/

I hate singing, “Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer!” I hate it because I never seem to get right the sequence in which the reindeer names occur. Not to be a total “bah humbug,” though, I will add that I have always enjoyed the song’s happy ending, and will sing it cheerfully if asked.

As most of you probably know, Rudolph is also a movie–with George May having written the story in 1939 and the movie first airing in 1964. Having not seen the movie since grade school, I have no opinion about it, but George Giulianni certainly does. This author, licensed psychologist and special education professor at Long Island University C.W. Post campus says that Rudolph sends the wrong message to children by promoting bullying.

“Rudolph is treated very, very badly, and this should never happen,” Giulianni asserts. Dr. Giulianni further makes his case by stating that the movie promotes not only bullying but also exclusion, favoritism, hypocrisy, manipulation, rejection and sexism.

During a debate on Fox and Friends, Giulianni says, “At the very beginning of the movie, Rudolph is rejected by Donner, his father, because Rudolph was born with the disability of having a nose that shone red.”

“Sexism,” Giulianni continues “is shown when Hermey, one of the elves, wants to become a dentist but is told that he can’t because elves are permitted only to make toys. And not just toys, but perfect toys, with any toy that is less than perfect being labeled a “misfit,”–a word used 27 times in this less than an hour long film. Imperfect toys are sent to a far-off island, never to be loved by a little girl or boy.”

“How would you feel,” Giulianni asks “if your child’s teacher sent him or her home for being different and told the rest of the class that they were never to play with your child!” Host Carlson ended this Fox and Friends debate by exclaiming, “It’s just a cartoon!”

Cartoon or not, Giulianni feels so strongly about this that he has even written a book entitled, “No More Bullies At the North Pole.” Giulianni rewrites this classic by having Mrs. Claus–called “Mama” in the original movie–point out Santa’s bad behavior immediately. She does this by mentioning ten things that are wrong at the North Pole and then goes about correcting them. The ending in this revision, geared toward elementary school children, is happy, but without Rudolph having to perform an extraordinary feat to be accepted. (“No More Bullies At the North Pole” can be downloaded as an E-book from www.allaboutbullying.com).

Just as Fox’s Gretchen Carlson wasn’t convinced by Giulianni’s argument, neither is Dr. Paul Friday of Pittsburgh’s Shadyside Psychological Services. In fact, Friday describes Rudolph’s story as “innocent and nice.”

“To take this story and make it into something with psychological or sociological pathology…I think Dr. Giulianni has too much time on his hands,” Dr. Friday concluded.

Let me know in Reader’s Forum if you think Rudolph sends the wrong message to children, especially when it comes to accepting classmates with disabilities. If you attended a school for the blind or deaf/blind, did bullying take place there?

Sources: www.allaboutbullying.com, www.bullyingintheworkplace.org, cbs/pittsburgh.com, google.com, huffingtonpost.com, syracuse.com and the TV show Fox and Friends.

Since 2005, I have worked at a Pittsburgh-based mental health organization called Peer Support and Advocacy Network.

Peer support in the context of my employment refers to persons in recovery from mental illness helping others with psychiatric disabilities. The background which enables me to provide this support includes: having a Masters Degree in Education with a specialization in counseling; providing emotional guidance in paid and volunteer capacities; and–most importantly–being a mental health consumer who can model recovery. I do that by helping callers to a confidential toll-free number explore options, discuss feelings and make decisions based on self-determination.

Like blindness and vision impairment, psychiatric disabilities also meet reasonable accommodations criteria under the Americans with Disabilities Act. One such accommodation is telecommuting, in which either parts or all of a job are performed from home.

At my workplace, there are employees whose anxiety and depression manifest themselves in difficult emotional feelings, uncomfortable physical symptoms or both. When symptoms become unmanageable, leaving one’s home can be virtually impossible. Since this results in chronic absenteeism, an employee with poor attendance can be at risk of getting fired. Telecommuting is the reasonable accommodation that enables individuals in mental health recovery to remain productive workers.

For some employees, success is achieved by working entirely from home. For others, however, job retention is enhanced by working partly from home and partly in an office.

In addition to job retention, other positive aspects of telecommuting include avoiding inclement weather and lack of transportation.

Although isolation can be a key drawback, the focus of this article is really on the positive aspects of telecommuting and how it can be a reasonable accommodation.

For persons who have excellent transit systems and love getting out, telecommuting would be dismal. For others, though, such as my peers with mental health disabilities and those with vision impairments who have poor travel skills, no access to transportation or both, telecommuting goes beyond being a reasonable accommodation. It becomes the difference between the humiliation of repeated job loss and the success of long-term, rewarding employment.

For more information about Peer Support and Advocacy Network, visit www.peer-support.org. To learn more about telecommuting, Google “Telecommuting as a Reasonable Accommodation.” You will find many links that lead to a variety of informative articles.

Tell us in Reader’s Forum what you think of telecommuting. Is it something that you have used to your benefit, or is telecommuting something you would never want to do?

“I am from Tuskeegee:
I fought in World War II.
I fought the fight bravely;
Was my duty to do.”

“I’m back home from fighting;
I hope some things have changed:
There’s much that needs righting;
So much to rearrange.”

“Once home in Tuskeegee,
We all went out to eat;
and were received rudely
with, ‘You can’t get a seat’!”

“But we fought for this country,”
we said with voices proud.
“That don’t matter to me;
No Negroes are allowed!”

“We’re frustrated airmen;
Upset with this nation,
We fought the war and then–
Back to segregation!”

It took some six decades
for voices to be raised.
Finally! Accolades!
These airmen have been praised!

They were from Tuskeegee;
They fought in World War II.
Airmen who fought bravely:
They’re now acknowledged, too!

Writer’s Note: The U.S. Military was segregated until 1946 when then President Harry S. Truman issued an order to integrate the Armed Forces.

On Tuesday night, November 1st 2011, seventeen-year-old Alexis Summers died after losing control of her car and crashing into a tree, according to Heather Abraham, a reporter for Pittsburgh’s CBS affiliate KDKA TV.

State police who arrived at the accident scene shortly after it was reported said that the young victim was texting while driving, as evidenced by a partial message on Alexis’s phone.

“I know she’s in Heaven now. I know she’s looking down on us and telling us not to cry, but it’s so hard,” best friend Malory Bateman shared tearfully.

The day after the life of this much-loved teen was cut short, the South Butler School District made grief counselors available to students who wanted to share their pain and remember a friend.

Those of you who read my submission in Magnets and Ladders know that my daughter was taken away from me as a toddler. Heart wrenching though that was, I would have been even more devastated if her dreams and potential had never been realized because her life had been so suddenly ended by a situation both tragic and preventable. As the mother of two children, I would be just as heartbroken were something like this to happen to my son.

Though I know all too many people who talk on cell phones while driving, I never thought much about texting while driving until I watched this tragic story in which a young girl’s virtues were tearfully extolled.

Though it comes too late for Alexis and her family, Pennsylvania will soon become the 31st state to make texting while driving a primary offense. Making that behavior a primary offense means that someone seen texting and driving can be pulled over and issued a $50 fine.

While such a law is definitely needed, I fail to understand the reason that it is not yet illegal in Pennsylvania to talk on one’s cell phone while driving. Isn’t talking while driving just as bad in terms of its potential to cause serious or fatal accidents as texting?

Last year, while crossing a downtown Pittsburgh street using both my cane and a sighted guide, I would have been hit by a driver who failed to notice my husband and me because she was talking on her cell phone. When this distracted, talkative driver finally noticed us, my husband reported that she gave me a disgusted look that said, “What are you doing crossing the street?” Well, what I was doing with my husband’s help was crossing a busy street with the light. I was neither jaywalking (a common practice in Pittsburgh), nor was I aimlessly darting between parked cars. I was neither crossing against the light nor dawdling as if I had all day to negotiate the crossing. Yet, Miss Cell Phone Talker was annoyed with me for daring to interrupt her afternoon conversation.

Though pedestrians who are blind or vision-impaired can certainly cross streets safely and confidently given proper training, we have enough traffic variables going against us–from right turn on red to quiet cars going through lights obviously red; from drivers who want to be safe but are too drowsy to focus; to drivers who are drunk and “certain” they can still drive safely.

From my multifaceted perspective as a loving mother, concerned citizen and blind traveler, I believe strongly that talking on cell phones and texting while driving must both be driving offenses.

What are your thoughts about cell phone use and driving? Have any of you ever been hit–or come close to being hit–by a driver with eyes on the phone rather than on the road?

Ideally, a website needs to be both visually attractive and accessible to persons who use screen readers. Too often, however, websites with visual appeal entirely lack or have incomplete audio accessibility. However, one organization that has been addressing this issue is Major League Baseball.

As outlined by www.mlb.com, functional improvements they have made include creating an accessible media center for audio subscribers which enables them to control volume, choose home or away game feeds, access archived games and more.

For detailed information on how best to navigate MLB’s enhanced features, visit www.mlb.com and link to accessibilityfaqs.com. You can also ask questions or make comments by Emailing accessiblewebsite@mlb.com, the address of their dedicated accessibility staff.

Just as websites that are screen reader friendly are important to Major League Baseball, so, too is the inclusion of persons with all abilities who want to play and enjoy baseball.

A great example of this is PNC Park, which opened in 2001 and has physically accessible seating throughout the park and their Field of Dreams, an accessible field for players of all abilities–the first of which was built in Cranberry, a community north of Pittsburgh. Upper Saint Clare, a South Hills community, also has a Field of Dreams, thanks to retired baseball player Shawn Casey who grew up in that community. In addition to his initial $50,000 donation, Casey was instrumental in obtaining community support.

Features which make these fields accessible are: rubberized, cushioned turf to prevent injuries, shortened dimensions, a barrier-free dug-out, and completely flat surfaces.

There are currently more than 200 Fields of Dreams worldwide which have made playing baseball accessible to more than 200,000 special needs children and young adults. Some of the countries which proudly host these fields–along with the United States–are Australia, Canada and Puerto Rico.

To learn more about Fields of Dreams–and the unique way baseball is played on them–Google “Fields of Dreams” and follow the links.

I’d love to hear in Readers Forum about your experiences with the MLB website and its enhanced features and any opportunities you have had to play baseball on a Field of Dreams.