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

When I was a student at Perkins School for the blind from 1969 to 1977, one thing that amazed me was how the children on campus traveled without a cane. At that time, it didn’t occur to me just how important the cane really was, and even after I took mobility lessons, I put the cane away and continued to walk around the Perkins grounds without it, as did everybody else.

As I grew more dependent on the cane with time and with additional training, I have become amazed at what we did on the Perkins campus. How did we do it, especially those of us with no vision at all? Did we sense where landmarks were because, prior to mobility training, we had no choice? I remember totally blind children leading their friends from building to building without their canes, and I simply took it for granted that this is how it was in life. It’s not like someone put a cane in our hands the moment we arrived at Perkins for the first time. We learned mobility at a given time in our curriculum.

Today, the cane is part of me. I never leave home without it. I thank God that I learned travel skills at Perkins and in my college years, so that I can be as independent as possible. With that said, I applaud how brave we apparently were at Perkins, and how determined we were to reach our destination with lots of confidence, while all we carried were our school books, but no cane.

If you read my book, “My Home Away From Home, Life At Perkins School for the Blind” you will learn more about my experiences as a teenager who had to live away from home.

Did you ever travel a lot without a cane as a child before you were taught mobility?

In 1981, I joined one of the largest consumer organizations of blind people in this country. I learned about how and why the organization was founded, what its focus was, and how blind people in the movement fight for their rights. I also learned that there were approximately 50 thousand members throughout the United States. My own chapter had close to 40 members, and we were very strong.

As the years went by, the membership in my chapter diminished by leaps and bounds, until finally in 2006, the chapter didn’t have any members left. I believe that the reason for this dramatic drop in membership was very simple. While the older members resigned or passed away, it was very difficult to recruit young, ambitious people. I later learned that other chapters in my state suffered the same fate, and in two cases the chapters were dissolved. Then I began to wonder if my state was the only one with this problem, because I find it hard to believe that in an organization with 50 state affiliates, my state would be the only one which was rapidly losing membership. Yet despite several chapters drained of members, I still hear that the organization is fifty thousand strong.

On one hand, it is very sad to hear that consumer groups are having problems recruiting younger people, blind or sighted. Could it be that younger people don’t want to be bothered? Is it that young blind people of today, given how they are integrated in society more than ever, are suddenly too busy to join something new, even if it’s for their own good? Could it also be that transportation isn’t as affordable as it once was? No matter why it’s so hard to recruit the younger generation, it is a known fact. With that said, have we seen the peak of powerful consumer groups? What are their futures, and will they be as effective in their advocacy as they have been?

I welcome your input.

On February 2 of this year, I happened to be up very early. I was sitting in my easy chair watching the weather channel, when the programming was suddenly interrupted by live festivities from the famous groundhog hole in Pennsylvania. Everybody cheered as Phil, the popular groundhog, emerged from the hole. The crowd was full of anticipation as they waited to know the future of the last six weeks of winter. Were we going to plant our flowers early, or were we going to plow our way through several feet of snow until April? It all depended on whether Phil saw his own shadow. As I was watching this farce of a festivity, I already knew what a joke Groundhog Day was, but I suppose I needed Phil to prove it one more time.

Lo and behold, the verdict was in! Phil could not see his shadow, so therefore it was time to prepare for an early gardening season. Can you imagine the sudden rush of people to all the different florists in the middle of February explaining that Phil, the groundhog, recommended it?

Although the groundhog didn’t see his shadow and predicted an early spring, this part of the country was hit with several major winter storms through March. Is that what Phil meant by an early spring? Even to this day, the mid west is in a cold and snowy weather pattern. Shame on you, Phil! You knew better than that!

I believe that Groundhog Day is a joke, and does its best to defy and insult meteorologists everywhere. I could never understand why this bogus occasion became so popular when it doesn’t take much for Phil, or any other groundhog, to be wrong. Are we so naive because the groundhog is cute? What possesses us to latch on to different traditions that really mean nothing?

After I finish writing this column, I will step outside my apartment. If my shadow is formed, we should have a mild spring.

I welcome your opinions in the Readers’ Forum.

For all of us, especially those who live in the Boston area, this has not been a very good week. On Monday, two terrorists disrupted the Boston Marathon by planting bombs near the finish line, and on Friday night–finally–the quest to capture those responsible came to an end as the second suspect was apprehended.

First of all, I congratulate the law enforcement officials involved with this investigation for the remarkable job they did. I also take my hat off to the civilians who assisted these officials on all levels. What I have a problem with is how the news media seems to take pride in shoving it all down our throats. They continuously repeat footage–video and audio–of gunshots, explosions, blood, carnage, and anything else that I wouldn’t want my child to see and hear all the time. Yes, this was a tragedy, and yes, you can’t keep the events quiet. What you can do though, as a member of the news media, is to report the events without constantly repeating the same thing over and over again. “Here is a video from Johnny’s lap top. Here is the same thing from Suzie’s cell phone, and now we have a different angle from Bobby’s camcorder.” Enough is enough!

I also don’t like how the media hounds witnesses in order to gather information. After the incident at Sandy Hook where young children and staff were killed in classrooms by a maniac, we heard kids being interviewed about what they saw as they were walking by the crime scene. I don’t think little children should be subjected to reporters after such a horrible experience. If I was a parent, I would make sure that a reporter would not go near my child. If children want to talk about what happened, they should be able to do it with their families, and not while a reporter is shoving a microphone and a camera in front of their faces.

I know why the media does this. Each member wants to outsmart the other by getting the scoop first, so they do everything in their power to achieve their goal. I don’t know how to resolve this, or how those in the media should be trained to behave more casually while reporting the news, but I simply find the entire process annoying, unnecessary, and at times incredible insensitive.

Growing up, I remember the simple analog radios with dials on them which would allow you to change the station, adjust the volume, or set the band. They were not complicated at all. If you were blind, you did not need sighted help selecting your favorite radio station, setting a visual clock, or going through tons of visual menus in order to find the setting you wanted. Not to mention, the most important thing about these radios were that they rarely broke unless you broke them yourself.

Three years ago, I purchased a beautiful weather radio from the C. Crane Company. It’s a desktop radio which features A.M., F.M., and weather. It is also designed so that a blind person can select and program favorite stations on four different bands. The radio is extremely digital and very modern. The other day, I unplugged this radio from one electrical outlet, and proceeded to plug it into another outlet. As a result of this very simple task, the circuitry inside the radio blew out, leaving the radio totally unusable.

Aside from the fact that modern radios apparently blow up quicker than “ancient” ones, I never had to ask for sighted help when I owned an ancient radio. Now it seems as though I have to ask the sighted more often than I ever thought I would, even if I buy a simple radio from a local department store. It took a lot of effort on my part to find this blind-friendly weather radio, but it practically blew up in my face, along with the money I invested in it.

If this was the only example of a newer version of a product having a much shorter shelf life, I wouldn’t be writing this column. Many, many products were made much better years ago than they are today, despite the conveniences, or lack thereof, that the modern versions offer. It’s bad enough that the blind have to spend many more dollars keeping up with the sighted, but it’s even worse when the product doesn’t last long, and we have to buy it again if it’s something we use in our daily lives.

We must continue to write letters and make phone calls to these companies so we can let them know the problems we encounter in this area and not simply stand for products with such meager longevity.

Has anything like this happened to you? Tell us your story in the Reader’s Forum.

I will assume that many of you who live in the United States have some form of Medicaid, which is a program offering free medical insurance to persons with disabilities who are on a fixed income. Here in Massachusetts, the program is otherwise known as Mass Health. In order to apply for Mass Health/ Medicaid, you must meet certain income guidelines. If a client fails to meet the necessary qualifications for this program, one option offered is for the client to do a “Spend Down,” which means he or she is allowed to spend any extra money by a certain date in order to be eligible again.

Though I understand the concept of a spend down in order to qualify for Medicaid again, many people have no desire, reason, or need to do this. How do you make people spend money that they don’t have any intention of spending? I know someone who was asked to spend nine thousand dollars by September 1st in order to get back on Mass Health. How is this client supposed to figure out how to do that?

This whole concept of spending down may result in unethical financial behavior if a client is made to do it without a method. For example, how often have you heard that the quickest way to do a spend down is to give your extra money to a relative, or to put the money in an escrow account without Medicaid knowing about it? Trust me, a lot of relatives make this suggestion because they think it’s common sense. The problem is that it’s not ethical. Where some clients want to get back on Medicaid, but don’t know how to spend their extra money, the idea is tempting, and even practiced. This is why I have a problem with the concept of making someone spend their money, even though the people at the Medicaid office mean well and want their clients to receive as much medical insurance as humanly possible.

I don’t have any solid answers for how to put an end to this policy without hurting someone’s eligibility for Medicaid, but as usual, I am open to ideas. The Medicaid office should be just as open as well.

I always thought that a college radio station should offer education, information, and other forms of entertainment representative of the dignity of the institution. After all, we’re talking about college and the example it should set for us. I recently got involved with a college internet radio station where I host a sports talk show. I believe that our show is very informative, and offers popular subject matter to a market which includes a vast majority of college age students.

Last week, I discovered that the station was also airing a music show which was run by one of the female student interns. As I listened to the music that she was playing, I heard dozens of swear words, sexual overtones, and lots of other filth which is supposedly not allowed on the radio. It’s one thing for radio stations to allow this type of filth to be broadcast, but it’s another thing when it’s part of the agenda of a college radio station.

I’ve been told that I should accept this for what it is because these are the times we live in. It’s also someone’s opinion that a college radio station’s primary audience is a young crowd who love to party and talk dirty, so for business reasons, the station has to appeal to that audience whether it likes to or not. But what if young children listen to these shows?

The young intern who plays this questionable music twice a week was doing it in the director’s absence, but when he walked into the studio toward the end of the show, she decided to play a cleaner song.

My question is; do you feel, as I do, that the radio station should represent the dignity of the college a lot better than it does?

During the past year or so, I have participated in several telephone chat lines. These chat lines serve as another opportunity for people to get together, make new friends, and discuss a variety of topics. Many people who use these chat lines are blind, and a possible reason for that is because social networks on the computer are not always as fully accessible to blind people as they are to the sighted.

With that said, I am pleased that we have an outlet where we can verbally communicate, because there aren’t as many devices for verbal communication as there once were. For example, I have been a Citizens’ Band radio operator for 23 years. For the first several years, I had fun talking to hundreds of people in and around my community by using a 2-way radio. Today, with all the social networks available, it is hard to find anyone who uses the Citizens’ Band any more.

Despite how successful computerized social networking is, I feel that we still need to talk to one another. Your voice helps a person get a more honest impression of you than if he or she sees your written word on a Facebook post or in a telephone text. Verbal conversation is also quicker, and you can express your inner feelings easier and receive verbal support a lot faster.

Another aspect that has become more prevalent is bullying. If someone wants to bully you through a nonverbal social network, you may not know who’s doing it; whereas, in a verbal chat room, it’s easier to figure out what’s going on.

I sincerely hope that despite all the social networking we do on our computers, vehicles such as telephone chat lines continue to grow and prosper.

Since the terrible shootings at the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school, steps have been taken to prevent such occurrences from happening again. For the most part, these steps are appropriate, and even though they are desperate in some cases, we have to consider the times we live in. However, there are people who take this matter too far.

Recently, a third-grade boy from Michigan brought some cupcakes to school so that he could share them with his teacher and classmates. The cupcakes were homemade and decorated by his mother. So far, the story resembles an episode of “Leave it to Beaver,” doesn’t it? Well, the ending is quite different.

When the school principal saw the cupcakes, she refused to let the boy serve them because they were decorated with green toy soldiers carrying guns. Mind you, these are the same kind of toy soldiers that you can buy at any toy store, and that have been sold for the better part of a century. But because this innocent little boy wanted to be generous and kind to his fellow students and teacher, he was taken to task by political correctness about gun control over a toy decoration that his mother innocently put on the cupcakes.

As the boy’s father pointed out during his statement to the school principal, “They are confusing American heroes with psychopathic killers.” What’s next? Will a boy be talked out of becoming a policeman when he grows up because police officers carry guns? Will little children be denied their desire to protect and defend if their dream job involves the use of a gun?

As a result of this principal’s attitude, the toy guns were returned home with the little boy, and the mother had to redecorate the cupcakes before they were allowed to be eaten and served in that Michigan elementary school.

The principal claims that her actions were designed to promote less violence, yet at the same time armed guards have been placed in other schools. Does she really believe that armed guards take away thoughts of violence the same way cupcakes without toy soldiers do?

Your thoughts are welcome in the Reader’s Forum.

Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/562581/toy-soldier-cupcakes-confiscated-at-michigan-elementary-school/

I have become a very active Facebook user. Thanks to a thoughtful lady in the Midwest who taught me over the telephone, I know how to find all recent Facebook postings, access group pages, look up other profiles which are publically available, send private messages, and post and share status updates. I currently navigate through Facebook using Mozilla Firefox 18.2, Jaws 8, and Windows XP.

Two days ago, the Facebook administrators decided to change the process, making it extremely difficult for me to update and share and post my status reports with my current software. I was told to upgrade Jaws. However, in my case, the upgrade of Jaws comes with a tremendous penalty–I would have to get a new computer which will not have Windows XP and Outlook Express, because those two programs will no longer be supported. If I lose Outlook Express and Windows XP, it is believed any replacements, such as GMail or Windows 7 won’t be as accessible. So, I find that I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.

It is believed by many blind people, and those in the field of technical support, that the software manufacturers who continue to update their product at a fast pace have little or no regard for how their products benefit the blind. The blind try like heck to prove they can compete on equal terms with the sighted, yet now there is a new obstacle in their path–the rapid changing of high technology. I think I speak for most blind computer users when I express total satisfaction with Outlook Express and Windows XP, because they serve my purpose and I know them well. Currently, I run two nonprofit corporations, and a total software upgrade or replacement may potentially result in temporary disaster. Facebook is only the tip of the iceberg for me.

With all that said, I don’t pretend to know a whole lot about this subject. I only have knowledge based on my own personal experience and from what others tell me. Therefore, I am open to any suggestions as to how I can resolve my issues, as well as what we can do to work more closely with software manufacturers to make sure that the blind don’t fall behind with these rapid product modifications.