Isn’t it funny if you are blind, it is presumed that you can
read Braille? What if you can’t, what if you have just lost your sight and have
not had chance or desire to learn such a difficult challenge like Braille, to
sighted people, those dots may look easy, well when I had sight, I used to read
Braille with my eyes. And I only read it on the quiet as I was not allowed to
learn Braille at school. Now my aging fingers struggle to differentiate the
dots especially now that most of it is written in what I call short hand. They call
it contracted Braille. Loads of dots
clumped together to make one word. Rather than individual dots.
I just wish my Husband had the patients to teach me.
I really love board games but can not find anything that Hub
and I could play. There are a few games if you know Braille will be possible or
if you can see large print, but nothing if you are totally blind and don’t read
Braille, well not that I can find. If you Bloggets know of any games that are
possible apart from tactile domino’s, then please can you let me know? Either by
my blog page or email me at
Yesterday, was a day of huge disappointments but today is
another day. As for last night? Oh, my goodness. Let me tell you
I have only got two experiences with Air BnB. My friend took
her children to London all very young, all three of them. When they arrived,
there was no house. They were stuck in London with three small children at
night as they spent all afternoon trying to find a property that didn’t exist. My
Son booked with that awful company two months ago and he has paid for the
flights, carparking, transfers and passes into attractions. There are ten of
them going. They booked a perfect apartment right in the centre. He was due to
fly today at 7 am.
Last night at half five in the evening, the person who owns
the apartment cancelled on the kids. Well my Son spent over three hours on the
phone and Air BnB were absolutely shocking. So unhelpful. Also, the money
the friends all paid my Son to pay for the holiday will be transferred but they
won’t see it in his bank until up to fifteen days.
Air BnB sent my Son a list of other properties, he called
eight of them. All eight said no they wouldn’t take a group of ten young
people. So that left two properties. One was lovely, but it was more than
double what the first property was so not only did the kids have to find double
the money, but they had to find all of the money as they refund wouldn’t be in
the bank in time for them to rebook somewhere else. Then the second property
was forty minutes out of the city. It also looked like in my Sons words, a
crack house. There are ten of them so taxis would have to be taken and it
looked like they were in the middle of nowhere. So, would there even be taxi’s?
they would have to take three cars how much money would that be? Not to say
anything about the time waisted in transit.
Well in the future I would tell everyone to give Air BnB a
wide birth though I do have a friend who uses them all the time but two I have known
now have had bad experiences.
Well after being up all night they booked a hotel. Thankfully
all in the same place. But this means more money.
Not long been in with Waggatail. I fear she is really aging.
She has a year and a half before she is due to retire from being a guide dog
but the past couple of weeks, I have noticed a change in the way she works. Maybe
it’s the cold, as it’s freezing, but let’s see, as tomorrow Hub and I are
hoping to go to the park and she loves it there so see how old she is walking
there?
There are so many different kinds of textures on our paths
and roads at the moment. A combination between soggy leaves, soil that has
turned into mud with the rain, stones that have been swept from gardens and the
rough ground caused by bad weather. This is all new for this season. We as
people who are blind have to feel with our feet as we walk a skill I am still
learning. Our feet become our hands. Concrete turns to tarmac turns to pavestone’s
that then finds gravel, grass and so on. Different textures give us clues where
we are and where we are to go.
We listen and try to take in different smells to learn where
we are. Passing perfume shops, food stores, our local grocery shop always
smells of soap powder. Restaurants, coffee shops and so on. Different sounds we
listen for. hairdressers with their hair dryers, vets with hopefully a barking
dog as we pass the window and shopping trolleys as we walk towards our grocery
store. Sounds like extractor fans and even around here there is an electric
power box that makes a sound like a small generator. I hear the geese on our
lake in the park and if we are really close, ducks landing on the water.
I have even learned the sounds of my neighbour’s cars. Different
cars, different engines.
Now I just need to learn Braille. Gosh I wish I could get my
brain there. So many people say there is no need for Braille these days,
normally those people are with some sight. I can tell you Braille is so important.
1, a Braille watch is less intrusive. Sometimes in that
boring lecture, meeting or visit with a friend/relative, you want to check out
the time without having to let the whole room know what you are doing. If your
watch isn’t voice active, then it helps.
2, to be able to read to your child at bedtime is a gift I never
had sadly.
3, to be able to receive your bills in a format you can
understand!
4, to know who your Christmas/birthday card is from if your
friends/family send you one in Braille
5, at the workplace it’s good to be able to check notes
during say, a conference/meeting, again not wanting to have a voice speaking to
the rest of your colleagues!
6, to mark medication.
7, to be able to keep your paperwork in order in a labelled
file. And of course, where we started earlier, to be able to play board games
with the rest of your family.
Can you imagine if people who ar blind say to
sighted people? No need to be able to learn to read or write, as you can talk
into your phones and even use voice activation on your lap tops? It wouldn’t happen,
so, why should people who can’t see be told they shouldn’t read or write? And again,
back to where I started, how people just presume that we automatically can read
Braille, it amuses me as if when our sight goes, that old myth our hearing
improves, so, our vision goes so we develop the skill of overnight knowing
Braille?
If people who are with sight knew the hard work that is put
into us using our cane, the training, the confidence building that goes on
before we head out on our own in that big bad world, again, it’s not an
overnight thing. This is something that is thought about sometimes for years. For
me personally it took two years. But my decision
to get a guide dog took only a year. Both decisions were for someone else as if
it was just for me, then I would be that person still sitting in my house
waiting for someone to take me out. That is such a very sad situation where I still
find myself in to some degree although we may have a white cane, at the end of
the day, it’s a stick. It’s not a magical broom that will whisk you away to
wherever you want to go. It won’t guide you; you have to guide the cane.
We may have a guide dog, again, 18 months of training for
your new dog and five weeks training for us with the dog. Then a year of
getting that partnership built up with you and your guide dog.
Back to before, if you know of any board games that can be
played by someone who is blind with another blind person and one can’t read
Braille, then please let me know?
Have a lovely weekend. X
