Great things about being blind. Talking bank machines.

We have come a long way in accessibility.  I know we have a long way to go still but, yesterday while using the bank machine to withdraw cash, it made me realize how far we've come.  When I first used bank machines, I had to remember exactly what to press when, where buttons were, and didn't always know what cash was given to me.  Also, once I was at the machine and a guy was right behind me, offering to help, leaning in.  I promptly left without putting in my pin.  Who knows,  he may have been just trying to help but I was alone at the machine and didn't want to take my chances.  But, yesterday, I went to the machine, put in my ear buds, and blanked out the screen so no one behind me could see what I was doing.  They offer you a tour of the screen and its buttons and where the different slots are if you aren't familiar with them.  I did what I had to do easily and independently.  Oh yes, Tulia found the machine for me.  I taught her this.  Perhaps a bad decision?  Shes' so smart she's likely to figure out how to withdraw cahs and head for the pet store!  After we did that, she found the steps to go down and the hand rail too.  At the bottom, there is a bench where I've waited for friends a few times and she pranced up to that and showed it to me.  Then she showed me the coffee shop, the garbage can, the door to get outside!   Bank machines and guide dogs to find them!  Great steps forward in accessibility.

Great things about being blind. The piano revisited.

I started to play piano at about age 6.  Took lessons for several years but quit in early high school.  I didn't think I liked piano.  That it was boring.  It's odd because when I started, I loved the sounds that came from the piano.  The different textures and colours.  I stayed away from piano but when I studied music and then Music Therapy in University, I had to use it for various courses and as a Music Therapist I used it too.  I'm not a fancy player but have an excellent ear for picking out melodies and can harmonize using basic chords.  A friend has recently begun teaching me piano again.   She too is a Music Therapist.  We studied together.  Yesterday, I dusted off my very dusty keyboard for our first lesson.  We did basic things, scales, technique, chords and simple melodies.  But, I was reminded as to why I loved piano as a kid.  The joy of putting melodies and harmonies together.  The different textures of the various registers of the piano.  Like an old friend talking to me.  I used to create stories and illustrate them not with paints but with musical notes.  BAnging on the low notes for giants and elephants.  Plucking at the high notes for birds, etc.  I'm glad to be spending some time with the piano again.  For me, the piano is like a box of paints might be for a sighted person perhas?

great things about being blind. Stories to tell. Shows to create.

I'm in the midst of creating material and editing already created material for the one woman show I am creating thanks to a grant from the Canada council for the arts.
The show is still taking shape but will b entertaining, humourous, insightful look at how I grew up as a person who is blind in a sighted world.
Yesterday, I went for a walk with my guide dog.  I bumped into (not literally) a friend and we had coffee.
but, all the time we were there, I was thinking about how I wanted to get back home and create and edit and work on my stories and my show.
Good sign.
I don't see a clear line for the show to take yet.  The material is all tangled up but a structure will become clear as I work on it.  Besides, I have faith in my great coaches and storytelling community to help me along and give good feedback.  So, excuse me.  Now I've blogged, I'm off to create and edit.  and if I wasn't blind, I wouldn't have any of these stories to tell.

Great things about being blind. American friends.

It is independence day in the U.S. and so happy fourth to all of my American friends and blog readers.  Americans have been very influential in my life as someone who is blind.  We lived in the U.S. from the time I was 5 until I was 8.  My dad was a canadian diplomat and we were posted there.
So, it was there that I met my first blind adult.  At least, the first one I can remember.  She was a social worker.
She came to our house by herself on the bus and that really impressed me.
She brought me a braille book and showed me a little about how to read.
That impressed me.
She had a braille watch and showed it to me.
Later, we went to her apartment and she had braille timers and had marked her stove.
One time, she and I went grocery shopping and cooked pizza and cupcakes.
I began to learn that blind people could be independent working adults.
My family had always told me this but it is when you really meet someone that is doing it, that it sinks in.
I also had a blind baby sitter.  She was great.
She was about 18 and played guitar and read braille and also came to our house independently.
I've received my four guide dogs from a school in the U.S.
Guide dogs for the blind
http://www.guidedogs.com/
And to them I am grateful.
All of my wonderful puppy raising families live in the U.S. and my dog's wonderful trainers too.
Thanks to you for giving me independence.
And also my wonderful classmates many of whom are American.
so, on this independence day for Americans, I am grateful that many Americans have contributed to my increased independence.
Thank you all!

Great things about being blind. the cell phone.

When I first became aware of cell phones, I thought I would never get one.  After all, I have to concentrate when I'm traveling around.  Why would I walk and talk and be guided by my dog all at the same time.  When I am out with friends and we want to talk, I often hold their arm and heel my dog.  If my dog is working, for one thing, they need to be either ahead or behind people I am walking with.  This is because if my friend is walking right beside me, the dog perceives him/her as an obstacle to be avoided.  Makes sense really and stresses the dog.  So, if my friend is walking behind me or ahead, we can't really have a conversation.  So, I didn't think cell phones would be useful.  My mom urged me to get one just for emergencies.  I soon saw its uses.  First, I could call the bus stop numbers to know when the next bus would arrive.  Since, I couldn't see the printed schedule at the bus stop, this was useful.  If I got lost or turned around, I could call someone.  If I was going to a new place and needed someone to look out their window and give me directions, I could call.  But, I never thought of cell phones as useful in quite this way.
Several years ago, I had arranged to meet a friend and her guide dog for coffee.  we were sure the guides would spot each other.  They knew each other well.
I got to the coffee shop, ordered, found a table, and waited.  My dog was lying by my feet on the floor.  My friend was almost never late.  I too am pretty punctual and so I was surprised.  I waited.  I began to get a little agitated.  Where was she?
I decided to call her cell phone.
I dialed and heard a phone ring near by and then a voice say, "Hello hello."
I'll say in our defense that the coffee shop was very crowded and noisy.  She was sitting maybe 50 feet from me.
We laughed so hard.  There was a gentleman also sitting near by.  Once he understood the situation, he told us that our guides had been lying there gazing at each other.
That would have been one instance when it would have been useful to have a somewhat dog distracted guide dog.

My blog. Great things about being blind. Swimming dogs continued.

My third guide dog golden Gia loved to swim. She grew up in a household with a pool so was a very comfortable swimmer from a young age. This was great and also a little problematic.
Gia would swim in lakes and the ocean gladly.
I have very fond memories of swimming in lakes with her. Of hearing her jump gleefully off rocks into the lake. Of being in the freezing atlantic ocean on a hot day and Gia lying on her stomach in the shallow water wagging her long golden tail. Gia would feel so much thinner when she was wet as she had so much curly golden fur. I loved it when she wagged her tail in the water.
The problematic part happened with pools. She grew up with a pool and loved swimming in it. So, when she came home with me and I swam in pools, she could not go with me into them. she didn't like this and couldn't understand it. So, as I swam lengths, I would hear pitiful crying and whimpering and moaning from the side of the pool.
She even once tried to drag herself and a bench a lifeguard had attached her to right into the water.
After a while if you ignored her, she would stop crying and realize that she could not get in the pool. The problem was that people made a fuss of her when she cried. They would come to the pool and tell me that my dog was missing me.
I told them that no she just wanted to swim and please ignore her and she would be quiet.
Well, in a public pool with a steady stream of new swimmers coming through, even if one ignored her, the next couldn't.
And she would start crying all over again.
gia was beautiful and knew it. She would lie there pathetically crying, giving people a sad sad look. Hoping someone would just untie her and let her loose because if they did, she would be in that pool.
As for Tulia, I don't know if she will swim yet or not.
Stay tuned to this blog to find out when I find out.

Great things about being blind. Being blind in Canada.

Today is our national day.  Canada day!  Happy Canada to all of you readers wherever you are.  I'm so glad to be a blind person in Canada.  No, things aren't perfect for me.  But things are pretty amazing.  I have access to technology that assists me.  I am able to travel independently with dog or white cane.  It is fairly easy to move around.  Canadaians are generally friendly, fair, and open-minded.
I am so proud and honoured to be a Canadian who is blind.