I stumbled across the book "Touch the Top of the World" by Erik Weihenmayer at my local library. Eric is an adventurer who is blind, and this book covers his early life, when he had some vision, coping with the loss of his vision and his interest in trekking and mountain climbing.
I especially liked his discussion of adjusting to his vision loss, and about using a cane, and a guide dog. He has a nice ability to describe his experience without jargon or making it more than it is, such as when he was losing his vision and how he first learned to use echolocation.There is also great discussion about how he and his climbing partners have developed strategies to accommodate him on hikes, and climbs. In one amazing part, he is scaling the 3000 ft El Cap in Yosemite and has to run across the face, swinging on his rope to reach a hand hold. He is guided by his partners, and is able to make the catch.
I have never been especially interested in mountain or rock climbing, and he made it an engaging subject, never mind that he's doing this without the use of his sight.
The video below is his ascent of Everest. In it you you see his use of bells on his climbing parter's poles to keep track of the trail. Great book and video.
Erik Weihenmayer's Site offers more information on his speaking engagements, books, videos and even a free curriculum on Touch the Top of the World for teachers.
Interesting video of a woman removing and replacing her prosthetic eye.
You Tube video description:
I show a video of myself removing and replacing my prosthetic eye. After giving birth to my daughter I realized I could not see, (I had a detatched retina, in March and may of 2006 I had surgeries to reattatch the retina which both failed. So I was just left blind in my eye for life.....but January of 2007 I was having horrific pain in my eye and doctors made the decision for me to have my eye removed. After the removal of my eye they found out that I had had cancer in it. I am cancer free, and no telling what actually caused the detatched retina in the first place but I'm fine now, Just wanted to show people what a prosthetic eye looks like :) Enjoy or NOT, but keep your rude and nasty comments to yourself!!! visit my Myspace for pictures of the surgeries... http://myspace.com/natemoni Also now up a full blog of my entire story :) "
Though the video itself is interesting, the comments are quite interesting as well, ranging from questions, ideas to freak people out, and those that found it difficult to look at, to people who find her brave, inspiring, beautiful and want to take her out. (see below the video)
"oh myyy gosh, sorry but that was scary wasnt expectingg itt."
"You should get some badass eyes like an 8 ball or a red LED or something."
"i always thought prosthetic eyes were round "
"Hm, that was surprising. The prosthetic eye looks quite real though. "
"thank u for posting:)
does it make a big difference to see with only one eye? i'm asking with all my respect. "
"Have you ever placed a prosthetic eye of a different color and freaked people out?"
"hey i only have one eye too i had a birth defect called phpv so they took it out and put in a prothstesis... its fun seeing peoples first reactions isnt it.. lol well nice to know somone else enjoys showing people that they can take their eye out...."
"Thanks for posting, I always wondered how that worked! I thought that prosthetic eyes were round, like a marble or something, but I guess not. It looks like putting that in and taking it out might scratch a bit; does it hurt?"
"I appreciate your willingness to share your experience - very educational; very helpful. Thank you. "
"very disgusting "
"what the hell "
The hole where your eye would be is not as gory as my imagination of what it was going to look like. Is there muscle tissue there? I was expecting a deep bony socket. You are very brave for what you've been through. Thank you for sharing. "
"Well, All this time I thought there would be a fairly large bloody hole where someones eye would be "
"wow...that is terrifying. No offence but it's not everyday you see someone remove their eye. Now don't get me wrong here! I'm NOT trying to be mean, I'll actually make it clear that you are very gifted in appearance and I would also like to point out that your prosthetic eye is very well made. At the start of the video I could not tell the difference."
Interesting article from Techradar.com "Meet the real-life human cyborgs" about individuals who are incorporating technology into their bodies. The most interesting part of the article deals with a film maker who had a camera embedded into his prosthetic eye. It goes on to talk about the research being done to use similar technology to assist individuals who are blind or visually impaired see. It also talks about an individual who has a usb drive built into their finger and use of other robotic prosthetics (see video below).
"Rob Spence is making a point, too. As the Toronto film maker explains: "I am a filmmaker who lost an eye so naturally I decided to modify my prosthetic eye into a video camera. I am not a lifecaster. I will use the eye-cam the same way I use a video camera now - or the same way any filmmaker would use a camera enabled cell phone."
Spence is working on a documentary "about how video and humanity intersect, especially with regards to surveillance."
Rob Spence's eye uses a camera sensor developed by OmniVision, which specialises in high quality cameras for medical devices such as endoscopes. The firm is also working closely with Stanford University's Daniel Palanker on the Retinal Prosthesis project, a hugely complex and ambitious attempt to use sub-retinal implants to restore blind people's sight.
As an OmniVision spokesperson told us, the firm "agreed to participate in the project to jump-start and/or fuel research to provide vision for the blind."
Palanker has published a number of scientific papers detailing the project, and they make fascinating reading. In Design of a high-resolution optoelectronic retinal prosthesis [PDF] he explains how "an image from a video camera is projected by a goggle-mounted collimated infrared LED-LCD display onto the retina, activating an array of powered photodiodes in the retinal implant." Essentially the digital eye enables the blind to see again."
USA Today reports that less than 10% of individuals who are blind are able to read Braille (while Disability Scoop takes a more inflamatory approach with "Vast Majority of Blind are Illiterate".
"Fewer than 10% of the 1.3 million legally blind people in the United States read Braille, and just 10% of blind children are learning it, according to a report to be released Thursday by the National Federation of the Blind...Instead, teachers ask students to rely on audio texts, voice-recognition software or other technology. And teachers who know Braille often must shuttle between schools, resulting in haphazard instruction, the report says. Using technology as a substitute for Braille leaves blind people illiterate, the federation said, citing studies that show blind people who know Braille are more likely to earn advanced degrees, find good jobs and live independently...One study found that 44% of participants who grew up reading Braille were unemployed, compared with 77% for those who relied on print. Overall, blind adults face 70% unemployment."- USA Today
Strong words and strong stats, but I'm not convinced. I have concerns calling individuals who can't read Braille "illiterate". Though I suppose technically accurate to some degree, it doesn't tell the story of individuals who may be "illiterate" but who have completed college degrees through the use of assistive technologies such as text to speech (and possibly speech to text). These individuals could receive their texts and materials in electronic format (or have it converted), and have it read by computer to them.
I'd be curious how the stats look if you controlled for age, income, co-curring disorders and a few other factors. I would guess that younger blind individuals who are not otherwise impaired are more likely to be employed and better educated. I would suspect that Braille is not the litmus test for these individuals and that they are greater users of assistive technologies such as text to speech programs like JAWS from Freedom Scientific. The beauty of modern technology is that much of it is electronic via the internet, and much of that is accessible.
CBS Morning Show on a program for veterans who have been disabled. It is part of a VA program which gets them out of the rehab center and into the ocean surfing.
A beautiful design for a braille watch from David Chavez. Comprised of two rows of 8 raised dots on individual disks comprise 4 Braille number cells as the face of the watch. Each individual disk turns in or out of a channel to "refresh" the time on the watch.
The designer has given thought to the problems for individuals who are blind or visually impaired and use an audible watches and the lack of privacy and how current Braille watches have "static bumps to orient the watch face in relation to the hands." His site gives excellent details of the watch, it's design, and how it works as well as the testing with a focus group. Oddly enough, the design portfolio that explains the watch does not have alternative text and does not appear to be accessible to those with visual impairments.
Its great to see assistive technology design that is not only functional, but beautifully designed and great to look at. Form can follow function. The adoption of AT use could be greatly improved if more rehabilitation technology designers thought about the aesthetics as well as solving issues such as privacy for AT users.
A recent sketch by Saturday Night Live has drawn some criticism for its portrayal of David Patterson, the Governor of NY who is blind. Quoted in the LA Times, Patterson said "I can take a joke," Paterson told the Daily News on Sunday. "But only 37% of disabled people are working, and I'm afraid that that kind of third-grade humor certainly adds to this atmosphere."
The National Federation for the Blind was also quoted as saying "The biggest problem faced by blind people is not blindness itself, but the stereotypes held by the general public," spokesman Chris Danielsen said. "The idea that blind people are incapable of the simplest tasks and are perpetually disoriented and befuddled is absolutely wrong."
Read my opinion after the video
Did SNL go too far? I'm not sure if too far is the right phrase. They didn't do anything original, this was juvenile humor. The cliches they missed was him walking into a wall, or being surprised that he was black (ha, ha, didn't know he was black because he's BLIND! yawn).
Aside from this poorly written skit, it raises a good question about the use of real or fictionalized characters with disabilities in humor. Is it okay to use someone's disability in a humorous skit? How? What would make it too far? What about the character's comments about someone "with a gamy arm...giant gums with the tiny teeth", is that humor?
Ultimately, I'd love to see David Patterson go on SNL and show them was humor is. The little I've seen him speak, he appears to have quite a sense of humor and can laugh at himself. He also seems to have a good sense of how far is too far and how they could use his blindness in a skit.
Interesting article from IT Director.com about using VOIP (voice over internet protocol) to help people with visual impairments navigate using a boat or participate in other sports.
"Ed Gallagher has slowly lost his sight over the last ten years. He was a keen sailor in the San Francisco Bay area and wanted to continue his hobby. He joined the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors (BAADS) but really wanted to continue solo sailing. He put together a solution using a head-mounted video camera and a video Skype link to a friend on terra firma. The friend can now see the boat and where it is going and direct Ed so that he can sail solo in the Bay."
Great example of using existing technology to meet needs, and how assistive technology needs to be neither expensive or specialized.
Very interesting idea. I like the Braille label. The text on the page doesn't tell you much except that it's designed for those who read braille;
"Using the extreme acuity of his senses, a winemaker blind, supported by a team of professionals, conducted the development of sensory Lazaruswine.
Baud was the company selected to represent this project graphically in the product. In the design process, we chose to use the magnificent form of the Braille system for transmitting the particular design and high-end wine."
"it was a bit unusual for some New Yorkers to watch Paterson use part of his short speech in Denver to predict a new era for the disabled would be ushered in under a president Barack Obama...It was a rare and serious foray for Paterson into the topic of disabilities. He's not one to declare that he won't let blindness stop him, or that he refuses to use his disability as an excuse. Paterson doesn't dip into those profile-in-courage cliches, as inspiring as they can be. He mostly deals with his disability by, seemingly, not dealing with it all."
I continue to be impressed by Mr. Patterson's attitude and humor. As the article notes, he doesn't take to being an "inspiration", and I think it's a healthy attitude for himself and for others to see of those with disabilities. He also obviously has an easy humor about him, I love the opening joke about his time being up. The full speech is below, thanks to You Tube.
Interesting interview with David Patterson, NY Governor
He notes some scary statistics about employment; that 25 percent of those with blindness and 10% of those who have deafness are employed, but yet they exceed the national average educationally. I would have liked to see a little more person first language from him rather than "Deaf girl", but still a good piece that doesn't sentimentalize him or try to make him a "super crip" or inspirational. I was surprised at his lack of using assistive technology, or technology in general. It seems like he could have so much more information at his fingertips were he to use a screen reader and e-mail. Either way, a good piece about the Governor of New York.
Wired has a great article on a professor at University of Nevada, Reno who has adapted an open source video game for the blind. The game is modeld on Guitar hero and requires the player to key in "chords" on the plastic guitar as they see them occur on the screen. The mod this professor has done, is to provide that stimulus through haptic feedback using a glove with vibrating fingers. Check out the video below for and interview and demonstration of this great mod or the video and article at Wired
Great article about english professor, Georgina Kleege. But more than an article about an accomplished woman who is blind, Georgina (and the article) challenge the notion of disability memoirs. It notes that in her lectures, Georgina poses the question
"Do autobiographies written by people with disabilities demystify disability and offer a valuable view into lives at the margins of culture, or are these memoirs merely another form of freak-show, helping to reinforce the notion that disability is a tragedy to be heroically overcome?"
Citing Temple Grandin's Thinking In Pictures and Hellen Keller's World I live in, "While both of these books do provide glimpses into the lives of extraordinary disabled people, they’re also myth-making — perpetuating the notion that successful disabled people are somehow superhuman in their achievements. "
She found that memoirs about blindness either "There were the blind whiners … On the other extreme were the blind mystics, who kept alive the ancient myth of compensatory powers.”
She has written two books about her own blindness, reportedly challenging and shattering myths and stereotypes about blindness and disability ; Sight Unseen and Blind Rage. The latter a work of creative nonfiction that "engages the ghost of Keller in a fictional conversation about the nature of blindness and coping with disability" While I have yet to read either book, they are on my list. It is a discussion that needs to happen more.
Well, I've covered a blind acupuncturist, now it's time for a blind model. This English news cast covers a young lady who's currently attending school in Bolivia to become a model.
Interesting article from Poynter Online (Everything you need to be a better journalist) talking about how most media has covered David Patterson's rise to NY Governor as a initially a racial issue, and later as the state's first blind governor. Governor Patterson had some frank words about race and disabilty for the NY Times in 2006 "'Every single white political consultant that I ever worked with likes to promote my disabilities. And I suspect it's to mitigate race -- to give me, in their eyes, an honorary white status." and reportedly "disparaged efforts to make him a 'disability case'.
I like his frankness and honesty about the coverage he's received. Its good to see the issue put out on the table. Its excellent to see someone with a disabilty in such a high profile position, but Poynter summed it up as such;
"Let's take heed of his words, and avoid labeling him either black or disabled. Just governor will do. "
"Bookshare.org and Don Johnston have announced a partnership to provide qualified print disabled students with a free text reader to access electronic books from the Bookshare.org library." <link to article><Press release>
Ron Graham at Access Ability has a nice blog on a woman who is working to become licensed as an acupunctuist. He notes;
She currently practices as a graduate intern, has earned a Masters degree in acupuncture and Oriental medicine, and has passed the national board exams...the state board of acupuncture examiners doesn’t think she should be able to practice. In October, the state licensing board cited protecting the public as one of the reasons they had denied her request (for her license)."
Read the rest of the story and find out what precentage of Japanese acupuncturists are blind, head on over to Ron's blog for the full article. <link>
Well done Pepsi for your Superbowl ad "Bob's House" (below for those who haven't seen it.) It's a nicely done ad that's not patronizing and brings some humor to the issue of disability. A press release from Pepsi notes that it was "created by and features PepsiCo employees who are members of EnAble, an employee network whose mission is to create a more inclusive environment for people with disabilities." It seems that other reviews of the ad were generally positive, however Pepsi upset others by not captioning their other ads run during the same game. I went to Pepsi's site looking for more information on this group EnAble, but was disappointed.
Ultimately, I applaud Pepsi for doing their piece, and getting it right, even if it was on only this ad.
