Wondering about blindness

[calmloki]

So I was on the Social Security site just now and on one of the intro pages was a tab marked "Instructions for Blind or Visually Impaired Users" .

Is it wrong for me to imagine someone with a set of black glasses and a white tipped cane clicking randomly around on the screen hoping to hit the right tab? Of course, that begs the question how said blind person managed to find SSA.gov in the first place...

And what about the men's and ladies room tags with the braille bumps? Is the blind person supposed to find the right area via sense of smell and then grope the walls hunting for a braille tag that tells what room is appropriate?

 

[omni550]

I have a friend who does amazing volunteer work teaching the blind how to use computers. There are all sorts of assistive devices for the blind/visually impaired to use computers including quite a few text-to-speech converters.

omni

 

[glippy]

My friend's sister is blind. I helped her get a virus off her computer once. She surfs the internet for a good part of the day.

She has a program called a screen reader that scans the screen and reads everything out-loud in a synthesized voice. It goes so fast I can't make heads or tails of it, but she's used to it.

 

[Nemo2]

"Instructions for Blind or Visually Impaired Users" .

I seem to recall there were once posters on Toronto transit saying something to this effect: "Illiterate? Call xxx-xxxx"

 

[Bestwifeever]

Sounds like something Joseph Heller might have written.

 

[Meadbh]

The answer to this question is usually NO!

 

[travelover]

There was a line in a Woody Allen movie about his getting books in braille and rubbing his fingers over the "dirty" parts.

 

[Texas Proud]

I had a college prof who was blind... talked to him off and on about how he handled things...

First, he could actually 'see' a bit... IOW, not totally black, but could not make out much...

On his computer he had the font BIG... I mean very big... and he would scroll across the words etc. and read them...

I did ask about how he could write things on the board (which he seemed to do just fine)... he said he practiced how to keep things straight and his spacing correct... every once in awhile when he started and stopped and then started again he did not quite get back to where he should have been...

 

[W2R]

My paternal grandfather was totally blind, with the white cane and everything. Unfortunately he only had a first grade education, and he never had a desire to learn Braille. He died about 30 years ago, give or take a few.

You'd be surprised at what the blind can do. He had the straightest part in his hair of anyone I ever saw, and was so proud of that. He did it by using his left hand as a guide when parting his hair. He worked all of his life and was able to make change easily using a mechanical coin dispenser. He walked to work every morning and was quite independent and capable.

 

[calmloki]

Not really surprised by what the blind, or other - what's PC - differently-abled can do. People use what they have - some use what they have harder than others:

I'm more amused by the interaction of the blind or deaf or halt with the rest of the world - just another of the reasons I'm going to hell.

 

[skipro3]

I worked as a telephone tech for many years. When installing a new phone, I would call our company phone operator and ask what number I was calling from to make sure I had the right phone at the right desk. One day I called and a girl answered. I had talked with her before, but never to ask what # I was calling from I asked what number I was calling from and she said she didn't know. I asked if she was blind. She said yes! Oh man! Did I feel bad!
Later, we got her set up with a computer program called Dragon or something. As you move your mouse around the screen, the speaker would tell you what the words were in the box of text. She could adjust speed, play back, repeat, etc. She ended up as fast as any sighted person on a computer.