Hi all, Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I went blind at the age of 8 years old due to a sinus infection that went untereated. I went to our state school for the blind for 3rd - 5th grades and was then mainstreamed into the public schools. Due to religious beliefs my parents never really accepted my blindness, but were supportive of anything I tried. In highschool I was not only in the top 20 in my class of 600, but marched in the marching band, and was introduced to computers there. I went to college got my B.S. in management information systems, and have been working in the computer industry since then. I have worked for small companies (3-20 employees) and huge ones (10,000-100,000 employees). Now at age 52, I am enrolling in a masters program to get my degree in cyber security (pending acceptance of my application). I have had the good fortune of being able to work from home for the last almost 20 years, although I spent the first 12 years of my work life actually going into the workplace. I have had to break down a lot of barriers in my 30 years of working. I was one of Oracle's first full-time telecommutor employees, but that has worked well especially since my customer base has been world-wide. Sure I get frustrated when my screenreader(s) don't cooperate and I can't do my work, but eventually I find a solution and things get back to normal. Now on to whatever hardware/software challenge lies ahead for me! -----Original Message----- From: Bill Cox [mailto:waywardgeek@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 9:05 AM To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. Subject: Re: Dumb post to the Stargardts Facebook group At one point I wanted to collaborate with Sina on a book about being blind in the age of technology, where stories like your's and Sinas would make excellent examples throughout the book. Then I got busy at work, and now I'm more busy than ever. I still like the idea, though. Bill On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 7:17 AM, <acollins at icsmail.net> wrote: > Hi Bill and all. I think we need to keep in mind that as far as > blindness is concerned, each of us have different experiences when it > comes to learning to deal with our blindness. Some of us get lucky, > and find ourselves in contact with people who can teach us that > blindness is not the end of the world. Others have a more difficult > time, and have no one who can help shield them against the terrible > attitudes that most of the world has concerning blindness. My friend > Keith Watson was a draftsman engineer, before he slowly began to lose > his sight. Like Bill, he fortunately ran in to some of us on the > Speakup list, who could give him advice about what kind of help was > available, and not allow him to sit around feeling sorry for himself. > He went back to school, and his company moved him over in to their ip > department. He has since gone to work for a company monitoring the > quality of accessible documents they produce for the Social Seccurity Administration. > > On the other hand, there are guys like me, who have been blind all my > life. I went to the local state school for the blind here in Iowa. > Then because I was just out of high school, and didn't really know > what I wanted to do with myself, I attended a one year course at our > state comission for the blind, where I learned a lot of coping skills > and attitudes that I didn't pick up when I was in school. The upshot > of it all is that I went to tech school, got a job as a machinest, got > laid off, went to computer school, and got a job in tech support for > one of our state universities. I worked as a machinest for ten years, > and then worked as a tech support consultant for the university for 25 years. > > I think it behoves all of us to spread the word that being blind is > not the end of the world. Is it sometimes difficult? Yes, but so is > life in general. The glass is either half empty, or half full. Each > of us gets to decide individually. > > Many others here could tell similar stories. > > Gene Collins > > >I just posted the following to the Stargardts group on Facebook in > response > >to a post from a kid who was asked to write about what it's like to > >go blind, for a publication in Canada. She posted her opening, and > >asked > what > >we thought of it. I found it wanting. She said she could not see > >the professor's face. This is what I said: > > > >For the first two years, I lived in denial. Losing central vision > >meant losing my job, my house, and the ability to raise my kids. It > >paralyzed me with fear, and threatened everything I cared about. Yet I was lucky. > Losing > >sight meant losing my ability to program, which is the skill that has > >defined my value to the world. I found a blind mentor who showed me > >that > it > >is possible for the blind to be outstanding programmers. I began to > >contribute to software for the blind. I worked so hard at improving > >such software, that I sat too long at my computer and gave myself > >blood clots, which moved to my lungs and came close to killing me. Still, I was lucky. > >What is it like to slowly go blind? The world crashes down around you > >and you fight dragons every day to stay alive. That's if you're > >lucky, like > me. > >For the rest, possibly the majority, I fear it may be far worse. I > >was lucky in that I had the chance to build something I cared about > desperately > >before losing central vision. It gave me the will to overcome the > >obstacles. What is it like for kids losing vision while going to college? > >That's what really breaks my heart. They don't yet know what is worth > >fighting for. Not seeing the professor is no big deal. How many of > >you people out there with Stargartds have learned speed listening? Do > >you know the potential you have, and the value of the life you will > >lose if you don't fight for it? I'm lucky, because I got to build > >that life before losing vision. I grieve for all the kids who will > >never get the chance to know why they should fight so hard. > > > >I don't think any of the kids out there with Stargardt's will > >suddenly change their lives because of my post, but you guys, and > >especially Sina, have changed my life. Thanks for showing me that my > >central vision impairment need not cripple me, and for the chance to > >help write the software I need. I am using Speech Hub, Mary TTS, and > >NVDA just to write this email. Working together, we can build great > >tools like Speech Hub, and great organizations like the Accessible > >Computing Foundation. We can make a difference one vision impaired > >guy at a time, or at least try like Hell. > >Bill > >_______________________________________________ > >Speakup mailing list > >Speakup at linux-speakup.org > >http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at linux-speakup.org > http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup > _______________________________________________ Speakup mailing list Speakup at linux-speakup.org http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
