Tag Archives: blind

Protecting Your Eyes

One of my favorite journalists – heck, who am I kidding? – my favorite journalist, Anderson Cooper, suffered temporary blindness this past week. Did he have some genetic condition that caused this blindness?  Did he splash something in his eye?  No, Cooper sunburned his eyes while in Portugal. Sunburned his eyes?  Just the mere thought of that makes my eyes squint in horror! Awakened by pain, Cooper originally dismissed it as sand in his eyes.  But, he realized when he was blind that it was something more serious.  Cooper lost his eyesight for 36 hours. That must have been pretty … Continue reading →

Tools For the Legally Blind

People who are legally blind do have some sight, but it is very limited. There are many different kinds of vision related tools that can be used to help a legally blind person to see some things a bit better. Finding the right tool, the one that works best for a specific person, is extremely helpful. A bookstore might be the last place one would think of shopping for a person who has is visually impaired. However, Barnes & Noble has a good selection of hand held magnifiers. My mother prefers the page magnifier. This is a flat, plastic magnifier … Continue reading →

Cleaning by Touch

My mother is legally blind, and so was her mother, (my grandmother). Both could see a little, but not nearly as well as most people can. Their limited vision meant that they were unable to see the dirt on a table or countertop. Instead, they would clean “by touch”. There are many different methods one can use to clean a flat surface. Most people who have no vision problems decide when something needs to be cleaned based on how much dirt or dust they can see on a table, shelf, or countertop. I learned the cleaning by touch method from … Continue reading →

Blind Man Sees Again

I heard this story on the radio this morning, and had to check the local news to be sure: a local legally blind man experienced a miraculous return of his vision! Ninety year old Tualatin, Oregon resident Marty Alvey has been legally blind for years, thanks to macular degeneration — a loss of vision in the center of the eye that is a major cause of blindness in older adults. He could only see things that were a foot or less away. All that changed over the weekend. On Saturday night, Alvey felt ill and called 911, fearing a stroke. … Continue reading →

“Saturday Night Live” Skit + New York Governor = Controversy

Millions of viewers thought Saturday Night Live’s recent comedy sketch parodying New York Governor David Paterson was hilariously funny. Paterson… not so much. “Paterson in a BLIND Rage Over SNL Skit” screamed the headline in one New York paper. Apparently, the visually impaired governor was not laughing after SNL aired a bit that mocked his blindness. In fact Paterson made his opinion of the late-night comedy’s skit abundantly clear to reporters shortly after the show aired. “I can take a joke,” Paterson told the Daily News, but added, “only 37% of disabled people are working and I’m afraid that that … Continue reading →

Further Things to Take Into Consideration with Deaf and Disabled Pets

At the end of January I got an email from Izzy Forman with 360i on behalf of a company called Petside.com in regards to some deaf dog articles I’d written earlier that month. She wanted to let me know about their recently launched “Pets with Disabilities” series that had a section devoted to deaf pets. Initially, my main focus for researching deaf dogs was how to train them. That’s what my friend needed help with for her puppy. But the Petside.com articles took a few other things into consideration aside from training. Things to make living with a deaf or … Continue reading →

The Power of Feeling with The Braille Ring

I have great sympathy for anyone who has a disability. There are so many things in life that I take for granted that I never realize others miss out on. I usually never give a second though to the things that are simple to me like matching the color of my clothing in the mornings, pushing my children on a swing, and listening to music in my car. However, these things do come so easy for some. Like the other things, I had never really thought about people who have never seen their wedding dress or their husband’s face or … Continue reading →

Sleuths and Guide Dogs: The Many “Eyes” of Joani Ascher, Part II

Author and Seeing Eye puppy raiser, Joani Ascher In Part I, I introduced you to mystery writer and Seeing Eye puppy raiser, Joani Ascher. In this section we hear more from Ms. Ascher about her personal pets and those who have, and someday might, grace her fiction. CM: You had mentioned that there’s a black Lab in your series and that you wrote the first book before you started raising puppies. You also mentioned you put the dog in to make the character different from you. Can you explain that? Was there a point in time dogs weren’t a part … Continue reading →

Sleuths and Guide Dogs: The Many “Eyes” of Joani Ascher, Part I

Author and Seeing Eye puppy raiser, Joani Ascher “Eyes” seem to be a theme when it comes to Joani Ascher, author of the Wally Morris Mystery series from Avalon Books. For one, she spends many a day crafting intrigue for her character, Wally (who, don’t let the name fool you, is a woman), to become entangled with. Wally’s not a private eye exactly, but she’s definitely a crime-solving sleuth of sorts. For another, Ms. Ascher raises Seeing Eye puppies. I asked her if she’d have time to spare from her writing and puppy duties to answer a few questions. To … Continue reading →

Magnificent Obsession (1954)

In this stunningly romantic classic film, Rock Hudson stars as Bob Merrick, a rich, spoiled playboy who spends his time living wild and ignoring the consequences. Jane Wyman is Helen Phillips, married just six months to the doctor of her dreams. One day Bob is out in his speedboat, pushing speeds of nearly two hundred miles an hour, and flips over. The police swing by the Phillips’ house to borrow a resuscitator and save Bob’s life. Meanwhile, however, Dr. Phillips himself suffers a heart attack and passes away. The physician who attends him says that if the resuscitator had been … Continue reading →