Wow.....Coffee.....

And there's me waffling about my bloody hair!!!!!

However...I am interested in how you cope with your condition.

How can you read the computer screen? Is there some kind of braille mechanism or a speech facility? Is the text written extra large?

How wonderful that you can do this.....

I hope you don't mind my asking.... but if you do mind.....please just ignore me.

Pen x

Penelope wrote:Wow.....Coffee.....

And there's me waffling about my bloody hair!!!!!

However...I am interested in how you cope with your condition.

How can you read the computer screen? Is there some kind of braille mechanism or a speech facility? Is the text written extra large?

How wonderful that you can do this.....

I hope you don't mind my asking.... but if you do mind.....please just ignore me.

Pen x

Oh of course I don't mind you asking! It's completely fine This may be long so brace yourself

I am not totally blind but am classified as being legally blind, meaning I fall into the category of having a severe visual impairment (I think there is a specific range of vision you need to fall into, but I am not sure of the numbers). So I still have some vision. My condition is stable and will only really deteriorate with old age, so it's not one of those conditions where you slowly go totally blind. I'm lucky in that respect.

As I still have some sight, I was never taught braille. They tend to make kids use their sight if they can, and will only teach someone braille if they are blind or going blind. I would like to learn, but I think as an adult it could be challenging.

For accessing computers I use zoomtext, which is a screen reader and magnification program. It can read to you out loud as well as magnify up to 30 x. These days you can get almost normal sounding voices (in fact I have one with an Aussie accent) to read to you. Here is a youtube video which gives a zoomtext demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmcUsd-eZ0Q

Reading a book is challenging for me at times. While I can physically read normal print, if I read it for too long I get eyestrain (sore eyes/headache which then leads to nausea). Audio books are okay but can be expensive at times and so can large print books (which is appalling by the way!). My main method is to buy a book, scan page by page with OCR software and then convert it all into a word or PDF document and have zoomtext read it out loud. This is time consuming, but worth it in the end.

It's wonderful having access to such wonderful technology, the unfortunate thing is that adaptive technology is often very pricey and there is not a lot of funding to help people. It takes a long time to save up when on disability benefits. I hope to go into a graduate entry social work degree next year (I will finish my undergrad degree in communications in november) so that I can work in the disability sector and hopefully advocate for more support for people with impairments.

Anyway, I am rambling! I hope you've found this helpful. Feel free to ask anything else if you think of it

Coffee - that softeware sounds great. I will take a look at that link.

It is great that you have a sense of direction though. Having a really good reason for achieving your degree will help you along I'm sure.

I know so many really bright young people....who seem to be floundering around not knowing what subjects to take because they have no idea what they want to do on graduating, which must be a curb on enthusiasm for study.

Still, none of us is enthusiastic all the time I suppose. Now I'm waffling....still, I can waffle for England.......I could get an Olympic Gold Medal for waffling.

Hello Charlie,

I've looked up the zoomtext demo, it's great to see that such software exists and helps you to have access to books, and also communicate with us.
It's a shame such things are so expensive.

Sometimes all it takes is a clever group of people and some volunteers to do something very helpful. A few weeks ago I saw a short report on french television-- I missed the beginning with the practical details of who and where, but it seemed to be a group coupled with a library. They had volunteers who read books onto CDs, which were then sent to people whose eyesight did not permit them to read the paper version of the book. The readers were often elderly ladies who could not travel to the library, so the CD was sent to them by mail, and it was very cheap.
I wondered how they got permission and how the authors were persuaded to wave fees-- if indeed that was the case.
Everything in the association looked pleasant and efficient.

It looked like something local, but actually there is a larger association which takes care of this nationally:

http://www.giaa.org/-Qui-sommes-nous-.html

Do you have an association like this that you can borrow audiobooks from in Australia Charley?

I would change my communication problem. I'm not really good at talking to other people and most times I just don't know what to say. Sometimes this part of me is really annoying myself.

Ayemea: Well, you communicated that really well!!!!

Sometimes peoples', unsmiling faces destroy our confidence to communicate. This happens with me frequently. But sometimes, I have found that such, unsmiling, people are just worried....and they are the very ones who need communication.

You might find it easier on here....where you can't see peoples' faces.

I certainly do find it easier......keep it touch, because, it is important to communicate, and sometimes, the quiet ones are the ones with the most to offer.

Not like me......the blabberer!!!

Penelope said:

You might find it easier on here....where you can't see peoples' faces.
I certainly do find it easier......keep it touch, because, it is important to communicate, and sometimes, the quiet ones are the ones with the most to offer.

I just wanted to say that I am in total agreement with Penelope here and am glad that Penelope already put it into words so I can just second her comments!

Woweee.....have I said something right???

Tarav...you promise you are not playing at 'Let's all be polite to one another'?

Love Pen...xxx

LOL, Penelope! Seriously, I am a gregarious extrovert. We extroverts can really dominate conversations if we're not careful. I am always vigilant about being a committed listener. The quiet ones are often processing differently than me. I am processing aloud as I speak. They are thinking about it, then speaking. I don't think either way is better. I just think that we need to be aware of different communication modes. As you alluded to, those quiet ones have important things to say also. We may just have to wait a little while and also be quiet long enough to benefit from their contributions. Participating in forums, especially here at BookTalk, is a good way to work on communication skills. Wait time is built-in to written communication and like you said, Penelope, bad facial expressions and body language are invisible so it is a non-threatening place for people who struggle with communicating.

Tarav:

I am a gregarious extrovert.

I talk a lot too!!!!

They are thinking about it, then speaking.

It is a typically female thing....but I don't know what I think until I've 'said it'......which is probably why I am so passionate about language....phonetics....its history and origins.

To sum up.....'I talk, therefore I am'.....Oh...boohoo....I don't want to be like this.....