Re: I'm seriously concerned
Hi steve, interesting topic.
We all have our lives some more sheltered than others.
Now I know a lot has changed, some stuff for the better, a lot of stuff not.
I grew up in the 90s just when the blind and disabled were exiting the institutionalised space we had been in the 50s and up, and actually getting real jobs and real rights such that the mormals have had.
People didn't know and well we got put into a helpless catogry.
To be honest, in some ways we are still the poor and helpless blind, in some ways its improved and in some ways its improved but now reversed a bit.
When I went to school, not many people knew much about us in the mainstream, you got some support but the schools controled funding result, our funding for services was put into the school and our education suffered.
According to a good friend that was one of my teachers that does not happen now.
The blind got wize and we have a educational company/ union wich handles
resources itself and fights for us.
No not using the braillers in the class because of noise, no issues with people not understanding the blind we have a voice and someone to fight for us.
A lot more focus in braille but also technology now days especially with the voice recognition, touch and electronic braille.
A lot of the organisations at least in new zealand are donation based and governed by the people for the people and their members.
We are no longer governed by the state for the most part, we deal with them on our own terms which means we have power to handle things as we see fit for the most part.
A lot of things have streamlined, things like voting, audio described movies, help from national contact centres and a few things like that.
Sadly, its cost us to.
When I start job searching shortly after I managed to go through teck I found not much, initially I got support but as it streamlined I started getting the by the book thing, all crea
tivity moved out of the industry or at least my part and you got told to go here and there and wait for something to come.
At schools now I know they are dropping specialised disabled units for mainstream intergration and for the blind lifeskills and other training within our own resource centres on the one hand I realise why they are doing this on the other it doesn't always work especiall with interlectial handicapped people, man do I hate political correctness, they make mental retards into this majorly long word as they seem to do with just about everything.
I am not blind, I am visually impaired, thats something I really hate, why make words that make it so obvious I like it but I don't at the same time.
Anyway I know from a source that violent and disruptive students don't belong in the mainstream and with the units shut down there is no place to go.
Also depending who you are with there are no resources available as they used to be.
In
my day, the units probably did drop me back with ability some.
But I knew if it got to noisy, I could go to my room reserved for me and stay there.
There were also a lot of trips we did especially after exams.
A lot of the good stuff has gone with the bad.
As far as rights, it all depends.
Because I am blind I am entitled to a lot of things the biggest is access.
Often I don't always get it, and that can be fine.
Awareness is one thing and if its that bad, complain to the right place is also good.
Its no good coming onto a forum like this and saying, I am entitled to this thing because I am blind or something is broken if we on the forum can't do much bar say oh poor helpless blind you are you better now.
If you must complain it needs to be justified and on a forum that can actually do things.
Example, I had to deal with a department store that had an inaccessible eft pos machine.
I could have 1. rung up the stor
e and complained.
2. gone on a forum and bitched.
3. gone on my organisation's tech list and complained about it.
1. if I chose this option its unlikely that they would necessarily know.
The attitudes to the blind while accepted in most cases stops there.
People are still not sure how to help, some don't know what exactly to do, like your isp or printer support person who ask you can you see the lights when you can't but you can enter the interface and find information yourself but they don't know to the people that just refuse to help because maybe they can't and say take it back to get fixed.
Or fix things and they are totally broke and have to be replaced/ reformatted.
Call centres can be anywhere in the world and sometimes give information which can be eronious.
I had an issue with a router via an isp I am no longer on.
I rang support, I was transfered to india where someone gave me outdated
information by several years.
End result, the router broke and died.
I complained to the isp, eventually I got transfered to someone that could speak english and got the thing replaced.
I still have issues with first level support mostly they don't understand its only when I get to the second level that there is local contact.
2. Bitching on a forum and getting oh your poor helpless blindy, well its ok now or some attention makes you feel better.
It doesn't solve the problem.
In my case I went on my list where the organisations are as well as members of our local blind union.
Within an hour I got a message, someone had contacted the manufacturer on my behalf and found that while the machines were touch, they had an overlay in the first 3 numbers.
I have still found a lot of machines touch only but in some cases I have rocked up to a store, and they are like um do you want me to help you, me no I can handle it.
They say, but its
touch, I say, oh is it, if I press this button what does that that do.
They say, Um, didn't know that existed.
Contacting the right channel is important.
Next, while you may be entitled to it you may not get it.
Its not because people don't care or cash or whatever in a lot of cases its not as easy as you think.
You may have to end up making it yourself.
Heck if you are able to make it work then sell it you can get cash.
In a lot of cases technology has advanced to where I can use sightling devices to some degree.
Sadly, being in a blindy institution mixes us with our own entitled people.
We need to not mix with ourselves, or rather not mix with ourselves all the time.
I was born into a normal life.
I have seen several groups but never needed to stick with them full time.
I have a loving family which is not poor or on drugs or mental, and live in a middle class home, some of us don't even have middle class an
ything.
Right now I am sitting pritty but there will come a time where that will not be the case.
Once I tried a blind social group, but a lot of them had come out of a particular school in one of the poorest and roughest places you could think of in my city.
They were all of a certain race, and they all had been together for years.
They treated me fine but I felt like I was intruding so left.
In other times I have done some courses with a lot of people in the yunger days and have had a mixed bag.
To be honest, while I appreciate the work being done to get the disabled together with eachother there is one thing talking to a lot of blinkys online but I couldn't stand talking to my own entitled poor and helpless idiots in the same room for to long and I am sure the feeling is mutual.
This goes on in the world to much as it is and not for the blind only.
Technology means we don't need to watch the same tv station, go to the same website
, etc.
We can do whatever and be in whatever world we choose all to our selves where everything is equal.
Sadly the real world is not like that but who gives a fuck about the real world when we can leave it for ever in a day.
Technology has made this possible.
I have noticed to that certain races will group together and stay in their familiar group and culture without intergrating propperly if at all.
How long can us humans live like this is beyond me.
I have people that came out of the institution, in there they were equal and got what they were entitled.
They were not poor or helpless.
Now they are in the real world.
The real world and in fact the real life in general does not care about anyone even its own normals.
To live in the unfair life and unfair world you have to fight for your status and place.
You must be assimilated else you will be put somewhere random.
A lot of us havn't realised that yet.
For myse
lf I am fortunate to still live in a life where I don't need to do to much because of my family being there.
I guess the thing is to be aware of what you are, your life, your rights, what that means, know your finances, etc.
In the early days, during school and camps, playing the poor helpless card was really cool, till I realised that I was opting out of opertunities because I was to lazy to do and people just let me do it.
University was the first time and place I got propper support to the extent that I was equal.
Ie I didn't always get visible help.
I got help where it was needed.
But I knew I was monitored constantly, and I had meetings.
I could initiate any extra support via mail and phone should I need it.
The teachers if they didn't understand me could initiate immediate support if needed.
Where needed I could pull inhouse services where I needed to.
Rarely did this fail and when it did well I was told about it
.
In one case I had a visual paper I had to do, I barely passed.
Part of that was visual and I was unable to do it.
The paper was in process of updating, so they failed me and gave me the adjusted module with the elements removed.
They were watching me and how I handled the old system and adjusted it accordingly.
Everyone got the new one but it was good to see I had some imput.
Sadly there are still those that grew up in the old institutionalised both those in there as teachers and those as members.
I know people that came out of these and are worse for it.
I don't care for what is happening now as we get a lot less than we used to.
In a way we need to fight for ourselves.
But that approach doesn't work fully and in some cases we are left in the dust because of it.
On the other hand who said it was going to be easy, we are not borg!
We strive to intergrate and I believe we are doing so.
In a century the helpl
ess blind entitled will be gone as all those that were in institutions will be gone.
They are called resource centres and I believe function at least in new zealand as such.
We are not automatically sent to work in spaciffic jobs like weaving baskets etc.
A lot of the blind here at least are of older types though.
For those that are not born with it or have gone blind at a later age, it can be harder as you age.
The old and middle aged for example are probably more poor and helpless than those born into it or even those as a teenager.
The more disabled you get later on will govern what you can get out of it.
If you were able before and can intergrate and are yung enough to fight for your rights and for a good life then you can do that.
But if you are to old, your life is basically over.
Right now for example I am yung enough to fight.
But in the next 30 or so years I will be switching to the poor and helpless old blind person, becaus
e I will be on the older side.
The rules change and I will have to let the fighting come to the next generation.
I won't be able to fight as strongly and will be shifted to the place the helpless go.
I will be probably to tired to fight anyway and will be happy for it.
Till then I have a lot more fighting to do.
If life was fair at all we would have no desease, an over populated species, etc.
We are here for a reason we don't know what that is.
If I was born blind I may have a place, finding it is the challenge and keeping it but once you find where your puzzle piece fits then you will fit.
Ofcause with the way the world is going it may come time where you may have to create your piece or make the board if it all goes to pot.
Having a non standard life means you can do non standard things.
True you could be standard and do normal things but you are not normal, you are disabled, you are a little helpless something and you do
n't fit in.
Technically that means you are free of the standard, so while you shouldn't break the standard you have the ability to think outside the square because you technically are outside it.
Ie I don't have a 9 to 5 job, I walk, excercise and go out to lunch, I read, play music, swim, go online have a good enougyh life.
Its not perfect but I have no need to go anywere if I don't want.
Right now I have time to search and find where I fit and go there etc.
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