Re: Training Centers
At Wanderer: It may have been mostly bitching, but it was glorious, glorious, relatable bitching. A lot like what I would have said when I was 17 if I'd realized what a mess I was in. ... A lot like what I would say right now if screen readers and the forum settings could render strikethrough correctly (I only just recently realized how wonderful a gimmick it can be for satire, so long as it isn't overused).
Halfway through your post, I considered that you might benefit from WSB... then I read the rest of it and decided you'd almost definitely hate it.
At Dark: I'm not too picky about which specific cooking implements I get good at; I just want to not live out of the microwave (getting my life expectancy up is going to be tricky enough without processed preservative-bathed stuff making up a huge portion of my diet). It just so happens that all we'v e gotten to so far is the stovetop. I still wouldn't try to tackle the oven at this point (crockpot maybe; I haven't actually examined the controls on one, yet).
The idea of the NFB sleepshades bug me, too, and my vision isn't really even useful anymore. But really, I don't particularly like having my head obstructed in general (even if it's a mask or helmet with eyeholes. Something to do with... I dunno, hearing through the face?). I don't think it's a bad idea for them to be required during classes, necessarily, but it sounds like they might overdo it to the point of unnecessary medical risk.
Buses are pretty much a necessity, though. Passenger trains in the US are hardly even a thing, outside of the biggest cities like New York and Chicago (and I think a huge portion of the east coast is connected by train, but I don't live near the east coast, so feh). If you're lucky, you might be near an Amtrack station. (I was kinda bug ged to discover that my town--in the top 5 in the state, size-wise--doesn't even have a grayhound station. I'd need to get an intercity cab to the nearest one (about 55 miles away), and that'd be more expensive than taking a plane from our dinky little airport that only flies between here and St Louis.) This is a country where you're pretty much expected to drive, period. It's quite frustrating.
What I'd like are generally applicable skills (Or at least a smart phone; Blindsquare sounds worth a serious look). The last time my parents went to Disney World, they ran into a blind guy there on his own (I wouldn't be surprised if this was during the NFB convention; they hold them in Orlando, IIRC). Meanwhile, the most independence of travel I ever had was at college, and that was limited to campus, and took a great deal of getting lost in the quietest part of the night to figure out. (Disclaimer: tried to avoid getting lost during the day. H elpful people are annoying as often as they are helpful. Emphasis on "tried".)
It's interesting how little my parents know what I'm capable of, mobility-wise; my dad freaked out when I tried to cross a (very) quiet street by myself (meanwhile, getting to the health services building at college was actually kinda scary, what with having to cross a parking lot and a moderately busy street. There's a much busier street that runs between the oldest part of campus and the newer parts, but there's an overpass for that, and recently they added a tunnel, not that there was ever congestion on the overpass. Heck, even when the Sword fighting club had a huge event there, with people locked in mortal combat running all over it, there were no civilian casualties.)
In spite of this, I'm pretty screwed if I try to go anywhere I don't already know. And I don't know much of anywhere that isn't a house/school. (Though I might could manage a
t the Magic Kingdom, at this point, for whatever that's worth. )
So, yeah. I have been thinking I should try to see if I can talk my mobility instructor at WSB to let me play on hard mode. I like the NFB mobility final test; it sounds like it gets the job done (but see: everything NFB online ever is propaganda, so who knows if I'm reading it right). I doubt the NFB hands out iPhones to all their students, so even without that sort of money, there must be a way to do better.
URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166628#p166628
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