-----Original Message----- From: SayEverything [mailto:sayeverything-boun...@sayeverything.org] On Behalf Of Amit Bhatt, List Manager Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 4:06 PM To: sayeverything Subject: [SayEverything] A Day of A Deaf Blind Person
A Day of A Deaf Blind Person Submitted by Tom on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 14:55 Having a disability can truly affect many aspects of a person's life. But try to ask yourself this: What if you had, not one, but two disabilities? You may probably think to yourself, "I'd most likely just stay at home and have someone to take care of me 24/7." You are not the only one having this opinion, as many people would think of the same thing. But let us read on and find out if this would really be the case. A person having multiple disabilities has invited us to spend some time with her. This person will provide us with a close look at one typical day in her extraordinary life. Getting to Know Our Friend Meet Ruby, a twenty-six year old lady who has both visual and hearing impairments. She has only light perception which means she has the ability to tell light from dark. She is also totally deaf so she is unable to hear even the loudest sounds. Ruby loves to read books, talk to her friends, and meet new ones. Let us see how she does these things, as well as other activities, by joining her as she starts the day. Waking Up Like most of us, Ruby uses an alarm clock to help her wake up on time. She could not use a regular alarm clock though as she will not be able to hear the beeping or ringing sound. So she bought a vibrating alarm clock. These devices are suitable for people who are deaf. However, most of them are set using a visual display, including the one Ruby owns. She therefore had to ask the help of her sighted friend in setting the clock to the time she wants to wake up every morning. Having Breakfast After waking up, Ruby goes to her kitchen to have breakfast. She wants to have toasted bread and a glass of juice today. Her toaster has a visual display and sound features, but obviously she can not use these. She has found a way to work around this though. Ruby uses a Braille timer to determine how long it should take to properly toast bread. A Braille timer is a small device which displays in Braille each second as it passes by. Once the timer has reached the correct number of seconds, Ruby turns off the toaster and takes out the bread using protective hand covering. One common problem of deafblind people in pouring liquid in a cup or glass is that they tend to make the liquid overflow. There is the manual way of touching the liquid but this is not really an advisable method. It is a good thing that Ruby discovered a device called a liquid level indicator. This device is placed on the cup or glass where you want to pour liquid to. It vibrates when the liquid has reached the desired level. This prevents the user from pouring too much liquid in the cup or glass. Taking a Bath and Getting Dressed Ruby placed Braille stickers with the proper label on each bottle in her bathroom. This lets her know quickly which bottle to take while in the shower. Although this is a good solution, she always has to remember to ask her friend to tell her about each product whenever she has bought a new set of toiletries. After taking a shower, Ruby tries to decide what her outfit would be. To know what clothes to wear, Ruby has placed light clothes in one division and dark ones in another division in her closet. She has tried placing washable Braille markings in the inner part of her clothes, but it did not work for her. This is after all the case with most solutions. What works for some may not work for others. Going to Work Ruby then prepares her things, making sure she has all the important stuff for work. She checks if all electronic equipment are turned off. Then Ruby steps out of her home and heads on to her workplace. Like most deafblind people, Ruby uses a cane while walking in the streets. Apart from helping her feel her way, having a cane lets other persons know that she has a disability. Ruby chose to live very near her workplace which takes only five minutes by foot from her apartment. To make sure she is heading to the right direction, she uses a GPS connected to a small Braille display. This assistive technology acquires the information from her GPS device and displays it in Braille. When Ruby needs to go to other places that require longer trips, her best option is to have a guide/communicator. This person helps her cross major streets and ride public vehicles so she could reach her destination safely. At the Workplace Ruby enters her workplace and places her belongings in her locker. To properly move around the building, she uses a handheld device that vibrates whenever it comes near an object or person. Ruby is working as a teacher of deafblind children. She teaches them the sign language and the Braille system. Since deafblind children require full attention while studying, she teaches one student at a time. Ruby also teaches her students how to use a computer. During her computer lessons, she and her students use a refreshable Braille display connected to the computer. This allows them to open programs, create documents, and even surf the Internet. Ruby teaches her students from morning until noontime. At around 12:00 pm she finishes her last lesson and prepares to have lunch. Normally, she has lunch with her colleagues at the school's canteen. Continuing the Day At the second half of the day, Ruby provides information, counseling, and advice to families and friends of deafblind persons. She answers any questions and addresses the problems they face regarding their deafblind family members or friends. She also gives short lectures on how to interact and communicate with deafblind individuals. Ruby uses a special communication device that enables her to talk to sighted and hearing individuals. This device consists of two components. The first component has a screen and a keyboard. This is used by the person Ruby would talk to. The person types the question or concern using this component. The second component has a Braille display and a keyboard. Using the Braille display, Ruby reads the question or concern of the person she is talking to. She then enters her response using the keyboard of the second component. The response will then be seen by the person in the first component's screen. Similar to other users of the Braille system, Ruby reads relatively slower compared to sighted individuals. In spite of this, everyone understands the situation and truly appreciates the advice and information Ruby provides. In addition to face to face conversations, Ruby can also talk to people over the phone. She does this through a TDD or a telephone device for the deaf. This device lets her talk to other deaf and deafblind people as well as sighted and hearing persons. Ruby enjoys her work as it lets her meet new people and make a lot of friends. After a busy day at work, she prepares to go home. She uses the same devices to safely navigate through the streets on her way to her apartment. At Home, Cooking Dinner Ruby enters her apartment and decides what to cook for dinner. She picks out a recipe from her Braille cookbook and prepares the ingredients. To make sure that her food is cooked properly, she uses her Braille timer. Ruby also uses protective hand covering to prevent her from burns caused by very hot surfaces. Despite of using technology, she still needed to have years of practice before she was able to cook food properly. Evening Activities, Going to Bed After dinner, Ruby checks her email using her computer and Braille display. She reads her new email messages, replies to them, and sends her own messages, all through her Braille display. Since there is still an hour before her bedtime, Ruby decides to take her portable Braille device and read a chapter or two from the book she is currently reading. This is a small stand-alone Braille device used to access text files copied to it from the computer. In her room, Ruby reads the book via her portable Braille device before going to bed. The above article seems to be interesting and useful to those who wish to learn about how a deaf+blind person uses technology with full accessibility in personal and professional life. Regards, Amit Bhatt -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mail.sayeverything.org/pipermail/sayeverything_sayeverything.org/attachments/20130205/63a27c70/attachment.html> If any time you wish to be unsubscribed from our Mailing List, please send a message to sayeverything-requ...@sayeverything.org with the subject unsubscribe keeping the message body blank. 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