Karen, one of our esteemed correspondents, contributes the following urgent call to participation and positive action. You are strongly urged to follow her excellent example! As blind people we need to be involved & informed of what is happening around us. Since we lack eyesight to perform tasks visually, we need to compensate by utilizing… Finish Reading Importance of Participating and Staying Informed

It was once said that the best laid plans often do not survive first contact with the enemy. Yesterday was, for myself and my coworkers, an excellent example of this concept in the real world. On my lunch break, I placed a 6:00 PM timed cab order to leave work. My plans were to pick… Finish Reading Facing the Consequences of Disorganization

I don’t personally shop by television. I prefer to be a bit more deliberate in my purchasing decisions rather than just impulsively picking up the telephone and calling the indicated telephone number to buy some neat gadget or some CD collection from Time Life. There is apparently enough impulse buying from television advertising to make… Finish Reading Call the Number on Your Screen

In 1984, an older blind school student riding with me on the school bus demonstrated amateur radio. He had a small handheld radio he could use to talk with other people all over Southern Arizona. This same friend was also heavily interested in computer technology. After learning about and seeing for myself all the other… Finish Reading Amateur Radio: Excellent Hobby for the Blind

Microsoft Outlook Web Access is a web based interface to the features of the popular Outlook component of the Microsoft Office software suite. It provides a secure method for a company’s sighted employees to perform tasks such as exchanging e-mail, managing contacts and scheduling. Sadly, this appears to exclude the blind, as this web application… Finish Reading Microsoft Outlook Web Access Is Not…

I think many of us make the mistake of leaning too heavily on vocational rehabilitation agencies while failing to take our own initiative. I am enjoying a degree of employment success. My career in the technology industry is now ten years long. At no time did a vocational rehabilitation agency place me in a job.… Finish Reading Want a job? Take the initiative!

There appears to be a new and dangerous trend afoot as “child protection” agencies across the country gain greater and greater levels of authority to interfere in the lives of average American citizens. We know of at least two cases in 2004 in which “child protection” agencies have abducted or attempted to abduct newborn babies… Finish Reading State CPS Agencies Abduct Babies From Their Blind Parents

This article is, in part, a follow up to “The Opthomologist’s Office” posted on January 10. It should not be necessary to have read that article in order to understand this one. Yesterday, my sister Michelle took the entire day out of her busy schedule to drive me to Tucson for my appointment with Dr.… Finish Reading Tucson Adventure

I cancelled my normal trip home from work on Dial-A-Ride and decided to order a cab instead. I wanted to get a hair cut and some cash from the ATM before my trip to see Dr. Brick in Tucson tomorrow. It is practically impossible to complete multiple erands on Dial-A-Ride in anything approaching a timely… Finish Reading The Taxicab Blues: Excuses, Excuses, Excuses!

You’ll find this article to be written more on a personal note than my previous submissions. It is based more on feelings than on critical analysis of blindness issues. I hope it brings about some sharing of experiences as blind people dealing with our eye doctors. For many of us, constant follow up and occasional… Finish Reading The Opthomologist’s Office