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It sounds so interesting! I have a talking GPS system made for the blind which can really help when I need to go someplace on my own, but it is rather cumbersome since it pairs with my braille notetaker.
Items for the blind are usually ridiculously expensive and are not something that can billed through insurance. This one sounds affordable and I will certainly be investigating the product. My fingers are crossed!
I wish we would stop using words like "visually impaired" when we mean blind. A lot of people (more than you imagine) are visually impaired, as in legally blind, but have varying degrees of usable vision and may or may not require aids for various kinds of activities.
For example, I have RP, and my field of view is smaller than my fist at arms length. But I can read, watch TV, use the computer, the same as a normally sighted person. Most people who know me are unaware that I am visually impaired, unless they see me stumble over a curb or a chair, or think I am ignoring them when they offer to shake hands or hand me something. I am visually impaired to a degree that significantly impacts my lifestyle, but I do not consider myself "blind", and would have no use for the device described by the OP.
I wish we would stop using words like "visually impaired" when we mean blind. A lot of people (more than you imagine) are visually impaired, as in legally blind, but have varying degrees of usable vision and may or may not require aids for various kinds of activities.
For example, I have RP, and my field of view is smaller than my fist at arms length. But I can read, watch TV, use the computer, the same as a normally sighted person. Most people who know me are unaware that I am visually impaired, unless they see me stumble over a curb or a chair, or think I am ignoring them when they offer to shake hands or hand me something. I am visually impaired to a degree that significantly impacts my lifestyle, but I do not consider myself "blind", and would have no use for the device described by the OP.
I could have written that post. I, too have RP and I'm legally blind but most people don't know that unless I tell them. And the people who know forget until I stumble over a curb, chair, cat, grandkid, etc. My husband will hand me something and I just sit there and then it hits him and he will say, "Here." And I can still read.
My husband will hand me something and I just sit there and then it hits him and he will say, "Here." And I can still read.
Yeah, my wife has to remember that I'm Aspergers, too.
Funniest thing I every stumbled over? Somewhere on our Asia trip, Taiwan or Malaysia, or someplace, we came into a bank from the bright outdoors. Right in the center of the moodily dark lobby was a decorative table, consisting of a ten-foot disk of smoked glass supported on legs or risers. It must have been hilarious to see me doing a header across that table. I've learned to roll like a paratrooper.
The world is full of booby traps like that, while people think the visually impaired's needs are met by a tiny label with the word "men" in braille stuck on the public restroom door.
Yeah, my wife has to remember that I'm Aspergers, too.
Funniest thing I every stumbled over? Somewhere on our Asia trip, Taiwan or Malaysia, or someplace, we came into a bank from the bright outdoors. Right in the center of the moodily dark lobby was a decorative table, consisting of a ten-foot disk of smoked glass supported on legs or risers. It must have been hilarious to see me doing a header across that table. I've learned to roll like a paratrooper.
The world is full of booby traps like that, while people think the visually impaired's needs are met by a tiny label with the word "men" in braille stuck on the public restroom door.
Where I have the hardest time is in crowds. When we are out in public, I hold on to my husband tightly because I am so afraid that I am going to bump into something or someone, knock something over or something like that. I ALWAYS have a ton of bruises on my legs at any given time. I just let people think that I am a klutz.
I wish we would stop using words like "visually impaired" when we mean blind. A lot of people (more than you imagine) are visually impaired, as in legally blind, but have varying degrees of usable vision and may or may not require aids for various kinds of activities.
Personally I thought that "visually impaired" is considered more politically correct than blind nowadays.
Personally I thought that "visually impaired" is considered more politically correct than blind nowadays.
The purpose of political correctness is to conceal unpleasant truths. Like "special children", who are crippled or stupid.
In the real world, "Blind" means having no useful vision and "Visually impaired" means having reduced vision that places some degree of limitation on a person's lifestyle. It is politically correct to blind oneself (no pun intended) to that distinction, which is not constructive. As a member of one of those groups, I have no problem with people using words that describe my condition, but I do have a problem with using buzzwords that do not adequately reflect reality, thinking they will make me feel better about myself. I'm perfectly capable of making a realistic assessment of my condition and dealing with it, as would any psychologically sound person, without having smily faces stamped all over my otherwise dire medical records.
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