It is a well known fact that exercise and overall fitness is essential to living a healthy happy life. But for a blind individual, exercise may not be as easy to accomplish as it is for sighted individuals. There are definitely some unique challenges that come with exercise and being blind. For instance, I cannot just walk out my front door and go for a 6 mile jog by myself. Maybe eventually I could, but right now, I couldn’t. I can’t just...
Full Transcript Show Summary: Life is funny… sort of. That’s how Kristin sees it! Kristin Smedley is an award winning non-profit leader, TEDx speaker, and author – but she never planned on any of that. Image of the Thriving Blind Book Cover however her personal path to greatness took an unexpected turn when two of her three children were diagnosed as blind. She had to learn the tools of blindness and build a team of...
I have a pet dog, and I am often asked if he is my guide dog. Sometimes I am asked why I don’t have a guide dog, and just have a pet dog. This is kind of a complex answer. Having a guide dog, or not having one, is a decision each blind individual needs to make on their own. It is a personal decision, and there is no right or wrong answer. There are benefits to having a guide dog; and there are benefits to not having one, and just having a pet...
Full Transcript Show Summary: Beep Baseball is an adapted form of Baseball and is played by Visually Impaired/Blind players wearing “Sleep Shades” to level the playing field for everyone. The ball is a 16 inch round softball with a beeping sound that allows the defensive team locate the ball. Blind Abilities Logo 6 members field a team with a sighted picture pitching to their own team. The sport of Beep Baseball originated right...
I am frequently asked if I can visualize things, even though I can’t see them. And if I have a visual memory of what things look like from before I went blind. The answer is that yes, I do remember what most things that I have seen before look like. And yes, I can visualize my surroundings. That being said, I am not always correct in my visualization; and I do not by any means know what everything looks like. This gets me, as a blind person,...
Full Transcript Show Summary: Simon Bonenfant, a transition age student in high school and our Teen Blind Abilities correspondent, went to Washington D.C. to educate Representatives and Senators on the legislative goals of the National Federation of the Blind during the annual Washington Seminar. Simon took time to interview Gabe Kaiser, Manager of Government Affairs for the National Federation of the Blind. Gabe tells us about the 3...
Recently, I was asked to write about soft skills because I excel in that area. Oddly enough, I had never heard of soft skills and had no idea what it meant when they said I was good at them. So I did some research, and it turns out that yes, I am good at soft skills. They just come naturally to me, and are not something that I would necessarily define about myself. So, I want to share what soft skills are, and try to give some helpful tips on...
Full Transcript Show Summary: Serina Gilbert is always coming across great stories and this one from Erin and Bob at White Cane Coffee is as good as it gets. Taking a Bad Day and transferring that into the launching of a new company, Erin and Bob, a daughter and son team, tell us why they wanted to start White Cane Coffee and how they want to impact others with the opportunity through the affiliate program coming soon. You can check out the...
As a blind parent, people say and do things, that they otherwise wouldn’t to a sighted parent. They are trying to be helpful, or funny, and for the most part I don’t sweat about it. But there is one thing people say that tends to upset me, and I don’t know how to respond to it. It is when they say: “just wait until he realizes you can’t see him"; or “you’re in for a lot of trouble when your son realizes what he can get away with,...
Recently, I received an email with a question for me. As It seemed a simple enough question, I thought it should be an easy answer for me to give. As I started writing though, my answer kept getting longer and more complex. And I decided that it would be a wonderful topic for my next blog post. The question was: How do I feel/react when greeting someone by name, and they seem surprised I recognized them? ...