A sighted guest

In the normal scheme of things, much of society is used to greeting each other in the mainstream way of shaking hands, hugging and/or kissing each other, and waving and/or smiling to each other. However, it is a bit different when it comes to how blind and visually impaired persons greet each other at functions and this was brought home very clearly to me recently when my sister-in-law reminded me of a time when she attended a luncheon with me.

She told me that at first, she found the room to be so noisy because people were calling to each other in order to determine where their friends were sitting. She remembers how someone called out at the top of their voice: "Donna! Where are you?" Then when I responded my friend and I both got up and proceeded to find each other by sound and greet each other. It took my sister-in-law a few minutes to understand the whole thing but when she did so, she had to smile and nod in understanding.

This is one thing that much of the sighted world is not familiar with; the level of noise that prevails at functions for blind and sighted persons and if you stop and think for a minute you'll understand why. The sighted world greets each other after they have recognized each other visually. We as blind persons do it through sound. First, we use sound to identify if any of our friends are close by and when we do our next step is to identify where they are; and we do all of this through sound.

True it is that the noise level is extremely high but it is unavoidable and necessary. We also use sound to help each other find objects. Many times, we would bang an object on the table to help each other know where something is; like the salt and pepper shakers, and so on. If you would like to learn how blind persons communicate among themselves at functions, then visit www.nfb.org.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and spread the word about how blind persons communicate at functions.

Just like food and shelter

Greetings! I'm Christian Robicheau and ah yes! It's the end of May and it has certainly crept up on us.
Today, I am delighted to present a very thought provoking editorial by our president Donna J. Jodhan. I hope you find it interesting and urge you to read and respond to us at info@sterlingcreations.ca.
Enjoy your weekend.

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Just like food and shelter
By Donna J. Jodhan

Just like food and shelter; so too do the rights of the blind need to be protected. Just like food and shelter; so too do we need to protect the futures of our blind kids. Just like food and shelter; so too do we need to safeguard the golden years of our blind seniors.

Nothing should be taken for granted when it comes to the above. No compromise and no give and take. If we do not protect our rights as blind persons then we shall surely lose them. If we do not ensure that our access to information, and websites and all related web content is equal, then much sooner than later we will find ourselves in the dark for good.

Technology waits on no man and time does not stand still for anyone! Progress and evolution are here to stay and these are all very potent reasons why we as blind persons need to treat our rights just like food and shelter. If we do not preserve them then no one else will and if we do not claim and legitimize them then no one is going to hand them to us on a silver Platter.

So, let's take the leap forward. Let us take the bull by the horns, let us take our future into our own hands and reach for the stars!

I'm Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and weekend.
To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca and I would be delighted to send you an electronic copy of our latest newsletter.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna's blogs and editorials.
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all
http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures
http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility
http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog
A monthly editorial on issues on diversity
http://www.diversityintheworkplace.ca

The hope still lives on

Written in August 2009
By Donna J. Jodhan

Last week as I sat glued to my TV watching and following the funeral of the
late Senator Ted Kennedy, something in me was not just sad, but really sad.
When we were kids, my cousins used to cut out all of Senator Ted's pictures
from my mom's magazines and the newspapers and then paste them into scrap
books for me. As a matter of fact, they did this for all of the Kennedys.
At that time, I was not really able to see pictures but after I had my first
cornea transplant it was one of the first things that I did.

I remember so many years ago after I got my first cornea transplant, I raced
to my scrap books to look at all of my treasured photos and boy am I glad
that my cousins had so kindly done this for me. I spent so many hours
gazing at my favourite photos and I continued to follow the Kennedys as a
family along with so many others who were my favourites and heroes and ones
that I admired the most. I kept memories of all of their photos safely
tucked away in my mind and as I sat listening last Saturday to the Senator's
funeral, I managed to conjure up pictures of him in my mind. With precious
little sight left now, it was all that I could have done to keep me going
and remembering.

One could easily say that the Kennedy family has been burdened with a curse
but what impresses me most about this particular family is this; their
ability to keep on going despite the immense tragedies that have dogged them
over the years. Senator Ted in particular had to deal with so much; the
tragic loss of his brothers, having to deal with two of his children's
brushes with cancer, and his own errors in judgment which he has always
readily admitted. Yet for all of this, he never gave up smiling and his
quote "The hope lives on and the dream shall never die" will always live on
in my heart; and it's a quote that I would urge all blind and visually
impaired persons to keep close to theirs.

This Statesman managed to share his life not just with his family and the
rest of his country, but also with the rest of the world. He was a Father,
Seri Get father, step father, husband, brother, uncle, mentor, and friend.
A man of so many hats. Rest in peace Senator Ted. Thank you for sharing
your life with us.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a
terrific day and urging you, both sighted and blind, to go out there and
live your hopes and dreams.

Out of sight out of mind?

Greetings! I'm Christian Robicheau and it's good to be back after a small break. I hope that everyone had a great Easter break and now we are into the month of merry May.
Today, I have a very thought provoking editorial to share with you; written by our president Donna J. Jodhan and in her editorial, Donna really gets down to the heart of the matter.
Enjoy and have a great weekend.

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Out of sight out of mind
By Donna J. Jodhan

Someone recently put forth the following argument to me. Out of sight, out of mind; could this be the reason why society often forgets about blind and sight impaired persons when it comes to ensuring that they receive such things as: equal access to job opportunities, education, health services, equal access to sporting and recreational facilities, and everything else that the mainstream person has access to?

I listened with bated interest to this person's opinions and arguments and after our encounter I decided to take a bit of time to contemplate. It did not take me too long to formulate my own opinion. There definitely seems to be a common thread when it comes to blind and sight impaired persons being either forgotten or left out of many every day matters.

When it comes to sporting activities, I have found that in my home city of Toronto Canada, there is a definite lack of accommodation when it comes to sporting activities. Over the last decade, I have tried so many times to catch the interest of the Parks and Recreation folks in Toronto to raise the issue of blind persons being left out of sporting events and they have sheepishly admitted that more needs to be done but to date not much has been done.

A few months ago I had a meeting with some officials of a financial institute to discuss making more financial planning services available to blind and sight impaired persons and at that time I raised the issue of making information available in alternate formats such as Braille, large print, and electronic text. To my chagrin but not to my surprise, the officials admitted that they had never thought of doing so. I also had a similar meeting with a major supermarket chain in Toronto to discuss making their weekly specials more available to their blind and sight impaired customers either online or through a phone service and again, I was told that this had not been thought of up until now.

So the question of the day would be this one: Why is it that so many companies, cities, and even governments seem to often forget about the blind and sight impaired? Out of sight out of mind? Because the blind and sight impaired community is just too small to be considered or could it be something else? This is not just a Toronto Canada problem; it is Canada wide, North American wide, and even global wide.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and weekend.
To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca and I would be delighted to send you an electronic copy of our latest newsletter.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna's blogs and editorials.
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all
http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures
http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility
http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog
A monthly editorial on issues on diversity
http://www.diversityintheworkplace.ca

The disability syndrome

Greetings! I'm Scott Savoy, managing editor at http://www.sterlingcreations.ca.
Christian and I are back from our Easter Break and happy to be so. May is here and spring is well on the way. Soon summer will be dropping in for its annual visit.
Today, I am pleased to be presenting you with our weekly editorial; by Donna J. Jodhan our president and this week Donna tackles the challenging topic of the disability syndrome.
I wish you a great May weekend.

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The disability syndrome
By Donna J. Jodhan

Others may choose to use a different terminology but for better or for worse; this is my term for describing how disabled persons are treated by our society and by governments.

In 99.99% of the time whenever financial times are hard, governments forsake the welfare of the disabled when it comes to protecting their rights. Whenever economic times are hard or there is a need for cuts in spending, it is almost always the disabled that are affected first.

Whenever budget cuts are made by either government or companies, it is almost always done to the programs and products and services that are used by the disabled. There is a common theory that says that most of society still views the disabled as a group that are non contributors.

I think that the more sobering question that we should be asking ourselves is this one; how can we turn attitudes around so that governments and society start to change their views of the disabled? That they start to look upon disabled persons as untapped resources rather than as non contributors and as persons who are unable to take care of themselves and take their rightful places in society?

There may be several responses to these questions. The disabled persons community can Start to educate society in a more aggressive manner. They can start standing up for their rights. They can start to lobby governments through the media. It is not going to be easy but they need to start somewhere and why not? Let start by looking at ourselves as contributors and untapped resources. As persons who need to be treated equally under the law and as persons whose voices are just as important as the rest of society.


I'm Donna J. Jodhan wishing you a terrific day and weekend.
To reach me, please send an email to info@sterlingcreations.ca and I would be delighted to send you an electronic copy of our latest newsletter.

Here is a complete list of where you can view Donna's blogs and editorials.
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all
http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com
Weekly features on how to increase your success with your business ventures
http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
Weekly articles and editorials on issues about accessibility
http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog
A monthly editorial on issues on diversity
http://www.diversityintheworkplace.ca