[Fwd: Fred's Head Companion - American Printing House for the Blind]

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Date: Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:17:48 +0000
Subject: Fred's Head Companion - American Printing House for the Blind
From: Fred's Head from APH <fredshead@aph.org>
To: nimerjaber1@gmail.com
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Fred's Head Companion - American Printing House for the Blind
<http://www.fredshead.info/>
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Link to Fred's Head from APH <http://www.fredshead.info/>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

How Big is My World?
<http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/FredsHeadCompanion/%7E3/x2ylGJYAnYI/how-big-is-my-world.html>

Posted: 06 Oct 2009 08:41 AM PDT

by Donna J. Jodhan

In the normal scheme of things, my world should be as big as I want it
to be but in today's society it is very difficult for me to define the
size of my world. You see, my world is not really in my hands. For the
most part and sadly so, my world remains in the hands of society and I
can tell you that there are days where I wish I could change this; but I
can't. Sad but true.

One of my favorite quotations is by Robert F. Kennedy: "Some men see
things as they are and say why! I dream things that never were and say
why not!" And this is the philosophy that I use every day of my life in
order to define my world in my own way.

You may be wondering why I would say that my world is not in my hands
but rather in the hands of society and I'll tell you why.

Society has inadvertently and continues to erect countless barriers for
me and for others who are blind and visually impaired. They have erected
daunting barriers for millions of persons with disabilities and have
even gone the extra mile to do the same for seniors. In the case of
persons with disabilities, and in particular persons who are blind and
visually impaired, one of the most challenging barriers that I and my
cofrères face is a barrier called Attitude.

This barrier is nothing new and has been around for too long and if I
and my cofrères do not take steps to bring it down, then I am afraid
that we will find ourselves inadvertently short changing tomorrow's
generation of disabled kids of a better future. In short, if we do not
start to pro-act in stead of react, we will be robbing our disabled kids
of their rights to a future that ought to include them as contributing
members to society.

All my life I have had to battle attitude barriers from society. As
early as I can remember: My parents had to battle the system to allow me
to obtain my formal education. Then as a university student I had to
endure constant remarks from those professors who made no effort to hide
their discontent about having a blind student in their class. In the
workplace I and others have had to deal with the narrow mindedness of
managers and co-workers alike who do not believe that blind and visually
impaired persons can be productive and this is why I am so glad that I
can now use the Internet as my workplace. Most of my clients are
blissfully unaware that I am blind and frankly, they would probably not
care as long as I was able to perform to their satisfaction.

I am not content to sit back and wait for things to happen and this is
why I have managed to expand my world much more than many others like
me. I challenged an ice skating school to teach me to ice skate. I have
learned to play chess. I have written two books. I have hang glided,
sailed, and even driven around in a parking lot. No, I am not showing
off! Just trying to motivate others to expand their world. Nothing is
impossible if you put your mind to it but to be possible one has to be
realistic.

The attitude barrier needs to be addressed and if I want to be
charitable which I am, I can say that 99.9% of the time, this barrier is
erected by those who are limited by such things as: Cultural beliefs,
fear of the unknown, fear of interacting with those who are different,
and an unwillingness to learn new things and meet new people. I am going
to give you three websites that you can visit in order to learn more
about the world of blind and visually impaired persons.
http://www.nfb.org, http://www.acb.org and http://www.afb.org.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan, an accessibility and special needs business
consultant wishing you a terrific day. If you'd like to learn more about
me, then you can visit some of my blog spots at:
Donna Jodhan! Advocating accessibility for all:
http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com <http://www.donnajodhan.blogspot.com>
Weekly Saturday postings on issues of accessibility:
http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog/blog.html
<http://www.sterlingcreations.ca/blog/blog.html>
blogs on various issues and answers to consumers concerns:
http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm
<http://www.sterlingcreations.com/businessdesk.htm>

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