On falling

Falling is fatal for old people. For us it is a darn nuisance. Life is an interesting challenge with visual impairment and even more so with a broken wrist. My clever tenant who is 81 got bumped in a supermarket and started to fall. Instead of saying what people usually say,”Oh, Oh”, he said,”Catch me.” Now isn't that clever?
Two or three people grabbed him and he didn't fall. Bravo!
These are called adaptive techniques. We can learn them and now you have.

My friend John, who I met at the lighthouse for the blind, told me that he had been visually impaired all his life and had never driven a car. He always wanted to. His friends took him out on a powerboat into the Atlantic Ocean and gave him the steering wheel. There were no other boats around. It was clear to the horizon. They said, “Go for it, John” and he put the boat in full throttle and drove. He loved the feeling of the motor and the energy of the boat and that he had full control.
Control is one of the areas that we sometimes feel we have given up.

What has been wonderful for me has been taking bus lessons. I have wonderful instructors from Laidlaw transportation. They have a whole division for private us instructions and help the elderly and handicapped and the visually impaired learning how to use the bus systems in Seattle. I was so excited. My first trip was to Capitol Hill where I go to a low vision support group. Everyone in the group comes by bus and I was arriving by taxi so I was excited to learn how to get there by bus. The tricky part is knowing where to get off the bus, although the bus driver usually tells you, but not always. Once off the bus I have to know whether to go around the corner and wait for the bus or crossover the street and wait for the next bus or cross diagonally and wait for the bus. The transfers are tricky. Especially because in Seattle downtown streets run one way so there is always some walking when transferring. I made it all the way up to Group Health with my bus instructors and then they asked me if I could find my way to my classroom. I said, “Yes, I think I can." I started to walk forward and along came a very dapper-looking gentleman, obviously cited as he was walking very fast and with a balance in his walk, looking good. I stopped him and asked if he knew the way to the South building. He responded, ”Take my arm and I will lead you there.” So I did and there I was in a few minutes in the South building. I turned around and there were my two instructors and I smiled and said,” I did it!” They said, ”You failed, you were supposed to get here by yourself.” “I thought that my job was just to get here, whichever way worked. And besides, wasn't he a cute guy?” My instructor said,” So was Ted Bundy!” That was my first day of bus glasses. I did get better, more compliant is probably a better word. But only when my instructors are watching. I still like to ask people for help because it is a way of engaging others and I like to talk to people. I have pretty good radar and usually pick middle-class regular kind of folks. I could have been ashamed but I was just amused.

Once I got the idea of how to get around my bus instructor inadvertently told me how to get to the casino on Bainbridge Island. It is practically a straight run from my apartment. I get on the bus across the street and take it to the end of the line. The 16 bus ends at the Bainbridge ferry. I get on the ferry, take a nice little ferry ride, get off the ferry and there is a bus waiting to take me to the casino. The casino bus meets every ferry. In 15 minutes I was playing blackjack. Can I see the cards? No. But I have a system. I tell the dealer that I can't see the cards. Since everyone’s’ cards are up, the dealer or sometimes the person just sitting next to me tells me what I have. The only other piece of information I need is what the dealer is showing. I have a seven and a four in the dealer has an eight. I double down and usually win. The dealer gives me my winnings in five dollar chips so that I can count them. When I have mixed chips like green chips which are $25 then I can get mixed up and occasionally make a bet larger than I planned. . But once the dealer knows my situation they are usually watching out for me. I am so happy at the casino. I feel so empowered being able to get there and play with the help of no one except the dealer. I can come and go, go for lunch, go to the table, and have the best time.

Getting information

As I pour my tea the person sitting next to me says,” 0h, oh!”.

Now I know that the cup is full or my cup runneth over.

It's all about adapting

August 4, 2005 I lost my sight in Santa Fe, New Mexico. With my kind of condition one usually loses sight due to a stroke which happens as you wake up in the morning or as you put your feet on the floor. It is due to a very low blood pressure. So I probably lost my sight in the early morning but I didn't realize it until I was driving. It was the day of my niece Rebekah’s wedding reception. I was with my friend Irene and we were staying at someone's house. It was a difficult driveway to get out of and Irene directed me out of the driveway. I was focusing on what she was saying and not really about what I was seeing. And as I drove down the lane things were looking very fuzzy. I came to a stop light and didn't know whether to stop. I stopped and sort of figured out that I had to make a left turn. I started to make a left and I realized that I no longer could see what I was doing. I said to Irene, “I can't see the road.” She said, ”Pull over!” I said,” I can't see the side of the road.” She said what any intelligent person would say at this time, “Yaaaah!” Screaming, she eventually guided me over, took the wheel, and I have never driven since. It was the consensus of the people at the wedding reception that I should get to a lower at altitude as soon as possible as the stroke to my optic nerve may have been caused by the altitude. Santa Fe is at 7000 feet. We left the party, packed up and scooted out of town as fast as we could. We got down to Albuquerque and that was as low as we can go without getting our plane to Miami. I was in a bit of a shock, sad, but not dysfunctional as you can see next. As we pulled in to the parking lot of our hotel in Albuquerque, I saw a sign and I asked Irene what it said. She said that it was a casino bus that would take a hotel guest to a casino. I decided to go after dinner. Our plane did not leave until the next morning. After dinner I got on the casino bus. Irene thought I was crazy and would not let me go alone even though she dislikes casinos. We went on the bus ride and I got to the casino and started to play blackjack. I was so happy that I could do something. Once Irene realized that I was safe and could get right home on the same bus, she left, went back to our hotel, and I stayed at the casino and played and played. Irene could not believe what I was doing. She said that if she had lost her sight that day she would be crying and freaking out and here I was at the casino playing blackjack.
Although there were some crying periods, it has been a great deal of fun as well. Amazing life experiences that I could never have imagined before. I was a student at the Miami lighthouse for the blind. I was studying computer, personal care, mobility, and exercise. I especially liked the exercise as we had a marvelous trainer named Joe and he taught me strength training so my back stopped hurting and lots of balance exercises so that I did not lose my balance when I was out walking. Although I have a class schedule, there were times when I did not go to class. Sometimes I would get into a discussion with somebody and it was so interesting that I just didn't go to my next class.. After all, it's not like college whereyou get demerits for not showing up or possibly flunk the class.
One day my counselor called me into the room and sat me down. I thought, “Oh, no, they're going to throw me out for skipping classes.” I was so worried. I had started to really enjoy the computer classes and just being at the Lighthouse with people like me. But Sylvia, my counselor said,” no, we are not throwing you out - just the opposite - we are giving you an award for being the student who has accomplished the most this year in computers. The Rotary club will be giving you an award next week at a luncheon.” I was so amazed and thrilled. And this was the first of a number of awards. My exercise teacher chose me as the student who had accomplished the most in exercise class. This was an amazing shock to me. Here I am 66 years old, chubby and blind and I am being awarded for my exercise diligence. But we had a huge article about Joe and me and our exercise class in the Miami Herald. This was followed by a television show where we simulated the blind exercises we did. We even did a local radio show. The newspaper article went national and I got a call from my cousin in Connecticut who said that she had opened her newspaper and there I was exercising in the blind school. She was thrilled, sent me a copy of the article, and now I have it in my scrapbook.