Comments on: A month off the grid. Living blindly without Internet

By: don Horn

don Horn — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:35:45 +0000

Since I was born in 1959, I spent much of my life without Internet access. I wouldn’t want to go back to doing that, but, of course, at the time, the world was a very different place. In some ways, I suspect the experience you had was very similar to what I had prior to the Internet becoming so much a part of our lives, though I would also say that some things which now require Internet access were done differently in the past. I’m a rehab counselor and I work with blind adults from 18 to retirement age. It’s interesting to reflect on how things have changed over the 25 years I’ve held this job. One thing I’ll say is that today’s blind youth seem less likely to find solutions to problems which arise; often, their first course of action is to try to find out who is legally responsible for solving the problem rather than simply solving it themselves. For instance, I have a client who, when her class was moved to a new room on the first day of the semester, told the professor that she did not attend because she needed to arrange for mobility instruction so that she could learn her route. I don’t think that would ever have occurred to me back when I was a student; I would have walked over with another student and then figured out the route. With that said, I would never want my clients to have to live without all of the fabulous technological advances we have experienced in recent years. I’m thrilled that I don’t need as much sighted assistance as those who came before me simply because today’s technology can facilitate my independence if I allow it to do so.

Thanks for an interesting and thought provoking post.

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 21:38:59 +0000

Great post Robert, and it’s nice to have you posting here. This entry reminds me of the few times I’ve been without Internet access. The most recent of these times was just a short month ago, when I was having some kind of odd iCloud issue that seemed to effect a lot of things. But the issue has since been resolved and I am now surfing once again. Part of the problem was the wiring here in my apartment. But this apartment building is going to be renovated very soon, so I think that should help out a lot. I truly missed my daily ritual of checking email and such every morning after showering and that kind of thing. Can you tell I’m in love with my MacBook? Lol!

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:17:21 +0000

Perusing manuals online can be a two-edged sword. Often, with tech products and appliances, mainstream manuals are unusable for the totally blind, since pictures are referred to with abandon. Finding the English instructions among those in other languages can be a struggle also.

By: A month off the grid. Living blindly without Internet | Display Braille Seller Online

Sun, 15 Feb 2015 06:01:39 +0000

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