Are resolutions made in the New Year to be discussed, broken and then remembered later in some form of conversation? It’s easy to find ourselves caught in that cycle as an old year fades and another just like it sweeps us along the moving sidewalk to somewhere.

Then why make New Year’s resolutions as we all tend to do? For the more ambitious among us, they don’t represent benchmarks for passe optemism. Instead, tangible, achieveable resolutions are challenges. That’s what the journey of being boldly blind embraces. Last year, only 98 posts on this blog reached followers’ inboxes while many other travelers along the worldwide web’s strands read them as well. I plan on upping that amount this year to bring you more events about guide dogs, technology, blind sports, and legislation. Tips for the trek of being blind, recognition of honors achieved by movers and shakers in the blindness community are fair game as well.

It’s one thing, however, to just post a link or two and say, “Go read.” Then you wouldn’t know why I post it in the first place. Better is analyzing, commenting, recommending, how that given link is for you.

So as we wrap up the college football bowl games and emerge from other year-beginning festivities, we navigate life’s contours into 2024 boldly blind.

Conversations like the one linked here reveal the needs that more and more patients at medical clinics, customers at grocery stores, and travelers at airport terminals face in the growing world of kiosks. Yes, self-service options make checking in much easier for most people. But that’s not true for those who either cannot access the screens and or aren’t taught how to navigate them.

The solution would not be an unreasonable burden on companies like Quest Diagnostics to add audio capabilities to their touch screens since the technology already exists for similar screens on smart phones and PC or laptop computers. It’s a matter of willingness to make the software components jive with the tags, edit fields, and graphics involved in a kiosk’s platform.

Willingness, however, doesn’t stop with the technology itself. Instead, it extends to raising awareness of the usefulness of adding said capabilities to a company’s kiosk machines. After all, what good is adaptive software if it isn’t shown and explained to people who are blind or low-vision? Office staffs need made aware of how to switch between an accessible mode and the

regularly used screens without adaptations.

Lawsuits, then, against companies Quest Diagnostics are worth filing when opening up the world of kiosks and self-service options to the blind and low-vision population. It’s not just a matter of software/508 Compliance. It’s a matter of public engagement. The more people are made aware of how much the blindness community will use such adaptations when checking into a doctor’s appointment or into an airport for travel the more the acceptance gap can be bridged for everyone.

Today the gym rat met the wellness coach. Yes, as I am new to the area YMCA (see a previous post), I wanted a bit more familiarity with the equipment as well as a longer walk-through of the fitness center than I’d given myself so far.

Why, you may ask, might I want to have a wellness coach trail around with me explaining stuff I might have already discovered on my own? Of what benefit is someone teaching me equipment I’ve seen in plenty of gyms wherever I’ve lived.

For someone who is blind, the setting matters as much or more than the actual equipment. Are the weight machines or cardio apparatuses like treadmills or stair masters close together or farther apart? Does the gym where you are exercising encourage you to spray down the grips and seats after you’ve done a few reps and moved on to the next weight?

After meeting Lori, the wellness coach assigned to me, we talked over my general goals of strength training and weight loss. We also discussed my need to workout on areas that are relatively easy to navigate. When your in a gym, of course, you have several types of machines from the freeweights-bar bells, bumdbbells, and benches where you sit or kneel when balance the weight along with lifting it. Sivex equipment offers you a stable machine, working on your upper or lower body, which has weights you lift by manipulating a rope cable while changing the amount with a pin or knob.

Seeing that I will be doing full-body workouts each time I am in the gym, Lori walked me through a safe pattern from Machine to machine that I spent time memorizing. Then, yes, we discussed the need to wipe down the equipment with a spray bottle and towel I can retrieve at the desk in front of the fitness center.

At this particular YMCA, the increments of weights on the Sivex machines are consistent-starting at 30 pounds and moving up by 20 each time you move your pin to the next weight. A knob ups the amount by 5 pounds each turn.

With Lori there, I learned more grip positions on each upper body machine than I’d known before. These hand positions help you workout subparts of your body even with using the same machine. So when working the chest press, the difference between the normal grip and the two others is a matter of moving my hands from the normal grip of palms facing each other to makoing fists around the handles, knuckles facing down toward the floor. A third grip is a bit higher on the machine and puts more pressure on my wrists.

Working with a trainer like Lori gives you the opportunity to learn better ways of breathing and a pace at which you take each rep during a set. Often, doing rapid reps during a set is only beneficial if you know how to hold your body position and control the weight rather than letting its bulk cause you to sag or tighten up. On many Sivex machines, vfofor example, your lift will take half as long as bringing the weight back to its starting position. Coordinating that with my breaths really helped me relax into the rhythm of each exercise and focus on as much of my body as possible.

It’s also a joy when working with someone to share how our blindness contours our perspective. Since she and I walked across various distances, I gave a quick intro to how my cane protects my ankles when moving around various pieces of equipment. If you are totally blind, use your cane to get around until you are comfortable with the layout enough to move from place to place without its assistance, if you choose to get to that point. Personally, I prefer to fold up my cane when I’m working each machine and then unfold it for times when I’m walking to the next place. When I’m running on the treadmill or the stair master, my cane rests beneath the machine and out of other people’s way. Yes, that means bending down to retrieve it afterward. For doing that, I shield my head and face with one hand while kneeling, then return to my natural stand with the cane comfortibly resting in my left hand.

When Lori and I were finished in the fitness center, I asked her to help me pattern my way between there to the locker rooms’ hallway and to the main desk. After a few trips between, I was ready for tomorrow’s resumption of my briskly joyful pace!

Can you believe it? With the USABA goalball nationals still in our rearview mirror and a couple international competitions just behind us, fans of blind sports are gearing up for the 2024 USABA goalball season!

A Quick Flashback to 2023

As covered on Boldly Blind and many other sports media, the Manticores won the men’s competition held at the Turnstone Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana and the New Jersey Honeybees captured the women’s crown. Anticipated? For sure. Both teams dominated many of the tournaments they entered and it wasn’t even close.

Led by ParaOlympian Zach Buhler and flanked by Jordan Main and Josh Wellborn, the Manticores are one of the hardest throwing teams on the circuit and all three guys play every position on the court, which made rotating defensive positions a valuable asset.

The Honeybees featured two-yes, count them two paraOlympians in Lisa Chechowski and Amanda Denis who flanked the very defensive minded Jennia Tiberi at center. The Honeybees also had the added bonus of having had two or three bench players which gave them a talented depth that few other clubs could match.

THE 2024 SEASON AHEAD
2024 will kick off with the Ability 360 Southwest Regionals in Phoenix, Arizona from January 19-21. Even from this tournament last year, fans knew that the Manticores were primed for a run to repeat as USABA goalball champs. Will this happen again? Time and a lot of hard thrown balls will tell. There’s no doubt that, given the makeup of all teams, finding a contender will be itself a challenge. Of course, Omega from the Detroit, Michigan area, the New York Empire, and the Texas Rattlesnakes might want something to say about that. Those teams have very experienced rosters featuring stars like John Kusku, Joe Hamilton, Darryl Walker, and Jaron Black, to name just a few. And if paraOlympian Tyler Merren has anything to say about it, Omega won’t be the only powerhouse coming from Michigan. So look out for the Growlers to get off to a good start, too.

For the women’s side, the experienced Honeybees will be back and loaded like usual for the long haul. But younger teams from Atlanta and Maryland are sure to present some resistance. Count on the New York Disciples, too, and the newer club from St. Louis to be ready for a run at improvement over 2023.

Of course, following the Southwest Regionals will be dates for the Northeast Regionals, the Cinco De Goalball, and other events leading up to nationals and, for our top athletes, the 2024 ParaOlympic Games in Paris. Of course, Boldly Blind will provide links to live play-by-play and many, many results and updates.

We will, of course, follow the USA Men’s Goalball Team’s march to Paris as they will face seven other world powers including the reigning goald medalists from Brazil. The official roster for the USA team is forthcoming and Boldly Blind along will be one of many blind sports media outfits keeping you abreast of that development as well.

As for the upcoming Ability 360 Southwest Regionals in Phoenix, check out this link for more information. And if you are in the Phoenix area from January 19-21, take in some goalball as a fan or find away that you, too, can get involved in helping the tournament run smoothly!

Conveniences like Uber Eats and Kroger’s home delivery options often make our lives much easier. Just fill out the list of groceries or particular meal you want, hit the enter key to submit, and then wait. You don’t have to go outside into the winter weather of December or the parching heat of August.

But what might we lose if home delivery is the only source we use for getting our groceries? We forego showing the bold faced truth that we want people to believe about us-that we are fully capable and active in the public square of life.

Of course, I’m not directing such a statement to those who simply can’t get out of their homes due to a further debilitating illness beyond the loss of sight. I’m talking to and about us who want to break the glass ceiling through our activity. The more places we are, the more people will see our capabilities.

I was reminded of this yesterday when going to the store to pick up my wife and my groceries. We’ve been largely the delivery or pick-up click list shoppers much of the past few years. So when I and my red-tipped mobility cane showed up at the Kroger customer service  desk near our new apartment, the staff didn’t quite know what they could do to assist me with finding the groceries I needed. I had to teach sighted guide technique on the fly to one of the baggers who stepped in to help me shop. Furthermore, the customer service front manager wasn’t sure if anyone was available to give the assistance I needed.

So even though the ADA and other public laws are on the books, those who rarely see someone who is blind or otherwise disabled will grow unaccustomed to the best practices training they may have received when first coming onto their job. If the red-tip on a mobility cane is to be recognized at an intersection or a service animal respected more than just a pet, people need to see us traveling independently using our canes or letting our guide dogs lead out.

In other words, we are each living billboards for the blindness community. What people see in us, perhaps the first blind or low-vision person they might have met, they will no doubt think of when meeting someone else who is like us. That requires a bit more forethought than our sighted friends might give when out on the go: scheduling our arrival times and pick-up windows with paratransit so that we can have enough space within which to find that interview or class without looking harried or frustrated. Like it or not, if we look agitated or out of sorts, onlookers will perceive that has to do with our being blind rather than the fact we’re simply in a hurry.

Another way of planning ahead is taking advantage of the online menus that most restraunts feature online. If you are going out with a group somewhere, narrow your initial choices of what you’ll eat ahead of time; then you will need less reading assistance from your waiter or waitress later. Of course, if you’re going out with friends, someone might read the menu to you. Even then, having a familiarity of what the restaurant offers makes you more prepared and engaged in the conversations about what’s for dinner.

So whether shopping, being waited on at a restaurant or traveling via paratransit, being boldly blind means putting your best foot forward not just for yourself but for all of us who navigate life’s contours. Yes, we all have our preferences in whether to follow the voice of someone who’s sighted or take their elbow sighted guide. Some may command their guide dog to follow while others drop the harness handle, and, while using sighted guide may give their dog a break. For the sighted public none of these choices are wrong. Our in-house debates about best practices can take a backseat to welcoming the opportunity to receive someone’s kind assistance when and where it might be needed.

What then of th ebalance between the conveniences of staying away from the public eye while ordering out or getting groceries delivered? Of course, we want to use those opportunities like anyone else. Yet, we do have the joy of raising people’s awareness of our capabilities and dignity when and wherever we can. So, ride that bus; eat out even if you’re on your own; take a walk in public with your guide dog; revel in being blind and the incredible opportunities you have to share that with others.

This last week and ahalf has witnessed my old apartment’s disarray and it’s cleanest moments. It went from stacks of boxes and very thin areas where to walk to being vacant. Then, in a matter of hours, my new apartment took on the reverse appearance. From being a hollow shell of plastered walls and puffy carpeted floors, it filled fast with cardboard boxes, furniture strewn wherever it could fit and kitchen appliances that faced the wall.

Yes, moving can throw even the most experienced blind traveler into disorientation. That’s true if you are married or single, having pets or kids or both. One moment, you maybe directing the flow of traffic as movers carry dozens of boxes to a moving truck or even helping them yourself. The next, you find yourself sidelined for a time while everyone else buzzes around you putting your desk, fridge, books, workout equipment, clothes, and furniture into place.

In short how may we who are blind handle the moving process? Here are a few tips I’ve picked up by experience and by knowing others who have done it? If you are blind, you probably have your own system. If you are a family member or friend of someone who is blind,, I hope this trip through Dave’s top ten will encourage you in giving the best assistance possible.

1. If possible, label not only your boxes in numerical order but code them where they are going to be put in your new house or apartment. Even if that’s wrapping them in different colored tape, make sure you write words like “kitchen,” “living room,” “bathroom,” and office” in large letters. And don’t forget those stickers labeled fragile when appropriate. That way, your movers wil distinguish how best to distribute your stuff. Even if the rest of your family is sighted, you need to be aware of where everything will live so you can be a key part of the unpacking process.
2. Make sure your movers and anyone else carrying boxes and other containers leave wide enough space for you to navigate your house-old and new. It’s one thing to trip, catch yourself and stand again. It’s even worse to be rendered to a chair in the corner, told to let everyone else handle the unloading and then direct you around as if they know best what your needs are.
3. If you are physically strong enough to do it, encourage others who are moving boxes and, furniture, and other containers to let you join in the fray. Especially if you are single, you should direct where your furniture goes so you can best navigate your new home for the first time own your own.
4. After settling on a new apartment or house, take your time walking through it while it is empty so you can get the hands-on glance. Then when others describe the details, you can fit their word pictures to what you have already begun to sense with your feet and hands. This is especially important if you are totally blind. Being able to gain that spatial relations in your house yourself will go a long way toward more quickly memorizing its layout when all the furniture and fixings fill the rooms.
5. Ask lots of questions of those who are helping you move-colors of the wallpaper and carpet, the height of the ceilings, the way your windows face, and so forth. Then everyone there will know that you care about the finer points of how your house or apartment will look and invite others when you want to hang together. Remaining totally passive in the moving process gives the impression that either you won’t really care how things are done for you or that it’s okay to be taken care of rather than joining in the fray yourself.

6.When cleaning up your old house or apartment, make sure that you have work to do just like anyone else. Take out the trash, sweep the floors, remove nails and spackle the holes where they were. The main point here is to remain as involved as folks you’ve asked to help.

7. If moving to a new house, take an early stroll around the block or neighborhood. The more you are visible early, the quicker people living around you will know you are blind, capable, and engaged in the world where you live. It’s much easier to be visible than to hole up isolated and waiting till some undetermined time to emerge in nhopes that people notice you. This is especially important when you live in busy urban or suburban areas where there’s a lot of traffic. After some time, folks will recognize you at street curbs and intersections when driving by.
8. Did I emphasize so far to be involved in the whole moving process from start to finish? Yes. And that’s especially important for you who are blind when signing the rental contract with an apartment manager or when setling matters with your home lender and real estate agent. Unless your house is totally a gift surprise, which doesn’t happen very often for folks,-you need to know absolutely everything that is in writing and what you are required to sign. Be ready with your signature guide or other method used to know where the lines are. Then if your landlord or other involved personnel ask how you can do such a thing, you can explain how you’ve signed your name and other information on important documents from bank accounts to medical records before.
9. Be systematic about your unpacking the moved-in boxes. Rome wasn’t built in a day, so there’s no need for your house or apartment to be in tip-top shape in one either. With that said, keep those pathways open so you can get from room to room, knowing where all the boxes you need to unpack are sitting. If getting the place settled takes a week or two, let it take that long. Mostlikely, you’ll be getting acclimated to your new neighborhood, bus stops, walking routes to nearby restaurants. If you’re working, the move-in process will take even longer. Count that as time for you to get even more acquainted with your new house or apartment and the safety precautions you’ll consider when adjusting to it.
10. If renting, make a list of maintenance requests as you unpack. I’m talkin g hardcopy and on your phone or PC files. That way you don’t forget some things and let woodwork decay or leaky faucets persist.

“What a privilege!”

Those were the words running through my mind as we began our final class for The League for The Blind’s Leadership
Academy. For along with our usual cast of advocate instructors, retiring Judge Wendy Davis stood at the front of the room.

She served as evaluater for our final capstone project of running and managing a mock political campaign. She got to see advocacy in action as we organized a mock debate where two of us spoke on opposite sides of whether to promote quotas or simply awareness-raising in the workplace regarding employees with disabilities.

Now, of course, the follow-up conversation I had with Ms. Davis was a thrill in itself as we talked a bit about the current political environment in Indiana’s 3rd District. But just as, if not even more, important was the opportunity that she got to experience firsthand.

It’s always good for candidates running for office to meet us who have various disabilities. After all, our unique concerns don’t get much attention in the press. Many times, matters like audible signals, tactile domes at curbs, paratransit access, and adaptive fitness equipment might find their place on some seldom read page of the newspaper or overlooked in comparison to the “big stuff” that candidates care about.

Often, that’s why groups like the American Council of the Blind or the National Federation of the Blind speak up on legislative matters. That’s why we often must be the ones to draw attention to the factors that would make life more equitable.

Slo when someone like Wendy Davis has the opportunity to involve us who are blind on her busy activities, the privilege is hers and ours. The more that someone running for local, State, or Federal office learns by experience about us, the better they will grow in knowing our abilities and dignity. We are, after all, as much citizens in the big world around us as anyone else is. Each of our votes, each of our voices matters just as much as any other person out there.

And the joy is ours to keep advocating, interacting, and navigating life’s contours boldly blind.

This week’s Thursday Throw-Down is with one of our up and coming blind soccer players. Take a read here and see her workout. She’s got it going on for sure and I can’t help but say a hearty amen to everything she reveals about her training regimen.

As with all these features during blind sports month, Bailey’s aspirations are achievements we can both admire and be inspired by for our own journey through life. Fitness is key, folks, and you’ve gotta love how she does it!

When do we forego benefit programs offered to us who are blind or otherwise physically disabled? It’s a question worth considering. After all, in an environment where 85 percent of people with various physical or cognitive disabilities remain unemployed, affording things like internet access, TV streaming, and even a home computer become harder to achieve.

And we’ve all heard the advise to budget better, work in the system, and shoot for the most inexpensive options possible. Add to that, many of us who have a physical or cognitive disability do not want to wear the badge of being needy.

On the other side of the argument is the aedvise not to look a gift horse in the mouth and reject the benefit. Recently when the FCC has come up with a plan for getting more people with disabilities online, they have worked out a system and funding to give us an opportunity to compete for work, hear the news, and improve our quality of life through the medddia and technology at our fingertips.

Enter in the Affordable Connnnectivity Program. As the following link explains, those who qualify, can get help paying for home internet access, funds to buy a personal computer, and other similar benefits. On the one hand, who wouldn’t want having such accommodations? If you live far away from a major city and your reception is poor using a connection whose bill is pennies on the dollar, you would greatly be helped by a government program designed for you to have faster internet, a Windows Operating System that is up-to-date, and higher speed when filling out forms online.

On the other hand, if you live nearer conections and routing stations, your internet provision may be satisfactory. You may prefer something quicker or a computer that has a bit more memory than your current terminal. You meet your budget every month and are sustaining yourself and perhaps a family on the SSDI or moderately paying job you just obtained.

I remember being in the second scenario and foregoing the benefits that the local HUD office held out to me. Why? Not only was I working but I had the potential to make more and gain upgrades on the technology I possessed. My news came primarily through the radio and internet. Paying for TV access would’ve been a waste of my money and time. When it came to choosing a housing voucher or turning the opportunity down, I weighed the fact I had gotten myself into a position I’d striven to have for a long time. My parents believed in paying in full for the things you bought; I inherited that ethic, knowing that the next person over who may not be so fortunate could use the funds that the local HUD had better than I could.

There may be other reasons for accepting or rejecting government help of various types that goes beyond the necessity of having enough to make ends meet each month. With that said, it’s always good to be educated on what is available in case you know someone who may need them while you may not. Here’s a link to the Affordable Connectivity Program through the Federal Communications Commission. Weigh the value of subscribing to it versus your own financial state of being. Perhaps, in time, with access to a computer and internet capability, you will get a job or service by which you can afford more of life’s necessities.
https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/acp-flyer-i_0.pdf