Interview

Spencer: What is your name? John: John Grisso Spencer: How long have you been visually impaired? John: Well, I when I was twenty years old, I got into an accident while in the army. I would rather not get into that though. Spencer: That’s fine. What is the hardest day to day task for you? John: Getting from point A to point B. especially when it is further than walking distance. Any sort of transportation, you know. I mean you have your car and you can run out and jump in it and it not start. So you know you need to alternate your appointments, and what have you. But to depend on another body, well then you have to overcome two barriers, and you know it is a daily thing. You know you have public transportation, the red cross wheels residence are available for people with disabilities of all types. It’s not that functional for work related transportation, you get one shoot at it and you have to call them the day before. But if something that comes up today that I have to go out and do, then I need to a different form of transportation. So you know transportation is the biggest barrier, and it’s not easy to overcome. Spencer: What are your long term goals? John: My long term goals. Well, by education and training. I am a consoler, and I do counseling Here because I am more involved with accessibility for people with all types of disabilities and community inclusion. So I really work more in advocacy in disability rights than I do in counseling. But a, with that, my long term goals, I want to make change all for the better. Personally working with organizations like here to promote community inclusion for accessibility for people with disabilities. That is what we do here. You know I don’t have any other goals. There are a bunch of others that lead to that, is basically it. I want to do all that I can do while I’m here walking this earth, to make things better for the folks that are coming behind us. Spencer: How do you tell time? John: I have a watch. Right now I’m using a talking pocket watch. Eleven thirteen. I have used a brail watch. Spencer: How does that work? John: You feel the hands, and where they are, and there are raised dots for the hours. Spencer: Ya that was one of my problems. When I was doing my experimental learning I put a shirt over my head and tried to get ready for class. But my biggest problem was Telling what time it was. John: Ya and that is where good technology comes in, and takes over.

experimental learning

To start off my experimental learning I began by waking up on Monday and putting on a blind-fold. I wanted to know what it was like to try and get ready for the day being blind. My room was really messy and I had to walk slowly over to my closet. I had a general idea what drawers I had put types of clothes in but I had no idea exactly what was on each shirt. I tried to feel the lettering on the shirt, but I really had no idea what I was putting on. It was hard to know if I looked presentable. It took a lot more time to get ready than normally, it took about 8 minutes. I ran into another problem when I could not find my wallet. I thought I had put it on my desk but I was not for sure. I spent five minutes feeling around trying to locate it. Somehow I got lucky and accidently stepped on it; it must have fallen off the desk during the night. The biggest problem I kept running into was trying to figure out what time it was. I didn’t want to be late to class and I had no idea what time it was. I knew my alarm went off at eight o clock but after that I was just guessing what time it was. Another big problem I ran into was when I tried to make a phone call to a friend. When I call someone I normally just scroll to my phone book and click on their name and it calls them. I had no clue what to do because I didn’t know his number off the top of my head. I could make an educated guess of where the numbers on the phone were but I did not know what to type. In the end I could only keep up being blind for thirty minutes. Experiencing this made me have a lot of respect in people who are blind. I didn’t know how organized they had to be. They probably know where everything they own is. Also they must have a really good memory. I never even thought those were involved in being blind and I find that amazing.

Change in idea

I have decided to change the main idea of my paper from going through the experience of having no cell phone to seeing things through someone who is blind. So far it has been a lot easier to write about and research. I have found a lot of good web sites. I went to Google and typed in “being blind” in the search box. The first website that was available was http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_rnib003680.hcsp it is a really good website. It has all sorts of links that lead you to information on how to get around being blind and different organizations that can help you. I then typed in “stories of being blind” and a lot of good websites came up. The one that I chose was, http://www.networkforgood.org/volunteer/volunteerstories.aspx, it has three really good stories of volunteers working with blind people. This website really helps me understand what it is like to be and work around blind people. In the second story it talks about a woman being blind for forty seven years, and in that time she has run thirty marathons. That seems crazy to me. I have two perfectly good working eyes and I don’t think I could run one marathon much less thirty. That takes a lot of determination that not just any person has. When I was looking for my third website I chose to go to, dogpile.com and searched “being blind”. The first website that came up was the American foundation for the blind. It turned out to be the best website I found, overall. http://www.afb.org/. The website has categories for everything; it has information that relates to friends and family, seniors, kids, professionals, and Employers. It even has a really helpful quick fact section that really helps for research, and how to see things the way they do.

I have chosen to see things through a person who doesn’t have a cell phone. I have experienced this situation when I was younger. The only problem was that when I was younger I never really needed to use a cell phone, when I was that age. I want to know what it is like to be a person my age with no cell phone. I have a hard enough time communicating with my people on my phone because it does not have texting. It seems everyone is texting but me, I always complain that I want to switch phones but I’m not allowed. It would be completely different with no phone at all. I just can’t even think of how hard it would be to get a hold of people with no cell phone. I never spend time in my dorm room, so there would be no way at all to reach me during the day time, if I dint have a cell phone. I’m curious to see how people alter their day around finding a phone and remembering phone numbers. I call my friends every day but I could probably only remember four of their numbers. They have always been in my address book in my phone. I just click on their name and it calls them, without me even dialing a single number. To discover what it is like to have no cell phone I guess I will have to turn off my phone for thirty days. I have no clue in the world how I am going to adjust but I guess I’ll just find out. I have no clue who to interview for this paper because how will I find someone with no cell phone. How will I reach them? I can’t think of one person off the top of my head that doesn’t have a cell phone.