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Cellar Scribblings
serious crayons:
Well, I've made several friends in my apartment building. We've gathered a few times on the rooftop deck in the evening for a glass of wine in this nice summery weather.
Then a few days ago I met John, a guy about my age who's blind -- or legally so, anyway. We met when he asked me to help him find the fitness room. He had just moved in, but needed actual step-by-step guidance because the room was only about 30 feet away. Then we both attended a Wine Down Wednesday event in the lobby and I introduced him to one of the women. He's also indicated an interest in rooftop deck gatherings.
He's not a romantic prospect -- he has a significant other who has the same eye disease he does, he said. But he moved to the building specifically because it's large enough he figured there'd be people he could ask for help. For example, he offered to take me to dinner Sunday in the downstairs restaurant if I show him the way to get there by back stairs without going outside (which I don't actually know but will figure out between now and then).
There's a big park behind the building that he might enjoy, but I realized he could never get there the way I do, which is down some stairs and then down a hill. Even I have trouble because the stairs are that stupid poured-concrete kind where some of the stairs are normal width, so just one step per stair, and some are wide, so require two steps, and they're randomly combined. Why do they do those? Surely there'd be a way around it. And the hill is too steep even for my taste -- I take my dog out there, but it feels unsteady and uncomfortable standing on it. This property belongs to the apartment building, I think, and if so they should fix it -- turn the hill into flat terraced area or something. This way seems like lawsuit potential.
However, I'm pretty sure there's a longer but flatter way to go around to the park.
It's been interesting talking to this guy, John. He's very easygoing about his disability, and doesn't hesitate to ask for guidance. Makes you realize how hard it would be to get around without sight. To get to his apartment, for example, he has to feel the hallway wall and count the doors.
Sason:
What does it mean that he's legally blind?
Front-Ranger:
Wow what trippy bathrooms!
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Sason on August 07, 2021, 04:33:27 pm ---What does it mean that he's legally blind?
--- End quote ---
He's permitted by law to be blind. Being blind is against the law unless you have a license.
-
:laugh:
No, it means he can see a little bit -- maybe light or vague shapes? - but not well enough to drive. I'm not sure what else besides driving would be involved in the legality part. I think some people who are legally blind can see enough to function fairly well otherwise. John does not seem to be in that category.
From what I gather, he has a degenerative disease that began in midlife. So now he's learning to live without sight, which I would think would be harder than it is for people who were born without sight.
Once at work I received a book in the mail that was a collection of essays by local people who had gone blind in midlife. It didn't fit into my beat, so I took it over to the lifestyle editor and suggested it could make a good story. She shrugged noncommittally.
"Is it any good?" she said.
"I don't know, I didn't read it," I said, inwardly thinking, Who the hell cares if it's good or not? Interviewing people in that situation would be interesting!
She didn't do the story.
Sason:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on August 07, 2021, 07:00:31 pm ---He's permitted by law to be blind. Being blind is against the law unless you have a license.
--- End quote ---
Wouldn't surprise me in the least ::)
--- Quote ---No, it means he can see a little bit -- maybe light or vague shapes? - but not well enough to drive. I'm not sure what else besides driving would be involved in the legality part. I think some people who are legally blind can see enough to function fairly well otherwise. John does not seem to be in that category.
--- End quote ---
I see.
We just call it either blind or visually impaired.
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