I'm Blind But I Can Still Hear You

It’s possibly redundant but I feel I need to clarify something. Are you ready for this? Well here goes. Being blind doesn’t always mean you can’t hear.

I know shocker right? Well maybe not, but for some it apparently is. More often than you might think someone will yell at me when they find out I am blind. They will talk totally normal until that point.

What’s funny is how in one breath they are all “It’s so cool that you have heightened senses and stuff”, and then in the next they are yelling at you in case your lack of sight affects your ear canals. There are of course blind people that are also deaf. I however, am not one of those people. I do admit that occasionally I utilize selective hearing does come into play but that’s entirely different.

For the most part I smile good naturedly and don’t comment that they are blasting out my ear drums. And hey, that’s a huge concession on my part if you ask me. After all, if they blow the ear drums that would leave me with nothing but touch and smell.

There are days I want to look at them and yell back things like “WHAT DID YOU SAY? I’M SORRY I CAN’T SEE YOU!” Keep in mind that while I say this I would cup my hand over one eye like people do over an ear when they can’t hear something. I know kind of childish but I think it would be pretty funny. A girl’s gotta get her kicks somehow.
No I’m not in a “the glass is half empty” sort of mood. In fact, I am in a great mood. I have gotten a lot of work done on my book Clandestine I just had a random thought about this topic while editing and thought I would share it with you.

As you guys have heard me talk about before in earlier posts, one of the characters in Clandestine is blind. Her name is Lucy and in a scene she encounters this problem. I thought about making her reaction similar to the one mentioned above but haven’t decided yet if I should. Lucy is a perky girl that doesn’t have much of a filter. She does strike me as someone that would say something like that with a bright smile the whole time she was speaking. Who know, maybe I can work something like it in. I guess you will have to get the book when it’s released to find out… wink wink. Lol

Well I need to get back to the grind stone. This post was wiggling around in my brain so I needed to get it out so it would leave me alone. Okay don’t worry I am not weird or anything. The post obviously wasn’t freaking out in my head. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I get kind of OCD about things like that until I get it done.

If you haven’t signed up for my other blog that focuses on my writing and Clandestine please go take a peak and sign up. It is a fairly new blog but it’s getting updated all the time. I even do contests. My first will be ending today but I plan to do more in the future. This will be especially true around the time that Clandestine releases this summer. You can visit my other blog by clicking Here

Have a good day everyone. If you ever have any questions please feel free to share them in the comment section of this post or by sending me a private message using the contact link.

I Want To Talk To You!

I am interested in interviewing people for Playing The Blind Card. The beauty of it is you don’t even have to be blind or even visually impaired.

Do you have a blind friend or family member? If so I’d like to talk to you. Sighted people who interact regularly with the blind community have an interesting perspective on the subject of blindness. It is also possible that you have a funny story to share. Maybe you have a message you would like to share.

If you have never met a blind or visually impaired person I’d also like to talk to you. Just because you’ve never met one of us doesn’t mean you don’t have valuable thoughts or opinions to share with readers. We can have a conversation that might inform readers about preconceived notions or stereotypes you may have learned in your lifetime. Don’t worry! This is a learning exercise only! It is not to make a person feel bad for something that they do not know. After all, no question is a dumb question. And no opinion is a bad one as long as it’s respectful to others.

Are you a professional working in the disability field? Do you offer a special service for the blind or visually impaired? If so, Id’ also like to talk to you. I would love to have the opportunity to tell readers about the special service you provide. If I fall in love with it, I will even put a link to your site on Playing The Blind Card.

Last but especially not least, if you are blind or visually impaired I want to talk to you. This is a call to all my fellow Blindy’s! Standing together we can make a difference. I would like you to help me inform readers about blindness. Have you accomplished something that might surprise people? Do you have an interesting job? Do you have kids? Do you have a guide dog? Do you just have something to say?

`If you fit any of the descriptions above I want to talk to you. Please either leave a comment under this post or use the contact link to the right to Email me directly. I would love to interview you for future posts. I hope to hear from you soon and remember… Together we can make a difference!

I'm Hosting A Give Away!

Hey everyone! I hope all is well with you. Things are going really good for me and my girls. I just wanted to let you all know and give you the opportunity to enter a contest that I'm hosting on my other site "Nicole Rae's Blog". I'm giving away a $15 gift card to one lucky winner. Sign up is easy and it only takes a few minutes of your time. You have until May 25th to enter and the winners will be announced the 26th.

You can find all the contest rules and details on my other site where it's being hosted. The web address is http://authornicolerae.blogspot.com

The best part of this contest is you have the opportunity to be entered twice. Some of you may already have a leg up on this so be sure to go check it out.

If you have a mail box and you reside in the United States you meet all the qualifications for the contest. So what are you waiting for?? It's so easy and if you win you get free money from your choice of several stores. How cool is that? Be sure to tell your friends in any way you can. Share it, Tweet it, Text it, EMail it...whatever it takes. Help support an emerging author and win a gift card.

Thanks guys and I hope you enter:)

Blind Characters Are Fun To Write

As some of you may already know I am working on a Young Adult Paranormal novel that will be out this summer. It is called Clandestine and is the first book in the Slayer Saga series. It has been very fun to write and I hope that everyone likes it.

One thing you might not know is that Clandestine has a blind character. Her name is Lucy and she is an amazing person. She has a perky bubbly personality that you can’t help but fall in love with.

In Clandestine she doesn’t have a huge role in the story. There is enough of her though that you will be left wanting more and more of Lucy. In the second book Divinity however, she plays a bigger part of the supernatural tale. I am having a blast writing Lucy’s part in Divinity. I have seen few books that have a blind character as a main character. Thanks to my own personal experiences it’s easy to write a blind character.

During Clandestine, Emily Jameson (the main character) suspects that her best friend may be either just freakishly intuitive or possibly even psychic. She doesn’t put a lot of stock in the latter option because she honestly doesn’t believe much in the whole prospect of telepathy, the supernatural or in magic in general.

At least that’s true until she’s violently shoved into the underworld when her small little town is taken over by vampires. These ones aren’t the teen dream though. They aren’t vegetarians and don’t sparkle in the sunlight. They are carnivorous creatures with an unquenchable thirst for the blood of Lakeview’s residents.

Can the blood suckers be stopped before the town is completely drained of life? Don’t let everyone else find out first! Pick up your copy of Clandestine as soon as it’s released. For more information and a chance to read the blurb about Clandestine visit my other blog at http://www.authornicolerae.blogspot.com

You can also find a link directly to the site on this page under the heading Visit My Other Sites. Please sign up to follow that blog as well as this one if you haven’t already. Help spread the words to all your friends and fellow readers by sharing this post and the ones from the other blog on Facebook, Twitter and in any other way you can.

Thanks for all your support and happy reading.

Being Friends With A Blind person

Today I am interviewing a sighted friend of mine. This will give you an inside look on what it’s like to have a blind friend if you are sighted. I’m of course blind and she’s my friend so the questions will be personalized.


Me: How long have we been friends?

Ariane: I have known you for about thirteen years.

Me: You knew me when I was sighted as well as blind. Am I any different now that I can’t see?

Ariane: No not really. You are still the same person.

Me: Do you have to help me a lot?

Ariane: No not really, you are pretty independent.

Me: What types of things DO you help me with?

Ariane: Transportation, I read things to you, guide you around sometimes. And sometimes I guide you into traffic and I’m like OOPS lol

Me: You have four kids ranging in ages from five to twelve. How do they react to me?

Ariane: Fine, they don’t see you as any different. Half the time they forget you’re blind. My youngest son always wants to know why you can’t just drive over to my house. My oldest son likes to give you crap about it. He likes to joke with you about it. One time we were at a birthday party. You called him over to you and said you wanted to see how tall he was. He said it tripped him out because he was like she can see? It didn’t occur to him that you would need to feel the top of his head.

Me: Do people ever give you a weird reaction when they find out you’re friends with me?

Ariane: Sometimes. I’ve had a friend who wanted to know if it was difficult to be friends with someone who can’t see. They wanted to know what types of activities you could go and do with a blind person. It wasn’t hard for me to explain because I knew you as a sighted person. We know how to talk to each other. I can explain things to you and you get it because you were sighted and have memory of things. I can basically do anything with you that I do with anyone else… except I’m never riding shotgun with you lol

Me: There are a lot of people out there that are afraid to get to know a blind person. If you could say anything to those people what would you say?

Ariane: Talk to them before just grabbing their arm and walking them across the street lol. Don’t be afraid to talk to them but don’t talk down to them. They aren’t deaf or mental disabled or a child.

Me: Is there anything else you would like the world to know about having a blind friend or about blindness in general?

Ariane: It’s not contagious. You’re not gonna become blind with contact. I don’t see you as a different person. It’s not the most important part of you. Once you get to know someone who is blind you will not even notice the disability anymore. Your disability is a part of you but not all of you. It has taught you a lot. You may have doubts and fears but you do things anyway. There are a lot of things that you can do that I can’t do. It’s made you stronger.

Me: If you had never met me when I was sighted… if you met me for the first time when I was blind would you still be my friend?

Ariane: I don’t think I would not talk to you. I might not be as close right away. If I met a blind person tomorrow it’s not like I would be all no sorry I’ve already got one of you. I’ve already reached my quota. I would still talk to them and get to know them.


So as you can tell Ariane and I have a close friendship that allows us to joke around with each other. She would never say something to intentionally hurt my feelings nor would I hurt hers. We both feel that in a situation like this humor is the best medicine.

To All My Followers

Hi guys:)
I was wondering if all of you that follow Playing The Blind Card would go check out my other site Nicole Rae's Blog and click to be a follower of that one too.

I would really appreciate the support and that way you can stay up to date on both sites. You can click on the link to the right to go directly to Nicole rae's Blog or you can copy and paste the address below in your browser.

The address is http://www.authornicolerae.blogspot.com/

Thanks again and thank you for reading:)
xoxoxox

The Skinny On The Real Blind Date

I don’t really see what all the fuss is about with a blind date. Sure you don’t really know the person but so what. You don’t know the cashier that rings up your groceries either. You don’t lose any sleep or sweat profusely at the thought of telling him or her your name do you? Well, maybe you do but that’s probably to do with an entirely different problem.

When a blind person goes on a date every date is a blind date. They don’t know what the person looks like or whether or not they are wearing pink bunny slippers with a flannel shirt and nothing else. They can’t see that when the person smiles in greeting they are really revealing a mouth full of nothing but gums. They do not know if the person has a gnarly cold soar before they come in for the kiss at the end of the night. They can not see when they motion for the water to give you an extra shot in your drink. Supposedly, everything looks better in the dark, but that isn’t always a comforting thought if your lights can’t be turned back on in the morning.

Voices can be very deceiving. Sometimes a voice sounds like the sexiest thing you’ve ever heard. Don’t be fooled! Just because someone sounds like Edward from Twilight doesn’t mean they actually resemble so much as his big toe. A person who sounds identical to Jenna Jameson might be better compared to your Schnauzer. It’s quite possible you are in the middle of a nightmare with a face not even a mother would love.

This is not to say that this should discourage you. After all you are not supposed to judge a book by its cover right? Just because someone isn’t your type doesn’t mean they can’t be your soul mate. When you are blind it’s easier to get to know someone for who they are and not how dazzling their blue eyes look in the moon light. A blind person has to realize that their entire definition of “type” needs to be altered to allow for new possibilities.

Maybe more sighted people should close their eyes when meeting someone new. The main problem is things aren’t always how they appear and the first time you touch your date you might be unpleasantly surprised. Running away screaming isn’t a good option when this happens. Don’t forget you can always peak. So the next time you’re nervous about your big blind date remember…

There’s always someone out there with a worse plight then you. Just suck it up and take a chance. At least you can see to make a smooth escape if things don’t go as planned.

If you liked this post please use the links below to share it with your friends. Be sure to subscribe to Playing the Blind Card to receive updates via Email when future posts are published. If you have any horrible blind date stories whether you’re blind or sighted please share them in the comment section of this post. I also have another blog at http://www.authornicolerae.blogspot.com where you can read a description of my upcoming book Clandestine Slayer Saga Book 1.