Debunking 10 Myths About Blindness

1. Blind people have supersonic hearing.
This is maybe true for some people. I can’t speak for all of my people. I personally feel like I have selective good hearing. If I am paying attention, the environment is just right, and it’s a Tuesday… I might have a little extra special hearing. Don’t even bother talking to me on Wednesday’s though.

2. Being blind means you can’t see a thing.
There are so many degrees of blindness. Some people identify as blind and they can still see. However, their vision could be as low as light perception only. Or, maybe the person can only see shadows. I have also met people that can’t see when they are in bright conditions. When I could still see, I had night blindness. Other people can only see using their peripheral vision. There is a definite grey area to blindness. It is not all darkness.

3. We all know Stevie Wonder.
You would not believe how many times someone wanted to know if the famous singer and I were buddies behind the scenes.

4. Just because I am blind does not mean I know every single blind person who has ever lived.
When my youngest daughter was in pre-school, I had a man come up to me and ask me if I knew *insert name*.
“No, does he have a kid that goes to this school?” I said a little confused. I should point out I had never been introduced to this guy one time.
He put a hand on my shoulder. “Oh no. He lives in Minnesota. I thought maybe because you were both blind…”

5. Not all blind people like to be touched by strangers.
Think back to the example I just gave in number four. When that guy touched my arm, I fully admit, it kind of creeped me out. I am not opposed to contact from other people. My problem was that I didn’t even know this guys name and yet he thought it would be a great idea to touch me. Another time I don’t like to be touched is in cases of my face. I can’t explain it. There is no real reason why. Ever since I lost my vision, I hate when someone randomly touches my face. They could be doing me a favor and getting a crumb off my cheek or a hair out of my eye. I appreciate it, but please tell me first. It saves me the awkward embarrassment of jerking back like I just got electrocuted.

6. No, I don’t want to touch your face.
This is a big one folks. In my experience in the blind community, it is extremely rare that you will find a blind person who wants to be introduced to you and get acquainted by giving your face a rub down. It’s no offense, but just yuck. I have yet to meet a blind person who does this. You know that expression, you don’t know where that has been? This kind of applies to that. It is no disrespect, but we don’t know if you are clean. We don’t know if you are greasy. You could have a poor complexion problem. You could have an open wound on your face. We also wouldn’t want to accidentally recruit you by poking you in the eye. There is just so many reasons why this is just not a good thing. Please, for the love of all blind people, just shake our hand.

7. Yes, I can hear you.
While it is true that some blind people are also deaf; this is not true for all of us. Even still, I can recall on several occasions where someone yelled at me rather than just speaking. Once, I asked a person why they were yelling. I am not kidding here… they actually told me that they did so because I was blind.

8. Blindness does not mean that I am a baby.
People mean well. I don’t in any way think that this is done out of malice for most people. Frequently however, I have had many people talk to me as though I am five years old. I’m not sure what it is about my cane. Sometimes though, it brings out the baby talk more than child-birth.

9. It is alright to talk directly to the blind person in front of you.
I believe this one happens because people are not sure how to act around a blind person. This is nothing against them at all. For instance, I come from a small town. This means that the blind population is not very big. This in turn means that people have little to no exposure to my people. Consequently, this means that sometimes the awkward interaction occurs. It sometimes goes something like this…
“Store Clerk: “Can I help you?” Their eye-contact is held with the sighted person beside me.
Me: “Yes, can you help me find *insert item*”
Store Clerk: Again, looking at my friend. “Does she know what color she wants?”
My friend: “I’m not sure. Why don’t you ask her?”
Unfortunately, this happens a lot. Again, I don’t think they are trying to ignore me. I just don’t think they quite know what to do about the whole blindness thing.

10. Blind people can’t do anything productive.
HA!!! This one is hilarious to me. Blind people are capable of doing so many things. We have jobs. We are athletes. We are parents. We are writers. We are musicians. We are volunteers. I have met so many amazing blind people over the years. Some of them impress me to the point of WOW! I have met blind people who go skiing and sky-diving. I have met blind lawyers. My husband is a blind drummer. There are blind Chefs and actors. There are blind people in the Government and politics. There was a blind person who played college football at one point or another. And the list goes on and on… Blindness is just a part of us. We can almost do anything a sighted person can do.

Thanks for reading.

There is more that could have made the list. Maybe there will be a second edition, so keep your eye out. If you are blind, what would be on your list? Visit the Facebook page and right yours in the comments for this post. If you are sighted, please don’t think I am bashing the way you do or don’t interact with blind people. I am fully aware that the vast majority do not mean to be offensive or hurtful. This post was done like most of my list posts are… to entertain and bring a little humor to the subject of blindness. As I have said a million times, blindness is not the end of the world. It is okay to laugh at experiences. It is even better to talk about them. In fact, that is how people learn.

First Online Class At Grand Canyon University

I am in the final week of my first class at GCU. I have so many thoughts on this experience so far. I can't wait to tell you all about it. So far so good!

The first class they have you do is University Success (UNV-108). This is an introduction to the online platform. It gives a taste of what life will be like through out all of your courses. It also is taylored to your specific degree program which is amazing! This means you get to jump into your major right away!

There is more than one teacher who teaches this class. The Professor that I have is fantastic. She is so responsive to private messages. She is super engaged through out all the elements of the class. She gets grades back fast. That last one is my favorite because Lord knows I am crazy when it comes to grades.

The support behind the scenes from my Student Services Counselor, Field Experience Counselor, Library Staff and Enrollment Counselor has been great. This is another fantastic aspect of GCU. You are not in this alone. You have an entire graduation team who has your back from start to finish.

So far, everything has been very accessible with my screen reader on both my computer and my phone. I am currently using JAWS and Voiceover on my iPhone.

I am able to navigate all of the different areas of the online classroom with no problems at all. I tend to bounce between using two different browzers, Firefox and Google Crome. I use Google most often.

I am able to get my textbooks so far in PDF format. I download them onto my phone using the Voice Stream Reader ap that I purchased from the ap store for $14.99. This has been a fairly plainless process. I admit that I would rather have a real person reading than a computerized voice though. In some of my classes this will be possible because I am an ENglish major. I can't speak for what is available for other programs.

I took one quiz in this class and it was also totally accessible. I was worried because tests on online platforms are sometimes glitchy with screen readers. How refreshing it was to realize that I had nothing to worry about.

The library section of the school website is accessible for the most part. I will say that it does sometimes take longer to find exactly what i am looking for when I am searching for journal articles. Once I have found the one I want, click on it, and try to read... It takes a while to find exactly where to go. I wish there was some more fine tuned key-commands to navigate this. Honestly, there could be and I am just not aware of them yet. This is all so new to me.

Last week, we had to do a video submission assignment about our disposition to teach. I was really nervous about this. I have to admit though, it makes me want to get back into my YouTube channel again. Want to see how I did?

Watch Disposition To Teach Here
Overall, I am really happy with this decision to start GCU. I am proud to be a Lope! Stay tuned to follow me on this journey. Comment down below and let me know what videos you would like to see on the channel.

My First Week at Grand Canyon University

The first week of my online school experience is down in the record books. In fact, we are half way through the second week. This makes me expert enough to chat with you right?

Maybe not...

I'm going to do it anyway. I love my school so far guys! It so far has been a wonderful experience. If this is any indication of how the rest of my program is going to go, I have nothing to worry about.

Gran Canyon (GCU) has so many resources to set students up for success. The level of student support is outstanding. Haven't been to school in a few years??? That doesn't matter. They have tutorials and webinars to help you with everything.

They have a dozen librarians on staff to help you utilize their large library to best meet your needs. Have no idea how to format a paper in APA or MLA format??? That doesn't matter... They have a tutorial and a template for you. Not sure if your Reference List is on point? Send it to a librarian for some advice.

I'm telling you, this University is amazing!

One of the best parts is, the accessibility. GCU uses an online platform called Loud Cloud. I was worried about this going in. There is no ap like there is with Canvas. I had never heard of it before. It was possible based on this, I was making a huge mistake right?

Wrong!

Up to this point, I have not experienced any issues at all with accessibility. Has there been a few minor hiccups? Sure, of course there has. Honestly though, that is to be expected with anything.

The faculty has been more than willing to help with anything I need. My teacher automatically offered to send me any class documents if I had issues finding something. She is very quick to respond to any questions I have about navigating the platform.

Grading...

It's still early, but this process has been fantastic. I have had experiences where you are waiting practically until the end of the quarter to receive a grade on a single assignment. This has not been like that at all. Don't quote me on this, but I believe GCU has a policy in place that gives teachers a four business day turn around on grading. This is a game-changer for me. I'm not going to lie. I get so stressed waiting for a final grade on an assignment some times.

I will leave this post here. I will explain more another day. If you are considering going back to school and you don't know where to go... I would absolutely encourage you to check out Grand Canyon University. They are a private school. There tuition is not much different than that of an in-state school. Check out some of their videos online, visit there website, or chat with an enrollment counselor. What have you got to lose? Nothing! That's what. You do have everything to gain. I promis you that.

Until next time friends

Volunteering At A Blind School

As most of you know, I was not born blind. Since I didn't go blind until basically adulthood, I have zero experience with blind children. I figured I should probably take care of that since I plan to get a teaching credential to be able to teach visually impaired students.

Where is the best place to do this you ask? Well my friends, let me tell you. I decided to start volunteering at a blind school. Great idea right?

So far, it has been a wonderful experience. I am loving it! I am learning so much and having so much fun in the process. All the staff are fantastic too.

It has been so interesting seeing how this works. I love watching the kids learn on an equal playing field. They don't have to fight to understand. The material is accessible and put in their hands in a way that best fits their needs. Accomodations are a part of every day life and totally normal. Technology is at their finger tips. The staff go above and beyond to give their students the best learning opportunities possible. It is beautiful.

I really love it here. Sometimes I wish I could volunteer more often. It is a great place to be.

I'm still not sure if I want to teach in a general ed school or a blind school, but I'm loving the process of sorting it all out.

Saturday Ramblings

Happy Saturday friends!! I hope this post finds you well. I wanted to do a post for you all today, but admit I still have no direction as to where to take it. So the result... Saturday Ramblings.

Who knows, maybe this will be the start of something beautiful.

I feel like this should at least follow some sort of blind related topic. Let's see if I can keep this together. Ready... Set... Go!!!!

For those of you who are sighted and reading this... How does it look? No just kidding. But really, for those of you who are seers, what brings you to the blog? Is it to learn more about blindness? Are you perhaps going blind yourself? Or, maybe you have a family member who is blind? Lastly, are you part of my amazing inner circle and feel obligated to check this page out for solidarity purposes? Hey no shame in my game... whatever the reason that brought you here, I'll take it. I just hope you decide to stay a while.

For my fellow blindy's... What's up my people?!?! Okay that was super lame. Oh well. I love to connect with blindy's. I think that is true for all people though right? What I mean is, It's important to connect with all different kinds of people. It is especially important however, to connect with people who are in similar situations to ourselves. This way we have that sense that we are indeed not alone in this great big world of ours.

So on to some rambling...

First, to all the book lovers out there. I am currently reading an amazing book called The Hate You Give. I really love this book. I am right on the verge of finishing it and I will be sad to see it go. This book is very relevant to things that are going on in today's society. I have not read one like this before and I am glad I found it. Would you like to see a book review of it when I am finished? If you guys want to see things like that I am happy to deliver. Let me know in the comments.

Second, I just started taking a braille class from the Hadley Institute For The Blind. Have any of you taken this class? If so, what did you think of it? Let everyone know in the comments. I will have to reserve judgement for the time being. I literally just started the course today. I liked what I saw so far though.

Third, I just got confirmation that the second half of my CBA will be started next month. I will be working in the school district's bus garage. Wow... hold on a minute... how many of you literally just pictured me behind the wheel of a great big yellow school bus equipped with my cane taped to the front? Wouldn't that be fantastic??? I think I could completely rock it as a bus driver.

Unfortunately, they did not agree with me. Whatever though... I know I can get them on my side eventually.

But really though, I am looking forward to giving this a shot. I will be working for a couple weeks in the office. The staff has been super helpful so far. They have a lot of ideas on what I can do during my time with them. Some of the work is stuff I am totally familiar with. Other tasks... not so much. I am going to do my best though and I know I will rock it! And if I can't... well... If all else fails, i will fake it til I make it right?

Fourth, My quest to learn Power Point and Google Slides continues. I think this is an important skill to learn. It will help me if I go back to school and it will help me on the job as well. How many Jaws users are good with this? I would love to pick your brain. Let me know in the comments.

Ryan and I still want to start a blindness group in our local area. We can't decide what kind of group to create though. We can do just a group for blind people to support and connect with one another. We are also toying with the idea of starting a group for parents of blind children. This last one is the one we are leaning towards the most. This is not to say we don't want to connect with fellow blindy's. We totally do. But we both have a passion to help people. Being a sighted parent of a blind child can be overwhelming. Navigating those waters can be rough. We would love to help people with that. The only problem we have is that our community is not very large. Having a group for one or the other may mean the group will be super small. This isn't a bad thing, just something to consider. What do you guys think? Should we do separate groups are a combined? Let me know down in the comments.

I feel like i have rambled enough don't you? Thank you for listening and or reading. Do you have an idea for a blog post? Is there a question about blindness burning in your mind? If so, message me or put it in the comments.

Keep your head up guys and let's chat soon.

What Do I want To Be When I Grow Up?

Recently, I was given the opportunity to work in a first grade classroom as a sort of Para Educator. It was an unpaid internship that gave me the chance to see if I would like to get a job in the classroom setting. I have one word to sum up how I felt about my experience...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Did I say LOVE?!?!?! If not, let me tell you one more time. I absolutely LOVED IT!

When I was young, I always wanted to be a teacher. I have always loved working with kids of any age. This experience only solidified this dream for me.

Even after I lost my sight, I started going to college to pursue a degree in education. Classes were going fantastic. I got really good grades actually. I took my first education centered class and that changed things. The teacher was very nice and very good at what she did. She was very skeptical about a blind teacher in a sighted school. She told me that she thought I would be great at a blind school.

I admit this really discouraged me. I didn't want to teach at a blind school. We don't have a blind school in my town and I didn't have any desire to move closer to one. I let these opinions decide my path. I changed my degree to human development. Shortly after, I got pregnant with Peanut and stopped going to school all together.

Here's a little back story...

At the time I was going to college, I was still pretty new to the blindness world. I wasn't super confident in my abilities and skills as a blind person. Nikki then, had a lot of self-doubt and hatred towards blindness. This is why I let one person's opinion decide my future. Honestly though, I could have changed her opinion. She didn't doubt my ability because I couldn't do it. She doubted it because she hadn't ever been exposed to someone like me before. People are unsure of the unknown because it is just that... unknown. She was in no way a dream crusher or even a mean person. She just didn't understand.

Nikki now however...

I am a lot more confident. I know what I can do. I also know if there is something I can't do, I WILL learn how to do it and crush it. I know I have a lot to offer the sighted classroom.

Fast forward to right now...

I could start applying for jobs as a Para Educator this summer. I could get a job and be perfectly happy in that job. Another direction could be that I get a job and then go back to school to finish my AA degree. I admit though, I am concerned with joining the work force, going back to school, and being a mom all at the same time. I am not experienced in this area. Lastly, I could go back to school in the fall and focus on my degree. I could take the plunge and get my teaching certificate. I could be the teacher I always dreamed of? Do I dare?

I have recently been watching teachers on You Tube like Real Rap With The Reynolds and To Cool For Middle School. They are so inspiring. I also have had the pleasure of working with some pretty amazing teachers. The teacher in the first grade class that I mentioned earlier was also Peanut's Kindergarten teacher. I worked with her then and now. She is such an amazing teacher. Any child is lucky to walk through her door. Watching her classroom management and ability to bond with her students was remarkable. There are also teacher's at my older daughter's (Princess) school that inspire me as well.

In today's world a blind person can seamlessly work in a sighted classroom thanks to technology. Pretty much everything can be adapted with assisted technology. There are tricks that can help with classroom management as well.

So what do you think? Could I do it? I know I can, but I would love to hear what you think. Let me know in the comments below your thoughts. Would you have a problem with a blind teacher in charge of your little ones? Be honest. It's okay if you're skeptical. Having an open conversation about it is what helps bridge the gap between the blind and the sighted world. It breaks down barriers and shows that different is beautiful.

I feel like this post is long enough. This topic will come up again though because it is important to me. Thank you all for listening to the inner monologue that is bouncing around my head lately.

Side Note: For those of you who don't remember, I don't use my daughters names in my posts. I always call them Princess and Peanut. Princess is my oldest and Peanut is my youngest. I figured I should explain that for new readers and also to remind those who have been around a while.

Thanks for reading guys. Remember what I said earlier... Different is beautiful.

Blind Girl Lost And Found

Wow! I sort of feel like a flake right now. I haven't updated the blog in months. This has happened more than once. To which I tipically come back and promise that I will sacrifice myself to the blog Gods... wait what? Okay maybe that was a little dramatic. No sacrifices here.

I do usually promise to do better by you and type and post more often. Clearly that hasn't happened. So... *crickets*

Sorry about that.

As all of you can more than likely agree, life gets real sometimes, and that can be crazy right? I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and keep following my madness.

For a long time, I didn't have a working computer. Well, it worked, but my screen reader program killed it. I recently was given a new computer to use for the time being. I find Blogger to be a little easier to use on a computer than my tablet. No don't worry, I am not hating on tablets. I love my tablet. I just don't love it for this.

A lot has been happening lately. There's been good, bad, amazing, hillarious and of course... super random. What would Playing The Blind Card be without super random right?

That all being said, I have so much to share with you guys. I would also like to update the look of this page. It might be sort of dated. We will see.

So I will say goodbye for now. I once was a blind girl lost, but now I am found. Thank you for reading.

Remember, keep your head up... you can't see the ground anyway.

Utilizing "Quick Nav" On Your Bluetooth Keyboard For Ipad

I bet you're super siked about your new Bluetooth Keyboard. this will make typing your documents, emails and what not super easy right? But what happens when you can't get a single letter to type on the screen? The arrows and function keys work... but nothing else... WHAT IS WRONG?!?!?!

Don't panic, there is an easy fix to this problem...

Are you ready for this? Do you think you can handle it? This could quite possibly be responsible for single handedly blowing your mind. Please read on at your own risk. Be aware that Playing The Blind Card will not be responsible for any such casualties that may come to pass as a direct result of reading these instructions.

Now that you have been appropriately warned... here we go...

Why you are in the typing field in which you wish to type, you must ensure that "quick nav" is tuned off whily your doing your marvelous typing. In order to do this simply follow these steps...

Step 1:
Press the right and left arrow at the same time.

Step 2:
Enjoy typing

Step 3:
When you are finished typing and want to go back to navigating your Ipad, follow step one again to turn "quick nav" back on.

That's it!

I know, it's a bit anticlimactic isn't it? But this will work and you will be eternally grateful for this infomation. I know I was when a good friend of mine clued me onto it.

Thanks for reading and as always... keep your head up... you can't see the ground anways

New Logitech Bluetooth Keyboard

I recently got a new keboard from Apple. It is a Logitech Easy Switch Bluetooth Keboard .It was a gift I received because of some issues I had over the holidays with them.

Please don't misunderstand... Apple didn't actually do anything wrong. The problem I was having was a technical probelm that was beyond their control. They did an amazing job handling it however, and stuck with me until the problem was resolved.

So far this keyboard is amazing. I am still learning how to use it though, so I am not ready to do a full review or demo on it yet.

Do any of you have one of these baby's? They are all kinds of cool just saying.

Long story short, I think this will help with some of the complications I have been having with my computer. Having this will allow me to do some of my writing on my Ipad. Thus, I'll be able to keep up more frequently here on Playing the Blind Card.

I plan to be incorporating many new things to the site. I am hoping to find someone to assist me with some new visual characteristics at some point. Most importantly, I plan on changing up the content.

There will be new segments added... Some that are possibly in the works...

Book Buzz: This is where I will review books that I am reading. This could also be a possible opportunity for readers to contribute to the blog as well.

Interviews: I am still very interested in interviewing other blind and visually impaired people for the page. I want to talk to you about many topics that could include day to day life, parenting, jobs, travel, and any thing else under the sun that comes up. I think it is important to show seers as well as blindy's that there is life beyond the cane so to speak.

Author Updates: Of course there will be this section. As new things come up with my books, you my lovely readers will be the first to know..

Did That Really Just Happen: I realize I have fallen very behind with this segment. It is much loved and much requested amongst readers. Never fear, it will be back. Very soon in fact. Something very recent just happened that I think you will all get a kick out of that happened between two different blindy's.

Tech Talk: There will be more reviews and how to type posts about different products, applications, games and other technology. I would love to eventually increase this section. I am still researching how to get my hands on different demo materials to show you guys.

Parenting: A huge debate I have noticed in Facebook groups lately, and also in questions I get in real life, is about blind parenting. In can be a touchy subject for some people. Personally I think that is a bit silly because a blind or visually impaired person can parent just as affectively as a seer. In some cases, they can do it better. So this section will explore this tipic. There will also be some advice sections and opportunities for readers to contribute posts and or questions they want answered.

Randomness: As always, I promise to have as much random as possible. Again, thanks to my new keyboard, I think I will be able to bring you more material more frequently.

Did I mention that so far I love this keyboard? Well if I haven't, let me just say... I love this keyboard.

The only thing I have a problem with so far is that when using it with my Ipad, I do not know how to select and icon. Also, on my Iphone, it doesn't want to seem to allow me to type in areas such as text messages and notes. For the second problem, I think the problem is simply that I need to change a seeting on my phone. I just don't know what. As far as the first, I have no idea what I need to do. I am at a complete loss. If anyone has any tips, I would be very very excited.

Well that's it for now guys. As always, thanks for reading. Remember... Keep your head up... you can't see the ground anyway :)

Review of Apple TV Using Voiceover

Entertainment is a priority for everyone right? Well this fact shouldn't change just because you can't see what's entertaining you. Today we will be discussing the functionality of Apple TV with voiceover activated.

Don't worry seers... there is good stuff in here for you too, so do not... I repeat... Do NOT hit your back button!!

As many of you probably already know, Apple is an amazing company by normal standards. To the blind community, it is outstanding. It brings the wide world of technology into our hands without adding a lot of excess. This is huge!

Back in the day, in order for us to have technology, we would have to spend an outragious ammount of money and probably break our backs carrying the monstrosities. Now however, for the most part, we are only spending the outragious ammounts of money that a seer would pay and are carrying around devices that are the same size as them too.

Thank you Apple for helping us blindy's be followers!... Ok just kidding :)

But seriously, Apple has taken huge strides in making their products usable by the blind, and other disabled communities. This is truly much appreciated by most.

Getting to the point, today I am going to talk to you about the Apple TV. This for those of you who don't know, is a media streeming box that hooks up to your television.

This product is a tiny little box that packs a big punch. It does a lot and isn't terribly expensive in comparison to other Apple devices. It retails for right around a hundred dollars.

The only thing extra you will need to purchase besides the Apple TV device, is an HDMI cord and a converter if you are not running a High Definition TV.

One flaw right out of the box, once hooked up, in order to turn on voiceover, you will need a seer. This can be frustrating for someone (like me) who wants to play with the device right away and can't.

Once this pesky problem is taken care of, it's pretty much smooth sailing from here. You will need to of course sign in with your Apple sign in information. This will allow to to acess any content you have boughten from Itunes such as movies, music and TV shows. You will also be able to get your Itunes radeo stations here as well.

If you have a Netflix account, or Hoo Loo Plus (probably spelled wrong), you are in luck because those are available on here as well. You can also get content from other things such as Disney Channel, PBS, ESPN and much more. Just so you know however, in order to watch certain items you will need to have a cable or dish subscription.

Before you even ask I will provide the side note: Yes, Netflix and what not is usable by us blindy's. More on that to come in another post.

You can also utilize the wonderful world of You Tube from you amazing Apple TV.

Parental controls are also functional. However, might I offer a small tip mom and dad? Be sure to send the kids out of the room before entering your passcode... hello... it talks... they can hear it and see it. This may pose a problem for some of you. There are ways around this thought. The restriction section will also allow you to make it to where a passcode has to be entered to make a purchase. You can also choose ratings that you do or don't want your little ones watching. Don't worry, if needed, this can be bypassed with your passcode.

Furthermore, in the Main menu section of settings, you can tell your Apple TV what you want shown on your home screen. It will give you such options as "Show, HIde, or Ask" The first two are self explanatory. The ask option just means that if the item is clicked, it will ask the user to enter the passcode. For instance, if you don't want your child using You Tube without permsion, you would set that to "Ask" in the main menu section of settings.

All in all, the Apple TV is a great product. I would give it a four out of five rating. I honestly use it more now than my regular cable TV. There isn't anything on it that I can't do. The only improvement I would like to see is the inconvenient way to put it into sleep mode. This can be annoying at times. If you love movies, TV and music, you will love the Apple TV.

Stay tuned for a demonstration on the You Tube channel.

Thanks for reading guys and as always... Keep your head up... you can't see the ground anyway :)

Review: Kindle Ap With Voice-Over

The world of literature is bigger and better for the blind; thanks to the wonderful invention of technology. Voice-over helps Blindy's do things just as easily as a seer. Today we are going to take a look at the Kindle Ap for IOS.

If you are like me and love to read, you should totally give the Kindle ap ashot on your Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, or Mac. Thanks to voice-over, this application is fully functional for the blind.

Confession: Since I discovered this ap worked with voice-over I have been a bit obsessed with Ebooks. In all fairness however, there are countless books available for free on Amazon. You can't go wrong with free baby.

It is easy to move from screens throughout the application. Menus are easily toggled through. The ability to adjust the reading speed makes for further enjoyment as well.

Another nice function is the bookmark function. When you are on the reading page, fully engrossed in book pleasure mode, simply tap the screen twice to make the menu screen pop up. One of the very first options is bookmark. Directly under that, is the "Return to Book" button that will take you back into your book.

The menu screen gives you options such as bookmark and return to book as previously mentioned. It also lets you see how far you have gotten into you book by both precentage and page number if available. When you push the menu button again, it brings up other options. First is the option to go back to your book library, which is a list of books you've downloaded. It also allows you to check out other bonuses that your particular book has to offer. This can include book extras, table of contents, about the author, and other extras.

For those with low vision, there is also a feautre that may interest you. Kindle allows you to highlight text. This can be useful if reading text for school. It can also be nice for recreational reading as well. Once highlighted, said text can be saved. It can also be shared on your desired social media platform.

Lastly, when you are finished reading a book, a screen pops up called, "Before You Go". This screen is cool because it lets you check out other books relted to what you just read. It also lets you share you have finished with your friends on Twitter and Facebook. Cooler still, you can review the book directly in this section.

All in all, this is a really cool ap. You don't have to have an actual Kindle tablet to enjoy the functionality of Kindle books.

Happy reading guys....

As always, thanks for reading... and remember... look before you leap

Got To Love Spam... Not!

Got To Love Spam... Not!

It is completely possible that spammers are what make the internet go round...

Or, that's a bunch of bull and I am simply using sarcasm to break into your mind... Hmm... It's a thinker really. If I were you, I don't know exactly what I would choose.

Before you make your decision hear me out. Let me give you my vast pearls of wisdom in the terrifying world of spam. If I haven't convinced you that my motives are pure, you have the right to burn this post... Okay, well maybe that's a figurative reference, but you get the point right?

A long time ago, in the land of blogging, A wonderful Princess started something amazing called Playing The Blind Card. It was probably her greatest idea yet.

Imagine, a place where an actual blind person could talk about what? You guessed it... blindness.

And not just any old blindness my fiend... the bright side of blindness.

I know what you're thinking... the bright side to blindness? It can't be done. Well, it hs been done my friends, this I can assure you.

The Princess thought she could bridge the gap between the lands of the seers and the blindy's through not only good old fashioned information, but through some humor along the way too.

Now because this wonderful place is targeted to both communities of seers and blindy's, the PRincess wanted her enchanted world to be available for all, no atter their limitations.

Then, along came the big bad antagonist... a bully if you will. This horrible onster is called Captcha. Like most bad guys Captcha is really just missunderstood. It was created with the purpose of illiminating the internal struggles between well intentioned bloggers and their evil counter parts, the dredded spammer.

The problem that hasn't apparently yet been considered, is that blindy's have their own struggles going on behind the scenes with poor Captcha. The two of them just don't workf well together, as it is that poor missunderstood Captch was created with primarily seers in mind.

"I'll illiminate this problem all together," Princess thought. "I will not enforces the obsticle that is Captch in my enchanted orld of Playing The Blind Card.

You would think that would be that right?

Well think again my poor little friends.

Now don't get me wrong. This was a marvelous idea in theory. Blindy's everyhere cheered the forward thinking blogger for her efforts. They loved how much easier it was to leave comments on their favorite postings.

Blogger Princess thought she had it all figured out. She was horribly mistaken however. She did not take into consideration the horrible underhanded sneak that is... the spammer.

Thespammer preys on kind hearted, equal opptunists such as this particular blogger from Playing The Blind Card. They search high and low, devouring pages of the world wide interweb, seeking places like Playing the BLind Card.

Why would they do such things you ask?

The answer is simple my friends. Are you sitting down? Wait for it... wait for it... Because they can.

That's right, it's truly as simple as that. They have a purpose too. That purpose is to litter as many places on the web as humanly possible with their advertising and propoganda. Even worse, many of them will leave missleading comments on blog posts. Posing as well intentions readers, before eventually leaving their true evil behind... links to whatever crap they are selling, pushing, or pursuading.

Please know my faithful readers, this garbage has not gone unseen. It hasn't escaped the notice of anyone. The problem is, what to do about it? If Captcha is reinstated, blindy's will again have difficulty leaving their thoughts on postings. If left disabled, spammers are able to run free all over every beautiful surface of Playing The Blind Card. Thus, making it almost pointless for a reader to leave a comment as well, because it is next to impossible to swim through all the trash left behind by spammers.

It is being considered that Captch will be disabled as per-usual. It is also possible that comments will be disabled all together. This would in turn mean that readers could only be heard in private through email. I'm not sure exactuly which is the right way to go. Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

As always... Thanks for reading, and remember... Look Before you Leap

Did You Miss Me? Me Too

So for the first time in ages, I am coming to you from my computer. Granted, at the moment I am on my old computer, but am on a computer nevertheless.


I have nursed this one for just about as long as I am going to be able to. I was able to get it to boot up today so that I could get all the word documents off and transfered to my newer one. I thought this mission was already accomplished. However, after looking through my email inside and out, frontwards and backwards... I realized I was wrong... unfortunately, dead wrong!

So, here I am...

I am getting very excited about getting back to work on an official capasity. It feels good to have a laptop on my... well... my lap. Okay, so that didn't sound as cool as I was hoping. You will forgive me right?

I know that in the past year I have really neglected this blog. I could spend countless sentences and endless words begging for your forgiveness, but I am not gonna do that. Do you want to know why??? Beacause it won't really matter!

What will matter is my promise and didcation that I still care about all of you. There has just been a lot going on with life that I can't disclose here. I am working hard to get back to the world of the living. As some of you may know, I have been trying to make myself seen again in the social media world. I am still hoping to get back to the land of Good Reads. That hasn't been difficult without a computer.

I also am well aware that I owe you some blog posts. I am in the middle of my series on my trip across the country to Florida. I am also going to be starting a series on blind traveling in general, blind dating, blindness in school and a blind technology section as well. As always I will be posting about my writing.

As mentioned before, I am going to be transferring the material from my other blog, over to this one. I think it will just be much easier for me to maintain one blog instead of two. Don't you agree? This will take a bit of time because I need to incoorporate the assistance of a seer. I will keep you posted on the development of this.

I will be slowly but surely uploading some of my more popular posts from there soon. Now that I can get to them that is. So, for those of you who have been loyal to bother blogs... sorry for the repeats, please bare with me.

I will be uploading some new videos to the You Tube channel soon too!

Are you as excited as I am? Okay, I know, you're probably not, but put on a brave face okay? Thanks.

Clandestine in audio book form is still in production. Yes, I know... you guys are ready and waiting. I am so sorry for the time it has taken to get it out to you. There has been some complications behind the scenes in the technical world, but I assure you it is coming very soon.

If any of you is good at creating wbsites... please send me a private message. I am looking for someone who can build me a spectacular, stupendous and out ragiously amazing web page. Of course, I should probably also mention that I am looking for someone that is willing to do this on either a volunteer or extremely cheap basis. If you are interested, or you know someone who is, get a hold of me via email or on Playing the Blind Card's Facebook page. The link to both can be found on this page.

Well, I have successfully rambled for long enough I think. I must get back to work transferring files. Thank you for allowing me to take a break with you.

PS... I noticed when I signed in that the blog is getting close to 60,000 page views!! Now all we gotta do is beaf up the ammount of people signed up to follow. Keep doing what you do and get the word out about the page. Remember, I couldn't do all this without you all. That being said, just know that you all rock and I love ya bunches.

As always... Look before you leap

To self publish or not to self publish

So as pretty much all of you know, I have been trying my hand at the self-publishing gig for the past couple years now. I only have the one book out. You can find clandestine in print and also in e-book online at Amazon, and Barnes & Noble and whatnot. However as I lay here in bed, I keep circling around the same question… What am I doing? Do I really have any business self-publishing?

Let's face the facts…

I really have absolutely zero experience with the book industry. I do not know anything about distribution. I have no idea on where to start with marketing tactics. Platform? I don't even have a stepstool LOL

In order to make money at selling books, you need to have money so that you can advertise and get your book in people's faces. I am not going to lie, I don't have a lot of money to do that. I would love to… I need to… It's crucial for the life of my career after all. So what now then?

If you stood there for more than five seconds… Looking completely puzzled… And finally coming to the conclusion that you had no answer to the last question… You pretty much were just looking in the mirror at me!

Part of me is very highly considering trying the traditional publishing route. I do love the concept, theory, and overall freedom that self-publishing has to offer. The only problem is, with some of the problems listed above as well as some that have not even been mentioned, it might not be the right choice for everyone. And by everyone, I mean myself mainly.

Nothing is set in stone yet. I have not made any final decisions. I have just been having trouble sleeping lately, and thereby, millions of ideas are bouncing around my poor head. I am mostly mind babbling, vent rambling, and trying to put myself into a sleep coma by overworking my brain I guess LOL

I worry that if I have already started the self-publishing game… How can I possibly get my foot in the door on the total opposite end of the field? Also, since the series bound in blood has started self published… Should be finished self published? Is it possible to start one way and and a completely other direction? I have no idea

I would absolutely love to find an author who has gone through this same situation that I am now. Basically, I am hoping that someone will let me completely pick apart their brains until I can make a decision for myself. I figure there probably has to be at least one person out there who has thought about this, and hopefully even tried it. If I'm lucky, I will be able to find someone was successful at it. Or, if nothing else, someone who can tell me that I'm being a complete and utter spaz and that I should just stay right where I'm at and do completely what I'm doing. I would be cool with either option really

Is this really something that I should be talking about in the public eye? The answer that I have come up with is who knows? I know I sure don't. However, I figure the only way to find someone that might have an idea for me is to put it out there. Besides, they always said that honesty is the best policy. I am not to this day completely sure who they are, but they sure seem to know their stuff

For now, this is all I have to say on this subject. I will probably come back and talk about this sometime in the future. Hopefully, I will be blessed to give you a rational well-thought-out decision. If not, sorry for that… Hope you enjoy the ride anyway… Until then, look before you leap

Traveling without eyes my trip across the country part one

After I lost my site, I never would have thought that I would do much traveling. I especially thought it to be true, that I would not travel by myself. Nevertheless, that is exactly what I find myself doing. Well, I guess I should speak about it in past tense, since I have already returned safely. At 30 years old, I made my first trip across the country as a blind person. I should note that I did not die, so the trip was a success if you ask me. Although, I cannot say it was flawless. There was plenty of debacles along the way.

My plane left at like 6 AM Standard Pacific time. Yes, you heard right. 6 AM comes awfully early when you're nervous the night before and cannot sleep. Did I mention it takes an hour to get to the airport from where I live? This means I had to get up even earlier. So I guess I should correct myself. 2:30 AM comes awfully early when you're nervous the night before and cannot sleep. But I digress

My wonderfully supportive parents told me that they would watch peanut. This was perfect. If it wasn't for them, I would not have been able to make the trip. Princess will stay just about anywhere. She is at that preteen age that says Hell, as long as I'm not with my parents I will be anyway. Peanut however, has serious separation anxiety. She does not like to be away from mommy at all. She is only five, but despite her anxiety has the mental maturity of a 12-year-old. She is insanely smart and once she discovered that I would be gone for more than a day she was displeased. My parents do well at distracting her from her mommy longing periods. In fact, I do not think she would have stayed anywhere else for the length of my trip. I know I was not gone that long, but still.

Anyway, she and my mom were fast asleep when my dad and I left for the airport. I was surprisingly awake and alert during the drive. One would have thought that I would pass back out and got a little extra Shadai before take off. No, my mind was racing. The train was moving down the tracks of its own volition and I did not any control over it. I was so excited to see Ryan. He really is the love of my life and to my girls of course. The prospect of the trip hadn't completely something in. I was nervous, but not entirely sure what to expect. This both helped and hindered my box for the long coming day of travel. Okay so I know this is not the first auto correct air from the dictate feature of the iPhone for this post. For those of you who are not familiar with what I'm talking about, for right now I am blogging from my iPhone. I have to do so using the blogger app as well as the dictate feature which allows me to talk to my phone and give you the information you are currently reading. This error however needed to be pointed out because it made the sentence just sounds ridiculous. When I informed you that Ryan was the love of my life this was of course true. But the rest of the sentence is where the train wreck started. It was supposed to inform you that he is the love of my life and to my girls meaning they are also the loves of my life. Okay now that I have fixed the air and inform all of you newcomers that my dictate feature sometimes does not accurately depict my words, I can continue. I suppose I should first let you know that because it does not accurately depict my words, I cannot fix the errors. It will not let me go back due to an excess ability problem with the blogger app.

When we got to the airport, parking was not terrible. This made me hopeful that the airport would not be crazy busy on this morning. Boy was I wrong! It was packed full of people. Security was quite busy. I would have thought choosing an early flight such as I did, I would have missed some of the Podesta tree in traffic 

Once through security, and once I received my cane back. Okay pause, I should probably explain what I mean by get my cane Mac. I was not referring to when you put your items into the tote tray and then simply grab them back out when you were done. I was referring to The man who helped guide me through the metal detector giving me back my cape. He did so after evaluating the material and deciding whether or not he should send it through x-ray. Can I just tell you how ridiculous, absurd and completely obnoxious I found this to me? I am not completely unreasonable. I am perfectly aware that in the past our country has experienced seriously horrible times. I understand the need for caution. I also understand that sometimes people go to extremely drastic measures to get there terroristic ideals into the public. 

In taking that into consideration though, I ask that you take my next appointment consideration. I would like you when you're done reading this post, to please go to your favorite search engine. I would like you to then type in the words blind terrorist, blind serial killer, wind criminals. Then carefully look down the list of results. I am pretty confident that no matter which one of those terms you decide to search for, you are not going to come up with much. There is a reason for that. Can you guess what it is? Well, in case you can't, I will let you know.

Blind people make really crappy criminals!!

I am about 99% sure that my people will not be responsible for the takedown of any government or any other type of public forum. The reason being is how the hell are we supposed to get away? It is not as though we can do the deed and then take off running. Well, I suppose we could, but we would not get very far before the takedown. So what would be the point?

Anyway I apologize I got distracted by a shiny again. I get a little emotionally attached when it comes to this subject because I just do not get it. I suppose I should calm down however it really isn't that big of a deal I suppose. If nothing else, he did give you something to think about that right? Even if not in a serious context, I bet they gave you something to consider in a comical one. Just picture that blind person running down the jetway trying to make away and shoot past all of the security. Don't forget they probably do not have their cane because it blew up on the plane causing a terrible explosion in the airplane toilet that nearly took out an entire roll of toilet paper. The blind person almost didn't get away because the damn flight attendant did not tell them they had to turn off the light in order to get let out of the bathroom. It was a near miss but they were able to get out in time thank God LOL. By the way, getting locked in an airport that Larem on an airplane, not fun. That will be described later on I promise

So anyway… Dot…

Before my flight, I decided it would be a good idea to purchase some soda and possibly something to eat on the plane. I was not sure if Southwest offered or sold food, but I figured if they did, it would be insanely expensive. I stopped at a minute mark style vendor and purchased 220 ounces of Pepsi. Normally these cost only about a buck 50. In the airport however, you can expect to pay $2.50 for one bottle of 20 ounces of Pepsi! This was highway robbery. If it was not for my extreme need for caffeine, I would not have purchased two of the delectable beverages. By the way, yes I noticed that in the beginning of this paragraph the dictate feature has decided to tell you that I purchased 200 some odd ounces of Pepsi. This is of course not true in case you were wondering. I only purchased two bottles of 20 ounces of Pepsi. Now you know

That was the minor debacle number one. Now we move on to minor debacle number two.

I figured it would be the easiest to pick a food place that was near by my gate. Near my gate for things such as McDonald's, big town hero, a few Mexican restaurants and a random café. I figured a sub sandwich would be the easiest to take on the plane. First, it was still in the wrapper. Second, it did not matter if you need it warm or cold it still tasted the same upon calling the day before, I was informed that all of these places would be open at 4:30 AM. This may have been true, but even still, at big town hero there was no one at the counter. The lights were on but no one was home. In my sleep deprived state I thought about stamping my foot and causing a ruckus. Luckily Justin time, I thought better of it. I was still holding my cane after all. I wouldn't want people to think that the crazy blind girl was about to go on a terrorist rampage.

So instead I settled on McDonald's. I ended up getting a couple of sausage McMuffin. Not that you really care, but you should know that after a while on an airplane, sausage McMuffin's do not taste good a arbitrary. Plus the bread does not want ballpark. So I felt like I was savagely eating one of my sandwiches on the plane. The poor old lady next to me probably wondered if she was next. Needless to say I never ate the second sandwich. And just so you know I am well aware of the spelling errors in this paragraph, but there are a couple of them but I do not even know what they are supposed to be so I'm just going to leave them alone. Consider this your English lesson for the day you can edit and revise at will. Ask your credit points will happen if you decide to not judge me for the mistakes LOL

The people at the Southwest counter where amazing. They were very friendly and very nice. They helped me to the gate where I said goodbye to my dad. That was a little weird. We had never had to do something like that before other than when I went to guide dog school, but that was a little different I suppose.

It took me a little bit to figure out how to fasten my seatbelt. These are not much like one in a car. They got that weird flat thing that pops up and it kind of got the better of me for a second before my brain finally switched onto hey I'm not really stupid mode.

The old lady that I mentioned earlier, was so sweet. She sat next to me in the middle chair. Her husband who just happened to be a retired pilot, took the window seat. I did not put up much of a fight there since I couldn't really check out the view anyway. She was very helpful throughout the entire flight process. Once the plane started moving she informed me when we were getting closer to taking off. By the time the tires under the plane left the ground, my heart was racing hard enough to propel the plane on its own. The build up was phenomenal. I felt like we were at the climax of a very cyst suspenseful movie. I was completely terrified, but totally excited at the same time. I have only one once before this easy. But I was under the age of nine and really had absolutely no memory of the experience other than the fact that it was cool and I haven't done it.

The first time the plane hit turbulence it bumped a little. After-the-fact talking to you now, I can admit the bumps really weren't that bad. At the time, I thought the entire plane was going to fly apart. My butt practically left my seat. I put my hand on the old ladies arm hopefully not leaving any bruises. What was that? The words came quick from my lips my breath was short and my heart was in my butt. She left a little removed my hand and then had it gently like a grandmother would. It's okay dear, she informed me. That is just a little turbulence. It means we are getting some when that's all. Nothing to be afraid of.

Right, right, I said trying to catch my breath. Just a little turbulence, no big deal. Right, then why was the damn plane still bumping. Does the pilot not know how to look for air because not have speed bumps? Is that not a part of their training? And if it is not part of the training process, should we the passengers not be informed of this? I did not receive any type of memo about said turbulence. Okay well maybe I am being a little dramatic, but it really was scary. I did feel slightly stupid once I realize what it was. I have heard of turbulence after all and I am perfectly aware that I was not going to die although for a second I kind of thought I was.

I wanted to listen to my audiobook, I was terrified that I would miss something if my headphones were in my ears. The plane was too loud to just have the one in and I knew just knew something would happen if I obstructed my last sense of knowing what was happening in the outside world. I decided I would wait until I could tell that the plane was on level air. More turbulence no more lifting just smooth flying. Once that happens, I would be free to read at my leisure. Until then I needed to diligently pay attention. Nothing was going to cut catch this blind girl offguard no sir.

The flight staff was all amazing. They periodically check on me, help me get my bag down from the overhead compartment anytime I needed and even assisted in taking me to the bathroom. Or I guess I should say the laboratory, as they call it on an airplane. Which by the way, I find to be a little silly. It is not like you are conducting science experiments in there. And if UR I do not want to hear about them.

I would totally recommend Southwest for your traveling needs whether you are a senior or you are a blinding. Okay now that was a dictate debacle. That is not at all what I was trying to say. I meant it to say whether you could see or you are blind you will like flying with Southwest. That is all

The rest of this part of my trip went well. I landed in Phoenix for my layover. That as well as the rest of my trip across the country will be in the next post. Not to give you any type of cliffhanger or anything because I know you're just so incredibly at the edge of your seat and all. It is just that I need to go for now. This post is getting longer than I had anticipated. So in the next post, you can expect to hear about Phoenix and the rest of my flight across the country.

Also coming soon is a series about travel while you're blonde on the YouTube channel. This will be accompanied by my own personal experience as well as the experience of my boyfriend Ryan and hopefully from a few other blind people that I have connected with recently. Be sure to check that out in the near future. It would be a great idea for you to not only subscribe to this blog but also to the YouTube channel. This will ensure that you will know all of the information as it becomes available and public. Plus it shows the support of fellow blind person which is always a prosperous endeavor. The more people subscribe the more the word gets out and the more people learn from all of these ridiculous debacles.

If you have not checked out the YouTube channel already, you can find it by clicking on the link in this blog. It will take you to the YouTube channel directly. You can also find links to my Facebook pages from this blog as well. I would please ask and encourage you to like those pages and share them with your friends. And always remember look before you leap

Disclaimer, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any spelling errors in this post. I take great offense to having these errors in my writing posts. I am an author for Hells sake. This should not be happening. I worry that it will eventually ruin my reputation. Or at least make me look stupid if nothing else LOL. Please remember this is the doing of the dictate feature on my iPhone in conjunction with the use of the blogger app on the iPhone. Again I apologize for any convenience that these errors may have caused you. I hope that you have not suffered any permanent damage as a result to but missing and indulging in these errors. If so, you can leave a comment down below and I will take each predicament under advisement I assure you.

The skinny on blind people blind dating

Are you a sighted person wondering if blind people date? Do they stay with in the blind community? Or, do they branch out into the world of the cited? No matter how they date. The blind community has much XPerience with blind dating… pun intended lol

Another new interesting dynamic to the land of blind dating, is the new and wide spread phenomenon of online dating. It has opened a whole new door for the disabled community. It has allowed them to meet all kinds of new people they may not have otherwise had the chance to encounter. As some of you already know, I myself have embarked on an online dating journey. It wasn't intentional in my case. I did not seek comfort at eHarmony, mashed.com or one of those other fishy sites. Not that there is anything wrong with these of course. I simply wasn't looking for love when it came directly in front of me and struck me hard like a Mack truck. It was kind of rude actually, I wasn't even looking. Where is the respect?

Sometimes you find love when you least expect it. There is no need to be afraid of this. Embrace it! Don't give up on it! I thought about it for a second, and tell my boyfriend clued me in to reality. Love knows no boundaries. It is not aware of the true definition of distance. The heart wants what it wants.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Many blind people date other blind people. There may be many theories to this. I personally think it can be a good idea for some. It allows two people to come together that have many things in common. They know the inns and outs, ups and downs and all other directions of blindness. They will understand when others may not be able.

Up until I met my current boyfriend on the playing the blind card Facebook page, I also only dated sighted people. This wasn't necessarily a choice. It was mostly lack of options. The town I live in doesn't have any other blind people my age. 

As absurd as it sounds, when I met my boyfriend Ryan, it didn't occur to me to even attempt to date a Nother blind person. It seems silly to me. I figured, I should be looking for someone who can see, can drive, and therefore better the situation that I was in before I met him.

A few of my friends and family told me how Insein the prospect of this theory was. You are a hypocrite! They scolded me right and left.

They were right. I totally knew they were right. The problem was, my heart had already been hurt several times. Yes, I admit it. I was and probably am still a little, a woman scorned. That's right, I've been through a lot. It's taking me a long time to admit that, but it is true.

In retrospect, that is probably the main reason I was so jaded about getting into a new relationship. It really wasn't anything to do with the fact that we are both blind. Instead, with the fact that my heart was still drying. You see, I had just recently applied the crazy glue and duct tape. I had actually been single for quite a wild. But only recently decided to even think about having my heart exposed even a little. That didn't mean I wanted to date. It just meant I was open to the idea of meeting someone new.

And then there came Ryan. He of course is Mr. wonderful! I never expected to meet him. I thank God every day that I did however. He has completely changed my life for the better. He makes me every day want to be a better person.

He is a smart ass just like me. Which of course, I love! What he doesn't think of, I do and vise versa. It is a perfect blind match in heaven! I would not have it any other way. I have decided to adopt a new mantra… blind dating is the new black…

I have decided to explore the prospect of blind dating more and more on this blog, on the Facebook page, and especially on my YouTube channel. I look forward to having more conversations with you about this topic. I plan to open up with you a lot soon. Ryan has even agreed to talk with me on the YouTube channel about it too! I am really excited about that. I have also been talking with other blind friends on Twitter and on Skype about joining me in this venture as well. I will keep you posted as more develops on this.

If you are interested in being interviewed through Skype in an audio only interview for the YouTube channel, please feel free to find me on Twitter or on Facebook and let me know either in a private message or by leaving me a comment. I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can. I look forward to hearing from as many of you as possible. It will be fun to get to know all of you and inform the world in the process.

As always, thank you for reading… And remember… Look before you leap

Finally an accessible game on the iPhone

I've been looking for months for a fully accessible game that works with the iPhone. I wanted something that was multiplayer. Meaning, I could play with a real live person, not a computer.

Thanks to a friend of playing the blind card on Facebook, I have finally found one! You can find it in your App Store for free! It is called dice world!

It has four different fun dice games that can be played by yourself or with another person. You can connect with Facebook or Twitter friends. Or, if you would rather, you can look for a random opponent.

There are even tournaments that can be played. This will help you earn more gold coins. Well, providing you when that is. I tried one last night when I couldn't sleep. I took the silver metal. I was able to get some more coins in my bank without annoying my Twitter and Facebook friends with postings

There is an option to make dice world ad free for just $1.99. So far though, the ads really haven't bothered me that much. I'm not sure if I will bother with the ad free version or not. Either way, this game is totally worth the download and space taken up on your phone. If you love Yautzy and other dice filled fine, you will love dice world! I highly recommend this for blind and sighted people alike.

Until next time… Remember… Look before you leap… And if you can't, well, that sucks

Possible new feature for the blog

Hey, just wanted to drop a quick note. I am thinking of incorporating a new feature to playing the blank card. I wanted to give you guys a chance to weigh in on this idea.

As many of you know, the iPhone is a very accessible device for the blind and low vision clients. Many of you already have one whether it be an older version, or the latest 5C or 5S. I have recently purchased the 5c.

I have been talking with my boyfriend, and we thought that maybe it would be a good idea for blind people to review different iPhone applications. That is, how they work with voiceover. How accessible are they? Do blind people really have the ability to use them?

There are other websites, YouTube channels, podcasts and possibly other avenues that also explore this topic. I figured it was something that playing the blind card should tap into, as it is a very important topic

If there is ever an application that you would like to see reviewed on this blog, please feel free to shoot me an email. You can use the contact form that is on this page. You can also leave it in a comment under this post. Or, you can also leave your comments on the plane the blind card Facebook page.

Also, if you are a company or person producing an application that you feel would be a beneficial app for a blind user, please feel free to contact me. I would be happy to interview you for the blog. 

Are you a blind user who would like to do your own review on the product for this blog? That is welcome here. If you are interested, send me a message. I will set up with you a time and date that you can do your own post for this site.

In one way or another, everyone has a voice on playing the blindside. So standup, shouted out, and let me know what you want! Thank you and I was always see you next time. Also as always, yet again the dictate feature has made an Ermer I am not from playing the blind side I am from playing the blind card! Thank you iPhone dictate feature. Review coming in for the post…

Did that really just happen? Knocking over display at Wal Mart

Have you ever had one of those moments while shopping that you wish you could take back? You know what I'm talking about, one of those moments where your face is fire engine red and you wish you could crawl under the end Never to be seen or heard from again. I had one of those moments yesterday

I guess in the big scheme of things, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. To me, it was a very big deal. You see, I embarrassed easily. Well, maybe not easily, but when it comes to myself and being self-conscious… It's definitely not difficult to embarrass myself

I was out at the store with Princess and peanut. Peanut was in the stroller as always. I was behind pushing, while Princess, was leaving. She does a very good job at this. For the most part, she always has my back. Never letting me run into anything. Or at least, not laughing very hard when I do. So sidenote… I just noticed while listening back to what I dictated that there was an error princess was not leaving anywhere. She was Leedean the stroller. Dang it! It just aired again so, I will change the word entirely. Princess was guiding the stroller. … Much better… Stupid talking software!

Anyway, it was all going really well. I had run into anything, not anything over, or made any sort of blunder whatsoever.  When out of nowhere, I feel something thing against my shoulder and biceps on the right side. It didn't hurt or anything, but it did feel as though I ran into a person. I was instantly embarrassed. I always feel bad when this happens. This is mostly because the general seeing public, doesn't look at me as though I am a blind person. When I run into them, they look at me as a rude, obnoxious, awful person. None of which is true of course. They however, do not see it that way.

So as I feel my face flame up with fire engine red mortification, I whisper in a rush to princess. Quotation mark was that a person quotation mark

She looks back, and with just as much emphasis says, quotation mark crap, no, that was a display of towels. Quotation mark

At that moment, my heart fell a little. I hate when I make any type of mess in public. Well it's also a problem when you draw attention to yourself that is completely unnecessary. Some people might not mind this. I am not that person. I quickly and as efficiently as my blind self could manage, tried to pick up all of the packs of towels. You see, these were packs of five full-size towels that were twined together. Process and Little Miss peanut did their best to help. Peanut had three stacks in her arms that made it up past her head. She kept trying to get my attention while I was busy cleaning my own pile. It was hard to hear her through them muffled block of towels.

No one that I am aware of ever came into the aisle. I did hear some voices close by. I kept waiting for one of them to come and see the debacle in the towel I'll.

Princess was having a hell of a time loading the fallen towels back onto the display where they came from. She said that they Wombling. She just knew they were going to fall again. A crossed the aisle from her, there was a shopping cart with a few of the Powell packs inside. Who ever had been building the display must not have had time to finish. Princesse decided we would just put the falling debris into the cart. I didn't like leaving a mess for the unfortunate employee. If said employee happens to be reading this post, I am very sorry for making your work a little bit harder yesterday.

I know I shouldn't be embarrassed. It technically wasn't my fault. It wasn't as though I saw the towels and said to myself self, I am going to knock over those towels because it is fun!

Even still, I find myself feeling guilty. I guess I still haven't gotten used to with the blind blunders that have become a normal part of my every day life. I am getting better at laughing at them after the fact. In the moment however, I am still more to mortified

It is very important to learn that it is okay to laugh at a mistake. We all make them, whether we can see or not. It is how we handle them after the fact that really counts.