The Benefits of Massage

Hello all. Yesterday, I took Mason to a Georgia Guide Dog Users Meeting yesterday. We started out the morning by discussing items such as animal control, and airports, (both something that could be part of a later post.) Also, we got to interact with a bunch of people who were either dog handlers, applying to be dog handlers, or raising puppies to be guide dogs. In the afternoon, we had a class on giving dogs a massage. We found out that massage is a good way to diagnose and treat many different ailments dogs get. Not only does it help sore joints, but it is a good way to find out if your dog has tumers or any sort of discomfort. I could go on in greater detail and discuss all the books and research, but I'd rather not bore you. Basically, massage is something that is highly beneficial for our 4-legged friends. Also, they definitely enjoy it.

New Living Situation

Hello all. A new semester of college began for Mason and I last month, and with it came some changes. For the last 2 years, we lived on campus. It was convenient because everything we needed was in walking distanse, I could easily attend activities on campus or meet for class related stuff outside of the scheduled class time, and it made it much easier to get connected my freshmen year. However, with a new year came a new rise in rent. Unfortunately, my income did not rise with the rent so I had to decide what was more important, having everything a few steps away or having a bank account I could actually survive off of. This was especially easy to decide since Mason and I never spent weekends there, and would probably spend less time there since I would be in class fewer days this semester. Since my mom lives close to campus, and there are several KSU students in her neighborhood I could get rides from, I decided that it would be best to move back there. After all, we were there half the week anyway. lol
Mason loves this new arrangement because he gets a fensed yard and a constant playmate through my mom's maltese. As for work, he still gets plenty of that since we still spend a lot of time on campus. So, this is definitely going to be a new experiense for us, and so far, things are working out.

NFB and Dogs at Conventions

Last week, I attended the national convention for the National Federation of the Blind. This convention is held every July, and consists of many different conferenses to keep us updated on blindness in our country in subjects such as new laws, and new ways things are becoming accessable to us. Also, they have many different items in the exhibit hall for us to look at and possibly buy. Basically, it's an event I allways enjoy attending.
Now, for the dogs. Some dog guide handlers bring their dogs to convention, while others leave them at home. This was the first convention I attended since getting Mason, and after much deliberation, I decided to leave him with my mom. The reason for leaving him was stress. At an NFB national convention, a dog will have to endur 3 thousand people, possibly getting hit with canes and stepped on, and a lot of other dogs. There are many more stressers involved, but you get the idea. Some dogs handle it fine, and Mason might have. However, I decided to leave him in case I forgot how intense it would be since I hadn't been in 3 years. Will he go next year, I don't know. All I know is that kind of thing allways depends on the dog, the handler, and the location. However, this is something I enjoyed doing, and something I can't wait to attend again next year.

We Aren't Second Class Citizens!!!

Orlando, Florida (July 7, 2011): The National Federation of the Blind at its national convention today voted unanimously to demand fair wages for blind workers. The convention is being attended by 2,900 delegates from across the United States and Puerto Rico. On Wednesday, July 13, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will vote on the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which contains language reauthorizing the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The Rehabilitation Act is supposed to provide services to disabled Americans so that they can obtain competitive employment, but Title V, Section 511 of the proposed Rehabilitation Act language references Section 14(c) of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which allows certain entities holding special wage certificates to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Language endorsing the antiquated practice of paying the blind and other workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, which is based on the fallacious premise that disabled workers cannot be productive and do the same work as their non-disabled peers, has no place in legislation designed to increase competitive work opportunities for workers with disabilities. We believe that this language, in effect if not by design, is a Trojan Horse provision that will inevitably lead to the placing of workers with disabilities in subminimum-wage sweatshops. We demand that the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee either amend this bill to remove Title V, Section 511, or simply vote down the entire bill.”

I guess you are wondering what aall that stuff I pasted above is all about. Basically, congress is looking at signing this bill that would make it legal to pay people with disabilities a subminimum wage for the same work done by everyone else. I don't remember what the exact amount is, but I know it's less than $4 an hour, a wage that no person can live on in these times. Living expenses aside however, the idea that people deserve a smaller wage because of a disability is absolutely rediculous! Some may say that the disability keeps the person from being productive, so the wage is fair. However, if that's the case, it would be more fair to give that person a task they can do well instead of docing that person's pay. Also, people have said that they have to start paying this subminimum wage to keep compaanies from going bankrupt. However, all you have to do is take a look at the salaries of the top executives of these companies, and you will see that this is far from true. Basically, this bill should not be passed, and there is no excuse for congress to let it do so. In a perfect world, it would never have been proposed in the first place, but it has been. So, it's our duty to make sure it doesn't become law and that every person, disabled or not, gets the earnings he or she deserves. To help get the attention we need, comment on this poast, and visit my facebook page to like or comment on my note, "This is disgusting."

The Milestone and Kapten Plus

You may recall the stuff I wrote about a year ago about some of the tech devices made for the blind while I was working at a place called the Visibility store. Like I said, some of them I owned, and some I didn't. Recently, I aquired 2 new devices that weren't in existance at the time. These are the Milestone and the Kapten Plus.
The Milestone is basically another blind friendly MP3 player. Like the Victor Streem, (a device I mentioned a year ago) you can store data for it on an SD card. However, unlike the streem, it also has a small amount of internal memory. Also unlike the streem, you don't have to separate everything in to separate folders for the device to know where it needs to go. Also, the Milestone can be a day planner and bar code reader, but I haven't bought the extra software needed for that.
The Kapten Plus is a new GPS system. It's around the size of the smaller Ipods people were buying at one point. It has to ability to use either buttons or voice commands, whatever you feel the most comfortable with. Also, you can mark a particular location, and it will remember it later. You can travel and have it just announce what you're passing, or you can enter in a particular route for it to follow. Also, it has the ability to find points of interests in your area such as eating establishments or other types of businesses.
Basically, these are handy little devices that I think many people can get great enjoyment and use out of. Also, the small size of these devices and everything they can do just goes to show how much technology is progressing.

Blindness

As some of you may know, a moovie called Blindness came out a few years ago. It was based on a book written by Jose Saramago, and the plot was based on everyone in the world catching this disease that made them go completely blind. In the moovie, the military put all the people who caught the disease in isolated compounds to keep the disease from spreading. However, the wife of one of the men in the compound somehow never got the disease even though she claimed she did in order to be able to stay with her husband. Throughout the moovie, the people went to the bathroom in whatever place they happened to be at the time, and "made love" with whoever was handy no matter the location. They also thought over food and attacked each other like savages, and the one sighted woman was in charge of taking care of everyone. Basically, the moovie made these people out to be involids who had less self control than most animals.When this moovie first came out, the National Federation of the Blind staged a protest. I didn't see what the big deal was untill I decided to watch the moovie last week just ton get an idea of what it was about. I was planning to read the book as well, but the moovie had me too disgusted to do so. How are we supposed to show the general public that blind people are exactly like everyone else when Hollywood is allowing stuff like this to be released. Furthermore, why blindness? Out of all the disabilities out there what makes ours so diserving of the horrible things shown on this film? I hate to break it to ignorant people who don't know any better, but blindness is not a random contageous disease, and blind people are just as able to care for themselves and others as anyone else. Why people think it's amusing to make it look otherwise is something I will never be able to understand.

A Tribute to Scouting

This poast was enspired by a conversation I got in to last night. Right before I started 8th grade, I got involved in scouting. As most of you know, I ended up making eagle. Recently, I've become a committee member for the troop I used to be a part of. A lot of people used to ask why I did scouting and now ask why I'm on the committee when there's tons of other stuff I could be doing. My answer is this. As for scouting, I know most people find it to be childish and borring. However, these are people who either never were involved in it or who had a bad experiense with it. The truth is, scouting not only teaches you many life skills you will use in every part of life, but it helps you grow and mature as a person. Also, I feel that scouting was beneficial when it came to my understanding that blindness, or any other disability for that matter, doesn't have to stop you from living and enjoying life to the fullest and contributing to society. Sure, I've allways been told this growing up, but having someone tell you that and discovering it for yourself are 2 entirely different things. As for being on the committee, I ddecided that since scouting had a great impact on my life, it was only right for me to try to gove back by helping the boys that are currently in the troop achieve the same satisfaction and growth that I got. What better way to do this than to stay involved with the troop. So, for those who ask in the future, there's my answer. On that note, I'll definitely say that I would not be who I am today if it wasn't for my involvement in scouting.

The Stariotypes of Blindness and How Some Blind People Encourage Them

Public Speaking

A couple of days ago, I went to Smitha, the middle school I went too, to speak to a class about blindness, the possible changes it will bring about, and how if dealt with properly, those changes will not prevent a person from leading a normal life. Of course, I had Mason with me, and he was a big hit with all the students. If you ask me, he's the reason they paid attention to half of what I had to say (lol.) Anyway, I was expecting to have to come up with some sort of speech. The problem with this was I never viewed myself as different so it's kind of hard for me to understand some of what others want to know when it comes to living a life like mine. Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. The students took care of everything for me. I gave them a short introduction about who I am and what I do and spent the rest of the 45 minutes letting them ask questions and answering them. I was surprised at some of the things they wanted to know. Questions such as how do you get along with your roommates, how do you do your work and get to class, and how do you go to the store, among many others were ideas that I've never put much thought in to. I guess it goes to show you that there is a lot about blindness, along with other disabilities, that people are clueless about.
All of this got me thinking. If this one class of students had so many questions, there were bound to be many others who needed to be educated. Then I thought about how many places and people I could visit to help change this. Of course, it would be nice to have others doing the same thing, and maybe that will happen one day. I'm sure there is a career oppurtunity for people out there somewhere. The trick is to get the word out there that you're willing to make these types of visits. If that happens, there will surely be many people who would want to meet and here from me and many others.

The Art of Being Understanding

The other day, I got a real test when it came to holding my tongue and trying to remember that everyone makes mistakes. A student at our school with a mental disability that I won't go in to was trying to find a professor that would be accomidating to her needs. When she approached my professor, he said that he would be more than happy to have her since he already had another student just like her in the class. I figured out this was me because he said that this student had a dog. I realize that blindness is a disability. However, I would hardly call that a mental impairment. Therefore, I'm sure you can imagine how I felt about this statement. My first instinct was to approach the professor and explain to him exactly what I thought about this. However, I realized that it would just start a big dispute. Seeing as he is great when it comes to instruction and I'm planning on taking more classes with him, I figured it might be a good idea to not go about it in this way. I decided that it could have been an honest mistake and it would probably not happen again. There are 2 things to be learned from this. The first is to stop and think before immediately getting deffensive with a person. The second would be to not let this kind of treatment continue. For example, if this professor were to continue making such comments about me or any other students, he would definitely be taught that he should conduct himself in a more professional manner. Therefore, it helps to step back and examine a situation before reacting to it, and working out a plan before acting will allways be the better route.

The Joys of Fire Drills

Tonight, Mason and I experiensed a fire drill in the dorms. In these situations, I don't like to put him in harness because I don't want the harness to be ascoiated with stress, which he is under when this happens. However, no harness means no working for the dog. Unfortunately, people are not allways willing to help. So, the main thing to remember is to not get disoriented. You do this by keeping your exact movements in your mind as much as possible so you can use them to backtrack afterwards. Also, you want to remember to not get frustrated with your dog since he or she may be anxious about all the excitement and noise. As long as you keep all this mind, fire drills will still be annoying, but they will be manageable.

Back to School

So, a new semester begins this week. Actually, it was supposed to begin last week, but we had snow days from Monday untill Thursday. I have no classes on Fridays, so Mason and I got an extra week of winter break. Actually, I was pretty surprised since it's rare for Georgia to get 1 snow day let alone a whole week of them. Anyway, I'm doing things a little differently this semester. I'm normally one of those over achievers that tries to take as many credit hours as I can. After all, the more I get done, the sooner I can graduate. However, last semester was a rough one. I put all my energy in to one class, and neglected the other 4. In the end, I passed the 4 I neglected, although I could have done a lot better. As for the one I put the efort in too, I got a d. Technically, that's passing. However, since it's a class for my major, a d means no credit, which means I have to retake it. This along with the ones that were also lower than normal caused my grade point average to drop. So, I decided to only take 4 classes this semester, the minimum you can take as a full time student. With less to do, I'm hoping I can raise my grade point average and keep my scholarship. Also, I can enjoy the college experiense a little more. Like I said, I originally thought that it was good to rush things, but I decided that I'd rather have the better grades and the fun memories than a quick deploma. Besides, a higher GPA will be a necesity when I apply for graduate school. So, wish me luck. I'm definitely going to need it. lol