There are 2 problems with our dining hall. First off, the serving lines are not blind friendly. The food is set out on racks, and we are supposed to just grabb plates and serve ourselves. Even if I could get a staff member to help me get food, they're not allways right behind the counter, and it's not their job. Also, instead of being able to get a trey, you have to get several plates. This is a problem if you are a blind person eating alone. For one thing, you cant carry more than one plate with one hand. I know most people can carry several at once, but Mason allready occupies my left arm. You could just go back and get more food, but a plate doesn't hold verry much. So, you would spend most of your meal at the food counters.
Most people might ask why I bother to write about this. It may not seem like a big deal, but to an independent blind person who wishes to live like any other college student, it is. Sure, I have friends who are more than willing to help out, but it's the principle of the thing. For one thing, if they have to get their own food, then there should be a way for me to do the same. As things are now, it's difficult to go to the dining hall alone, and that's is something I've had to do in the past. If anything, I hope that if someone is reading this blog that has a job involving designing these types of facilities, I'd urge you to keep things like this in mind.
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we have the same problem at UAH. Only here, we can specifically request a tray, or I suppose you could bring a tray to set the plates on to accomodate more food, and then do the hip-balancing thing with it. But the whole lines thing...there's no real way to fix that that I can see. Anyone else reading this got any ideas for us?
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