Carol H Tucker Passionate about knowledge management and organizational development, expert in loan servicing, virtual world denizen and community facilitator, and a DISNEY fan
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beladona Memorial Be warned:in this very rich environment where you can immerse yourself so completely, your emotions will become engaged -- and not everyone is cognizant of that. Among the many excellent features of SL, there is no auto-return on hearts, so be wary of where your's wanders...
Today is the 21st day of the 4th month and the 112th day of 2016. We are celebrating:
Big Word Day – bet you can’t top this one, altho making something deliberately that obtuse is rather silly IMNSHO
Bulldogs are Beautiful Day
Get to Know Your Customer Day
Grounation Day (Rastafari movement)
High Five Day
International Pizza Cake Day – at first I just thought this was a different name for pizza [pie, cake, whatever I said] but pizza CAKE is actually a thing! Who knew?
National Ask an Atheist Day -- whilst some folks [like me] would just like to understand their POV, I have a feeling that most of the questions are designed to be “gotchas” that will dazzle the person just interrogated into believing whatever creed the questioner espouses.
National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day
National D.A.R.E. Day ((DARE = drug abuse resistance education, coincidence that it is after 4/20?))
National High Five Day
Poem in your Pocket Day
San Jacinto Day – the last battle as Texas wins independence from Mexico
National Surprise Drug Test Day ((figures that would follow National Pot Smokers Day yesterday, neh?))
Thank You for Libraries Day
Tuna Rights Day
Tradition has it that in 753 BC, Romulus founded Rome. In 1649 the Maryland state assembly passed the Maryland Toleration Act, which provided for freedom of worship for all Christians. And in case you missed it, yesterday Mr. Peanut turned 100.
Today I read one of those inspirational news stories about a blind marathon runner who is using technology to overcome the limitations of his vision lost. You’ve all seen stories like this, golly-gee-whiz futuristic stuff is enabling the paralyzed to walk, limbs are being replaced, etc. The problem is? These things just aren’t readily available for those who need them. My friend’s plight is a prime example of what happens – she is my age, and has been struggling with Retinitis Pigmentosa [which is often, and her case, accompanied by Usher’s Syndrome] for years, and her vision is all but gone now. Like her, I assumed that there is a plethora of aids and help available so that a blind person could live and function independently.
HAH! Finding an agency or organization that will actually offer help has been well-nigh impossible as all those big names with glossy resumes [Columbia Lighthouse for example] seem to be suffering from a paucity of resources. A simple task like arranging cane training… Oh wait, did you know that one cannot just pick up a cane and use it? You have to learn how to understand the sounds and feel that is transmitted to you before you can go out into the world without being a danger to yourself and others! So finding a cane trainer has turned into a quagmire of “we don’t do that” to “you are not eligible for our programs” to “there isn’t anyone available in your area.” Learn Braille? Oh there is one six-week class available [if you can pay for it] where a sighted person who doesn’t know how to teach reading will go over the basics for two hours. And if you ask to use a computer so that you can stay in touch and sync with the world? Well there are programs to read screens to you, and even describe pictures, but finding someone to install that program and train you in its use? Good luck with that. Oh, wait, you need an escort to go to the doctor’s or get to that class? Can you afford to pay someone? Oh, you would like a reader for your mail? Well there are scanners that will read to you [priced around $5K or so], but we don’t have any available and we don’t have anyone to show you how to use it if you find one on your own. Better hire someone to read your mail for you, can you afford that? Government help, as in social workers? Here are some oven mitts that go up to your elbow, a probe that dings with the cup is full, and a clock that tells you what time it is – we’re out of the special phones and the tape recorders right now and don’t know when they will be in again. Support groups? While it is comforting to be able to share the struggles and burdens, it is rather daunting to find out that you are the only person living by yourself and trying to deal with this all on your own.
So yeah, stories like that fail to inspire me – they make me angry and even sullen. Somewhere there are folks with fantastic insurance, deep pockets and access to all the latest tech, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my friend’s experience is a lot closer to the norm
CEOExpress
