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[welshdragon]

In case you are wondering about my avatar.... simply: it is to raise your awareness to the fact i am one of the billions of people whohave a visual impairment (the medical term for my condition is nystagmus), if you have seen me in real life you will notice I have a long white cane, or i have 'linked' my arm into somebody else's.

If you also use IRC and WLM with me, you know i can make typo's. These are because i do not use text to speech recognition software (such as Dolphin's SuperNova, Jaws or ZoomText (google will give you more information)). i am now considering using these pieces of software, as i am becoming more and more... frustrated with my spelling mistakes, and the fact that people keep having to correct me,

For more information on my eye condition, and about other eye conditiond, look at http://www.rnib.org.uk http://www.nystagmusnet.org/ and http://www.henshaws.org.uk/ - the latter has a college, where i spent two years studying skills for independant living, and made me who i am today.

On a side note, if you are interested in learning techniques on how to guide somebody with a visual impairment, contact me. and i shall find out what is avaliable to you,

This is the first time i have been open about my eye condition, but i feel a real part of the community here in TT-Forums. and without me, sometimes #tycoon is silent for hours.

Thank You!

[DeletedUser21]

I never heard and seen it but it really sounds difficult.

Nystagmus is a relatively common clinical condition, affecting one in every 5,000 to 10,000 individuals.

According to Wikipedia. So I think that it needs more awareness in the general public.

The avatar is fitting. I like it.

[John]

When I was doing my gap year, the whole company had to attend a 'Health & Safety Session' that they promised wouldn't be boring.

We heard about a bloke who was involved in an industrial accident when he was cleaning a pipe in a soft drink bottling factory, how it all so easily could have been avoided and how he very nearly died.

Then the bloke walked around the corner and he finished the story and answered questions. He had lost 3 of his 5 senses as a result: sight, taste and smell. His story pretty much reduced the whole factory of 500 people to tears.
What was most amazing was how he had coped (he too went to a college). He remember his first day when he was taken to the local pub, and he asked the person leading him what the weather looked like. The response was 'How the bloody hell should I know'. And in the pub he went to pick up what he thought was his drink and the blind person next to him piped up 'Oi, that's mine'.

He had also come to accept it - he held a question and answer session and jokingly reminded people not to put their hands up, but to shout out.

That one session has left me with a deep appreciation of just how important health and safety is, and offered an insight into what it was like to be visually impaired.

I always find it a shame that this is a topic the public seems largely to know nothing about.

On a related note, my girlfriend has stage 1 in BSL as quite a few friends of hers are hearing impaired.

[edit]

and without me, sometimes #tycoon is silent for hours.

Have you ever heard of silence is golden?

[welshdragon]

John wrote:

Welshdragon wrote:
and without me, sometimes #tycoon is silent for hours.

Have you ever heard of silence is golden?

yes, and that's when i'm usially busy
correction: u

hmm, /me thinks of installing Zoomtext on his laptop too

[Comm Cody]

Alright I'll come clean. I'm Hard of Hearing. Eccept for the oscanol kids who Tease me about it I'm Okay with. This explains my many typos. For those who want' to know what My GPA is it is 4.0. Not bad for me. Usally when ask what is in my ear i tell them and they are amazed. This disably molded my personaltiy. See you (sign later in ASL)

[Zhall]

The real question is... who has 20/20? Scarcity strikes again!

[burrowoozilla]

I wonder that someone here is DEAF.

because I'm deaf and I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE someone who thinks deaf people is
disablity JUST BECAUSE can't hear. i hope you'll regret if you watch this youtube
video... it has subtitled and it is signing in ASL (American Sign Language) but I'm Aussie and
using Auslan (AUstralia Sign LANguage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9GUkuR_xz8

Thank you.

[ThorRune]

I'm considering doing a years course in sign language. But i wonder, is there a english sign language that is more international then the norwegian, or does it not follow these patterns at all? I was suprised to learn that sign language was not international, but I realize now how stupid it is to think it would be. But i wonder if there is one more international that most can talk, in addition to the local ones?



I was so unluckey as to ask a partially blind person if he'd forgot hes glasses, when he couldn't press pin-code of hes bankcard. I did not intend it rude, but obeously it was. He showed me that he had two buttons on him wich meant he was partially blind, so even though i've got 20-20, i haven't learned to use my eyes properly. Made me feel real stupid, and i didn't get a chance to apologise because i realized fully what'd happened too late. Bugger!

[Nawdic]

I wonder that someone here is DEAF.

because I'm deaf and I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE someone who thinks deaf people is
disablity JUST BECAUSE can't hear. i hope you'll regret if you watch this youtube
video... it has subtitled and it is signing in ASL (American Sign Language) but I'm Aussie and
using Auslan (AUstralia Sign LANguage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9GUkuR_xz8

Thank you.

Now that was good... a 5 month dig...

[John]

I wonder that someone here is DEAF.

because I'm deaf and I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE someone who thinks deaf people is
disablity JUST BECAUSE can't hear. i hope you'll regret if you watch this youtube
video... it has subtitled and it is signing in ASL (American Sign Language) but I'm Aussie and
using Auslan (AUstralia Sign LANguage)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9GUkuR_xz8

Thank you.

Now that was good... a 5 month dig...

But it adds something relevant and new to the post.

Unlike your post.

But i wonder if there is one more international that most can talk, in addition to the local ones?

There isn't - and sign language even has regional variations (local accents if you prefer)!

However, AFAIK, A LOT of the signs are actually quite similar across the different languages - as in sign language you describe the words with actions rather then translating (does that make sense)?

[Comm Cody]

Alright I'll come clean. I'm Hard of Hearing. Eccept for the oscanol kids who Tease me about it I'm Okay with. This explains my many typos. For those who want' to know what My GPA is it is 4.0. Not bad for me. Usally when ask what is in my ear i tell them and they are amazed. This disably molded my personaltiy. See you (sign later in ASL)

You are not alone burrowoozilla

[caveatemptor]

I'm considering doing a years course in sign language. But i wonder, is there a english sign language that is more international then the norwegian, or does it not follow these patterns at all? I was suprised to learn that sign language was not international, but I realize now how stupid it is to think it would be. But i wonder if there is one more international that most can talk, in addition to the local ones?



I was so unluckey as to ask a partially blind person if he'd forgot hes glasses, when he couldn't press pin-code of hes bankcard. I did not intend it rude, but obeously it was. He showed me that he had two buttons on him wich meant he was partially blind, so even though i've got 20-20, i haven't learned to use my eyes properly. Made me feel real stupid, and i didn't get a chance to apologise because i realized fully what'd happened too late. Bugger!

I took a beginners' sign language class this year. Apparently in Ireland they use Irish Sign Language, which is strange because we just copy the British in almost every other respect. So I reckon if even the Irish don't use British Sign Language, it's probably not very international. There must be a lot of different sign languages out there.

A lot of them are probably pretty similar though, so if you knew British Sign Language maybe you could get a basic understanding of a lot of other sign languages. That's kinda what I'm hoping. I'm gonna keep taking class and lear Irish Sign, but I plan to move to England when I finish my degree.

[welshdragon]

BSL has 250+ regional variations, i got taught by my mum, who is a level 3 interpreter. and took a refresher course 2 years ago here in Yorkshire, my tutor was confused by the signs i knew, and my mum was confused by the signs my tutor taught me. It does differ a great deal, but you get used to what different regions and countries use, there was a push to make sign language uniform, like Braille, but it was dropped.

On another note, I have been diagnosed with dyspraxia, so that will likely explain why i can come across as being a retard.

[ThorRune]

On the topic of deaf, i came over this really nice short film that i'd suppose would be equally enjoyable for the deaf and the hearing It's cute.

http://vimeo.com/2078991

(Apologise for the dig, but i thought this worth sharing)

[Expresso]

On the topic of bad eye sight. I suffered from Cataract when I was three (I'm 34 now) and both my lenses had to be removed. As a result my eyesight was reduced to 30% (you need 60% to be allowed for a driver's license).

Recently I got an implant lens (right eye, the other is "lazy"), which increased my sight to 70%. Not perfect, but good enough to get rid of glasses which were about a centimeter thick.

[AlexW]

That must have been a pretty good feeling when you could see 70% instead of 30% without assistance. I had pretty bad short sight (although nothing compared to what you guys have had to deal with) and 15 months ago has laser eye surgery. A pretty traumatic 40mins, but the feeling a few days later of waking up and being able to see like so many of my friends was pretty fantastic.

I just hope that advances in technology bring that same feeling to people with worse conditions - my Granddad has macular degeneration and is slowly going blind. Interestingly, there is a Geordie LaForge style visor he could get for a few thousand pounds that will allow him to see more (would love to see him wearing that!)...

[Bad Hair Day]

I'm short sighted but I never wear my glasses any more. My eyesight is no where near as bad as it used to be. My dad is pretty severely short sighted because he got measles when he was young.