What a wonderful message, Marie. You are so right. It does take a while to
come to terms with losing your sight, and she's going to have to accept
things must change, or else it will drive her mad, trying to recapture what
is irretrievable.
Best wishes to all fromaa normally grumpy old man.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joan Muir" <wjmuir.twadugs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 11:20 PM
Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: JFW, a screenreader, not a magic wand,
Hi, Marie,
I couldn't have put things better myself. Like you, I am totally blind and have been almost since birth, so cannot at all properly empathise with Dorothy though I do feel she is so distressed.
I have always been grateful to have Jaws and thus be able to use my computer. I know we can never have the full computer power sighted people can get, but really it has opened so many doors for blind people which were closed till screen readers such as Jaws made reading and writing mail, using Emails and access to the Internet so accessible.
I hope that Dorothy can find peace of mind.
Best wishes,
Joan.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Marie Baisez" <marie.baisez@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 10:57 PM
Subject: [jaws-uk] JFW, a screenreader, not a magic wand,
Hi all,
In all Dorothy's messages I hear loud and clear that the help she needs
cannot come from this list.
She won't implement any suggestions given to her because she cannot focus on
anything as simple as, say for instance, the settings on her computer .
the shark and every person she has encountered associated with it has become
the target of her anger and frustrations coming from not seeing the world as
she once did.
She says,"I want to hear and look, I don't want my eyes shut"...
Until she can accept the fact that, from now on,her eyes can still enable
her to see
the beautiful colour of a rose or the graceful movement of a wheat field in
the wind but won't allow her to appreciate an intricate painting,
complete the 1000 pieces jigsaw puzzle she had started or to read
the paper or a computer screen anymore,
and that, to appreciate the painting, she will have to rely upon the description from someone
else
and use her imagination to conjure up what it looks like, she will have to
give the puzzle away to someone who enjoys that kind of challenge, and, to use her
computer
she will have to learn to use her ears and train them a little to listen
carefully. When she has learnt to do this, she will appreciate the magic and beauty of subtle sounds people with sight don't often notice, the flutter of birds wings, the sound of the wind in the trees, the lovely sound of car tyres on wet road, the magic sound of footsteps on freshly fallen snowand much much more.
To achieve this she will need lots of subjects to grab her interest and,
since it appears that specialist help hasn't helpt her to make this
transition, she will need a friend with wide shoulders for her to cry on,
big arms to hold and hug her and a gentle but firm hand to help on her
journey to the recovery of her own self.
As all of us know, this journey is full of ambushes and pitfalls and it
never truly ends.
I hope I do not sound smug or patronizing as, being blind from birth, I
cannot empathize truly with what she must feel.
Perhaps some of you, who have been there can share their experience with her or can point her in the direction of people who have the
time, patience and resource to help her
If there is not one, there should be a list for people coming to terms with
sight loss, address please anyone?
Dorothy, forgive me if I've offended you, thought if you can read this in
white on black, or, dare I say, listen to your screenreader only for once,it might perhaps help you change the focus of your attention
to what you still hav and away from unrealistic wishes.
Feel free to contact me personally if you want to shout at me but don't do
it on this list,as rantings and recriminations are not its purpose.
I can lend an ear but I cannot wave a magic wand: give you a job and or a purpose in life.
Sorry for the long and mainly off topic nature of this post, this thread was
going way way off..
Let's hope something constructive for Dorothy comes out of it.
Cheers now
Marie
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