Re: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
- From: "don bishop" <w6smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 11:01:04 -0700
Shari,
I can really identify with that. For the first few years I read or at least
took a shot at reading virtually everything I could find. I just didn't ever
get tired of that.
I've mellowed out a bit now, but still really enjoy looking at things with the
Optacon even if I might actually read something fully later with a scanner.
Just
depends on what it is.
Don
On Wed, 17 May 2006 13:49:30 -0500, Shari Weir wrote:
When I left training with a loaner optacon I was thrilled beyond belief. I
had lots of opportunities to use the optacon during the day at work, but
when I went home at night, I didn't want to do anything but sit on the couch
with my optacon and stacks of magazines and books. I went from a pretty
physically active person to a total couch potato and gained 20 pounds the
first 6 months. It took a while, but I finally got things back in balance.
Shari
----- Original Message -----
From: "don bishop" <w6smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "optacon list" <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 11:21 AM
Subject: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
> Just changed the subject from "some comments about the optacon" or at
least pretty much that subject line.
> Anyway, I remember the first time I actually used my first optacon.
> I was in a training class given by TSI in Palo Alto. It was held at a
motel where we students stayed for a week or two weeks depending on people's
> schedules.
> TSI also had a suite there where the training was conducted.
> They brought us into a training room with a long table. In front of each
of us was this big
> wooden box and a brand new Optacon sitting inside. I think it still had
the plastic around the case. In those days the OPtacon came in a large
wooden
> carrying case with thick foam padding. (soft packs were not even heard of
yet.)
> It was like being at the door of a new world and even just seeing the unit
without using it was liberating. I can still remember the new smell of the
unit with
> the leather protective case.
> And then the fun began. So did the work. <smile>
> The excitment of actually reading print material, even if it was just a
training document, was something I'll never forget.
> Since that day in 1972 I've read virtually every kind of printed material
at one time or another.
> I still am a bit in awe when I look at an old book published in the early
1900s or before and realize that many many blind people lived in "homes for
the blind",
> or other institutional or protective settings, and that reading such a
book independently wasn't even considered possible.
> It does put the progress in the world in some sort of perspective. I
think this is largely why I've always felt that the discontinuance of
Optacon production
> was truly a step backward from independence for blind people.
> Don
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