The first scene is going to be pictures of just a bunch of
people with me talking in the background about what makes someone legally
blind. While some of the pictures are still showing I’m going to ask a couple
of questions like, when you think of someone who has a handicap do you
automatically have pity for them, if you were handicapped would you
automatically want that pity and if you had a handicap that could be corrected
with technology would you think that that makes you any less of a person.
Interview:
Harold W. Barnes
What is the hardest thing about being legally blind?
One of the hardest things about being legally blind is that
almost as soon as someone finds out that I’m legally blind the first thing that
they say is “oh wow that must be such a struggle “ , it’s almost like they don’t
even have to know anything else about me to feel sorry for me. If people got
the time to know me before they started to feel bad they would realize that
there is no reason for them to feel sad for me.
What are some of the physical challenges that you have to
face on a day to day basis?
One of the major physical challenges that I have to overcome
is having to use a magnifying glass to read anything and everything. The worst
part of having to use the magnifying glass though is if you leave the house
with the wrong one you won’t be able to read everything that you want to. So if
I leave the house with a magnifying glass that is only a 5x then I can only
read part of the menu at a restaurant.
What was the best part about getting your driver license?
The best part was that after all of the years of not being
able to do anything on my own I was now able to drive to the store, to sporting
events and anything else that I felt like going to on my own. Once I got the
driving piece so much more than me being able to drive changed. I was now able
to use the piece to watch my children play their sports I was able to see
something that I didn’t have pressed up against my face and best of all I had
my freedom back.
Why do you think that people look at you with pity once they
find out you are legally blind?
I think that part of the reason that they look at me with
pity is because they think that I am already at a disadvantage compared to
them. They think that something that they don’t have to deal with makes life so
much harder for someone else, but in reality it doesn’t. Just because someone
has to deal with something that you don’t doesn’t mean that life for them is
that much harder for them than you. it’s like if some broke an arm or leg you don’t
feel bad for them because of the situation you feel bad for them because they
had to deal with the pain of it breaking, but being legally blind isn’t painful,
annoying at times yes but not painful so why be pitifully.
What is it that made you realize that your handicap didn’t truly
limit you?
One afternoon I was over at cousin’s house playing a game of
cards and we got to talking about things that I did to try and get around being
legally blind and she mentioned to me that there were devices that I could use
to help to correct my vision. I think that it was at this point that I realized
that I was no longer defined by my handicap it was just one more thing that I have
over com
After the opening scene I would start to talk about how
there are sports out there for people with a visual impairment, I would talk
about how just because someone has a handicap doesn’t mean that they can’t do
things that people who don’t have a handicap do every day. I would show a small
video clip of a group of people who are legally blind and or completely blind
playing a sport and doing other activities such as playing basketball or
playing a board game. While showing the videos I would talk about how it is possible
for people with handicaps like this to participate in these activities with
special pieces of technology, some being more advanced than others.
At about this point I would show an interview I am going to
do with my father talking about what some of the challenges that people who are
visually impaired face on a daily basis. I can talk from experience and say
that some of the problems that can face are people automatically think of them
as less of a person just because they can’t see as good as them. Part of the
major problem that people who are visually impaired face is a self-inflicted
one, the thing that most people who are legally blind bring on themselves the
most is the fear to do something new. A lot of people who are legally blind are
either older people or are people who have been legally blind since they were
born or very young. Situations such as this allow for people to become
complacent with life and be afraid to try new things. There is, however, a
group that is right in between there where they have lost their vision at an
age where they are used to being active. This group of the legally blind is
starting to lead the way for the rest of the group, they are making the fact
that they are legally blind become irrelevant to the world. There is a group of
legally blind people who are breaking the mold and going out and getting their
driver’s license and jobs.
After this I am going to start talking about how people who
are legally blind can get their driver’s license and how people who are legally
blind can become more active. The first step for someone who is legally blind
to get their driver’s license if for them to go to a government organization called
OSEA (occupational safety and environment association), this organization helps
people who have handicaps get involved in the world around them. Part of this
involves helping them to get their driver’s license they do this by fitting
them with a set of glasses that has a scope that allows for the wearer to zoom
in and out. After they are fitted with the glasses they go through a one day
training program, were they are taught how to properly use the glasses, then
they go through the driving part of the training were they drive around a city
with a licensed driver and scored on how
well they drive with the piece. After they go through the one day training
program they go two years only being able to drive during the day after the two
years they go back in for a night time driving course that is very similar to the
day time driving one. If they pass the
night time driving course then they are able to get their full license. While in
training if they get in any trouble with law enforcement with how they drive
time can be added on to their day time driving period or their ability to get
their license can be revoked completely. 
If someone who is legally blind wants to get involved in the
world by getting a job or something along that line, the same organization OSEA
also helps people who are legally blind. The organization helps people by
finding jobs that they are capable of doing with very little assistance or if
someone was to apply for a job were they would need assistance, say at a legal
firm where someone would have to do a lot of reading they would set the person
and firm up with everything that is needed for the person who is legally blind
to do the job properly. Some of the equipment that would be included in this is
a magnifying glass that works over a whole sheet of paper, a computer that you
can read to and it types as well as it reads emails and any other digital
documents back to you, and various other pieces of equipment.
Interview:
When you went in to see how t OSEA was going to set up your
work space what all did that entail?
Most of what was done involved me going through a regular
work day in the office, seeing where it was that I would need equipment to help
me get the job done properly. We went into the office and decided that I would
need a special computer the\at could read documents back to me and a large magnifying
glass. After we got done in the office we went out into the field to see what
was needed for me to do my job out there. Since I already had the eye piece to
help me see the only thing that I really needed to help me do my job was an app
on my phone that made it easier for me to distinguish colors from each other.
How big
of a difference did using the equipment have on how well you could do your job?
Each piece of equipment that I got to use made each part of
my job that much easier. The computer that I used made reading online documents
and emails easier and the large magnifying glass made reading regular paper
documents that much easier to read. When we went out into the field we test
working conditions with and without the glasses that I use for driving and when
was using them it made the field work so much easier. The only other tool that I
had to use was an app on my phone to help with my color blindness and it help
me to distinguish the colors.
The world today is defined by what people see on paper,
unless it has something to do with sports they refuse to think that something
or someone could do something that doesn’t fit the profile. When someone looks
at person with a handicap they automatically think of them as less of a person
and more as a handicap themselves. But there are people out there that have a
handicap that don’t fit the mold. Some people
can be legally blind and have a conversation with you and you would never know
that they are legally blind. Some of the most amazing people through history
were legally blind, some of the more famous people who were legally blind are
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Stevie Wonder and Joseph Pulitzer. If people who are
this famous and legally blind truly do break the mold of what being legally
blind is. If people can achieve greatness such as this and it doesn’t hinder
their ability to perform the task at
hand then why do we think of them as any less of a person, why is it that we automatically
assume that they are already less of a person. People who are legally blind aren’t
less of a person just because of the handicap they are just as human as you or
me it’s just that the challenges that they face are different from the ones
that the rest of us have to face
bio
Blindness." The Ee Dictionary By Farlax. Web. 27 Oct.
2015.
Web. 3 Nov. 2015.
http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/s_v/Untitled-1_620x413_11.jpg
Creighton, Ryan. "Wearable Technology Restores Sight to
the Legally Blind." TecVibes. 2 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
Robitaille, Suzanne. "Bringing the Blind into the
Workplace." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 22 Jan. 2002. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
Eye Piece, personal photograph by Jonathan Barnes, October
11
Driving Blind, personal photograph by Jonathan Barnes,
October 11
Interviews
Barnes, Harold. "Vision Impairment." Telephone
interview. 25 Oct. 2015.
Barnes, Alma. "Vision Impairment." Telephone
interview. 25 Oct. 2015.
Barnes, Stephen. "Vision Impairment." Telephone
interview. 25 Oct. 2015.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
