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.