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Author: Tom

I have been working in accessibility for the last 25 years. I have helped government agencies, corporations and non-profit organizations to become accessible. Over the years I taught over 20000 people about accessibility.

I Almost Lost My Friend to a Preventable Accident

Published March 30, 2023 by Tom

The other day my friend was walking home from work using his white cane. All of a sudden he stepped into a hole, dropped 8 feet, and submerged into mud and water covering him all the way. It was the middle of the winter, the water was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. He survived, due to nothing more than luck, when he touched a thick tube on which he could pull himself out of the freezing water. People saw the accident on the street and called the fire department, and they rescued him in half an hour.

Now you may wonder, how did it happen if he used his cane properly? Probably, he was. He was walking on a sidewalk where he had walked each day for years. He wouldn’t have thought to slow down and check for life-threatening hazards. But it was even worse. The hole was in front of a retirement home, also near a local school serving kids with special needs.

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How to Introduce Yourself in a Meeting

Published March 20, 2023 by Tom

Introduction

Over the last few years, you may have noticed that many meetings and conference presentations start by people describing themselves. The idea is to make the meeting as inclusive for visually impaired people as possible. But is it for visually impaired people only? Does it make a meeting more inclusive? Is it mandatory? There are many more questions for which there are no guidelines, and often gets awkward to ask. I’ll try to answer some of these questions.

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Trip report to Scotland with a guide dog

Published March 13, 2023 by Tom

I recently read a post on a mailing list from Eric Caron, who explained the difficulties of traveling with a guide dog to Scotland. He wrote about the days of travel arrangements, paperwork, and expenses. I asked Eric if he would be willing to share his story with you. I have to say I had my fair share of difficulties to arrange trips with Baldwin, but nothing like Eric had to go through.

Eric lives in Brattleboro VT near Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  This is about a 2 hour drive from Boston.  He lives there with his wife Heidi, current guide dog Becky, retired guide Ryan, an African Grey Parrot and a Tuxedo cat.

Eric with his guide dog Becky

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The Visual Bucket List Foundation

Published February 22, 2023 by Tom

The Visual Bucket List Foundation helps children who are losing their vision to create visual memories they can remember after they completely go blind. There are certain eye diseases which predictably result in the complete loss of vision. The foundation set out to provide children with such diseases to experience things which otherwise cannot be fully explained to blind people.

Remington meets a giraffe in the Columbus Zoo

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Blindfolds Are Not the Same as Being Blind

Published December 17, 2022 by Tom

Often when discussing the experience of being blind, I find that different simulations are implemented to explain what it feels to be blind. Probably the most common is to put on a blindfold. While such exercises can have many different values, the only thing they don’t simulate is what it means to be blind. However, such activities do have value, they should just be used for what they are worth. In this article, I will show a few ideas and discuss how they can be useful and also what they don’t add to understanding blindness.

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Preparing for Life When You Are Going Blind

Published December 8, 2022 by Tom

Introduction

If you or any of your relatives are going blind, it will probably be one of the biggest life events. It is hard to avoid trauma, but it is important to know that people who go blind can continue doing what they were doing with modifications, and it will also create new opportunities. Going blind itself is such a huge topic that it would deserve an entire book. This post, however, is more intended to be a roadmap for somebody starting on their research on how to get prepared.

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Airport Accessibility Enhancement Accreditation

Published November 30, 2022 by Tom

In September 2022 the Airports Council International launched the Airport Accessibility Enhancement Accreditation program. This accreditation is the first of its kind, and can be awarded to ACI member airports, currently in 183 countries.

The accreditation demonstrates a level of accessibility and provides continuous improvement. The accreditation is valid for three years. The process is expected to take approximately two weeks.

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Specialized or mainstream vacations for blind people

Published November 28, 2022 by Tom

There are some vacation experiences which are designed specifically for blind people, keeping all requirements and accessibility needs in mind. This is where people don’t have to worry if their accessibility needs will be met for the entire duration of their stay. However, only a few of such experiences exist. Opportunities are practically endless when we consider mainstream vacation ideas, available for all, but these may not be fully accessible. There are advantages of both approaches. We will look at how each one works and what the advantages are.

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