Disability Dialogue with Bill

Holidays; Sharing Your Time Can Be a Valuable Gift

During the holidays I enjoy participating in get togethers with family and friends. I am aware not everyone has family or friends nearby. Also, some people believe they are too busy to share time with others and prefer to be alone. I feel one should participate unselfishly with others if given the opportunity. Over the past few years I have lost many loved ones and am grateful I was able to be with them sharing memories when I had a chance to.

During this time of the year we have many opportunities to share our self with others. For example, for the people in the US we recently had Thanksgiving. We also have Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years among many other holidays.

If your special holiday traditions involve the purchase of gifts, I understand some wish to participate in such However I believe a gift of sharing yourself can be more valuable than any store purchased gift.

I am aware of the value of assistance and sharing because of the many challenges my wife, Kathy, and I attempt to overcome daily. I use to do all the driving when I had eyesight. Now that I am blind and can no longer drive and my wife does not feel comfortable driving on freeways traveling is difficult. Not having the option to drive introduces unique challenges when Kathy is sick and I need to bring her to the doctors, get medicine for us or do grocery shopping. Repairing/maintaining minor things around the house is challenging and extremely time consuming. Reading my postal mail and responding to correspondence is also difficult for me.

Why We Have New Obstacles We Are Grateful To Overcome:

On May 26, 1999 I had become critically ill and went into the hospital. I spent seven months in the hospital, in which three of the months I was in a coma.  I returned home from the hospital on December 28, 1999. We received medical bills totaling over one million dollars which caused Kathy and I to address several challenges. When we received the medical bills at this stage in my recovery I was in bed and could not get out without assistance. Unfortunately at the same time the landlord raised our rent.  Also we no longer had medical coverage due to exceeding the limits of the insurance policy.  Therefor we were on our own to pay any remaining costs out of pocket.

Despite these difficulties, the alternative of my dying during my hospitalization would have been far worse.   

I am grateful to be able to say I survived so I can share my time with others and enjoy life and all the difficulties it presents at times. Even though my life has changed forever when I hear the song by Barbra Streisand,  “The Way We Were”, it reminds me of the way it used to be.

I am happy my wife Kathy and I were able to uphold our wedding vows we committed to each other on June 14, 1987 which are noted below and to continue to give each other the best gift of all.

I (name), take you (name), for my lawful wedded wife/husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. 

I am grateful I have the opportunity to work in my profession long hours at times with little downtime even through some weekends. Despite the challenges my wife Kathy and I continually face and somehow overcome I still try to find time to provide my gift of helping others.  Examples are being a mentor, helping to increase accessibility/usability in my workplace, helping drive inclusion and helping others in my community.

Below are some suggestions on how an individual can share time with others as well as demonstrate gratefulness. 

Examples of Valuable Gifts from My Wife Kathy, Family and Others:

• I am grateful Kathy did not take the advice of others and leave me when I was in the hospital during my seven month stay. This gift enabled us to continue on our life journey sharing life’s experiences together.
• I am grateful Kathy did not accept the advice of the hospital personnel of sending me to a rehabilitation facility far away from family and friends when I ran out of insurance after being in the hospital for seven months. She gave me the loving gift by taking me home to provide  some rehabilitation herself which also enabled me to connect with local organizations to further assist me instead of my being isolated in some far-off location.
• I am grateful my dad provided the gift of building me a standing frame from plans he got from one of our local hospitals. This enabled my wife Kathy to work with me daily at home using this device along with the other required therapy.  Although most doctors thought I would never walk again, using this standing frame with other therapy eventually enabled me to walk again with the assistance of two canes, one support cane and one long white cane for navigation.  
• I am grateful after I got home from the hospital in December of 1999 for some family members, a co- worker and others who came over to provide the gift of assistance.
• I am grateful after having a total hip replacement in 2013 Kathy provided the gift of bringing me home to help me perform  the required rehabilitation which enabled me to recover and heal at home instead of sending me to a rehabilitation center.
• I am grateful I have Kathy to provide gifts all year long such as maintaining our home, our yard, our car as well as doing the finances, cooking delicious meals and all of the other things she does daily from sunrise to well past sunset, occasionally taking some time off for herself.
• I am grateful that Kathy decorates our home for the holidays sharing the gift of enjoyment and holiday traditions for all who are able to experience the holiday wonderland.  This environment spreads the happiness and cheer that goes with creating a festive and loving environment.
• I am grateful to have received the gift of positivity and prayers from many people all around the world to assist me in coming out of my coma and surviving my critical medical condition.

Other Examples of Valuable Gifts:

• I am grateful for the gift of assistive technology. When I went blind this technology enabled me to retain my job after a lot of training and commitment to re-skilling myself.
• Give the gift of your personal companionship by spending time with others to help decrease loneliness and promote happiness.
• Offer your gift of experience, time and expertise to help people in your workplace, non-profit organizations, neighborhood, your community and other places around the world who can benefit from your skills and knowledge.
• Provide the gift of assisting the less fortunate, the disabled, the elderly or those who are in need so as to help increase optimism and self-esteem as well as helping them with tasks they cannot do themselves.
• Provide the gift of knowledge by teaching, mentoring and give guidance to people in your personal and professional life to help in order to share educational opportunities.
• If in your professional life you are in direct contact with customers you should provide the gift of treating them with respect and caring like you should do for everyone.
• If you work in an organization or business and are able to develop programs to assist employees or customers with challenges or disabilities in the work-place or customer facing products or services you can provide a unique gift by launching programs to assist these employees and customers to be more self-sufficient.
• One can provide the gift of inclusion and equal access by developing and promoting accessible and usable web pages, applications and devices.  This practice can help increase inclusion and reduce exclusion.

These gifts I have listed are equally reciprocal as gifts to yourself. When you give the gift of yourself there are others that receive your gifts through the people you touch.  One other side benefit of providing such gifts is that you will never know who you may have helped from your generosity and caring.

Do you have any suggestions on how to share unselfishly and celebrate holidays while helping others? Can you provide ideas as to how to have time to help the less fortunate, the elderly or the disabled? Do you have any stories to share to help us all learn the benefits of providing the gift of assisting others in need while increasing happiness?

We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year and can find some time to create happiness for others!!

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton

Lack of Awareness Can Result in Accessibility Obstacles

Has anyone ever heard discussions about people with disabilities not necessarily needing or requiring access to particular applications, web pages or documentation because they assume people with disabilities will never use them?

Or, maybe you have experienced people displaying a lack of awareness of what skills disabled people have to offer? Others may not be willing to fully utilize the valuable and unique skills people with disabilities have. Maybe that is because they are unaware of how effective assistive technology can be at levelling the playing field and assisting employees to be as effective as anyone not using assistive technology. Some uninformed people may assume no disabled person could be a people manager or a leader of others. Therefore, their thought process is that applications needed to perform that job function is not required to be accessible since no disabled person will use those particular applications, web pages or documentation. This thought process unfairly restricts promotional opportunities for the disabled.

It is also possible you may have heard someone tell a person with a disability that they do not need to use that application therefore it does not need to be made accessible. Perhaps you have also overheard the excuse that it is not likely a person with a disability who uses assistive technology is going to become a system administrator, therefor that function of the software does not need to be made accessible.

I know of people who are disabled and use assistive technology successfully who perform very technical roles. For example, database administrators, system administrators managing systems locally or remotely using software, application developers and scientists as well as others working in many other highly successful professional roles including managers.

To increase accessibility/usability I feel it is not beneficial to make assumptions on who will use a product. It is far easier to design and develop all applications, web pages and documentation to be accessible and usable to all people. This best practice will also save valuable time and money if a person reports an accessibility issue that requires the developer to immediately drop everything and retrofit the product for usability/accessibility after the product has already been designed, developed and released to the public.

Has anyone ever experienced any of the awareness or stereotypical challenges I talk about above regarding accessibility? Does anyone have any ideas of how to break the assumptions that people with disabilities should not be restricted to certain jobs or professions despite their education and skills?

Does anyone have any thoughts on the value of accessibility and the benefits of demonstrating inclusion and valuing all people equally? Has anyone experienced any positive examples regarding this topic that you might want to share? 

Lastly, does anyone have other tips or success stories to help educate us all on the benefits of fully utilizing the complete talents of people with disabilities instead of restricting their professional or personal progress?

We all look forward to hearing your valuable comments and tips.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

https://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wdtipton                

Increase and Promote Accessibility: Global Accessibility Awareness Day

 

May 17 was Global Accessibility Awareness Day. To celebrate the importance of accessibility I am humbled to share a blog post my employer wrote and published “Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day” (Hewlett Packard Enterprise). This blog post contains a tip I provided to assist in increasing one component of accessibility. This also describes some of the work I do for my employer and the importance of accessibility.

• What did you learn from the blog post?
• If you recognize  Global Accessibility Awareness Day, how do you plan to celebrate this in 2019?
• How do you plan to increase accessibility in the work place to help employees who use assistive technology to be as productive as they can be and overcome barriers that in most cases can easily be resolved?
• Any suggestions for on-line course developers to assist them in developing courses everyone can complete without assistance, even people with disabilities?
• Do you have any tips for web developers to help them increase accessibility and usability to enable equal access for all?
• Can you suggest some ideas to increase usability and accessibility in services and products to help   increase customer satisfaction and loyalty?

We all look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton

 

 

Attending the American Foundation for the Blind Leadership Conference and Helen Keller Achievement Awards Ceremony

My wife Kathy and I had an enjoyable time attending the American Foundation for the Blind Leadership Conference and Helen Keller Achievement Award ceremony and Gala in Oakland California this April.

 

You can read about the last time we attended the Helen Keller Achievement Awards ceremony in New York City in my blog post I did “Helen Keller Achievement Awards & Exploring NYC without Eyesight”.

I enjoyed attending the sessions and due to my accessibility experience having the opportunity to talk with others in person I otherwise know virtually and seldom get to meet in person. One example is having the opportunity to talk in person with Jennison Asuncion, Engineering Manager, Accessibility at LinkedIn. Attending this event also gave me the opportunity to meet people I have never met before who are as passionate as I am about accessibility for products and services. These people also share the same enthusiasm as I for increasing accessibility in the work place. These shared goals include sponsoring inclusion for people with disabilities also with hiring, retaining and promotional opportunities. It was refreshing to be around people who understand the technical and business reasons for insuring people with disabilities are included in the work place to enhance the diverse conversations that lead to better project outcomes.

I especially enjoyed the General Sessions” How Leading Tech Companies Are Raising the Bar for Blind and Visually Impaired Users” on Thursday and “Empowering a Future of No Limits: Employment panel” on Friday. In Fridays’ general session some speakers discussed why leading companies value the unique skillsets people with disabilities have to offer. I also definitely enjoyed listening to some of the speakers explain how their companies have established partnerships between product accessibility, HR, Diversity & Inclusion to promote internal accessibility goals to assist current employees with disabilities along with the goals of attracting new talented employees.

After the Helen Keller Achievement Award ceremony I was very excited and fortunate to meet a longtime, mostly virtual friend Jenny Lay-Flurrie , Chief Accessibility Officer from Microsoft. She was honored and awarded one of the three Helen Keller Achievement Awards for Microsoft’s significant strides in developing inclusive technologies to empower people with disabilities.

Read about this prestigious award and the other 2018 Helen Keller Achievement Award Winners that include Facebook and Haben Girma who I was also fortunate enough to meet and congratulate virtually after the event.

You can read some of the highlights from The 2018 American Foundation for the Blind Leadership Conference in the April 2018 AccessWorld®. Also you can find some of the pictures of this event at American Foundation for the Blind Leadership Conference and Helen Keller Achievement Awards (Facebook) Photos.

Has anyone else attended events where you learned the value of accessibility and the benefits of demonstrating inclusion of all people equally?  If yes, what did you learn? Do you plan to incorporate anything you learned?  If yes, what do you think might be your largest obstacle you may have to overcome in order to promote any change if needed?

We all look forward to hearing your valuable comments.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton 

 

How People Who Are Blind Can Orientate Themselves Using a Screen Reader

Most of you who have read my blog posts or know me are aware I am completely blind. From my electronic communications you have read from me you also may understand that I use computers and mobile devices. Some probably do not know how I use these tools therefor I will explain some.  

I use a form of assistive technology called a screen reader which is software on my devices.  The screen reader reads aloud in synthesized speech the application components including the user interface controlling elements for the application enabling me to use these. My screen reader also reads web pages, web applications and the user interface elements to perform the system administration tasks for my devices. 

I think you will find the blog post A Tale of Two Rooms written by an employee I know from The Paciello Group beneficial to help you understand how a screen reader user navigates and orientates themselves on a web page or within an application. 

Does anyone have any questions to clarify anything? Do you have any other examples of how accessibility design can assist in navigation and orientation? Does anyone have an example of similar navigational and orientation techniques for people with other disabilities? 

We all look forward to hearing your valuable comments. 

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton 

Concluding the Year by Demonstrating Compassion with Gratitude While Practicing Unselfish Behavior

As this year comes to a close I hope we can take time out of our busy schedules to reflect upon and embrace the positive experiences that we may have had in 2017. I understand for some it is easier to recall the sad or difficult experiences like when my mom unexpectedly passed away on November 1st and when my brother-in-law passed away on March 3rd. Even with such sad events a person can leverage the positive aspects in the celebration of their lives.  Although I will always miss them I am fortunate to have many loving memories of spending time together with them including numerous phone conversations with my mom, which I am grateful for. I am also thankful I was able to be a part of my brother-in-law and Kathy’s sister’s many family events at their home including barbecues, family dinners, birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, all demonstrating his unselfish behavior and love for his family.

I am grateful I took the time out of my busy work schedule to gently assist my mom with numerous things before and after work daily and on weekends. I will always have many memories of my mom including how she picked up on mobile devices very easily and our many conversations about them. I will never forget her homemade cooking including scones, shortbread, chicken dumplings with large homemade noodle dumplings, chicken cacciatora, swiss steak and spaghetti as well as other meals she prepared with love.   We both enjoyed classic movies which always lead to some nice conversations. I am thankful that I was at the hospital with her on her last day and was able to hold her hand and kiss it (too many tubes to get close) as I cried I said my final good- bye to her. When I was holding her hand I felt she knew I was there to comfort her. Although my mom has passed away I am fortunate I did not take the attitude of being too busy to assist her. That act of unselfishness on my part now allows me to have my loving caring memories of her. I plan to continue to practice the same compassionate behavior without overstepping my boundaries as I continue to assist my dad.

Kathy and I are grateful and count our blessings daily that together we are able to face the many challenges and obstacles sometimes presented to us mainly because of my blindness.  You may want to read about some of our challenges and obstacles in Celebrating 30th Wedding Anniversary with Gratitude. One reason, out of many for our gratefulness, is when we were able to overcome a large obstacle we faced near the end of 2016. Thankfully Kathy and I partnered together to overcome an extremely unstable job situation due to possible layoffs for me.  If that was not stressful enough at the same time Kathy and I were in great jeopardy of losing our home we have been renting for almost thirty years due to the owners decision to sell the house. Fortunately we decided to purchase the house which has been our home for many years. Our home had become very comfortable and safe for us. It is also easy and safe for me to navigate around in the house as well as in our neighborhood. This skill that enables me to safely and easily navigate as a person without eyesight in our home and other places is due to my many hours of orientation and mobility training I had after I went blind. During our housing search we tirelessly researched places in Georgia, Illinois as well as many other locations we could possibly move to.  That time of job and housing instability was extremely stressful causing fear and anxiety, Kathy and I managed together to make it through that challenging and difficult period of uncertainty due to our deep love and devotion to each other.

We are very much looking forward to another exciting year ahead that includes all the bumps and turns in this precious road of life.  We will also continue to practice the act of unselfish behavior.

How do you cope with the unexpected loss of a loved one? How can we better use time management techniques to increase our potential for unselfish behavior to assist those in need or less fortunate in 2018? Does anyone have any examples of how you have helped others or demonstrated compassion? Does anyone have any tips to share to help us all make the time that is needed to help others even when we think we are too busy? Or maybe someone has tips to help reverse the attitude some might have of I do not need to help because others will.

We all look forward to hearing your valuable comments and stories to propel us forward with a trajectory of success and happiness in the upcoming holidays and New Year.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton 

Dreaming in a Coma

Have you ever had an experience that you were not sure when it actually occurred? Since what you understand now, you wonder how that activity could have occurred when you thought it did. I will explain:

In May of 1999 I slipped into a coma for three months due to a critical medical condition. After I awoke from my coma, was eased off the many drugs that helped save my life and helped with the pain, I slowly became aware of my surroundings. Not too long after this I began to think I was completely blind. When I learned how to talk with my newly acquired tracheotomy and was able to persuade my doctors I could not see. They brought in an eye specialist into the hospital to examine me.  With the examination they confirmed I was completely blind. The mysterious part of my story, I believe I had many dreams when I was in a coma which I already knew I was blind before any doctors examined me.  Most of these dreams lasted for days. In the same dream spanning across many days and nights as I would wake up each morning and go to bed each night all during the same dream.

In some of my numerous dreams I was attempting to cure my own blindness. 

Designing and Manufacturing My Own Eyeglasses - Dream:

I thought if I could manufacture customized glasses with specialized lenses it would allow me to see again. I constantly was working on designing and researching optics for the lenses I would put in the glasses to restore my eyesight. I even explored incorporating wireless sensors that connected to my brain to aid with possible nerve problems. Some of the experimentation I had to do by touch alone since I could not see the glasses I was working on.   As I tried many different variations of lenses to offset my vision loss I found I was not making much progress on my own.

I traveled for days consulting with other eye, optic nerve and brain specialists including many people who were optic lens experts. As a newly blind person with no mobility training enabling me to travel safely I quickly learned traveling with no eyesight was like a nightmare. I would just fumble around from town to town crossing over a variety of elevations, many types of surfaces and attempting to avoid obstacles. As I traveled I would listen for voices and if I heard any I would head towards who was talking to request assistance in locating the person I was trying to meet. With my idea of restoring my eyesight with specialized optics and sensors it seemed like it may not work I attempted other methods.

Mysterious Healer - Dream:

I heard of a person from across the bay from me could possibly restore the vision to the blind as well as cure other illnesses. I thought finding out if this person could help was worth a try. My first challenge was getting to the location where this person was which was approximately 40 miles away. Before I began I understood traveling on foot and being newly blind this trip would take days. Somehow I found a tunnel that ran under the San Francisco Bay just large enough for me to crawl on my knees using my hands to guide me.  I crawled for miles all the while having a sensation I should not attempt this kind of healing. I remember the pain in my knees and hands as I occasionally placed them on broken glass or other sharp objects. My head would occasionally bump into something therefore I tried to keep my head down so the top of my head would hit the obstacle and not my face.

After crawling for hours I somehow as if by instinct alone I found a tunnel that led me up to the street level. Once I was on the street I eventually located a person who assisted me in finding the location where the mysterious healer was. Although I was already in complete darkness due to my blindness, I was herded into a room with many other people.  When I heard those around me seeking to be cured I sensed it was even darker than my own complete blindness with a sense of eeriness. While I waited for what was to happen next to all of us who were jammed into this small room I felt very uneasy, frightened and wished I was not there. After listening to the healer enter the room and speak some muffled words which I could not understand I felt the crowd around me begin to disperse. I could tell this because I was no longer bumping into people and the room was much quieter. At this point I began to understand this person could not cure my blindness and I began to wonder how I would get back home.

Upon leaving the room and building I immediately started to search for anyone whom I could request assistance. After receiving help from many people I eventually found the tunnel under the bay and crawled back through it. With many more hours of traveling and attempting to avoid all of the hazardous and painful obstacles I gratefully made it back home.

Eye Transplant - Dream:

 I believe this next dream may have been after I got out of my coma, although I could be mistaken. Possibly this dream could also have occurred when I was in my coma. After enduring a few successful surgeries I began to think anything was possible.  I kept waiting for the day when the doctors would restore my eyesight and had faith they would during my hospitalization.

At this time I did not know the medical reason I could not see and thought the doctors could just replace my eyes and I would be able to see again. I would pray that the upcoming surgery would be successful. Also I prayed to ease the feeling of uneasiness I had for the upcoming eye transplant surgery.  I had one somewhat funny concern regarding the eye replacement surgery. It was that after the surgery was completed the doctor may accidentally select eyes that did not match in color. After weeks of waiting with no eye surgery discussed or occurring I realized the doctors could not restore my eyesight with an eye transplant.

Additional Dreams:

 I also had numerous other vivid detailed long dreams that directly related to experiences I was going through in the hospital. Upon returning home to my own bed after seven months in the hospital my vivid dreams subsided. It is amusing that I did enjoy recalling the many dreams/nightmares I had when in the hospital.

Has anyone else recalled dreams you thought you had while in a coma? Did anyone else attempt to cure an illness or disability in your dreams like I did? Have you heard of other people having similar experiences?

We all look forward to hearing your valuable comments and stories.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton 

Quick Exploration of Boulder Creek Area: Plus Some Needed Relaxation

In July I had a couple of day’s free from my profession (work) which I truly enjoy although I wanted to take full advantage of my time off from work. Generally I work 5-7 days a week and approximately 50-60 or more hours a week and was ready for some relaxation.  I am completely blind and cannot drive myself to locations I enjoy although I could take a taxi even Uber to travel if I really wanted to get away by myself.  When my friend asked me to join him on an overnight trip to Bolder Creek I jumped at the chance to get away. I love mountains and I used to go to them weekly if not daily when I could see and drive myself. To be sure this was a successful trip I carefully packed my things I would need and made sure I could find each item by touch alone. My loving wife Kathy assisted me with packing even though she would not be accompanying me on this trip.

Time for Fun and Relaxation- Day 1:

As soon as we arrived at my friend’s cabin in Bolder Creek I got out of the car and felt the warm air against my skin and breathed in the fresh dry mountain air scented by the trees and shrubs which immediately began to relax me. After unpacking we sat out on the deck at the back of the cabin that overlooks the San Lorenzo River and had lunch. I could hear people laughing as they swam or waded in the river. I could also hear the occasional ducks quacking in the background as I imagined them swimming in the river.

After lunch we stopped by a nursery where I purchased a native California plant to plant in my yard to attract Monarch butterflies.

Besides some relaxing and visiting with each other as we drove around we went on a walk completing the Redwood Grove Loop Trail at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Felton. I enjoyed the relaxing walk through the very large Redwood trees and through a variety of other native plants and trees. I even enjoyed feeling and smelling the trees bark and plants as we took our leisurely walk in the filtered sun. 

After our walk since my wife Kathy is full blooded Italian, plus I like Italian cookies as well, I had to stop by Ben Lomond Baking Company to sample some Italian cookies including Cucidatis (Italian fig cookies). 

To conclude our enjoyable Thursday my friend and I met up with one of my longtime friends who I have known since 1^st grade for a nice dinner and conversation in town at Scopazzi's Restaurant. Since the night was so pleasant we were able to enjoy our delicious dinner on the outdoor patio. To end our evening all three of us went back to the cabin where we continued our conversation.

Time for More Fun and Relaxation- Day 2:

After a nice breakfast at my friend’s cabin we visited with a few friendly nearby neighbors in the warm air surrounded by Pine, Oak and Bay Laurel trees with some birds chirping here and there. When we concluded our visiting and exploring the forest /woods we drove to Spanky's Cafe where we had an enjoyable lunch in this restored old farm house. When we finished our lunch my friend and I did some other exploring including visiting a place where they sell wooden carvings so I could feel the beautiful wood work and imagine in my minds-eye what each piece looked like.  We then planned to conclude our day by relaxing on Davenport Landing beach.

To get to Davenport from Boulder Creek we cut over the mountains and headed directly towards Bonny Doon Beach. The roads were windy with a lot of elevation changes until we eventually dropped off onto Highway 1and headed north to Davenport Landing Beach. Once we arrived we carried our beach essentials down a large sand dunes until we found a perfect spot near the ocean and a cliff face and cove. Relaxing in the nice warm air with the gentle breeze on the beach was very refreshing since it was 68 degrees which was more than 30 degrees cooler than BC which was 98-100 degrees which we had left earlier in the day. I also enjoyed listening to the waves and the people around us enjoying themselves by playing an acoustic guitar or playing music on boom boxes very softly off in the distance. It was very relaxing as I laid on my back in the sun on the soft warm sand imagining in my mind’s eye the surfers, wind surfers or others playing in the waves that were actually out there although I could not physically see them. 

Time to Conclude Our Fun and Relaxation:

When we concluded our enjoyable beach experience it was time to return home. After returning home to the very hot Santa Clara Valley (on that day ) it was time to unpack and return to my standard daily routine, which I also enjoy, although quite different than the exploration and relaxation I just experienced over the last two days.

Have you been able to find methods to relax like I describe above? Did you have any opportunities for exploration you were not expecting? Do you have any tips to make our opportunities turn out the best for all involved despite any perceived or actual challenges you may have?

We all look forward to hearing from you.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton 

Celebrating 30th Wedding Anniversary with Gratitude

When I wrote my blog post, Anniversaries - What They Mean to You I was celebrating my 20^th wedding anniversary.  Now I am happy and grateful to be celebrating my 30^th anniversary this month on June 14, 2017.

If you have not had the opportunity to read any of my other blog posts to get to know me here is a short background describing what happened to me. I went completely blind in 1999 during a seven month hospitalization three of which I was in a coma. Now I also require two canes to walk, one support cane and one long white cane for navigation.  

As I wrote about in “Anniversaries - What They Mean to You” I will always remember my 11th wedding anniversary among all others except for my 12^th which I describe in my blog post above. I will never forget my 11th wedding anniversary because it was the last anniversary I could hold my wife and look into her bright caring eyes and see her loving expression on her beautiful face looking back at me. Thinking about the length of time that passed since that wonderful occasion brings up the thought of Kathy and me reaching another milestone. Our new milestone is over half of our married life I have not been able to see my loving wife Kathy or assist her the way I could or want to if I was not blind and did not require two canes to walk. Although I am working many hours a week in my profession, most other activities around the home are left up to Kathy to complete by herself which is very stressful and difficult.

Below are additional reasons I am celebrating and am grateful for to add to the ones I noted in Anniversaries - What They Mean to You.

• I am grateful Kathy did not accept the advice of the hospital personnel to send me off to a rehabilitation facility far away from family and friends. She instead decided to take me home to perform some rehabilitation herself which also enabled me to connect with local organizations to assist me locally instead of my being isolated in some far off location.
• I am grateful to have my dad build me a standing frame from plans he got from one of our local hospitals. This enabled my wife Kathy to work with me daily using it along with the other required therapy. This therapy eventually enabled me to walk again which I describe in Learning to Walk Again.
• I am grateful after having a total hip replacement that Kathy again took me home to help with the required rehabilitation which enabled me to recover and heal at home. I wrote about this in Accepting the Inevitable Total Hip Replacement , instead of sending me to a rehabilitation center.
• I am grateful Kathy did not take the advice of others and leave me when I was in the hospital. This enabled us to continue on our journey through life together, although now with additional obstacles and bumps in this road of life.
• I am grateful I have Kathy to maintain our home, our yard, our car and finances among all of the other things she does daily from sunrise to well past sunset, occasionally taking some time off for herself. 
• I am grateful Kathy brings light into my darkened eyes as we continue on our life’s’ journey to reach another wonderful milestone together, and dream and plan for many more in the future.

Since my 20^th wedding anniversary blog post, like some other people, we have endured financial difficulties, challenging living situations and experienced many other obstacles in our life which tests our health, marriage and friendship.  We understand we are not unique and these circumstances are all part of life that we accept and will continue to do the best we can together as partners in life.

Does anyone want to share any reasons why they feel anniversaries are special? Are you celebrating an anniversary of any type in which you would like to include all of us in your celebration? Do you have any additional thoughts to help us all not lose track of what is important in life? Lastly, any comments on how we can maintain gratitude and love through challenges?  

We all look forward to hearing from you.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton 

Home Maintenance: Disassembling Wooden Frames Without Eyesight

Have you ever wondered how a completely blind person is able to accomplish home maintenance projects; for example disassembling somewhat large wooden frames around raised vegetable garden beds by touch and sound only?  I would not think most of you have thought about such things therefore I will explain for those interested in learning one person’s technique and strategy.

Why: Over 25 years ago before I went completely blind I built three redwood raised vegetable garden beds in the house we rented.  Over each of the beds I built large redwood frames where I placed weather resistant sun filtering cloth that allows air through but blocked out direct sunlight. I could then manually roll out  the sun filtering  cloth over the frame as needed to protect the plants from the intense direct sun. Since I lost my eyesight in May of 1999 the two remaining garden beds and the frames covering them had developed a desperate need of repair. To start the needed transformation   and the required repair of my vegetable garden area I planned to remove the two frames around each bed that were  left to allow the vegetables to  grow in natural unfiltered sun.  My plan is to recycle and reuse the wood from the frames for plant stakes as well as other uses for the wood around our yard thus preventing the waste of valuable wood and trees.

Strategy: I figured out all the tools I would need ahead of time to complete this project. Since I walk with two canes, one support cane and one long white cane for navigation, I have no extra hands to carry anything when I walk which makes planning crucial. After I located  one philips screwdriver, one flat blade  screwdriver, needle nose plyers, regular plyers, hammer, a plastic bottle of water  and my trusty  Huntsman version of a Swiss Army knife (my go to knife when I used to backpack) I was prepared. My loving wife Kathy set up a chair where I could sit as I worked on my project. Kathy also brought me all the tools I listed including an empty coffee can. This can was used so I could place any hardware in it during the disassembly process. I carefully placed my tools and coffee can near the right side of my chair so I could find everything more easily. Once Kathy had dragged each frame with some difficulty over to me one at a time I was ready to begin my fun.

Fun: As I sat in the chair with  the frame resting  across my legs with it’s four legs pointing in unknown directions I explored all sides of the frame with my fingers and hands to determine the layout  in my minds-eye and as to how I assembled it many years ago. After I had the image of how the frame looked I then determined the best approach to disassemble it. Then I felt around at each joint to determine if I used screws or nails as fasteners.    From feeling small indentations at the center of each fastener with my finger tip I determined they must be screws that held down each metal bracket.  These L-brackets attached each leg to the top square frame I had assembled with the same style brackets. I then selected my Swiss Army knife’s small screw driver and started to remove each screw. Some screws were extremely tight which required me to position myself in my chair in a way to maximize leverage.  This tactic allowed me to keep the required pressure on the screw as I removed each one. After removing a leg of the frame I found a short piece of wood that was connected to it. By feeling no indentation in the top of the fastener on this short piece of wood I determined I had put in nails which held the short piece of wood to the leg.  These short pieces of wood connected each leg on two sides to the top of the frame at 45 degree angles reinforcing each leg. After removing the short pieces of wood by pulling them off by hand or prying them off with the claw end of the hammer I used my plyers or hammer to pull out each nail. To keep my work space organized as I disassembled each section I stacked the shorter pieces of wood to the left of my chair, the longer leg pieces to my right in the corner resting up against the fence and placed all screws, nails and brackets in the coffee can.

When I was working on the second frame I noticed for some reason the screws did not turn, therefore did not loosen. This difficulty made me wonder if these were nails preventing my Swiss Army knife screwdriver from biting in the head of the screw as I attempted to twist it out. I then cheated and asked my wife Kathy if the screws were philips or straight blade types since I could not determent what they were by touching them with my fingertips. After Kathy looked she found some were phillips and others were corroded therefor I switched to my longer handled screw drivers to get more leverage. When I made this minor adjustment I was again well on my way to completion of this project. After removing many screws, nails, and all brackets I was pleasantly surprised when I reached down towards my feet and in front of me where I would keep the frame pieces that still needed work and found nothing but air as I grasped around with outreached hands. I also double checked by kicking out my feet keeping them low to the ground searching by touch and sound for them to connect with something solid  just in case a piece of frame landed out of hands reach during   the disassembly process. I was happy to discover that this test failed to locate any stray pieces, therefore I called Kathy over (she was working in some other area of the yard) to confirm I did not miss any. After verifying with Kathy that the first frame was completely disassembled she dragged the second one over for me to disassemble. When I had completed the second frame and had Kathy confirm that I had, she told me I did not miss disassembling a single piece of wood, removing a screw or any nail. This made me smile with joy.   When I had completed this project I then organized my longer pieces of wood that I placed to my right against the fence to later saw off the damaged parts to prepare each piece for a new life.

What I learned from this simple project:

• Overcoming the thought of completing a project like I describe and doing something that requires more exertion than one is accustomed to or have ever attempted before may be the most difficult part. Because of these challenges it is best to just plan and get started.
• Despite any challenge or disability if one plans thoroughly it is possible to participate in or complete many projects on your own.
• Although disassembling a large wooden frame like I described may be difficult or awkward with challenges such as being blind which is the equivalent of wearing a blindfold or walking around using canes, the satisfaction of completing a project is worth the challenges.
• If assistance is not available and you are forced to improvise and utilize work-arounds, it is still possible to complete projects.
• Being prepared with everything you may need before you start will help reduce the stress of having to stop in the middle of your project to locate something you may need or even worse find out you may be missing something required to complete the project.
• Keep a positive attitude and if you are outside, take advantage of relaxing in the sun, listening to the birds, the wind rustling through tree leaves, breathing fresh air and the joyful sounds of neighbors experiencing life. Pace yourself and enjoy the option to be outdoors.

Does anyone have any stories to share that explain projects you have attempted or completed where you overcame any challenge you may have? Do you have any tips for me and others to help us overcome what some people perceive as challenges to fully participate in projects and life? Any ideas to increase the probability of completing projects when help is limited or not readily available?  Any other experiences you want to share to help us take the required steps to experience all aspects of life, including the uncomfortable, unfamiliar or challenging aspects of enjoying life?

We all look forward to hearing from you.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton