A question for blind tropers...

What are your dreams like? I've always wondered.

[...]

Dude. This is a text-based forum.

The question is valid. Technology permits the blind to peruse the internet.

Us handicapped peoples can overcome shit, dude. It's a program called zoomtext. It works for the (merely) legally blind like myself to the entirely sightless. It includes a reader.

I am not completely blind, but I can be of at least a small amount of use. My dreams tend to involve smells, sounds and feelings more than images; an image in my dreams will be rather generic, with all the details conveyed by sound and scent. (Or touch, if it's THAT sort of dream.)

EDIT for clarification: This reflects the real world as I percieve it. If, for instance, I saw three people that looked remotely like my friend Rachel, I couldn't tell the difference by sight. However, Rachel's voice and scent are equally if not more distinct to me than her exact features are to you.

edited 26th Jan '11 7:12:56 PM by Diamonnes

According to my [five minute Google search] extensive research, there are services for audio email and readings of major online news outlets, but not much more. I really don't see what setup could allow practical forum surfing for the blind.

I stand corrected.

edited 26th Jan '11 7:10:36 PM by Wanderhome

My bad, wasn't thinking.

I'm half-blind if that counts!

People tell me that I stare off into space when folks are talking a lot, but it's because although one of my eyes is really sharp, my vision isn't my primary attribute, my ears are. So I kind of stare a hole in the nearest wall so I can pay better attention to what I'm hearing.

@Barkey: I do the same thing and my eyes work just fine...ignore one sense to pay more complete attention to another.

Also, this.

edited 26th Jan '11 7:33:42 PM by Diamonnes

So how do you explain the existence of websites for the blind then? Or for that matter, blogs written by deafblind people?

edited 26th Jan '11 7:45:51 PM by storyyeller

Must be nice.. The shittiest places on the internet probably aren't easily accessible to the blind.

"So how do you explain the existence of websites for the blind then? Or for that matter, blogs written by deafblind people?"

From the very post you are replying to:

"According to my [five minute Google search] extensive research, there are services for audio email and readings of major online news outlets, but not much more. I really don't see what setup could allow practical forum surfing for the blind.

I stand corrected."

I did a five minute Google search, and turned out to be wrong.

edited 26th Jan '11 7:58:28 PM by Wanderhome

Well, they never had to see geocite.

@Diamonnes: Now I feel bad for going spelling Nazi on your posts... :(

Actually, my grasp of language is quite firm, and my spelling and grammar are usually top-notch, with the exception of slang et cetera. However, the keyboard I am currently using is a    sorry piece of shit.    It belongs to my uncle, who is also visually handicapped, and so the keys are unnecessarily huge for no discernable reason. Small hands and large keyboards do not mix well, hon.

Related: Don't You Dare Pity Me!. ((WANKERY REDACTED)) Don't think of us as disabled, think of us as having different advantages. You can see perfectly, and I can track a human at a hundred yards by scent. You can... you know what, fuck it. I actually think that I have an advantage over normally-sighted people. Makes me more pragmatic, for one; more importantly, however, sight only works in one direction and cannot travel past barricades. It's like everyone else is afflicted by an Insurmountable Waist-High Fence. When you can percieve the traffic activity outside from behind a four inch thick wall, you can feel sorry for me.

I apologize for the off-topic post, but I felt it needed to be said.

edited 27th Jan '11 1:45:22 PM by Diamonnes

Ah, -guilt removed-.

I guarantee I'm significantly more successful than you or indeed any other troper on here, and I'm not even legally an adult.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Wow this thread got derailed fast.

@Daimonnes: I've always felt that the way to respect a person different from myself was to pretend that they weren't.

This the unintentionally funniest thread title I've seen.

Hurrah *Claps stupidly*

"I've always felt that the way to respect a person different from myself was to pretend that they weren't."

I'm not blind, but I am disabled, and personally, I find that tactic really annoying. Why should I have to be like you (even in your own mind) to get your respect?

I believe that is an entirely semantic issue - what he was probably trying to say was "the best way to overcome my barrier to handicapped people."

See, this is why I have always find it difficult to speak to people who are different from myself - handicapped, member of a different race, etc, etc. It is far too easy to offend people when what you are trying to do is trying to understand them and overcome your initial barrier of communication/understanding/whatever.

edited 27th Jan '11 4:34:02 AM by ArgeusthePaladin

Why did I spark an argument on people being patronizing towards the disabled?

"See, this is why I have always find it difficult to speak to people who are different from myself - handicapped, member of a different race, etc, etc. It is far too easy to offend people when what you are trying to do is trying to understand them and overcome your initial barrier of communication/understanding/whatever."

Sorry. I'm not all that offended, just trying to inform you. If thinking that way helps you get over your fear of difference enough to get to know actual disabled people, that's great.