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Regarding Communicating Computers
I applaud Penny Reeder for filing a complaint with the Department of Justice against the computer training company that discriminates against people who use guide dogs. I am a guide dog puppy raiser and a disability rights lawyer, and was appalled to read Penny's story when the leader of our puppy raising group distributed it. I would be happy to talk to Penny if she has any questions about the ADA as she pursues her complaint.
-- Pamela Cohen, Palo Alto, Calif.
Just read your story and felt compelled to drop you a note and say: GOOD JOB!! THAT WAS AN INSPIRATION!
It's atrocious to offer the service and not allow a guide dog. My friend has a guide dog and it's made a wonderful difference in his life!
-- Laury Gordon, Rollinsford, N.H.
Are You Blind or Just Accessorizing?
At 59, I have had low vision for four years. The vision loss was a trauma, but it happened; I can't change it.
Last April, I went to Europe with a friend, as we had done a few times when I was fully sighted. This time was different; I knew what life with an impairment was about. In Munich, I saw a lone, young woman on the subway with a red hard-hat, a red wagon, and a mobility cane with the top painted red. She was making her way down an escalator with the help of passers-by, doing quite well, thank you. When we got to Budapest to visit a friend, we toured with him in tow. At the end of the time, I asked him where the "handicapped, disabled" Hungarians were. We saw none who were obvious. His sad reply was, "They stay at home." "But surely..." "No, they stay at home."
How different it should be here. I feel that the reason that people are having "fits and snits" is because they ARE going out into the public. Good. The more people see that we can function and are not that different from them, the easier the way will be for those who come after us.
I have been amazed at the number of people who have no idea what the cane means. We are helping educate the public. Most people seem to think that dog guides are in need of petting and feeding. Many people think that we are helpless wretches, grateful for anything they will put into the caps we carry in our hands. Even when we explode, we are helping educate the public. We really MUST change what we can.
-- Sam Stewman, Houston, Texas
Regarding accessible currency
I was dismayed to read in the July-August Forum that our leadership has apparently sanctioned the mounting of a legal challenge against the U.S. Treasury because some people haven't figured out a way to identify their paper currency. But I don't recall that the membership was ever consulted about this expensive, protracted venture into the waters of legality.
First, how about those of us who have spent hundreds of dollars on the purchase of that wonderful Canadian product, the Note Teller? In fact, I'm on my second one because the government has already made the currency obsolete within the past five years or so. I put out $310 to buy the latest update of this very neat, efficient gadget.
Secondly, what kind of paper is going to hold up under braille dots, given the fact that money has to be stacked, folded and circulated among thousands of grubby hands before it becomes limp and has to be retired?
With just a touch of ingenuity, thousands of us blind and visually impaired folks have long ago figured out neat ways to identify our currency as we stash it into our billfolds. I would be willing to bet that the good folks who are party to this proposed suit have long had their money well catalogued. Little plastic dividers in a billfold or purse can go a long way to making currency easy to find.
At the very least, ACB leadership should put this proposed suit to a vote of the membership at large. Are we embarking on an endless binge of forever going to court over every inconvenience we bump into because we happen to be blind?
I'd love to hear a reply from our leadership; do I have to sue somebody?
-- Bruno J. Wolozyn, Oil City, Pa.