What the Future Holds

I know it has been over a week since my last post here on the Treasure Chest for the Blind blog. Let me tell you what’s going on with me, and what I’m researching for future blog posts.

Of late, I’ve been having a lot of physical problems. I have gone to two neurosurgeons, had three MRIs (and have another scheduled of my spine soon), and tried various medications and diet changes. I continue to deteriorate, now unable to walk more than a few steps or stand for more than a few minutes without getting exhausted and hurting. Washing the dishes leaves my back screaming with pain, and walking to the bus stop requires a nice long rest at the end. I’m hoping for a diagnosis soon, as well as a referral to a pain clinic soon. In the meantime, I am trying to get used to the idea of becoming a part-time wheelchair user. I don’t like the idea, because I can’t use my cane from my wheelchair, so I’m dependent on others to push my chair for me…I don’t like that dependence. I’m hoping to go to a service dog school soon. I think a guide/service dog would help me keep my independence. The guide dog would not only guide, but would assist with balance when I am standing or walking, and assist with pulling the wheelchair when I have to use the wheelchair. I will be talking to people from Guide Dog Foundations and Guiding Eyes for the Blind in New York, and Leader Dogs (I believe in Michigan). I don’t think I’ll be able to go to the Seeing Eye, due to my physical limitations.

I’m also preparing for college to start in the fall. I will finish the entrance exam this coming Wednesday, and then I need to get with an advisor to go over class choices. I’ve already made a list of the classes I want, but they may not be the best for me to take. In May, I’ll have a technology assessment, to hopefully get a PDA (either a BraillePlus or a PacMate, preferably), as well as an embosser, a scanner and printer, VictorReader Stream, a full version of JAWS, and various other sundry items I’ll need for college. I’m really looking forward to starting at school. I’m hoping to start a work-study in the spring also, either in the Disability office or in the library.

I am also planning several vacations with my boyfriend and friends from the National Federation of the Blind. Next month, I will be going with a group to the NFB Center in Baltimore, Maryland, where we will participate in workshops, tour the Independence Market, and meet Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the NFB. This trip is paid for already, and all I have to do is pack my stuff and show up at the pick-up location. Then, sometime in June, my boyfriend and I want to go out to the beach, possibly to see the wild ponies on the islands off the coast of North Carolina. We both love nature and animals, so that should be great fun. We haven’t even started planning for this, but it shouldn’t be too hard, being just a quick weekend trip.

The big trip we are planning is going to be next June/July. My boyfriend and I, along with several members of the local NFB chapter, will be going to Orlando. We will be staying at Disney World for five days of relaxation and fun, then attend the NFB National convention. As next year will be the 40th anniversary of Disney World, it will be very exciting. It will also be my first national convention, and I can’t wait! But it will be a lot of work planning for this trip. Thank goodness, we have the help of Cheryl Echevarria, an independent travel consultant who absolutely loves Disney World, has been there many times, and is a member of the NFB herself, so she knows a lot about what we want and how to do it. If you are planning a trip any time in the near future, you should talk to her, too. I’ll write a separate post about her after an interview (with her permission). But in the meantime, her website is http://Echevarriatravel.com, and her toll-free number is 1-866-580-5574. She is very nice, and has already been of great assistance, and we haven’t even got very far into the planning!

As far as research, I’ve been evaluating various freeware programs, many available from the Internet Archives. I’m particularly evaluating an exam/text maker, several business card makers, and contact managers. There are also text-to-audio and text-to-PDF programs. The text-to-audio program, Text Sound, available from the Internet Archives, does not seem to work, but it may just be me. It is accessible, allowing you to use hotkeys to add and edit files and convert them to audio. If anyone wants to give it a try and let me know what they think, it’s available on the Internet Archives at < http://www.archive.org/details/tucows_221944_TextSound>. For some reason, all my files failed to convert.

I have also become the pleased owner of Day by Day Professional. It is definitely awesome, and I am slowly but surely converting my address book over to the program’s build-in contact manager. I highly recommend this program for its ease of use, full accessible features, and inexpensiveness. Day by Day Professional is available from www.blindsoftware.com for $39.95 (including all fees). It will come via e-mail for download, and you will also get a hardcopy CD of the program as a backup.

So, it may be awhile until my next blog post about a product, but I assure you, I’m working on it. I’m trying to find the most accessible, easy-to-use programs at the lowest cost, so look forward to thorough evaluations of programs I find.

Until later,
Jewel