Re: [orca-list] You know you're old when ... (was Re: Proposal: Remove the emacspeak suppport)

[Robert Cole <rkcole72984 gmail com>]

I meant no offense there! :)

I was a stubborn one most of my life. Unless I was overseen by an 
Orientation and Mobility instructor, I refused to use a cane. I didn't 
have any friends becuase I had to go to a special school which was way 
out of town, and all of my siblings' friends were scared to death of me 
(my eyes, from waht I am told, are pretty much grey or white with no 
pupils showing). This stubbornness really cost me a lot in the long 
run...I was too embarrassed to be "blind" back then because ti was bad 
enough not having any friends...because I was so "fearsome". :) 
Well...after a few times of falling down some stairs at a college I was 
attending while I still lived in Ohio, I decided that people weer going 
to be the way they are no matter whether or not I use a cane. All of 
those years of my pride...or whatever you would call it...I could have 
really been doing something and learning new things.

It si sad, but even to this date, I don't have many friends (not because 
of blindness, but rather due to numerous life circumstances). My main 
means of communicating with others are my little boy (going to be three 
this July) and my wife, and those on this list as well as other forums 
and things online.

But boy...stubbornness can sure be a bad thing sometimes, huh? I am 
learning a lot now, though.

And that's my kind-of tech story, life story in a nutshell.

But really...I didn't mean that comment to be offensive. :)

On 01/04/2012 08:32 PM, bigd wrote:
> Lol, good one! I think some old Apples were famous for that too. :)
>
> Thanks,
> KJ4UFX
> {.i doi .tcikoritys. mi cuxna ba'e do}
> On Wed, Jan 04, 2012 at 11:23:54PM -0500, Joanmarie Diggs wrote:
> > Hey Robert.
> >
> > On Wed, 2012-01-04 at 19:26 -0800, Robert Cole wrote:
> > > +1 I have never used a hardware synthesizer in my entire life, that I
> > > can remember. I didn't even know what one was until just recently. :)
> > Ouch! Just for that you must read my silly tale of tech.
> >
> > About... I dunno 16 or 17 years ago, I did an internship at the
> > Massachusetts Commission for the Blind in the Adaptive Technology
> > Program. Having been trained and all, I began going out in the field.
> > One day I was at this consumer's home trying to re-set up an old
> > DECTalk. And by old I mean it was old then. Nothing tiny like a DECTalk
> > Express. Think of two thin portable scanners on top of one another.
> > Seriously.
> >
> > BTW, these were in the days when JAWS 2 was current, and one fought with
> > interrupts and other silly crap in Windows 95. I had fought the good
> > fight, but no luck. For the life of me, I just couldn't get it talking.
> > So I called my supervisor and explained the situation. After walking me
> > through some basics:
> >
> > Joe: Ok, I want you to pick the DECTalk up, lifting only its left side.
> > Me: Huh?
> > Joe: I want you to pick the DECTalk up, lifting only its left side.
> > Me: (uncertainly) Yessir.
> > Joe: Good, now drop it.
> > Me: Sir?
> > Joe: Drop it.
> > Me: (uncertainly) Yessir.<pause>  Oh my god it's talking!
> >
> > I kid thee not. Turned out the devices were notorious for some sort of
> > bad connection.
> >
> > Say what you will about Assistive Technology today, but I have not had
> > to "fix" anything by dropping it in quite some time.
> >
> > Take care, kiddo.<grins>
> > --joanie
> >
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> The manual is at http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
> The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
> Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp