Crista Earl

We're at CSUN! What is it? It's the huge Technology and People with Disabilities conference in San Diego. AccessWorld magazine always has a full highlights article after the conference has ended, but here I'll tell you about a few things I've seen. It's a little random, as I've spent most of my time in the exhibit hall, and I've skipped some booths because they were too crowded. Cool Designs, Fashionable Looks in Assistive Technology When did assistive technology start to get cool-looking?…

Everyone in the blindness field, and every braille reader, knows the name of Abraham Nemeth. He's probably the biggest name in blindness, if there is such a thing. This morning, I was saddened and shocked to hear of his passing. I had the lucky, really just lucky, opportunity to meet Dr. Nemeth several times. The first was at an NFB convention in Chicago. It was my first convention, and I had just started a new job at... you probably won't remember... Computer Aids Corporation... and they…

I dropped by my local Apple store on Sunday to see if the iPad might really be as cool as it sounded. Well, it's as cool and cooler. I asked the salesman to turn on Voiceover, the built-in screen reader, for me, and he did and handed me the device. If you're visually impaired and you've gone shopping for home or personal electronics in your life, you already think something is weird here. Screen reader built in? For free? Salesperson who knows it? Knows how to turn it on? This is not science…

We're home! Ralph drove Paige and me home this week and worked with us in my home neighborhood for several hours. I guess most people fly home, so the trainers take them to the airport and go through security with them to the gate. This is great, since the dogs have not flown before and often the people don't have much experience with it, either. And, getting a dog through an airport is different from getting a cane through. I'll have that experience sometime in the near future. Being so…

Before I came to the Seeing Eye to get my dog, all my friends and coworkers wanted to know what I would do when I wasn't in class. I wondered the same thing. Would I be able to work? Could I train for a marathon? How about a triathlon? Could I catch up on my reading? I imagine other people planning to get a dog might be wondering the same thing. To what extent is my life on hold? The first-timer's program is 26 days long. People getting a second dog are here for a shorter time. Training time…

Tomorrow Paige and I will have been working together for three weeks (I'm at the Seeing Eye getting my first guide dog, if you're just tuning in). We're really starting to work together as a team. We're a little rough around the edges in a few places, but we do mostly look like we know what we're doing. On Friday we did a solo, where we walked in partly unfamiliar territory without a trainer on hand. I had a walkie-talkie and Pete, the trainer, walked far enough away that Paige couldn't really…

A lot of people have asked me how dogs and people are matched up. I'll try to describe what I've observed about the process at one school, the Seeing Eye, and maybe other people will fill in or contradict me. I'm sure every school has its own way of doing it. Before I arrived on July 22, many of my friends asked me what kind of dog I would get. Lots of people assumed I would pick out my own breed or even my own specific dog. Apparently if you feel you must have particular traits in a dog you…

I'm at the Seeing Eye, getting my first dog guide. I arrived July 22 and it's been the experience of a lifetime. This is the seventh post on the subject, so if you'd like to start at the beginning, go to the July 23rd post, Getting a Dog, Day 1. The past few days have been spent working on specific things we're likely to encounter while going from place to place. One of my favorites was the escalators. New York is loaded with them, and often it's hard or impossible to get where you're going…

It was a week ago yesterday afternoon that Paige's leash was handed to me. I can't believe how much I've learned. I can't believe how much I have yet to learn. A friend of mine who is a cane user came to visit last Sunday. He asked me the same question I've been asked a hundred times: "Does it make much difference walking with a dog instead of a cane?" In the past, all I could say was, "I hope so. That's the plan." This time, I gave my friend the one-week dog-guide-user answer. I hope some…