852. How does it feel to be blind? (Article & Vocabulary) | Luke's ENGLISH Podcast - Learn British English with Luke Thompson

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Hello, this is episode number 852, and I actually finished recording and editing this a few days ago.

And what you're going to hear in this episode is what I recorded a few days ago.

But since then I've realised that I have a few other things I just want to add at the start of the episode and a few other things at the end as well.

So the bit that you're listening to now is stuff that I'm recording after I already did the rest of it.

Is that confusing?

Maybe.

Anyway...

So the little things I wanted to say at the beginning of this episode.

First of all, thank you for the comments on the previous episode.

That's number 851, which was about the Beatles song Now and Then the new Beatles song, the last Beatles song, the final Beatles song.

So I did the last episode, which was a ramble all about that.

And I know that my rambling episodes are pretty popular, which is nice, but I wasn't completely sure how you would receive an entire rambling episode about the Beatles, or one where I talk for most of the episode all about the Beatles and only the Beatles.

I wasn't sure how that would be received by you.

So I was very encouraged by the responses that I've received, and that I'm continuing to receive, to that episode.

So that's nice.

And I'm especially glad that I got comments from non-Beatle fans who said that they found the episode very interesting and also touching.

So that's nice.

Of course, when I finished that episode and then published it, I instantly thought of various other things that I'd forgotten to mention, which I might add at the end of this episode, but we'll see if there's time.

Moving on though, let me just mention something about this episode that you're about to listen to episode 852.

As you will hear me explain in a moment in more detail, I was inspired to do this episode by some emails which I exchanged with a listener called Hafid.

And I just wanted to say that, after recording this, I sent Hafid a preview of this episode and and he listened to it and he was happy for me to publish it.

So this has been approved by Hafid.

In fact, I'll share some more specific comments from him, which he sent to me after listening to this episode, the one that you're about to hear.

I'll share those comments at the end of this episode.

All right, so those are just a few little comments I wanted to say in this pre-introduction.

I'll now let the episode start properly, and here we go.

You're listening to Luke's English Podcast.

Hello listeners, welcome back to Luke's English Podcast.

There is a PDF for this episode.

You'll find the link for the PDF in the episode show notes.

You can just click that and just download the PDF directly.

The PDF will be all of the notes that I'm reading from.

A lot of this is transcribed in advance.

I've written it in advance and I'm going to read out to you what I've written.

There will be some moments when I don't read directly from the script as well, some more spontaneous moments.

I'm going to read an article to you and explain a lot of the language that comes up in the article.

And also I will go through some vocabulary as well.

And all of that stuff is going to be written on the PDF.

So just check the show notes.

You can just download it directly.

Okay.

So this episode is called, how does it feel to be blind?

And how do we talk about this?

So here we go.

I'm now reading from the PDF.

Okay, everyone, here we go.

So I often ask you, my listeners, to tell me about yourselves, so that I can imagine what it's like for you listening to this.

I know what it's like for me.

I sit here and talk into my microphone and do my best to make my episodes interesting insightful instructive, engaging and entertaining.

Then I often wonder about my listeners, about you, dotted around in different parts of the world.

Where are you?

And what are you doing while you listen to my words?

What's your context?

What's your experience?

Sometimes people write to me and they tell me.

Recently, I got some emails from a listener called Hafid, and they inspired me to make the episode that you're listening to now.

So those emails from Hafid.

Hafid is a regular listener to this podcast.

He's French with Algerian parents.

His first email was a response to an old episode from the LEP archives, episode 287 vocab battle with Amber and Paul.

So Hafid listened to that episode, and then he just sort of wrote some comments to me.

By the way, if you haven't heard that episode, listeners, do go back and listen to it.

Episode 287, Vocab Battle with Amber and Paul.

It's one of the early Amber and Paul episodes.

Very fun, lots of humour and loads and loads of vocabulary.

Anyway, so Hafid listened to that and he wrote to me to, you know, just to give me some feedback.

And amongst other things, in his email, Hafid mentioned this.

He said...

Thanks a lot for your podcast.

It helps me in many ways in my life and I'm very happy to listen to it.

And I replied, Hi Hafid, thanks for the email and for the bits of feedback in response to episode 287.

I'm very glad that you enjoy the episodes and that they help you in various ways.

Also, it's impressive that you're able to find the episodes and listen to them despite your visual impairment.

I really hope you enjoy listening to the other episodes I've made.

All the best, Luke.

So Hafid mentioned his accessibility software.

Yeah, you heard, right?

You heard me mention there, Hafid says that he's blind.

He's visually impaired.

Now I don't know the extent to which Hafid is blind, because there's different sort of degrees of blindness.

Some people are completely blind and they have no vision whatsoever.

Other people have different levels of impairment to their vision, restrictions to their vision.

That could include maybe only being able to see a limited field of view.

For example, I guess what could be described as tunnel vision, like only being able to see one spot and the rest of it's unclear or dark.

You know so, not being able to see the sides or top or bottom, just seeing from a very limited view or maybe an extreme sensitivity to light which makes everything sort of very shiny or difficult to see.

Maybe, you know, all sorts of different types of visual impairment.

So I don't know exactly what Hafid's case is, but he did mention his accessibility software, which I found interesting right.

I had an idea of what this could be probably software which allowed him to use a computer but I wasn't sure.

So I asked ChatGPT, who I'm considering calling Chad, by the way, as a nickname.

I'm not sure about it.

Chad?

ChadGPT?

I don't know.

Anyway, here's what Chad told me, ChatGPT.

Um...

Accessibility.

Software for blind people, often referred to as assistive technology, is designed to help individuals with visual impairments navigate and interact with computers, smartphones and other digital devices.

These tools are essential for promoting digital inclusivity and ensuring that blind or visually impaired individuals can access and use technology effectively.

So just think for a moment about what it must be like to use the internet without being able to see the screen properly.

Just close your eyes and try to do anything on your computer or phone.

Just try to write an email to a certain person or listen to an episode of my podcast, right?

Imagine being blind and trying to find my podcast.

Listen to specific episodes and then email me your comments.

Now, I don't know how difficult that is for Hafid.

I don't know the extent of his blindness or what kind of accessibility software he's using.

But I was impressed that the technology makes it possible and that there are people out there who have a different experience and who come to my work in a different way.

Right.

And on the subject of the accessibility software, having read about it a little bit more, I understand that it's in different forms.

There's different forms of it.

For example, there's screen readers I think they're called which essentially read out the text that's on the screen.

So you can hear the text being read out and also give instructions or other bits of information.

Like, for example, it might read out what clickable options there are, what buttons are available and other things like that.

So kind of turning the visual into the auditory.

And then there's even things like braille readers.

Braille is a form of written language for blind people, and it's a tactile language.

You've probably seen it.

You may well know all about it.

But braille yeah.

So it's like a system of dots that are raised up on paper or card and you can touch it with your fingers and your fingers feel the dots in different arrangements, and that's how you read.

Maybe the most common place that we see braille is on the side of medicine boxes.

Boxes of paracetamol or other types of medication often have braille written on them, because obviously it's very important for blind people to know which medicine they've got in their hands and which medicine they're going to take, and so on.

In my experience, medicine boxes often have Braille on them.

So that's often a place that we find Braille.

So Braille readers sound fascinating because they convert what's written on the screen into Braille, which allow the users to actually read by touching.

And it's like a braille I guess it's a pad which, instead of showing words, the braille somehow is formed on the pad like a sort of crystal display or something that pushes up different dots up onto the pad so that they can feel them.

I don't know.

It sounds incredible and obviously very important to allow blind people to actually be able to function, you know, because the internet and computers are so central to everything we do now.

So I think this is fascinating.

And I expect that, if you are visually impaired, podcasts must be a fantastic thing to have available to you.

Thank goodness for podcasts, right?

Because it's like this whole audio world where people can talk to you.

You can access all of this audio communication.

And I remember once meeting a blind man when I worked at HMV in Liverpool before podcasts existed.

So this story is here to demonstrate the importance of having stimulation.

Right.

And if you're blind and you can't read books or watch television, I suppose you can listen to the radio.

But something like audio books must be a really, really important thing for a blind person.

And it just makes me think of this guy I met when I was working in Liverpool.

So I lived in Liverpool for four years and three years as a student.

And then I worked for a year at HMV, which is a huge music shop.

And so they sold DVDs, CDs, books, computer games.

And I worked upstairs and, And upstairs was the.

There was a corner which had a shelf with some audio books on cassette and CD.

And one day this guy came in my manager told me my manager asked me to help this guy who was standing in the middle of the sort of the specialist music area.

So I went over to him and the guy was blind or partially sighted.

And he asked me to help him to find the audio book section because he wanted to buy some new audiobooks.

And I had to lead him over there.

He was like, take my arm, take my arm, like this.

Can you lead me over to the audiobooks?

Where are the audiobooks?

And he seemed quite frustrated and it was an interesting experience for me.

I'd never really kind of met or interacted with a blind person so directly before.

And I felt a bit nervous and a bit unsure about exactly how I should help him.

But I let him take my arm and we walked over to the corner where there were these audio books.

And he said, can you read me what are the audiobooks?

Can you read them to me?

His manner was, he was quite.

I have to say he was quite sort of.

He was a large man, quite a big, heavy-set man, grey hair, probably in his 50s or 60s.

And he was a little stressed and a little bit frustrated, which is totally understandable, of course, because all he wants to do is just to get some.

He wants to be able to listen to some stories at home.

It must have been very difficult for him to get out of his home, come all the way into the centre of the city, find his way upstairs, get there and then have to deal with me.

You know this, this uh, 22 year old, or whatever it was, who didn't really know what he was doing.

And so I took him over there and I had to read the names of the audio books to him.

And, um, I remember he was looking for something specific.

He was like, I want the, what kind of horror stuff have you got?

Horror and fantasy.

And I sort of read some of the stuff and I was saying oh, we've got the lion, the witch and the wardrobe.

And he was like, no, no, no, no, no, not that, not that.

And I said, we've got Lord of the Rings.

He said, no, no, it's it's you know, it's pretty good, but it's still it's too soft.

Have you got any Lovecraft?

Have you got any H.P.

Lovecraft?

You know, the proper stuff.

I remember him requesting Lovecraft.

So he obviously had specific tastes and he liked a kind of particular type of scary horror fantasy fiction.

And we didn't have any.

And he was, you know, understandably a bit annoyed.

It must have been a very frustrating experience for him.

And he was clearly like really, a really intelligent guy who really wanted some stimulation, right?

Now, the main point here is that he had to use audiobooks and was very frustrated at the selection that we had available in the shop, particularly that we had nothing by HP.

Lovecraft.

And he clearly had a ferocious intellect, and he really badly needed stimulation.

So I guess what's my point here?

It just made me think, what must it be like for someone who has these barriers?

So Hafid replied to me again just a couple of days ago.

He said, Hi Luke, I hope everything is fine with you and your great family.

Don't worry, I'm not going to send you emails every day.

I know you're very busy.

I would like to thank you.

It's very nice of you to reply to my mail about episode 287.

I heard many other episodes and enjoyed most of them, especially those featuring Amber and Paul.

By the way everyone, Amber and Paul and I are going to be getting together to record another episode.

We've got a date in the diary, so you know That's coming soon at some point, as long as those plans don't have to change.

But anyway, more Amber and Paul coming at some point soon.

But anyway, back to Hafid's email.

He said, I had an idea and I wanted to share it with you.

In 1985, I went to London and I spent eight wonderful days with a British family.

I can't remember if they lived in Raynham or Chatham.

The mother of the family used to wake me up every morning and bring me to the kitchen for breakfast.

The bedroom I was sleeping in was upstairs.

She always asked me if I could manage.

Like, can you manage?

My English level was very bad and still is.

No, it's not that bad.

Hafid.

And all I found to respond was, I don't know.

As far as I'm aware, you've not done a podcast about people with disabilities yet.

It might be useful for people like me.

I hope I'm not disturbing you and I wish you success, good health and all the best.

May the force be with you, Hafid.

All right, did you get that everyone?

So Hafid spent like in the 80s.

He spent over a week in an English family, in a host family somewhere in London, and every morning the host mother would wake him up and bring him downstairs for breakfast and she would always say can you manage?

And he didn't really know how to respond to that.

Then he suggested that I do a podcast about people with disabilities.

Okay, so first of all, let's stop and consider what Hafid's host mother in London said.

Can you manage?

So what does can you manage actually mean?

I suppose it means, do you need help, really?

That's ultimately what that means.

Are you able to manage?

Are you able to do what you're doing?

Or do you need assistance?

She didn't say, do you need help?

Do you want me to come and help you?

Instead, she said, can you manage?

And he didn't really know how to reply.

Now, people don't always say exactly what they mean in explicit terms, do they?

And instead of saying, do you need help?

What would you like me to do?

Instead, they just say something like one simple question which has a lot of meaning wrapped up in it.

In this case, can you manage?

Now, what could Hafid have said in response?

I suppose I'm helping Hafid from 1985.

It's a bit late now.

But anyway, basically, Hafid could have said, no, I can't manage.

I need help.

Or yes, I can manage.

I don't need help.

Thank you.

Or somewhere in between yes and no.

Again, we might not say, no, I can't manage.

I need help.

We might use other expressions.

So here are some ideas.

So in the category of no, I can't manage, I need help.

We've got sorry.

Can you come and help me for a moment?

And do you mind giving me a bit of assistance?

Do you mind giving me a bit of assistance?

Or could you help me down the stairs, please?

Could you help me for a moment?

Could you just show me where the, for example, could you just show me where the toothbrush is?

Or I'm just trying to find whatever it is.

I'm just trying to find my toothbrush.

Sorry to bother you.

Thanks a lot.

Or in the case of yes, I can manage.

It might be something like this.

Yes, I can manage.

Thank you.

Or hold on.

I'm coming.

Or I'll be there in a moment.

Or just bear with me for a moment.

Thanks.

Bear with me, meaning just wait while I do something.

Or I'm on my way.

Or, sorry, I'm just taking a bit of time.

Or, feel free to start without me.

That's if you are worried that the other people are waiting for you at the breakfast table.

Feel free to start without me.

I'll join you in a moment.

I'm just, you know, I'm just blah, blah, blah-ing.

I'm just getting ready.

And then we've got somewhere between yes and no, which could be something like this.

Just a moment, I'm not quite ready.

Or, could you ask me again in a moment?

Sorry.

Or I'm coming, but I might be some time.

I might be a while.

I might be a few moments.

I'm just working something out here.

Sorry.

You might be thinking, Luke, is it necessary to say sorry?

Well, yes, this is the UK we're talking about.

We say sorry all the time as a little softener.

It's just a way to keep things nice.

And there's nothing undignified or weak about saying sorry a lot.

Sorry, I'm not quite ready.

Could you ask me again in a moment?

Sorry.

You know, sorry, I'm just coming.

Sorry, I'll join you in a moment.

Sorry is just a word we use to keep things nice.

So anyway, I replied to Hafid and asked him what kind of things I could talk about in an episode about disability.

And he wrote this.

He said well, you could teach us some vocab like partially sighted blind, wheelchair and a lot more obviously.

So I've already said partially sighted, visually impaired and blind wheelchair, which I suppose you know, is someone who is unable to stand or walk has to sit in a wheelchair and they can move themselves around by turning the wheels with their hands or by being pushed by someone.

So that's a wheelchair and a lot more said Hafid.

You could also talk about screen readers, braille devices, OCR and TTS and so on.

OCR and TTS, what are these things actually, Hafid?

So OCR is optical character recognition technology which allows people with a vision impairment to scan printed text and receive a synthetic speech output or save it to a computer.

TTS is text to speech.

Okay, so other forms of accessibility software, basically.

Hafid said, you could talk about how people with disabilities are seen.

For example, someone looks like he's angry.

And as a matter of fact, he's only trying to see what's in front of him.

That made me think about that guy I saw in HMV.

He seemed frustrated and angry and short-tempered.

But for him it might have been simply the act of trying to see made his face take on an expression of frustration and anger.

But it could have been just him attempting to see using the very limited vision that he had.

Or maybe he even had some pain or other associated things that caused him to behave like that.

You know.

It must be very frustrating and saddening for people not to be able to read your behaviour.

You know, they assume that you're angry, but actually it's just difficult for you to see.

So I thought, right, this is a great idea for a podcast.

Thank you, Hafid.

And this is a great idea for several reasons.

Reason number one, vocabulary.

First of all, there's a lot of English to be learned from this subject.

A lot of vocabulary, as Hafid suggested, relating to this topic.

But, but also knowing what is considered appropriate and inappropriate or respectful and disrespectful terminology relating to the subject.

So, just like the language we use when referring to people with disabilities, like I've mentioned before blind, visually impaired, partially sighted these are all acceptable and appropriate terms that can be used to describe people who have some difficulty seeing.

So you know, often we wonder what kind of language should I be using and what language should I not be using?

So there's that, the vocab of the subject, those considerations about what is appropriate and inappropriate language.

Secondly, this is also a chance to understand something which can affect us all, but which we don't always talk about.

I've always wondered what it must be like to be blind, but also what it must be like to live with other forms of disability.

And, to be honest, I've thought about these things more and more in recent years because several people in my family have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

And I've seen the ways it can affect their lives in so many ways in terms of physical, motor control you know movements but also in terms of the mental side, how it affects their identity.

Now, I'm now talking about Parkinson's.

Parkinson's, as far as I'm aware, does not cause blindness.

But I think Parkinson's has symptoms which can cause forms of disability.

So I'm now just talking about that.

You might be thinking, wait, Luke, what is Parkinson's?

So, as I've just said, I've moved away from talking about being blind to talking about Parkinson's disease now, because I know several people close to me who've been diagnosed with it and who are living with it at different stages of development.

It can be considered a disability because of the way the symptoms affect people.

This is from the NHS website, the National Health Service website.

Parkinson's disease is a condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years.

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease include involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body, which is known as tremor.

That's shaking of the different parts of the body, slow movement, stiff and inflexible muscles.

By the way, maybe one of them, two of the most famous people with Parkinson's include Muhammad Ali, the boxer and, more recently, Michael J Fox Jr, the actor from Back to the Future.

He's a famous person who has Parkinson's and who's done a lot of work to actually raise awareness about it.

A person with Parkinson's disease can also experience a wide range of other physical and psychological symptoms.

These include depression and anxiety, balance problems and this may increase the chances of a fall, a loss of sense of smell, sleeping problems, memory problems and difficulty eating and swallowing.

And as I said, loss of vision is not a symptom of Parkinson's as far as I know.

So my point there is that I am interested in understanding what it is like to live with different kinds of disability, and that disability comes in many forms.

So let's go back to the example of being blind now.

So what is it like to be blind?

What is it like to be visually impaired, or to be in a wheelchair, or to have any other kind of disability?

What about if you have a disability which isn't obvious?

If you're blind, how do you manage tasks that other people don't think twice about, like just getting dressed and coming downstairs to join everyone for breakfast or listening to a podcast?

How do other people treat you?

How do other people see you as well?

And how do you want to be treated by other people?

These are, again, all reasons why this is, for me, a good subject for this podcast.

And thirdly, this is an exercise in perspective.

It makes me think of the old saying before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes, which is really about the importance of empathy.

Try to imagine what it must be like to be someone else and to live their experience.

Surely this is a good exercise in being a humane, considerate and compassionate person, which I believe are important for being a good communicator.

You know, thinking about things from other people's points of view, having empathy and compassion and being considerate and thoughtful.

I think those are really important communication skills, but also they're important just to be a good member of the human race.

Understanding how it is for a disabled person can help us to understand how to behave and talk.

And anyone can be disabled as well.

It's not just something that happens to other people.

Anyone can be disabled.

It can happen to anyone.

And there are many ways a person can be disabled.

Many people who do not have a disability now will have one in the future.

Others will have a family member or a friend who will become disabled.

You could become disabled.

In fact, I have to say it's very likely that you will end up with some kind of disability because as we get older, our bodies change and you might find that you can't do the things you could do before.

For example, you might get mobility issues, visual impairments, hearing impairments or mental issues.

We're all likely to experience some level of disability, either directly ourselves or in a loved one.

Now, if you become disabled in your lifetime, how do you want people to describe you?

What language would you prefer them to use when talking about you?

So here's the plan, okay?

It sounds like I'm still in the introduction, but anyway, here's the plan.

In a moment I'm going to read an article written by a blind person explaining what it really is like to be blind.

And I wanted to hear from someone describing this in their own words.

And I found a really interesting article which was written in response to the question what is it like being blind?

Or what is it like to be blind?

I'll read through the article in just a moment, give my comments and explain some vocabulary.

Then we're going to look at how to talk about disability and we're going to look at specific terms which are considered appropriate and inappropriate when talking about disability these days.

And thirdly, vocabulary.

I have lists of various words relating to physical and mental disability, including objects, forms of disability, types of treatment and other related issues.

And I have absolutely loads of words here.

So this vocabulary part might be in a second episode or I might make it into a premium episode.

We'll see how long this all takes.

So that article, which is called What Does It Feel Like to be Blind?

And this article I found on Slate.com.

The article is called What Is It Like to be Blind?

And this originally appeared on Quora.

And it's been republished on Slate.com.

The answer to the question, what is it like to be blind, was answered by Christina Hartman.

And so now let me read through her answer, her article.

Okay, so here we go.

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This is Christina Hartman, a blind person in her own words.

As someone who's losing her sight to retinitis pigmentosa, And what's that?

Well, retinitis pigmentosa is a group of rare eye diseases that affect the retina.

The retina is the light sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye.

Okay.

So it's a rare group of diseases that affect the retina, and retinitis pigmentosa makes cells in the retina break down slowly over time, causing vision loss.

It's a genetic disease that people are born with.

So Christina said, as someone who's losing her sight to retinitis pigmentosa RP, I face this question every day.

I, however, have Usher syndrome. which couples deafness and gradual vision loss.

So I'm not representative of the average blind and low vision individual.

Okay, so not only does Christina have blindness, she also has deafness.

That's the inability to hear.

Okay, so blindness affects the eyes, deafness affects the ears.

So she's got this Usher syndrome, which combines deafness and vision loss.

So she's not She's quite unique then, I suppose.

She's unique.

Anyway, she continues.

That being said, as someone who's moved from sighted into legal blindness, I've noticed certain interesting changes in my lifestyle and how people treat me.

This isn't a subject that can be explained briefly, so please forgive me in advance for my lengthiness.

She's moved from sighted into legal blindness, moved from being sighted into legal blindness.

I suppose legal blindness is a sort of when your vision is impaired to a certain degree that you can legally be described as blind.

And if you're legally blind, I suppose that means that you you can be considered disabled and therefore maybe you get you know, certain types of you get a different status, like a different legal status, I suppose.

So she's moved from being sighted to being legally blind.

So she's experienced both.

She's experienced being able to see and being blind.

So this probably gives her some really good insights.

What the blind see.

People seem to think blindness as binary.

You're either completely sighted or completely blind.

The truth is that there are infinite ways to be legally blind.

Not just is there a large range of sightedness between fully sighted and completely blind, but there are a lot of variations within that range.

Some blind people have acuity issues.

Others have blind spots, but otherwise clear vision.

Many are somewhere in between.

Few are completely blind.

Acuity issues.

What is acuity?

Um, Let's have just a quick look.

Oxford languages, sharpness or keenness of vision.

So if you have acuity issues, I guess it just means that you know your vision is often out of focus, right?

Not sharp.

So what's her name again?

Christina.

What Christina said there is that there's a wide range of different types of blindness issues. between acuity, that's things being in focus or not, things being blurred or sharp, and also other things like having blind spots.

These are just areas where your eyes are unable to see in those areas.

And I suppose those blind spots might, I don't know what they would look like.

Do they look like dark spots in your vision?

Or does your brain fill in the gap?

And in fact, did you know this?

That everyone has a blind spot.

Every one of us has a blind spot.

It's where the optic nerve enters the back of the eye.

So the back of your eye is where the light shines in.

It goes through your pupil and goes through a lens.

And then the light is then sort of projected onto the back of your eyeball, which must be your retina, and that retina is covered in these cones, these cells which detect light and convert that into information which goes directly into the brain through the optic nerve.

But where the optic nerve hits the retina, there's a gap where there are no cones, there are no light-sensitive cells.

And actually, we all have a blind spot.

It's possible to find it.

How do you find your blind spot?

How do you find your blind spot in your eye?

Find your blind spot.

This is from Scientific American.

So...

Just tell me how to do it, please.

Oh, it's a long procedure.

It's a complicated procedure.

But anyway, there is a way of doing it.

I think you can... I remember doing this at school.

You draw a little diagram on a piece of paper with a black dot and you just draw a little black dot and you look, you focus your vision on something next to that black dot.

And if you keep moving your vision around the black dot, eventually you get to a point where the black dot completely disappears.

That's your blind spot.

And it's not that there's a gap in your vision.

It's just that your brain actually fills it in.

So it's as if the paper just continues.

It's very interesting. what blind spots actually look like.

Anyway, so some people have acuity issues, focus.

Others have blind spots.

Other people have clear vision.

And then there's the different types of blind spot as well.

I understand that you can have the sides of your peripheral vision can be you can lose your peripheral vision.

You can lose vision above and below, you know.

So there's many different types of visual impairment.

The article continues.

So what I see is unique to me and my condition.

No other blind person will see as I do.

My condition causes night blindness.

So I suppose you just can't see in those low levels of light.

Gradual peripheral vision loss.

That means the sides, the peripheral vision.

What you can see at the very periphery or the sides is slowly disappearing.

And it's advanced stages macular issues.

And in its advanced stages, macular issues.

What are macular issues?

Macular.

What does that refer to?

Okay, vision with macular degeneration.

Dry macular degeneration is a common eye disorder among people over 50.

It causes blurred or reduced central vision due to the breaking down of the inner layers of the macula.

The macula is the part of the retina that gives the eye clear vision in the direct line of sight.

So I talked about peripheral vision, but...

The macula is what deals with the clear, direct line of sight and if you have macular issues, that can just degenerate.

So not just peripheral vision, but central vision can also degenerate if you have macular issues.

Okay, even though it's a progressive condition, says Christina, it progresses differently for everyone.

My lower and upper fields of vision have been gone since my early to mid teens.

I have blind spots in the sides of my vision, but I can detect light and movement in my far peripheries, right out on the edge.

The funny thing is that I don't actually see the blind spots.

My brain has reconfigured my visual perception to skip over the blind spots.

So things actually seem as if I have 180 degree vision.

Based on my last field test, I have somewhere between 25 and 35 degrees of vision.

So my brain is constantly tricking me.

Wow, so she feels like she's got 180 degree vision.

So Yeah, so she doesn't feel like she's in a tunnel, but in fact, she doesn't have that.

She's only seeing 25 to 35 degrees of vision.

So that small window of vision appears to be wide, but there's so much that she's missing on the sides.

Two years ago, my RP that's the eye condition she mentioned before began affecting my macula, the central part of the eye, which is a somewhat unusual development this early.

The macula affects colour discrimination, so being able to see the difference between different colours and visual acuity, that's clarity of vision.

As of right now, I have about 20 to 150 in the left eye and 2300 in the right, both uncorrectable by glasses.

I don't really know about these vision ratios, I have to say.

Everything seems out of focus.

So this is her acuity she's talking about.

Everything seems out of focus, like blurred.

If a person is standing more than two feet away from me.

Two feet, that's about two thirds of a metre right.

Maybe that's perhaps about arm's length away.

If a person is standing more than two feet away from me, his or her face is as blurry as in a Monet painting.

Typically I identify a familiar person by his silhouette and the way he walks.

So this is how she identifies a familiar person, someone who she knows.

She does it by his silhouette.

So the silhouette is just the black outline.

Like, for example, when someone stands there and the sun is behind them, you just see a dark outline of that person in front of you, a silhouette.

So she identifies the silhouette and the way the person walks.

Everyone walks in their own particular way, you know, characteristic body language and movement.

So I identify a familiar person by his silhouette and the way he walks.

Since I can't recognise voices with much precision because of the hearing impairment.

Even up close, I can't see fine detail like smaller scars and roughness.

So people all look like they have amazing skin.

Bright light makes my vision worse.

It seems like a thin white film is covering everything, like a thin white layer, a thin light film.

Film would be like you know, when you've cooked something and you want to put it in the fridge, you put it on your plate and you get some of that cling film.

It's like clear plastic film.

You've got the aluminium foil, but also cling film.

Cling film, which is that treacherous stuff that never seems to behave itself.

Whenever I pull cling film out of a roll, it folds in on itself and gets all stuck together and I get annoyed.

But that's cling film.

So it's a very thin plastic film, right?

So her vision...

In bright light, it seems like a thin white film is covering everything, making light-coloured things almost glow.

Oftentimes, harsh direct light will create shadows that confuse me, since the world becomes too visually complicated.

Certain shadows might look like steps to me, since my distance perception is basically zero.

Wow, so in bright light, suddenly there are shadows everywhere, and those shadows can confuse her.

So shadows across her vision might look like steps, so she might be worried that she's about to go down some steps or go up some steps or something like that.

She's got distance perception.

Her distance perception is basically zero.

So she can't judge how far away something is from her.

The situation is similar for dim places.

So dim is the opposite of bright.

Dim in low light conditions.

Everything goes grey or black if it's quite dark.

I can't see depth or shadows in the night.

It's just one big wall of black dotted by streetlights.

That's stationary meaning not moving.

So...

Evenly distributed, these are the perfect conditions in which she can see fairly well.

Evenly distributed light.

So light is distributed everywhere evenly, of medium intensity, with simple and high contrast items.

Right, so simple items, not complicated with lots of detail.

High contrast, where there's a clear difference between light and dark, plus relatively stationary people, people just not moving very much, and things.

But life rarely provides perfect conditions.

Navigating the world with blurry restricted vision.

There are three main navigation techniques that blind and low vision folks use.

That blind and low vision people use.

Three main navigation techniques.

How do you move around?

How do you navigate the world with this kind of vision?

Apparently three techniques.

The first one is a white cane technique, which we've all seen.

The long white stick these days with a plastic ball on the end seems to be a fairly new development.

Years ago, I never saw people with a white plastic ball on the end of their cane.

It was just a simple cane which I guess people can use to tap around, to feel around for objects in front of them, to get a sense of what the ground is like or what's going on around them, to feel things on the floor, to use that tactile sense.

So there's the white cane, a seeing eye animal, an animal that can see, that works as the person's seeing eye, like a guide dog or nothing.

Three main navigation techniques, white cane, seeing eye animal, or nothing.

There are some political and personal preferences involved in one's choice.

So what would you choose?

The cane, the guide dog, or just nothing?

Many people who don't have vision loss push me to get a dog.

They're like, get a dog, you should get a dog, they say to her.

They seem to feel more comfortable with the idea of a seeing eye dog.

Some of them even think that it's a cool way to get a very well-trained pet.

It's not that simple.

A white cane can be put away at any time.

A white cane doesn't shed, meaning lose its hair.

It doesn't shed poop, meaning poo in American English.

I say poo in British English.

In American English, it's poop with a P at the end.

So a white cane doesn't shed its hair.

It doesn't poop.

It doesn't require vet visits or develop a mind of its own.

Nobody wants to pet a cane.

To pet a dog would be, oh, a lovely dog.

And you stroke it or, you know, stroke its back or scratch its head.

That's to pet an animal.

Nobody wants to pet a cane either.

Seeing-eye dogs are wonderful, but have a lot of overhead.

Overhead is basically like costs involved in running something.

Like if you're running a business, you have overheads.

That would be the costs of running the business, employing staff, paying the bills, the rent for the offices, the electricity bills.

You know, those are all overheads.

Similarly, having a seeing-eye dog has overheads.

You've got to pay for the vet, visits to the vet, that's the animal doctor, pet food and other things, cleaning and all those things.

Overheads.

It's a personal choice dependent on one's lifestyle and needs.

As simple as the white cane may be, it still requires training.

There are different holds, like ways you can hold it, arcs, ways you can move it through the air or along the ground, and contacts, ways in which you touch it on the ground.

You hold and move it different ways depending on how many people are around you and your familiarity of the area, among other factors.

So, you know, your hold and your arc depend on where you are, who's around you and stuff.

The white cane gives you a lot of information, but there are a few things that get me.

A few things that manage to get her.

There are a few things that get me, that cause her to fail.

Okay, chairs and tables, because my cane simply slips underneath.

You can imagine if you're walking along, you got your cane on the ground and you walk towards a table.

Of course the cane goes under the table and then you walk into the table right.

So my cane simply slips underneath Overhanging brush.

Brush, this is plant life that overhangs maybe from a garden overhanging into the street.

So like the branches or leaves of a tree or a bush by the side of the road.

You know, plants that hang over into the walking area, into the pavement.

Overhanging brush, they hang over the side.

So again, I suppose if you're walking along, your cane goes underneath the branches of this tree that's sticking out and then you just walk into them.

Because she says, again, my cane isn't high enough and cracks.

These are like, you know, fissures, broken bits on the ground.

Sometimes my cane will bounce back, which is annoying.

So walking along, touching the crane on the ground and then pang the cane bounces back because it hits a crack in the ground.

So you learn how to map out the world differently.

Instead of reading the street signs, you count the number of intersections.

That's junctions in British English.

You stop using the pedestrian signals to know when to cross the street, but look or listen for the traffic flow.

Wow.

So, instead of using pedestrian signals green man, red man, or walk don't walk you just listen for the traffic flow.

So basically, just listen.

If you can hear a car coming, don't walk.

If you can't hear any cars, walk.

It must be terrifying, especially if you live in a city, and especially with electric cars that are almost silent these days, not to mention bicycles and other things.

So you look or listen for the traffic flow.

Many blind and low vision folks also use GPS systems.

That would be like, you know, some sort of Google Maps or something which I don't know.

You use Google Maps while you're walking with your headphones on.

You actually get a person telling you where to go.

Turn left at the next junction.

Turn right onto Smith Street, you know.

So many blind and low vision folks use GPS systems, but it's usually too noisy for me to hear the instructions, so I don't use GPS very often.

Landmarks, such as a distinctive building or a fire hydrant.

So remember that...

Remember that Christina is able to see certain things.

So she might be able to recognise a distinctive building or a fire hydrant.

That's one of those things on the street that the fire brigade will use to get water.

They attach their hose to it to spray water onto a burning building.

So that's a fire hydrant in the street.

So landmarks.

Distinctive things like a building or a fire hydrant orient you to the world around.

You, allow you to orientate yourself.

Memory becomes crucial.

Sometimes I use a human guide, like when I became the human guide for that guy in HMV, the music shop.

Sometimes I use a human guide.

I hate to do this, not just because it limits my independence, but because most people are terrible at it.

They'll grab you and proceed to drag you, making you stumble and become disoriented.

They'll forget to stop before a step, so you fall.

Even with instruction, guiding someone else is an intuitive experience that not a lot of people have a talent for.

How the blind read.

So how do blind people read?

Since I'm deafblind, this is a different endeavour for me than it is for the average blind or low vision individual.

This is a different endeavour, a different thing to try to do.

I remember when I was sitting with a low vision specialist.

She kept telling me that I should use the text to speech software on my computer.

But I'm deaf.

So wouldn't Braille be better?

I asked her.

You can hear me so you can hear the computer. said the specialist.

I have a cochlear implant so I can hold a conversation reasonably well, but it's not perfect, said Christina.

I explained to her that it wouldn't be easy for me and I'd probably end up missing words and get tired, but she still insisted that it was the best course.

I ignored her and learned braille.

Right now, I'm about 60 to 70% of my old reading speed and I'm pretty gosh darn proud of myself.

Wow.

Imagine learning Braille and then learning it so well that you can read at about 60 to 70 of your normal old reading speed.

Old reading speed.

I mean, the Braille thing is normal now, isn't it, for Christina?

My point is that people can be dogmatic, meaning they've got like a particular, fixed way of thinking about things and doing things.

People can be dogmatic when it comes to alternative reading techniques.

Some people will advocate that a person with low vision read visually, regardless of how slow or difficult it is.

Others will advocate auditory-only training, since it provides most blind and low vision folks the fastest transitions.

So there are some politics involved.

Each blind and low vision individual should choose whichever reading technique fits his or her needs the best.

Visual, auditory or braille.

Let's move on to the section how people treat you, which is a really fascinating bit.

The biggest change after I started to use my white cane was the loss of my anonymity.

If you're anonymous, I think you know, right?

Anonymous, you just, you know, you don't stand out.

People don't really know who you are.

They don't notice you if you're anonymous.

But if you're walking down the street with a white cane, you lose that anonymity.

With a cane or a seeing eye animal, people notice you because you're different.

This is good and bad.

I usually get excellent customer service at restaurants, stores and offices, with employees going out of their way to make sure my needs are met.

I'm very grateful for these employees.

Most people are willing to give me directions.

I get on first on flights and sometimes get placed in the first row.

Crowds part like the Red Sea when I approach.

Kindness has been the general rule.

As with any rule, there are exceptions.

Some people stare or back away from me as if I'm infectious.

They think I don't see them, but I do.

There are also people who overcompensate in their kindness.

This is where people are being kind, but they're being maybe a bit too kind.

They're overcompensating.

Like being extra, extra kind because maybe they feel guilty or something.

I don't know.

Once I asked this woman for directions and she proceeded to lead me step by step to the front desk of where I was going.

When she tried to take over, like to take control of the situation, I had to tell her firmly that I was fine and that she should go on with what she was doing.

Her intentions were good, but overweening kindness is almost as insulting as people who flinch.

Overweening is like excessive, excessive levels of kindness.

It's almost as insulting as people who flinch.

Flinch is a good word.

So an example of flinching is if someone goes to slap you or hit you but they don't, you will flinch, like you'll move your head away, move your hand up.

Right, that's to flinch.

Ah, made you flinch.

Also, if someone sees a blind person and it makes them feel uncomfortable, they might flinch.

They might kind of quickly look away.

You know, kind of make an instinctive reaction to move away.

So apparently, being excessively kind to the point of it being...

What's the word for it?

Too much.

This is almost as insulting as people who flinch.

People who think that they have to take care of every single detail.

Since I'm no longer anonymous, people watch me.

I feel constant pressure not to stumble or fall, which is tough since I'm a generally clumsy person and relatively new to using a cane.

It's a dispiriting feeling, the sense that you can't make a mistake, that you can't trip.

Yes, you must feel very self-conscious and when everyone's watching you, suddenly you feel like you can't make a mistake.

I often find myself missing my anonymity the most, but it's nice to get in front of the line in amusement parks.

Then Christina goes on to describe the emotional side of losing one's vision.

It's the change that's the hard part, not the vision loss itself.

People born blind don't need to struggle with this aspect.

People like me who lose their sight later in life do.

The most destructive part of losing one's sight is the feeling of incompetence, like just not being able to do anything.

As someone who's not naturally organised and orderly, the new way of interacting with the world can get rough meaning, difficult and painful.

I've broken or cracked more than half of my set of drinking glasses by dropping or knocking them over.

I vacuum up electrical cords because I forgot to check for stray cords.

So, for example, she might vacuum up her iPhone charger or something in the vacuum cleaner.

I've walked into people by accident.

I've stepped on my cats too many times to mention and I'm afraid that one of them holds a grudge.

To hold a grudge is like when you hold on to a negative feeling and you want to get revenge.

So you know, she stepped on maybe one of her cats three times or four times, and now the cat is never going to forgive her for it.

The cat holds a grudge against her.

I'm the kind of person who hates feeling inept.

If you're inept, it means you're incompetent and you can't do things properly.

You sort of constantly get things wrong.

I'm the kind of person who hates feeling inept or useless.

I like doing things well to a certain degree.

I've done many things well.

At times, I feel like a failure at adapting.

When I misplace something for the upteenth time, I find myself berating myself for not being better at being blind.

That's an interesting point.

So when I misplace something, when she loses something, when she's put something down, she can't find it again.

When she misplaces something for the umpteenth time.

Umpteenth time or upteenth time?

I always thought it was upteenth, but apparently umpteenth.

So the umpteenth time U-M-P-T-E-N-T-H.

Umpteenth is used to say that something happened many many, many times.

Something happened or came after many other similar things.

I drank my umpteenth cup of coffee, meaning many, many cups of coffee.

For the umpteenth time, Anthony, knives and forks go into the middle drawer.

So she's obviously told Anthony many, many times before.

When I lose something or misplace something for the umpteenth time...

I find myself berating myself.

If you berate yourself, it means you say very, very critical things against yourself.

You strongly criticise yourself.

You know, why aren't you better at doing this?

You stupid idiot.

That sort of thing.

I find myself berating myself for not being better at being blind.

Yeah.

Yeah, you would beat yourself up, wouldn't you?

You know, if you kept making these mistakes, you'd feel like you'd beat yourself up for not dealing with those things better.

She says, I'm getting better though.

I haven't cracked a glass in months.

The electrical cords haven't been ruined by the vacuum in almost a year.

My cats now know to avoid me when I'm moving quickly.

Adapting is a much slower process than I ever expected but it's moving in the right direction.

One of the more discerning aspects of vision loss was how my conception of myself has changed.

Even though I've known that I had RP since childhood I've never thought of myself as blind.

I'm starting to think of myself that way now.

I've stopped squinting thinking that I would see better.

Squinting is like, For example, if you have difficulty seeing something like, for example, if you're looking into very bright sunshine, you'd squint, like scrunch up your eyes, maybe to block out very bright light so you can see more easily.

Squinting.

So she stopped squinting, thinking that she would see better if she only tried harder.

So she's kind of like learning to accept being blind.

So not trying to see better, just accepting it.

My self-consciousness about the white cane is waning, meaning it's getting less and less.

I've even started dreaming of myself as I am, an awkward, clumsy, blind person.

So she's coming to terms with it, accepting it, accepting this new version of herself.

The path to acceptance is a slow one, full of cracked glasses and disgruntled cats, but I'm getting there.

Legal blindness qualifies one for certain services from the US state and federal governments, including the right to use a white cane or a seeing eye animal.

Moreover, legal blindness applies to people who are blind and have low vision.

Okay.

So there you go.

That was a picture of what it's like to be a blind person and the struggles that you go through and the way that people treat you and the changes that you have to adapt to.

And even the way that you can be angry with yourself for not learning to adapt to it as quickly as you'd like to.

You know all the many different aspects of dealing with blindness the emotional side, the identity issues.

So let's just, this is going to be the last part of this, because I've been talking for an hour and 13 minutes, but I wanted to talk about how to talk about disability.

Okay now.

The following two paragraphs I'm going to read are from a guide on respectful disability language on the National Youth Leadership Network website.

That is an organisation to promote leadership in young people.

And they wrote about respectful disability language.

So what are the respectful terms and words that we can use when referring to people with disabilities?

An introduction to this.

The use of language and words describing people with disabilities has changed over time.

It's important that people are aware of the meaning behind the words they use when talking to, referring to or working with a disability community.

So the point there is that some words that people used to use are no longer considered respectful.

Like, for example, the word handicapped.

So people might talk about a handicapped parking space or someone.

Being handicapped meaning having a physical disability.

But the word handicapped is no longer a respectful word.

Why?

I mean, I understood that it was the origin of the word was cap in hand.

If you are cap in hand, it means you've got your cap in your hand and you're holding it out and you're begging.

So someone who's handicapped might be actually begging in the street, which I suppose many years ago, is something that would have happened to people with physical or mental disabilities if they weren't able to operate in society.

If they were excluded from normal life, they would end up essentially begging outside, you know, in the street.

And so the two things got associated with each other.

If you're cap in hand, you're handicapped.

And people who, you know, are disabled are handicapped.

You know, you can see how that's got a negative association.

But I'm not sure.

Why is handicapped offensive?

What's wrong with the word handicapped?

If you browse the internet, you will find many articles about the history of the word handicapped.

It's been suggested by many that the word originated with disabled people having to beg for a living being cap in hand.

So the fact is that the word has often been used in a negative and pejorative way, right?

It's been used in a dismissive or abusive way.

So the word itself carries with it though, that association.

But the fact is, the fact is that the word is outmoded now.

Handicapped is an outmoded term.

And if people use it, if people hear the word handicap being used, you know It doesn't give a very good impression.

So what are better words to use, for example, instead of that?

Handicapped or retarded is another one in American English, which is definitely a taboo word now.

I think everyone knows it's just embarrassing, isn't it?

So mentally retarded, absolutely not.

Words to avoid.

So it's important to be aware of the meaning behind the words or the associations or the impact that words can have when talking to or about disabled people.

Disrespectful language can make people feel excluded and can be a barrier to full participation.

Imagine living your whole life always having to explain why the words that people use are hurtful and offensive to you.

People with disabilities want respect and acceptance.

So learn respectful language and teach others.

Basically, it's about making sure that you're not hurting people when you talk about them and talk to them.

You don't want to do that, do you?

No one wants to make people feel sad and upset.

So let's... You know, I think that... Whoops.

I think the obligation is probably on the users of the language to just moderate their language and make sure they're using the right words, instead of expecting people who already have massive challenges that they deal with every day.

Instead of expecting these people to just deal with it.

Oh, so I use the word handicap.

Can't you just deal with it?

Well...

I think it's only fair for us to maybe make that slight change and try to use the right kind of language.

It's the least we can do, isn't it?

Here's a list of appropriate language and terms for referring to people with disabilities and what language to avoid.

OK, so first of all, physical disabilities.

So, in terms of like physical things, appropriate terms would be to use the specific name of the condition, if you know it right.

So if you're talking about someone who has maybe, a motor neuron disease which affects the way that they move their body so, if possible, use the actual name of the condition.

So, oh, she's got...

Blah, blah, blah, whatever it is.

She's got cerebral palsy or she has muscular dystrophy, right?

Or just refer to her or him as a person with a physical disability.

He has a physical disability, for example, right?

By the way, cerebral palsy.

What is that from the CDC website, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?

Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect a person's ability to move and maintain balance and posture.

CP, Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability in childhood.

When we talk about motor skills, it means about physical control, the brain's ability to use muscles to control the body.

It's called motor skills, right?

Motricity.

Cerebral means having to do with the brain, and palsy means weakness or problems with using the muscles.

CP is caused by abnormal brain development or damage to the brain the developing brain that affects a person's ability to control his or her muscles.

Symptoms might include problems with movement and posture.

Also related conditions like intellectual disability.

Seizures like a fit.

That's where the body suddenly starts shaking or is uncontrollable for a period.

It could involve the person falling down and being unable to gain control of their body, a seizure.

So where was I?

I was talking about cerebral palsy.

So it could also include seizures, problems with vision or hearing or speech, and changes in the spine or joint problems.

Okay, so that's cerebral palsy.

And what was the other thing?

Muscular dystrophy.

It's a hereditary condition.

Something you inherit marked by progressive weakening or wasting of the muscles.

Causes the muscles to weaken, leading to an increasing level of disability.

Okay.

So, refer to the name of the condition if you know it.

Otherwise, you can say a person with a physical disability.

And avoid the words crippled, deformed or other derogatory terms.

Derogatory meaning negative in tone.

Second, when talking about visual impairments or blindness, so appropriate terms can be visually impaired, he's visually impaired blind, he's blind, he is a person with a visual impairment and that's often considered quite positive, to use the word person in there.

It's always positive to say the word person in the phrase.

For example, he's a disabled person.

Rather than saying he's disabled, he's a disabled person.

He's a person with a visual impairment or a person who is blind.

And avoid sightless people. or using blind in a derogatory manner.

And that includes the phrase blind as a bat.

Thirdly, hearing impairments or deafness.

So referring to the ears.

Appropriate terms include deaf, hard of hearing.

So she's deaf, she's hard of hearing and person with a hearing impairment.

She is a person with a hearing impairment or a person who is deaf.

Number four, intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Okay, so appropriate terms include person with an intellectual disability, person with a developmental disability or use specific conditions, if known like Down syndrome or autism.

And avoid using the word retarded or other derogatory terms.

Fifth, mental health disabilities.

Okay, this is people who have mental health conditions.

So a person with a mental health condition, this is appropriate.

An individual with a mental illness.

Or you can use specific diagnoses, for example, depression, anxiety, or whatever it is.

And avoid stigmatising language, including words like crazy insane psycho loony, words like that, which are words that have been used to stigmatise people with mental health issues.

Okay, mental health problems or mental health conditions or illnesses is actually probably better.

Better to say a mental health condition, a mental health illness, than a mental health issue or mental health problem, which are on the more negative pejorative side.

Saying a mental health condition or illness is a bit more descriptive rather than a value judgment.

You see, and certainly crazy insane, psycho.

These are obviously very negative words that have been used to stigmatize people with mental health conditions in the past, and so you know um, I mean, we use these words.

I'm not saying these words need to be completely banished from the language, but we just need to be aware that saying crazy, crazy is not a word that should be used to legitimately describe someone who actually just has a mental health condition.

Neurodiversity.

Neurodiversity, I guess, covers just different ways of thinking, different ways, different types of brain activity.

So we've got neurodiverse person with neurodivergence or specifying the condition, and that includes things like autism, right to be autistic or to be on the autism spectrum or to have ADHD.

That's attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, which is a condition which causes people to lack focus.

So these are forms of neurodivergence.

So again, avoid using sort of negative derogatory terms like abnormal, weird, things like that.

OK, I mean, that's fairly obvious, but still worth stating.

Seventh out of a list of how many?

Twelve things.

Seventh is mobility disabilities, people who find it difficult to move around.

So appropriate terms would be person with a mobility disability or specify the condition, for example paraplegia.

Paraplegia is the loss of the ability to move or feel the legs and lower parts of the body, usually because of a severe injury to the spine.

So typically, someone with paraplegia, a person with paraplegia, a person with a mobility disability, might need to use a wheelchair.

And avoid using the word crippled or the word confined to a wheelchair or other derogatory language.

Speech disabilities.

Disabilities affecting the speech.

Appropriate terms include a person with a speech disability, or you can specify the condition, for example stuttering or stammering.

And of course, we should avoid ridiculing or mimicking speech differences.

So don't make fun of people who have a stutter.

We shouldn't copy people who have a stutter because that could make them feel really, really bad.

We don't want to do that.

There's bound to be someone who's a kind of a free speech warrior who's listening to this going...

You know, but what about free speech?

We should be allowed to say whatever we want.

Yeah, you can.

Everyone can say whatever they want.

And we're not talking about legislating or creating laws to make it illegal to, for example, you know, use the word retarded or crippled.

Right.

No one's talking about that.

It's just a question of trying to be aware that the impact that words can have.

So, of course, you can do what you want, right?

But you should be aware that if you do use that kind of language, that people might seriously dislike you or think that you are an uncaring person and they might not want to associate with you.

You might not make any friends. by doing that sort of thing.

Of course, it's a free country.

You can do whatever you want.

I say it's a free country.

That depends where you are.

But you can do whatever you want.

But you might find that people just don't like you if you use language that makes other people feel bad.

Number nine, learning disabilities.

Conditions that make it difficult for people to learn in the same way that other people do.

Appropriate terms include a person with a learning disability, or you can specify the condition.

For example, dyslexia, or again, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Dyslexia affects the way that people see words, so it makes it difficult to read and spell.

Very common.

And, of course, we should avoid labelling individuals who have these disabilities as being dumb or stupid or just lazy.

A bit of understanding is necessary there.

Number 10, chronic illness and invisible disabilities.

Appropriate terms here would be a person with a chronic illness or a person with an invisible disability.

And then you can specify the condition, like for example, fibromyalgia.

I don't know what fibro or fibromyalgia is.

Let's see if I can find out.

All right, this is from the nationalinstituteofhealth.gov.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic that means long-lasting disorder that causes pain and tenderness throughout the body, as well as fatigue and trouble sleeping.

Scientists do not fully understand what causes it, but people with the disorder have a heightened sensitivity to pain.

So where you become extremely tender and hypersensitive to pain.

Fibromyalgia.

And Crohn's disease...

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease.

That bowels refers to the lower intestine that causes chronic inflammation of the GI tract, which extends from your stomach all the way down to your anus.

Different areas of the GI gastrointestinal tract can be affected in different people and it often spreads into the deeper layers of the bowel.

Crohn's disease, something that affects the gastrointestinal tract.

Symptoms can be diarrhoea, stomach aches, stomach cramps, tiredness, fatigue, weight loss.

Okay.

Blood in the poo as well.

Okay.

So, and that might not be obvious.

So those are specific conditions.

And we should avoid questioning the legitimacy of invisible disabilities or using stigmatising language.

That would just be like, oh, it's all made up though, isn't it?

Or even trying to be kind about it, just like, oh, you should try and be more positive.

Number 11 wheelchair users people who use wheelchairs.

Appropriate terms a wheelchair user or a person who uses a wheelchair.

And avoid words like confined to a wheelchair or because confined is like a negative word.

You'd be confined to a prison cell.

Confinement is a sort of punishment that gets used in prison, right?

Solitary confinement.

So if you're confined to a wheelchair, making it sound like a prison sentence.

Or if you imply dependency, someone who needs a wheelchair, it's someone who uses a wheelchair.

And then number 12, sign language and communication.

So appropriate terms will be the different types of sign language, like American Sign Language or British Sign Language.

What's it called?

British Sign Language.

So American Sign Language, British Sign Language or other types of sign language different terminology.

A sign language interpreter or communication support. for non-verbal individuals.

For example, if you are organising an event with speakers, you might want to include sign language interpreters or communication support for non-verbal individuals.

And obviously we should avoid insensitive comments about sign language or alternative communication methods.

So insensitive comments, just don't be insulting or mocking about it.

And remember that the preferences for language may vary among individuals, so it's a good practice to ask individuals with disabilities about their preferred terminology and respect their choices.

The key is to use respectful and person-centred language that promotes dignity and inclusion.

What's wrong with that?

What's wrong with promoting dignity?

What's wrong with respecting people's dignity?

There's nothing wrong with that at all, of course.

That's what this is all about.

OK, I think that I'm going to need to stop here.

OK, so if you are a person who's been affected by any of the things that I've mentioned, it would be interesting to hear your voices.

So you know, you could leave your comments under this episode if you are someone who is visually impaired or someone who has a disability I've mentioned.

And, you know, we're curious to know what it's like for you.

What's it like learning English if you are a person like that, who is affected by one of those things?

What are the extra challenges you have to deal with?

What are the ways that you like to learn English?

You know, just let us know what it's like for you.

OK.

All right.

That's it.

I'm going to have to stop now.

Thank you so much for watching.

Thank you so much for listening.

Don't forget, you can get the PDF for this episode.

You'll find a link to it in the show notes where you can read all the stuff I've been reading.

You'll also find it on the episode page on my website.

That's teacherluke.co.uk.

All right.

That's the end of the episode.

Thank you so much for listening.

I will speak to you again next time.

But for now, it's time to say goodbye.

Bye.

Hello.

So it's not actually the end of the episode yet because, as I mentioned right at the start in my pre-introduction bit, that I would add a few other comments at the end.

So I'm adding these bits a few days after recording the whole episode that you've just you've just heard.

So I got those emails from Hafid and I said before that I actually sent him a preview of this episode, which he heard and liked.

And in fact here are some comments that I got from Hafid after I sent him the episode to listen to before it was published everywhere else.

So Hafid said, I listened to the episode preview about disabilities.

I have a lot to say, of course, but it's more for a conversation than for modifying this episode, meaning that he doesn't have any comments about how he thought the episode could have been changed or modified.

So he was sort of happy for me to publish it the way that I recorded it.

He said, you did a really great job.

The episode covers the basics of that topic.

So that's good.

He also said it was touching because I recognised myself in Christina's description of how it feels to be blind except for the ears.

I've got great ears.

I hear many details in movie soundtracks or music.

I hear TV and sometimes I catch details that normal people, quotes unquote, normal people miss.

When I listen to music, I can hear every instrument and voice.

It's helpful to learn how to play songs of my favourite bands.

Do you know Jean-Michel Jarre?

He's very famous at doing electronic music.

Yes, I know Jean-Michel Jarre.

He's a famous French composer.

And in the 80s, when I was growing up as a kid, my parents had some Jean-Michel Jarre records including, most famously, Oxygen.

Right?

Kind of synthesizer music, kind of like futuristic electronic synthesizer music by this French composer.

So yes, I know Jean-Michel Jarre.

And Hafid continues, he's a very famous composer of electronic music.

I'm not talking about techno, but of a modern version of classical music.

A good sample of his work is one of his albums titled Magnetic Fields.

So anyway, I just wanted to add that have heard the episode and liked it and gave it the thumbs up.

So that's nice.

What else did I want to add?

So I mentioned also at the very start that I made some other references to episode 851, which was all about the Beatles now and then.

Now, I don't want to go on too much now, but I just wanted to add those thoughts that occurred to me after I'd finished the episode.

Because, of course, loads of other things came to my mind.

I thought, oh, why didn't I mention that?

I should have mentioned that as well.

So really just two things I want to say.

So one thing is in addition to that extraordinary Carl Perkins story.

Just in summary, this is the one about the musician.

The legend of rock and roll, who was invited by Paul McCartney in 1981 to go and stay with him for a few days and work on a song together for his new album, which Paul was recording less than a year after John Lennon had been murdered.

And so Carl went to stay with Paul and his wife Linda had a lovely time, wrote a song for them to express his gratitude.

He played the song to them on the day that he was leaving.

The last line of the song was if we never see each other again, think about me every now and then, dear friend.

And Paul was really moved.

He was moved to tears.

He had to leave the room.

Linda said, how did you know?

This is so strange.

How did you know?

And Carl said, know about what?

And Linda said, those words that you added at the end of the song.

Think about me every now and then.

Those are the last words that John Lennon ever said to Paul McCartney.

So, um, Carl Perkins tells that story in a documentary.

You can see clips from the documentary on YouTube.

So he tells that story in a documentary and um, One of the weird things about it another weird coincidence, a slightly spooky, almost supernatural kind of coincidence is that in the documentary, when he tells that story, he's sitting in his studio telling the story to the interviewer.

And he's just finished telling the story when suddenly he gets a call from the front desk.

His wife buzzes into the studio and says, there's a phone call for you.

It's Paul McCartney on the line.

So literally Carl has just told this spooky story about this funny coincidence, this very moving kind of coincidence, this very emotional moment.

And at that very moment, Paul McCartney actually calls him.

Another weird coincidence.

And Carl's response is like you see, you see, you tell me that this boy, tell me this boy don't have some kind of connection to the spirit world.

So Carl is convinced that there's some sort of supernatural connection going on here.

I don't know about that, but it's certainly...

Very spooky and weird.

So I forgot to add that, which is like another dimension to that story, another spooky dimension.

What else did I forget to mention?

I also wanted to add some more things about the song now and then.

I talked about the stories, but I didn't necessarily talk about the song itself.

And the song has really grown on me over the last few days.

I've had it stuck in my head and it's really grown on me, meaning that I've grown to like it more and more.

I find the lyrics very touching, and I start, you know I'm still wondering what the lyrics are about.

They're very simple.

It's John saying he misses someone and hopes this person is going to return to him and stay with him and always come back to him.

Who is John singing about?

I know it's true.

It's all because of you.

And if I make it through, it's all because of you.

I miss you.

And now and then I want you to return for me, always to return to me.

Very simple, but Yeah, I suppose the lyrics are vague enough for it to be about.

It could be about anyone.

It could be about Yoko.

But why would he be singing to Yoko?

I mean, he was living with Yoko at the time, married to her, living with her in the same apartment.

So why would he be singing about missing her and hoping that she returned to him?

Giles Martin, the producer of the record, has suggested that it's John singing for Paul.

So, I don't know.

That's another one of those mysterious things.

It's like art lyrics, music song lyrics.

Sometimes it's not entirely clear who is being talked about, what the specific meaning is.

It's a little bit ambiguous and open-ended anyway.

But I also wanted to refer to the fact that in the song This is probably all unnecessary details now.

I'm now talking too much about it.

But...

It's not just John and Paul, you know.

Other sweet parts of this are the fact that Paul has clearly a lot of affection for George, who you know we lost in 2001, and Paul recorded a guitar solo in the song, which is clearly a dedication to George, because it's Paul doing a solo in the style of George's guitar playing.

It's a slide guitar solo, which George was very, very well known for, that kind of style.

So this is a very loving tribute to George as well from Paul.

Anyway, I'll stop now.

That's enough of me rambling on about that song.

That was in episode 851.

This is 852, another episode, a separate episode, and also at the end of the episode.

So I mustn't...

I'm going to stop now.

Okay.

But anyway, thanks for the comments you left in relation to that episode.

I look forward to your comments for this episode as well that you've already heard now.

Thanks to Hafid as well for giving his blessing and the thumbs up for the episode.

And thanks to you for listening all the way through to this point.

But I will leave now and that is the actual proper end of the episode.

Okay.

Thanks so much for listening.

I will speak to you again soon.

But for now, it's time to say goodbye.

Bye.

Thanks for listening to Luke's English Podcast.

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[How Does It Feel to Be Blind and How Should We Discuss Disability?]-[852. How does it feel to be blind? (Article & Vocabulary)]

📋 Summary

Understanding the Lived Experience of Blindness and Disability

The Reality of Visual Impairment

The Importance of Empathy and Perspective

Navigating Terminology: Respectful Language

Conclusion: A Call for Dignity

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

[How Does It Feel to Be Blind and How Should We Discuss Disability?]-[852. How does it feel to be blind? (Article & Vocabulary)]

📋 Summary

Understanding the Lived Experience of Blindness and Disability

The Reality of Visual Impairment

The Importance of Empathy and Perspective

Navigating Terminology: Respectful Language

Conclusion: A Call for Dignity

Deep Learning with ListenLeap

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

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