Category: Advocacy
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Georgia 2022 Runoff Election Was a Better Accessible Experience
The 2022 runoff election for Georgia will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 6. But I participated in early voting and voted this week. I had just voted in the general election about a month or so ago and had an awful experience. Fortunately, that experience was not a repeat. It was actually quite pleasant. Reason…
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Georgia Poll Worker Used SB 202 to Deny Me Voting Assistance
Preform My Civic Duty I take my civic duty to vote very seriously. I have been a registered voter in Georgia since about 1996. You can do the math and see we are talking about a lot of years . Even after I went blind I still continued to perform my civic duty and vote.…
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How Do I Speak to a Blind Person? Here’s 13 Ways to Communicate
As human beings we are more comfortable interacting and talking to people who are like us. Those with the same kind of interests or backgrounds. Top on the list of similarities tend to be our religion, employment, marital status, education and income. This can also include race and gender. So, when the opportunity to converse…
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Can the Disabled Quietly Quit? No, and Here’s Why
Returning to Work After Disability Several years ago, I had a nice corporate job. The pay was good. Commute wasn’t too bad and I had excellent benefits. While there, I was slowly losing my vision. Initially I was using low vision aids and devices like hand-held magnifiers, dark lined notebook paper, magnification software and a…
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Do You Know About the White Cane? Read These 10 Intriguing Facts
When I first started using my white cane I learned how to cross busy streets and intersections. I learned how important it was to have my white cane directly in front of my body so that motorist could see it clearly. To a motorist, driving down the street or hovering at a streetlight, the white…
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Can You be Safe Without Sight? Yes, and Here’s How I Protect Myself
Do you know One of the most common misperceptions about blind people? It is we are more vulnerable to attack than sighted people. This is a dangerous myth. First it implies we are an easy target. Second, it creates a false notion that if we were attacked we couldn’t protect ourselves Class and Audiobook on…
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Confused About Disability? Read This Demystifying Guide and Become a True Ally
Reading with My Ears Book Review I have read a lot of books about disability. Some were fiction while others nonfiction. Some were biographical, technical, historical or medical in their approach. Others more laid back and conversational in tone. But the book, “Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an…
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July is Disability Pride Month and Is There Pride in Being Blind?
A Response on Becoming Disabled Back in August 2016 I read a very interesting article in the opinion section of the New York Times. It was titled, “Becoming Disabled” by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson. It asked the question, Where is our disability pride movement?” Afterward I wrote my own thoughts and personal reflections. In honor of Disability…
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Justice Department sues Uber Over Wait Fee Disability Discrimination and I’m Not Surprised
Last week I heard on my news podcast and it was confirmed in my ADA email newsletter that the US Department of Justice was suing Uber for disability discrimination over its wait fee policy. AS I listened to the news I was elated. It was about time but as they say, “the wheels of justice…
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My Musings on Being Heumann
The ADA and Disability Activism Today in the disability community, we recognize the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In honor of this landmark civil rights legislation, I read an audiobook “Being Heumann: An Unrepented Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist” by Judy Heumann. She is a disability advocate and her actions played…
Empish J. Thomas 