Yes, that’s right, I’m back.
A lot has changed since I last wrote here.
The one thing I want to write about today, which is the reason I’ve been away for so long, is my vision loss.
Over the last couple of years, my vision started to get worse, to the point that I had to quit my job about a year ago.
Since then, I’ve enrolled in Arizona’s Vocational Rehabilitation program, which helps people whose disabilities prevent them from working gain the skills necessary to either join or rejoin the workforce. It’s one of those programs that even someone with my libertarian leanings can get behind.
Anyway, I’ve just about completed the comprehensive rehabilitation part of the process. That’s the part in which I, among other things, learn braille, how to get around using a white cane (though I plan on getting a guide dog at some point), cooking and cleaning with my vision loss, and how to use a computer with JAWS, which is software that reads the screen for me.
That’s right, I’m using a computer with just a keyboard to navigate. It’s actually a lot easier than you’d think, but I’m sure that my tech background helps me out a lot. Though I have to give a ton of credit to the instructors in the Adult and Transition Services program at the Foundation for Blind Children here in Phoenix. They’ve been pretty awesome through the whole process.
And now that I have my own laptop with all the tools I need, I can blog again. Thankfully Windows Live Writer plays nicely with JAWS.
Anyways, once I finish the comprehensive rehabilitation program, I’ll be returning to school to get a degree in Information Technology Support, again with the help of FBC. Once I get my degree and find a job, VR will even help whoever hires me with getting and setting up all the extra technology and other things I will need.
I’ll be blogging about my experiences here, as well as anything else that comes to mind.
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