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From: Verna.Forristal@f71.n343.z1.fidonet.org (Verna Forristal)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: Input
Message-ID: <16192@handicap.news>
Date: 18 Jun 91 16:26:40 GMT
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Index Number: 16192

[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]

I heard from the Mensa lady.  She was gone for 2 weeks.  She says that in the
state of New Jersey all blind and deaf people are tested by the state board,
and have scores on file somewhere.  She said that you could qualify with the
oral portion of the Wechsler, if it were administered by a licensed
psychologist.  It is vocabulary, repeating strings of numbers, and answering
questions such as "Who is the current governor of your state," "Who is the
Vice-president of the United States," "How many days in a leap year," etc.  If
you have not been tested by your state already, I don't think you would have
any problem with this.  As I have said before, MANY tests are acceptable, and
do not have to be administered by Mensa to qualify.  Have you received the
info from them yet?  They have a little sample of 5 questions in the brochure,
for a little quicky test, but they may not be appropriate.  I had to study
them for a while before I could come up with the answers.

 LI> I do have a braille printer and several braille translator programs which
 LI> allow texts to be printed in braille.  I also have a voice synthesizer
 LI> which converts what appears on the screen into speech.

I have thought about playing with voice synthesis.  Is it good?  I mean, is
the mechanical speech understandable?  It seems to be a really neat thing,
but I have never experienced it.  I would like to learn more about it.

 LI> kid.  It doesn't bother me really.  I, as I said, will answer any
 LI> question--well, almost--if asked in sincerity, but will never let
 LI> Jonathan be the parent.  Yes, he helps, but that's part of being a
 LI> family.

I agree.  No child can be allowed to believe he is in control, or before you
know it, you have a monster on your hands.  I feel that you are correct that
that is just a part of being family, and I imagine that they don't ask your
husband if he is helping, as they probably assume that he is doing it all.
It's sad that more people don't realize just how independent the blind
really are.  I used to drive a taxi and had several regular riders who were
blind.  There was very little they couldn't accomplish, and gave me a better
understanding and respect of the abilities of blind people.  It made me
understand that the only thing they couldn't do was see.  What a revelation!

 LI> I, too, have heard that rumor that blind people can identify money.
 LI>  I don't believe it; the paper isn't different for each denomination.

Perhaps we have a case of ESP or something?  It makes you wonder why we
don't make different denominations different sizes.  Boy, would that ever
drive the bankers crazy!

Take care.  And keep a strict hand on Jonathan.

--
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