Taking Things For Granted

Here in the 21st century we have a very bad habit of taking a lot of things for granted that are by no means given to us for free.  This can include anything from cars to transit to even the computer that I'm using to write this post to you right now. In my opinion however, this problem is not getting any better as the younger generation is coming up, in fact, if anything the problem is getting significantly worse.  Now you may be asking yourself why it is that the thought of taking things for granted came to my mind, the answer to that dear reader is fairly straight forward, it came from reading "The Story of my Life" by Helen Keller.

Helen Keller was the type of woman that most people would feel sorry for, especially with the belief systems that were afoot over the course of her life.  I know as a person in her situation that the last thing that you want from people when you have visible issues the last thing that you want is people to pity you, granted it is better then the alternative "hospitals" during that time.  The concept of being blind AND deaf is something that most people, myself included can't even fathom, again two things that we don't even consider in our day to day life, our sense of sight and hearing.  I mean what would you do if you couldn't hear during the lectures that your prof is giving, as well as not being able to see the PowerPoint slides that are put on the projector, by our standards this would be next to impossible!  As a person with a disability i understand the concept of needing to come up with some more creative methods in order to get daily tasks done but the idea that Helen and Anne came up with in regards to the placement of her fingers on Anne's face as she spoke to say the least simply amazed me.

 
It's people like Helen that should make the general public stop and think, as I said and I can't emphasize this enough, not to pity her but out of pure amazement that she could accomplish what she did in her life.  Although the absolute basic communication skills that she acquired took so long to master, she took what it was that she had and with assistance managed to write a book so that everyone who read it could understand the hurdles that she had to overcome in order to bring this information to them.

I state again that we here in the twenty first century are lucky enough to be able to turn on our computers and even be able to write a blog post like this.  The ability to instantly fix an error that sometimes in Helen's case would take minutes, so all I ask of you dear reader is that the next time you start up your computer to make that Facebook post or take the notes from your next lecture off the projector, stop and be thankful that you live in a world that is so accessible to everyone!

Anonymity For The Disabled In The Online Gaming Community

There are many misconceptions when it comes to disabled people in the online gaming community, most of which are just farfetched, and in some cases hurtful rumors that people feel that they are able to create from behind the keyboard.  This is most certainly the point in time where arguments can be created purely out of self defense and preservation for the person with the disability. The problem is this makes it so these people have an opening to attack and most certainly get rid of majority of the anonymity that you posses online. the two questions that come up for me from this are, one,  what kind of rumors are created and within that what can be done to make the disabled more comfortable in the gaming community and two, is it worth defending yourself from the onslaught that can occur?

The main belief that I find amongst people online in regards to the disabled simply put is that because a good number of disabled people are too involved to have jobs they have a lot of time on their hands, as a result of this they should automatically be the best when it comes to things like video games.  The funny thing about this belief is that in many cases, because of a person's disability the struggle to even hold the controller and do what it is that they want to accomplish within the game. Without a few extra hours of practice in order to get the series of commands on the controller correct they are unable to preform the tasks that some find so easy.  Luckily in some cases companies are willing to take a look at this issue and try and make it easier for people with disabilities to excel  at the game.  For example there is this adapted version of the popular EA Sports title "Madden" making it easier for people with physical and mental disabilities to participate. So even though there is a lot of negative beliefs in regards to the disabled community online there is still some positive spin put on the subject, and in a case like this it makes it much easier to withhold your anonymity. The reason for this is person that you are playing against will not be able to tell the difference from one gamer to another. The point that this raises however is, is it worth it to spend all the extra time and money to protect yourself?

There's a very fine line in the online community between protecting yourself and looking to pick a fight and that is something for sure that I often think people forget.  For example, in my situation I am not hindered enough physically for people to tell the difference between me, or your average ambulatory person online, however it does take me time to do things between games, such as make food or grab a drink.  The issue that this has created for me in the past is friends defending me when people start complaining that I am taking too long, obviously my friends had only good intentions. However telling someone online that the reason I am taking so long is because I am in a wheelchair can be considered picking a fight with the other party and open a can of worms.  The can of worms that I refer to for me in this situation is literally the choice of, "do I step up and defend myself?" realizing fully that in order to protect myself I would have to expose a bunch of information about my disability to prove I am just as capable as the other guy.  Then there is the other side of the argument in "do I just sit and deal with the flack and hope it stops?" Not looking to pick fights with people I usually choose this one because I don't feel as if it is any of their business what I can and can't do.

In conclusion, in my opinion I feel as if there are options out there to improve your experience for those that are more involved, however you don't owe anything to anyone so be you, make your own decisions and game on!