Thunder Dog - Michael Hingson [71]
7:02 p.m. Michael and Roselle arrive at the Westfield station. As they leave the station, Karen pulls up in the family van with her friend Tom Painter at the wheel.
7:15 p.m. Michael, Karen, Tom, and Roselle arrive home. Mike unharnesses Roselle and tries to brush her coat, but she is more interested in playing with Linnie, Michael’s retired guide dog. Michael showers while Karen orders Chinese takeout. Michael, Karen, and Tom enjoy a quiet meal and watch TV .
8:30 p.m. President George W. Bush makes a television statement, saying, “Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil.” He adds, “These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.” Michael’s friends and family begin to call. Michael is tired but talks to as many as he can.
10:49 p.m. Reports emerge that there were three to five hijackers on each plane, armed only with crude knives.
11:00 p.m. At Karen’s urging, Michael debriefs through the day’s events with K. Cherie Jones, a friend and pastor in Atascadero, California.
12:00 a.m. Michael and Roselle go to bed and sleep peacefully. No storms.*
* Timeline compiled from The 9/11 Commission Report, along with notes by Michael Hingson.
THE COURTESY
RULES FOR
BLINDNESS
When you meet me don’t be ill at ease. It will help both of us if you remember these simple points of courtesy:
1. I’m an ordinary person, just blind. You don’t need to raise your voice or address me as if I were a child. Don’t ask my spouse what I want—“Cream in the coffee?”— ask me.
2. I may use a long white cane or a guide dog to walk independently; or I may ask to take your arm. Let me decide, and please don’t grab my arm; let me take yours. I’ll keep a half-step behind to anticipate curbs and steps.
3. I want to know who’s in the room with me. Speak when you enter. Introduce me to the others. Include children, and tell me if there’s a cat or dog.
4. The door to a room or cabinet or to a car left partially open is a hazard to me.
5. At dinner I will not have trouble with ordinary table skills.
6. Don’t avoid words like “see.” I use them, too. I’m always glad to see you.
7. I don’t want pity. But don’t talk about the “wonderful compensations” of blindness. My sense of smell, touch, or hearing did not improve when I became blind. I rely on them more and, therefore, may get more information through those senses than you do—that’s all.
8. If I’m your houseguest, show me the bathroom, closet, dresser, window—the light switch too. I like to know whether the lights are on.
9. I’ll discuss blindness with you if you’re curious, but it’s an old story to me. I have as many other interests as you do.
10. Don’t think of me as just a blind person. I’m just a person who happens to be blind.
In all fifty states, the law requires drivers to yield the right of way when they see my extended white cane. Only the blind may carry white canes. You see more blind persons today walking alone, not because there are more of us, but because we have learned to make our own way.*
* From the National Federation of the Blind
BLINDNESS:
A LEFT-HANDED
DISSERTATION
by Kenneth Jernigan
You have asked me to comment on a seeming contradiction in the philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind. You tell me on the one hand that we say, “The blind person can compete on terms of equality with the ordinary sighted person if he gets proper training and opportunity.” You call to my attention our statement that, “The average blind person can do the average job in the average place of business, and do it as well as his sighted neighbor.” You remind me that we tell the World with great insistence that, “The blind person can lead as happy and lead as full a life as anyone else.”
You tell me on the other hand that we say blindness need not be the great tragedy it has always been considered, but that it can be reduced to the level of a mere physical nuisance. You say that these