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Adaptive tech has come a long, long way since I was younger. A lot of it is insanely helpful, much of it practical in day to day life.

　
But that isn’t as much fun as gaming is, right? So let’s talk about that.

　
On the surface, gaming seems like the sort of thing that the blind can’t readily participate in, but there’s some pretty good ones. All of the games I play are on my phone. There are some that are great for PC’s, but my machine isn’t really set up for that, so I stick with those for the phone. Right now, IOS definitely has the lead in this, a lot of the things I play are IOS only, though I believe that Android is gaining ground. Some of them are outright designed for the blind, and some weren’t, but have developers that figured out how to make them accessible and diligently worked to make them so.

　
Land of Livia is a “idle RPG” style game. That means that it was designed to be played at intervals, so you don’t have to sit in one place for hours. You can pick it up when you have a spare moment, set something up, and then go be productive. You are essentially a humble farmhand who sets out to figure out why rain isn’t falling anymore, though you progress beyond that point and move on to more epic style storylines. This game is quest and riddle based. You get clues, travel around to different locations and undertake quests. Initially, these are quick little five minute quests, but you progress past that pretty quickly until the quests take 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour, etc. That is where the “idle” part comes in. There are two mini-games within the games, though, that can be used to eat up some unclaimed time. Once you start your quest, you just have to wait for it to finish. It’s pretty great, and the first chapter is free, which comes out to a week or more of play. You do have to pay after that, but only a few dollars. Currently there is the free intro chapter and two more paid ones.

　
Another similar game is Timecrest. I call it similar, because it’s another “pick up and do something then put it down again” style game, though the play is quite different. In fact, this one is actually quite clever. You are playing yourself. The premise is that a young person named Ash has magically contacted you via your phone, tablet or watch from a different land. You advise Ash on what they should do, but it turns out that you, or possibly your phone, has a bit of magic yourself. This one comes with music and some sound effects, and it is surprisingly immersive. It is completely free to play, though you can buy some extras You absolutely do not need to buy a thing to play the game, though. This one has two parts, so far. Unlike Land of Livia, though, you do get to choose your path. It’s very choose your own adventure in that you can go back to make different choices. I find the music in this to be occasionally lovely, despite it being completely digital. One thing about Timecrest that I was impressed by is that they didn’t gender Ash. Nothing, at any point, indicates whether Ash is a boy or a girl, you can basically decide for yourself what sort of gender they are.

　
Both of the above were not actually developed for the blind, but adapted. You can definitely play them with your eyes.

　
Feer is a pretty basic endless runner style of game, and you cannot use your eyes. It was designed for the blind, but sighted folks can obviously play it, too. It’s pretty straightforward. You’re a blind person running and trying to avoid zombies and save some fairies, with power ups like weapons, speed boosts, shields and something that doubles the fairy lights you collect. It’s free, though I believe there is a different setting you can buy that changes from zombie to technological threats.

　
A Blind Legend is perhaps the closest I’ve ever found to being a video game that has no video. It was developed in France, and originally was in French, but has been translated to English. Like Feer, you need headphones to do this one right. You are playing a blind knight. Guided by your sighted daughter Louise, you have to save your wife and fight off enemies. It has voice actors, music, realistic sound effects and the whole nine yards. Production value is higher than I’m used to seeing, but the game is free. It does have some downsides, though. For one thing, it is not an easy game. I haven’t beaten it yet. There is also swearing, I can think of at least one F bomb. There is also one unfortunate instance where you slap Louise for disobeying you. It’s in a cut scene, so you can’t avoid it. Makes me a bit uncomfortable. Not for children, obviously.

　
Diceworld is, unsurprisingly, a dice playing game. Actually, it’s several games. This is the only multiplayer one I’ve tried, since you can compete against other users. It has things like Yahtzee, Pig and the like. You can just play the computer, you can play one on one with others, or you can enter tournaments. You have a starting level of gold, and though you can buy more, you are honestly better off just winning more by playing. This is one of those adapted for the blind, not built for the blind ones.

　
Frequency Missing was a short but interesting game. Like A Blind Legend, it has voice actors and sound effects, but it was designed to be seen to be played. They rather cleverly found a way for the blind to navigate it too, though. When I say it’s short, I mean it. I solved it in an hour or two, but hey, it was free and entertaining while it lasted. You are a new reporter trying to figure out the mystery of a missing coworker.

　
I’ve tried others, but the above are the ones I’ve stuck with. I will mention a few that only briefly amused me, though.

　
Crafting Kingdom essentially takes the crafting part of RPG’s and only does that. I think you start by creating logs. You can use the logs to make lumber, then you get to ladders, shovels, etc, which you can then use to make other things. You can set up a complex series of things that rely on one another. You can’t make a ladder without two things, for example. It was briefly fun, but it palled soon.

　
Blind Millionaire was “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” via text only. It was fun for about thirty minutes, then I got bored.

　
Blind Hopper was a lot like Frogger but with sound. I think you had to start paying after maybe five tries. I didn’t enjoy it enough to pay for it. There are a whole series of those “Blind Such-and-such” games.

　
Alter Ego is a paid-for game that I tried, and regretted. It was okay for a day or two, but after going through it twice, it was starting to pall. You start as a baby and basically progress through infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and then you die. Unless you die earlier, anyway. It gives you a series of situations with multiple choice responses. I don’t recommend it, though if it was free I might.

　
There are many, many more out there that I haven’t played but they don’t hold a lot of appeal. I have no interest in virtual pets, virtual babies and the like, nor in trivia games, but all of those are out there and playable by the blind.

　
For what it’s worth, even when you do have to pay for a game, or an expansion to one, it’s only a few dollars. Fairly cheap for what it is.

　
Now if only Land of Livia and Timecrest would each finish the next parts of their games, I’m patiently waiting.

Last week, I spoke about how much I love Disney World in a general sense. This week, I want to talk about doing Disney World with a disability. The short version: It’s more doable than you might think.

Now, for the long version.

My own disability is visual impairment. I am functionally blind, with no vision at all in the right eye and only light perception and occasional colour in the left. At first blush, you may think this ought to make a theme park unfeasible for me. After all, Disney is so visual, right? All those dark rides with their clever animatronics, , all those shows, all that attention put into making the areas of the park distinct.

You would be wrong. Sure, the visual element is wonderful. I’ve been there with considerably more vision, I know the parks are beautiful. But if you’re a Disney goer, I urge you to take time to sit down somewhere and close your eyes. Really pay attention to what you hear and smell, and you will find that there is still a textured experience for you to enjoy.

That alone would have made my recent visit a magical one, but Disney has done more. You can get a little boxy device from Guest Services that you can wear around your neck and plug earbuds into, and that little box is an audio description unit. It doesn’t just describe the rides – more on that later – but the area you are in, in quite a bit of detail, as well as announcing which area you are entering. There are buttons to access menus which will tell you about nearby shops, attractions, restaurants, washrooms, etc as well as adding even more detail to the description.

And then there are the rides. So long as it is not a thrill ride (basically, not a roller coaster or ride that drops you) chances are, it has an audio description track that will automatically begin as the ride does. I got to hear rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, Spaceship Earth, Frozen Ever After and the like described.

And then there was Flight of Passage. For the unfamiliar, this is a simulation ride based on the movie Avatar, where you are seated on the back of a Banshee. The actual thing you are on looks like a futuristic motor cycle, and while your beast seems to fly, you can feel wing beats between your knees and an in and out of breathing as well. The “flight” is on a screen in front of you, and 3-D glasses make it look more real as does air, mist and scents being blown over you. On top of that, it also has audio description, though in this case your earbuds plug into the front of the ride itself. It was amazing. I never thought I could enjoy a simulator ride, because I don’t get the kinetic sense of forward motion that adds to the dark ride experience. But it was a mesmerizing experience for me. The audio track was in perfect sync with the dips of my little ride vehicle seat, and the narrator conveyed emotion really well. This ride is more emotional than you might expect.

Disney doesn’t just cater to the blind, however. The same device I picked up from and returned to Guest Services each day can also be set up to be a closed caption device, which will give you a display of the vocal tracks of the rides. Oh. And both also work on a lot of the shows, too.

All of the new rides have been set up to allow for ECV’s/scooters to navigate the lines just like everyone else, while the older ones that don’t allow for this do have courtesy wheelchairs that you can use while you leave your ECV parked outside, or else have a separate entrance that you can use. One thing to note is that at least some rides will not allow for more than one ECV/wheelchair user to board at once.

Disney also understands that some people just can’t wait in a traditional line for a variety of reasons, and for them there is the DAS. It isn’t a “skip the line” pass, but is probably the most fair workaround I have ever seen. You can go to the ride of your choice, talk to a Cast Member (Disney’s term for anyone they employ at the parks) and get a return time. You still wait, but can do so in a manner that you can manage, whether that means just sitting down, stationning yourself near a washroom, getting out of the heat or moving around. Then when your time is up, you can go right in. I found the Cast Members I dealt with both during setup and getting return times to be exceedingly kind, because I did get it for a variety of reasons. Because of how it is set up, I think it also nixes the feelings of guilt some of us have when we take advantage of things like this, because I’m waiting as long as everyone else is, I’m just doing it in a manner that won’t make the rest of my day a sheer misery. This is also particularly great for people with sensory issues, kids with autism, people with IBS and a host of other invisible disabilities. No one but the Cast Members will even know you’re using it.

If you just read about that and were left wanting to use it yourself, all you have to do is take your entire party (up to six people) to Guest Services on your first park day. They will set you up, get everyone linked up on a magic band or whatever you are using, take the picture of the person whose name the thing is in, and you’re good to go for the rest of your vacation. If you do have multiple people with disabilities in your group, it may be worth your while to get them separate passes, though, just in case one wants to ride a thing that the other doesn’t. The actual DAS holder has to be riding for the others to use it, for obvious reasons, and their picture does come up for the Cast Members to see.

Disney has gone to great lengths to make their parks places that everyone can enjoy, and it shows. They have done things they certainly don’t need to do. For example, they could charge money to rent out those devices, and they don’t. Yes, there is a $25 deposit, but being a deposit you do get it back if you return your box intact, and those things are darned sturdy. I would have paid for it, and am pleased I didn’t have to. They do also rent out wheelchairs, strollers and ECV’s, and I think the prices are reasonable. The company could have done a lot less and called it good. Most places do way, way less and call it good.

So if you are yearning to go to Disney, but either you or someone you want to go with has some sort of disability, know that you can do it, and you will be taken care of.

So, I am a huge Disney fangirl. Seriously, people. If you could but see my youtube viewing history. Or my FaceBook newsfeed, for that matter. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t.

　
I was born in the mid seventies, my formative years that I remember were mostly the 80’s. Hard as it may be for younger folks to imagine, television offerings were more limited. But every week, the CBC aired The Wonderful World of Disney. That was my gateway at first. That, and Robin Hood. You know, the one where Robin Hood is a fox. I remember seeing that in the theatres, though looking at when it’s actual release year was, I now know it was one of Disney’s re-releases.

　
Then, on Christmas day when I was six, my sister and I got a fabulous present. We discovered that our parents, grandmother and, yes, even the two of us, were going to Disney.

　
Better still – for me, anyway – was that they had chosen for us to be there during my seventh birthday. My sister jokes that she’s still jealous. I don’t think she’s joking.

　
That week was magical. Disney was this wondrous place. The Magic Kingdom had all these fun rides, Epcot was nothing short of fascinating to the young me. Science, it turned out, was pretty cool, and in the future we were totally going to live in space. Or underwater. Or in desert farms that smell of oranges.

　
Also, I had a birthday cake with Minnie Mouse on. Also orange flavour. Writing this, I’m really starting to wonder if my love of the smell of oranges, both artificial and real, is linked to this. I may be on to something.

　
We went back a few more times. Once when I would have been perhaps nine or ten, I have trouble placing that one in time. And once when I was fifteen, this time without my sister (seriously, how does she still love me?) because she was on a trip to Mexico. I secretly believe this may have been my parents fretting about their sixteen year old in Mexico without them, no matter how many responsible adults were there with her group, so putting themselves geographically close enough to get across that border if they had to. This time, I was old enough to be allowed to roam free in the parks. It was a different time, guys.

　
I remember eating breakfast in a deserted Land pavilion. There may have been another family there, but I don’t think so. After park opening. This doesn’t happen anymore.

　
And still, the Magic Kingdom was magical, and Epcot was both fascinating and inspiring. MGM Studios was a thing now.. wow, a third gate? Hooray! It was so very, very much about movies. Ah, Great Movie Ride, how I miss you.

　
But then, I became an adult. And another fifteen years would pass before I was able to go back. This time, with father, step mom and step niece. Essentially, they brought me not just because they love me – because of course they do – but so that I could share a room with the young lady and look after her. This was not difficult. At twelve, she was a perfect little lady and fun to be with. For the first time, I discovered how fun those parks could be when I was all grown up but seeing it through the eyes of the child there with me. She loved it, I loved it. Disney was different, but still fun. I could still see a bit, and though I was missing a lot of what was going on with rides that were new to me, like Splash Mountain – under construction on my last trip – I still had fun.

　
Another fourteen years would pass. I would lose all sight, gain some back, and be okay with it all. Then, last October, my Mom was kindly driving to work with me, and asked me if I would like to go to Disney World with her in February.

　
Boy, did I.

　
Disney World on an adults-only trip is just as much fun, guys. If you think you shouldn’t go because you’re too old but have no kids, you’re missing out. If you don’t like thrill rides, that’s okay, there’s plenty of slower things. On the other hand, if you think it’s all kiddie rides, you’re also wrong. You can do roller coasters thatt go upside down. Or backwards, for that matter. You can believe, for just a few minutes, that you’re actually flying on the back of a banshee from the movie Avatar. Or somehow soaring in a hangglider over famous sights of the world. Soon, you may believe you’re flying in the Millennium Falcon.

　
Disney World is magical. Yes, okay, it isn’t “real”. Not the real world at all, but that’s sort of the point. I know people roll their eyes a bit at all the talk of magical experiences, but it really, truly is like that. You forget the harsher, colder real world for a bit and just lose yourself in immersive environments.

　
Some other time, I’ll write about how impressed I am at the length Disney has gone to to accommodate people with varying disabilities, but this is just generally about how much I love that place.

　
I know the corporation is just that. I know that their goal is to make money. No, I don’t agree with every decision they have ever made. But you know? I don’t care. I just love that place.

　
And I am not waiting another fourteen years to go back.

People keep blogs for different reasons, and I think they’re all pretty valid, even if I may not agree with the actual message being conveyed. Some people keep them for the validation that being heard brings. That is completely okay. Some people use them as a soapbox of sorts, a means to convey a particular viewpoint. That’s also okay. The medium actually isn’t always the message. Some people write to make money. Again, okay.
　

So why am I writing one? Several reasons, actually.

　
Firstly, it is part of my goal to write more. In fact, I set myself a goal of writing once a day, every day, a little over two and a half weeks ago at the time this will be posted. At the time of writing (not the same thing), I have met that goal.

　
Part of my goal in writing is to eventually start publishing. As such, this blog can also be considered to be part of my writing platform. It will show readers how I write, what my voice is, and all that.

　
I am also keeping it because, frankly, I have a lot to say about the things that interest me, and those are many, many things.

　
Lastly, I want to make this a little corner of positivity out there in the interwebs. This is not ever going to be a vehicle for complaint, because that’s not what I want to put out there. Life can be hard but we don’t have to be.

　
For now, this is my plan: I plan to publish one blog per week, likely on Wednesdays; this may change but for now, I have arbitrarily chosen Wednesdays. I don’t know why. Arbitrary publication date is arbitrary. There may be weeks where I have more to say in a hurry, in which case there may be a bonus blog. But I plan to try to always have at least one post, published at midnight PST/3am EST/8am GMT. Scheduling publication of blog posts is rather nice.

　
As for you, gentle reader. If you like what I have to say, please do comment. I’ll try to answer comments as much as possible, and comments will help me grow this thing. You can also feel completely free to share it on yon social media things if you are so inclined. Or just read it and enjoy it.

We live in a day and age where labelling yourself as a geek is considered cool. Now, this isn’t going to be a post of my complaining about twoo geeks and wannabes. Honestly, I think it’s fantastic and wish it was like that in the 80s and 90s, my younger years might have been easier.

　
However, “geek” covers a large assortment of things. You can just like Marvel movies and call yourself a geek. Or you might have meticulous replicas of every Enterprise to cruise across a television or movie screen and call yourself a geek.

　
This begs the question: what kind of geek am I?

　
First and foremost, let me say that I can probably put a lot of my geekiness at the feet of either C.S. Lewis or Walt Disney. Lewis was my gateway into the fantasy genre at an early age, though I don’t remember how old I was when I first read a Narnia book. Six or seven. But I was both six and seven, as my birthday fell in this week, when I first went to Walt Disney World. Epcot had just opened, and you could say it made an impression on my young birthday girl self. In fact, much more than meeting Mickey Mouse. Futurism has kind of fascinated me since that day, though I didn’t have a word for it for a very long time.

　
I’ve always been a bookworm. I remember the first chapter book I ever read… Charlotte’s Web. I also remember the last book that I ever physically read with my eyes. An omnibus version of Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Fionavar Tapestry. Luckily, audiobooks are a thing and easy to get my grubby little hands on. Or ears, I suppose.

　
So I’m a book geek. I am also a gamer geek, though not the World of Warcraft sort as that’s a wee bit hard to do when you can’t see the screen. It’s been awhile since I played, but yes, I am one of those folks who has sat around with a bunch of dice in varying shapes and pretended to be someone else for the evening, and I enjoyed it. I even own a bag of holding. Actually, I own three. They’re handbags, or at least two purses and one travel bag that I have wound up putting into everyday use.

　
I am a fantasy and scifi television show and movie geek, too. My choice of poison includes Firefly, Star Trek (mostly TNG, though), Star Wars (mostly original trilogy, though), Labyrinth, The Princess Bride and the like. Oh. And Doctor Who. I love me some Tardis adventures.

　
I am a Disney geek, too. Or possibly a fangirl. If you get me started, I just will not shut up about the parks. Or the animated movies. Or the parks. Did I mention the parks? Disney World is my happy place. I also happen to find its history and inner workings fascinating, as a glance at my youtube watch history and channel subscriptions will tell you.

　
I never used to be a science geek, but lo and behold, when I went to study massage therapy I discovered just how fascinating the human body is. Even cellular structure is complex and just nifty, and don’t get me started on the kidney. Physics, not so much.

　
So. There you have it, my geekdom explained. If you continue reading, you can probably expect me to wax enthusiastic about any and all of these topics. If it’s one that doesn’t interest you, that’s okay. I won’t be offended if you skip it. Just don’t tell me I’m wrong for liking what I like, and I won’t tell you you’re wrong for liking what you like.
　

Beam me up, Scotty.*

　

* (Yes, I know that never got said. I also know the line is “No, I am your father” but let’s not get pedantic.)

Welcome to my little corner of the internet.

My name is Jennifer, as you may have gathered already, and I am at the time of writing this, a 43 year old blind woman living on the east coast of Canada. Professionally, I am a registered massage therapist and recreationally a writer, though up until recently I haven’t been writing as much as I wanted to, or at all.

Most people are curious about the blind thing. To be precise, I have zero vision in my right eye, and light perception in my left along with the ability to see colour and sometimes motion if the light is just right. Too dark, and obviously I get nothing, but that also happens if it’s too bright. I haven’t always had this level of vision. In fact I have both had much more and much less, running the gamut from 20/80 (almost enough to drive) to utter darkness, though the right eye has been blind since roughly age five or six. I’m of the mindset that I don’t focus on what I’ve lost, but rather what I’ve gained back.

The massage therapy thing is a career I took on in my thirties. I’d wanted to pursue it for a long time, but never did. Right up until I decided that enough was enough. I’ve been doing it for six years now, and absolutely love it. I like people, or at least I like people in one on one or very small group interactions, and this career path lets me help and also get to know a variety of interesting and wonderful folks. Yes, it is hard work, but it’s also almost insanely fulfilling.

As to the writing, I’ve been doing it since I was a child. I’ve always been a bookworm, and my mother encouraged me to write. She insists that I won a lot of writing contests when I was young, though I’m convinced she’s mixing my sister and I up, as she’s also exceedingly skilled with words. The only contest I remember winning was in the summer before I started ninth grade, and involved writing a ghost story which, if I recall correctly, was called The Will and The Orb. Which now seems a bit pretentious, but I was fourteen, so allowances must be made.

I’ve written short stories on and off, more often than not leaving them unfinished as I ran out of steam or got distracted. I’ve always wanted to write a book, but if you think a short story was hard for me to finish, imagine me going for a novel?

Since starting the massage thing, I’ve written a lot less. I get the ideas, but tend to just daydream about them and leave them at that, while simultaneously telling myself that I could write a darned good book some day and of course get it published. The book you never write can safely be thought of as a sure winner. But 100% of the books you never write aren’t going to see the light of day.

Recently, though, I’ve decided that once again enough is enough. To paraphrase a recent Facebook post I made, writing is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, it atrophies. If you want to strengthen it you have to consistently use it.

I set myself a goal. Write something every day. Even if it’s only a paragraph. Even if it’s only a snippet of dialogue for something else. Because I do want to write a book, but a whole book is really, really intimidating. But writing a paragraph isn’t. It is the kind of goal I can meet, and I have. For a week and a half, I have written at least one paragraph a day. More often than not, I write a lot more than that. It’s all been book-related, but it doesn’t need to be.

That’s where this blog comes in. Here, I’ll be writing about a lot of things. About being blind, and the humour that can bring as well as the harder things, though I more often than not see the humour rather than the struggles. About working in my industry. About writing itself. About things that interest me. I’ve decided not to set a certain focus at the outset, though I make no promises that that will always be the case.

So. Deep breath, best foot forward, and let’s see where this goes.