By Katherine Schneider, for the CVPost
Alexander Pope wrote “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
I’ll add: “And to move forward afterwards is fabulous.“
Some recent missteps/errors affecting me have made me think about this and relate it to upcoming pandemic-infused holidays.
. . . Oops!
At a recent bridge game, I had two jacks of clubs in the same hand . . . oops!
I use free Brailled cards provided by a volunteer group in Las Vegas. My first two thoughts were to toss the deck because of the Braille errors and to complain about the volunteers not paying attention.
My second line of thinking was more productive: all it took was five minutes with a sighted person telling me which cards were which to correct three mistakes and return the deck to the pile of decks, to be enjoyed.
Remediation??
Recently, Alexa had a birthday and gave away a joke book, “Tell Me a Joke” through Kindle. Unfortunately, it is inaccessible using either Voiceover on my iPhone or Kindle for PC with JAWS (my screen reading software).
I contacted Amazon’s disability helpline and they promised to send my complaint in. They acknowledged that the accessibility features “weren’t turned on.” The customer service rep didn’t seem to think I’d ever hear back, but reiterated that he’d turn in my comment.
I’m frustrated! Both Alexa and Kindle have great potential for increasing accessibility to written material for blind people. If it’s just a matter of “turning on” accessibility features, why wouldn’t Amazon do it on this promotional giveaway?
Summary: An error was made; it was reported and proper authorities will be told. Will there be remediation? I’m not holding my breath.
Marking a boundary
After four years of vigorous lobbying, a marker was created to let blind people know when they were leaving campus from Garfield Parkway (almost all foot traffic) and walking down Garfield Avenue, a regular city street.
Jake Wrasse (a university public relations person) and I explored the bump recently. It is “something”, but not quite right. On the drawings the decline/incline was expected to be four inches and it appears to both of us more like two inches.
It will have traffic-slowing possibilities, which is another of its purposes. It will be interesting as snow falls and is plowed to discover if the bump gets totally covered up or not.
Summary: Something is better than nothing, but I’m not throwing a party.
Hindsight . . . and COVID
In these situations, as well as in the upcoming COVID-infused holidays, hindsight about what should have been done will be much better than foresight, which was minimal.
it really necessary for you to mask indoors, even though almost everyone is vaccinated at the Thanksgiving dinner? Should you keep three-foot distances and refrain from hugging? Should you try to get that relative who believes differently to change HIS (or her) mind?
The only bits of wisdom I have to offer as you weigh risks and benefits for your holiday get-togethers are plan ahead and realize there is no perfect solution. Enjoy the positives of your choice and give others a little room if they make different choices.
Realize, as Maggie Smith points out in her affirmational book of poetry, Keep Moving, that you can learn something from every situation and move on.