Author: david

062

Traveling While Blind In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about traveling and what I learned at a recent Philly Meetup For The Blind presentation from a couple of seasoned travelers who happen to be blind. I talk about some of my fears about traveling on my own to Podfest in Orlando in […]

061

A Trip To Washington To Advocate For The Blind In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about traveling to Washington, DC to advocate for the blind by lobbying congress. And you know, I can’t go anywhere without trying new restaurants, so I talk about them, too. Thanks for the tip, Guy Fieri! I […]

060

Independence Hall Blind Selfie And Crazy Stuff People Said To Me In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about my quest for the perfect blind selfie at Independence Hall in Philadelphia while on my way to the Museum of the American Revolution. It should come as no surprise to you that I want […]

059

No Computer, No Smartphone, No Problem Keeping Track Of The Money In this episode of the iCantCU Podcast, I talk about how the recently-retired Treasurer of the Keystone Chapter was able to do all of her work without using a computer or smartphone. As the new Treasurer, I will not be able to accomplish my […]

058

Sixers Game With A Friend I had a fun night going to the Sixers game with my friend Chris. We got to catch up and enjoy a Sixers win. As with any sporting event I attend, I have to choose between paying attention to the game or socializing. When Eliz and I went to Jane’s […]

057

Psoriatic Arthritis Is A Bigger Issue Than My Blindness I was diagnosed with Psoriasis about 25 years ago when I was about 30 years old. When I was diagnosed, my skin looked terrible. It was mostly on my body, but I did have some on my head. Psoriasis is very uncomfortable on two fronts. There […]

056

NYC On My Own As I’ve mentioned so many times before, I love traveling to New York City. For this trip, I traveled to celebrate Jane’s birthday with her. She was working a normal day and I just didn’t want her leaving work and just going home without doing anything on her special day. She […]

055

2020 Plans, Goals, Guests, New Podcast Projects, And Travel Ideas As we start another year, I lay out my goals and plans for the next 12 months. Some are business-related, like increase affiliate marketing revenue to support the purchase of medical insurance for my wife and I, and our two adult kids. Additional increases would […]

054

Chanukah And Christmas Memories Thinking back to when I was a kid, I had the best of both worlds. While I was raised Jewish, I also got a pretty good dose of Christmas. As I mentioned in episode 053, my mom converted to Judaism to marry my dad. I was fortunate that my aunt (her […]

053

Remembering My Mom (Includes A Little “Hernandez Tone”) This podcast episode wasn’t the easiest to record so close to her death, but telling some of the stories I told put a smile on my face. My mom has lived at Maris Grove in Glen Mills for the last 13 years. The first 11 years were […]

052

Vampire Weekend At The Movember Gala This Movember Gala was billed as a 45-minute acoustic set by Vampire Weekend. They played for over an hour and it was an outstanding show! The event helped raise over $25,000 for the Movember Foundation, “the leading charity changing the face of men’s health.” This was the second Movember […]

051

Exploring The Penn Museum On My Own

050

Fantasy Football In The Blind Abilities League I’ve been playing fantasy football for 15 to 20 years, mostly playing in one league. I’ve won that league a few times and been runner-up on one more occasion. When I found out about the Blind Abilities fantasy football league a couple of years ago, I wanted in. […]

049

Another Trip Around The Sun

048

Meetup To Eat Up At Victoria Freehouse Links to things I talked about in the episode: Philly Meetup for the Blind and Visually Impaired If you aren’t in the Philadelphia area, have a look around Meetup to see if there is something similar in your area. If there isn’t, why not start one? Philly Touch […]

047

Traveling To Harrisburg For The State Convention As I mentioned in an episode in January, I wanted to travel more in 2019. I don’t think I ever would have guessed how much more I’d actually do it. With the exception of June and August, I’ve spent at least one night in a city that I […]

Verizon Fios Tech Support: The Good, The Bad, And The Abysmal

I think the most infuriating part of the 3 1/2 hours spent with Verizon Fios tech support was when the two or three agents had no idea what I was asking for. One of them said, "That is not a service we offer. You need to do that on your smart TV." One of them told me he understood, then told me to turn on closed captioning and then turn on text to speech. For those that don't know, closed captioning is for the Deaf and puts the dialog into word so it can be read.

045

When Technology Isn’t Perfect Who doesn’t want a FREE Google Home Mini courtesy of Spotify? Play your music, look up news articles, let other people wonder what you meant when you said you were going to kill so and so while listening in to my private conversation. For someone who is blind or visually impaired, […]

044

Myth Or Reality: Blind People’s Other Senses Are Greater I love getting questions about being blind. Last week, when I was at a doctor’s appointment, the technician who took me to the room asked me a couple of questions about blind people. She was appreciative that I took the time to answer them.  Thanks to […]

043

Success At Lehigh Valley Mall Event Since October is Meet the Blind Month, Keystone Chapter President Harriet Go searches for events that we can go to and get the word out about the National Federation of the Blind and how it can help you if you are blind or know someone who is blind. One […]

042

Visiting My Mom In Hospice Six months ago to the day, my Mom turned 90 years old and we almost didn’t get a chance to visit her due to the assisted living facility being quarantined due to an illness outbreak. Fortunately, the staff at Rose Court at Maris Grove made it happen. We were only […]

041

Banners Concert And Mutter Museum It has been a very busy September, so far. I’ve gone to the Museum of the American Revolution, the Academy of Natural Sciences 2x, the Benjamin Rush Botanical Gardens at the Mutter Museum, Radio 104.5 to see a Studio Session with Bastille (and a meet and greet, too,) a Bastille […]

040

Live Music Beats Live Sports For Me Now When I was a kid, I went to a ton of professional sporting events. All four major Philadelphia teams, plus indoor soccer (Philadelphia Kixx,) indoor lacrosse (Philadelphia Wings) and the women’s indoor tennis tournament that came to Philadelphia every year. I went to more Phillies games each […]

039

Philly Museums And A Movie By A Blind Director All In One Week! Check out Museum of the American Revolution, Philly Touch Tours, and the Academy of Natural Sciences.

038

Wings, Ribs, And Pizza For Clearer Vision? Maybe! Eliz and I went out for dinner at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Wilmington, DE and I’m pretty sure my vision was a little clearer by the end of the meal! I would love to try this in a before and after situation. Either read an eye […]

037

AT Expo At CBVI And The Trip Home Here is a perfect example of why I have to listen more and look less. As I’ve mentioned more than a few times, I do have a little bit of sight. Today, when preparing for the podcast, I went to the CBVI Facebook page to see what […]

036

Drug Abuse, Serious Mental Illness Just Steps Away This episode has very little to do about being blind and more to do about balancing the rights of the mentally disabled with the rights of everyone else. Some pretty weird stuff has been going on in and around our comdo complex over the past couple of […]

035

Into Philly To Lead A NFB Chapter Meeting While I do talk a little about the meeting, this episode focuses on getting to and from the meeting in Center City Philadelphia on my own. There were a few things I should have done differently, but in the end, I made it to Starbucks, then the […]

034

A Busy Time For A New Old Cornea Issue We’ve been busy this summer helping Jane transition from college to workforce. Once she found a full time job in NYC, we helped her find an apartment. It is an exciting time for her as she moves out of our apartment into one of her own […]

033

The Exhibit Hall And My eSight In-Home Demo The exhibit hall at the National Federation of the Blind National Convention was an interesting mix. On one hand, you had companies displaying and demoing the latest gadgets in assistive technology, while on the other, there were state affiliates selling all sorts of goods, like food products, […]

032

We Made It To Vegas! It took three days, but we finally made it to Las Vegas. American Airlines said they were really sorry, but wouldn’t do anything to help. They basically said, you’re flying to Las Vegas on Tuesday. We can’t help you on Sunday or Monday. Take it or leave it.

031

Over 6 Hours On A Plane And Didn’t Leave The Airport I was so excited to go to Las Vegas to attend my first National Federation of the Blind National Convention. Seven nights at Mandalay Bay. The first few days there was only a couple of events each day, so Eliz and I would get […]

030

TV Show Tough To Follow? Try Audio Descriptive Services I like watching tv, but if I’m watching alone, it is very difficult for me to follow some shows. Finding shows that have audio description make things so much more enjoyable for me. Netflix and Prime seem to have the most shows that have audio description […]

029

Growing Plants To Support The Blind I have to tell you, I never thought I’d do an episode about using medical marijuana to help blind and visually impaired people. Yet here it is. Funny how ideas pop up. One day I was watering some of our houseplants and then left our apartment to get the […]

028

Vegas In July For Work And Fun Eliz and I are going to the National Federation of the Blind National Convention in July and we are looking forward to it. We will both be working some booths/tables on the exhibit floor during the convention. We are also looking forward to trying a few of the […]

027

Exercise At Home Sometimes you have to work around issues that you can’t control. Since Eliz’s schedule changed we no longer go to the gym. Going on my own isn’t really an option, so I have to exercise in or around my home (apartment.) One way I get steps in is by walking around my […]

026

My Dad: Hero, Mentor, WW2 POW I hope you enjoy this episode about my Dad. He taught me so much, from how to play sports, run a business, be fair to all people, and countless other things. I don’t know if he’d like this episode, but there is one thing that he’d want me to […]

025

  A Brooklyn Coffee Shop, Vegan Diner, And A Few Other Places On My Day In NYC   I had a nice day in NYC when I went with Jane as she went on a couple of job interviews. I spent some time at City of Saints Coffee Roasters (297 Meserole St.) while Jane had […]

024

How An Irritating Email From American Express Got Me Thinking I got an email from American Express with offers that I couldn’t read. The offers were images. Since the text of the offer was also part of the image, my screen reader couldn’t even read it. I was pretty frustrated by it and I’m not […]

023

  Graduating With Honors (No, Definitely Not Me, It’s Jane!) Since we’ll be heading to New York City tonight for Jane’s graduation in the morning, I’ve recorded and released this week’s episode a day early. Eliz and I are so proud of and happy for Jane and what she has accomplished. It is significantly different […]

022

  Dinner With Friends (And Getting There On My Own) Eliz and I had plans to have dinner with our friends (and former neighbors) Mike and Lisa, and Jane and Ipen at Tom’s Dim Sum in Media. We were going on a Thursday night at 6.15pm. Thursdays are one of Eliz’s long days, where she […]

021

  Uber Issues Living in the Philadelphia suburbs makes it challenging for anyone who doesn’t drive. Public transportation is available, but it is not alway easy to get from point A to point B. You sometimes have to go miles in the opposite direction to get to your final destination. That also adds a heap […]

020

  Correct Change: Trust The Transaction When I started the podcast, I told myself that when I published 20 episodes I would consider buying a Zoom H6 recorder. I would be able to go out and about with it and a mic and talk to people. While I will still consider buying one, I’ll keep […]

019

  Using A Digital Agency To Help The Blind After becoming an affiliate for the White Cane Coffee Company, I started thinking about how I could do something similar to help blind people.  

018

  Touching History At The Penn Museum I’ve been to plenty of museums in my lifetime, but most of them never let you touch the artifacts on display. Especially those that are 4000 years old. Thanks to the Penn Museum and Philly Touch Tours, I was able to touch items from ancient Egypt.  

017

  Accessible Family Communications & Other Handwriting Dilemmas From the calendar on the fridge to the dry erase board on the back of our front door, there are a lot of handwritten notes around our apartment.  

016

  Celebrating My Mom’s 90th Birthday & How I’m Like Her We were very fortunate to be able to even see my mom on her 90th birthday. Some sort of virus kept everyone out of Rose Court. The quarantine lasted nearly three weeks.  

015

  I Told You I Wanted To Go Places In 2019 Three months into the year and I’ve been able to spend some time away from home. State College once and multiple trips to Washington, DC, Baltimore, and New York City.  

014

  Hitting The Road Again I love going places.  

013

  Back To DC! One month after Washington Seminar, I had the opportunity to attend a reception in the Senate Office Building with Pennsylvania Senator Casey, Maryland Senator van Hollen, and former PA Governor Ridge. I even got the chance to speak to Gov. Ridge for a few minutes.  

012

  Navigating A Public Restroom And Trying Not To Touch Anything   If there is one place you don’t want to have to feel around for something, it is a public bathroom.  

I’ve Got A Podcast!

  Last Fall, I launched the iCantCU Podcast. It is available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. I am working on redesigning the site so that you can listen to the podcast right here, but until then, you can check out the iCantCU Podcast at the iTunes Store.  

011

  Let’s Eat! (Preparing Meals & Keeping All Your Fingers) Eating. What a great topic.  

010

  Making Social Media More Enjoyable For The Blind There is nothing more frustrating than going through Facebook and coming across a photo a friend has uploaded, without any kind of description of what is happening in the image.  

009

  Me And 500 Other Blind People In DC Every January, the National Federation of the Blind has an event in Washington, D.C. called Washington Seminar. This is when hundreds of blind people from all over the country head to our Nation’s Capital to meet with Senators and Representatives and tell them what is important […]

008

  Touchscreen Accessibility (Or Lack Thereof) When a device uses a touchscreen to operate it, like the newest gym equipment, it is impossible for who has little on no vision to operate it unless there is some sort of voice prompts like VoiceOver on IOS deviices.  

007

  Goals for 2019 2019 is here and there are a few things that I want to accomplish this year. On the personal side, I’d like to travel more. In 2017, Eliz and I went to the UK. Twice! Of course, that is because Jane was doing her Study Abroad in London. In 2018, other […]

006

  Traveling On My Own I really like to travel, but up until the past year or so, I never went far on my own. Since then, I’ve been to State College, PA and New York City.  

005

  December Wins For Life Event Anniversaries Wow, so many life events happened in December.  

004

  Blind Awareness Month Events I alway like to get involved in Blind Awareness Month events every October.  

003

  Going To The Movies I love going to the movies. When I owned a video store, I probably went to two dozen movies per year. It helped to have first hand knowledge for when they came out on video. But as my sight went from low vision to legally blind, it was less enjoyable. […]

002

  Navigating Podcast Movement PM18 came to Philadelphia, so how could I not attend it?  

001

  Introducing David (That’s Me!) I’ve waited over a year to publish this podcast episode (and it has been months since I’ve recorded it.) This inaugural episode is about me and growing up with and living with low vision.

Traveling To NYC and Back

What is the fastest, cheapest, easiest way for me to travel from my home in Swarthmore, PA to New York City on my own? Jane and Eliz were my guides on two recent trips into the city.

A Long Weekend in London

We've taken our kids for the first day of school every year since they started preschool. Why should it be different when our daughter started at Regent's University London? It was a fast-paced long weekend in London.

Five Years

June has many special dates in it for me. Most are happy dates, like 10 June, our wedding anniversary (27 years, this year,) the kids high school graduations, and several others. There is one sad one, though. On 11 June 2012, my father died. Five years.

I Joined the NFB!

I joined NFB (National Federation of the Blind) this past weekend. My friend Warren invited me to the Keystone Chapter of the NFB last month, but it snowed that day, so I didn’t feel comfortable going.

Shaving

I like to say I shave once a week whether I need to or not. Of course, I should probably shave more often, but that is another topic completely. In the winter months, I grow a beard.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope that 2016 is a great one for you! I am prepared for a year of transition, but hopefully ready for the challenge. 2015 ended on a positive note

Complete Frustration

Ask anyone with low vision or no vision about the time it takes to do simple tasks and you'll hear stories. Tasks that take the sighted person only a couple of minutes, take low or no sight people 10 to 15 minutes.

Cabin Fever

This Winter has been cold and very snowy. We've had about 60 inches (152 cm) so far and a little more predicted this week. All over the news, people are complaining about cabin fever.

It’s Been Awhile…

It’s been about 18 months since I’ve posted anything here. I don’t usually do New Year’s resolutions, but this year I do have one. It is to post more frequently here.

Joshua Goldstein, 7 January 1918 – 11 June 2012

My dad died today. He was 94. What an amazing man he was. He was the youngest of eight kids born to Russian immigrants.

Low Vision Awareness

Wow, am I happy to say so long to February. You see, February is Low Vision Awareness month (as Jane likes to say, see what I did there — I combined you see, with low vision…)

I Want iPhone Apps That Work with Voiceover

Is that too much to ask? My friend Jim told me about an app called IMapMyWalk. So I go to the App Store and get the free version of it to try out. I was really excited about the app.

My Dad is Home, Now for the Hard Part

For those who don’t follow me on Twitter (@davidbenj) or Facebook (facebook.com/davidbenj) you might not know what I’ve been up to the last few weeks.

Father’s Day

We had a very busy Father's Day. We went to Outback at 11.10am for lunch with Eliz's father, mother, her sister Margaret, and our niece Meghan. Yes, I said 11.10am. More like brunch, I guess.

Retina Check

It's been a while since I've posted. We've had a bunch of things going on that took (and still take) priority. Friday afternoon I visited Dr. Garg for an appointment. He is my retina doc.

One Month After Surgery

Yesterday marked a month since my most recent surgery. It is somewhat ironic that over the past few days my vision hasn't been great, with today being the worst of the last few.

Sometimes Things Look Different to Me

Every morning I weigh myself twice, once before I get in the shower and once after I dry off after the shower. Getting on the scale is also an eye test of sorts.

29 Shots

This was, by far, the easiest surgery I've had. I'm not sure we were at the surgery center for a full hour. Since there was no general anesthesia

Sweet Sixteen Tomorrow

Let's hope it is sweet, or at least it doesn't make things worse. Tomorrow at 12.30 I'm having what is called YAG laser capsulotomy, a minor surgical procedure (my sixteenth)

I Can’t See Very Well, But My Hearing is Still Good

We visited my parents today. We spent about an hour with them. After we left my parent's apartment, we were walking down the hall where a couple was sitting.

My Eye, My Dad and Our Day

I'd been looking forward to today for the past dozen days. Back on 10 Dec, I went to my retina doc, who, as previously mentioned, noticed three things that he thought were causing my vision to be worse than it had been.

Who or What is Kane?

Todays delivery schedule took us into Wilmington with a styling chair and wall-mount workstation. We got a late start since we had quite a few orders to box up.

Latest on My Eyes

For the last several days, I was thinking about what I was going to write for this blog entry. My eyes weren’t going to be part of the post.

I Did It All By Myself

Most, if not all of you, will think this isn't really a big deal.  "Normal" people do this all the time.  What did I do on my own worth writing about, you ask?

I Want to Go! Wait, Nevermind

It has been nearly a month since I last posted.  I've been really busy adding products to ForYourSalon.com, taking an online course for WordPress, working on affiliate marketing sites

An Hour and a Half in Rehab

Okay, that is a pretty dramatic title.  It was low vision rehab.  Just like Lindsay Lohan, I don't think my rehab will work either.

My iPhone

It was time to upgrade our mobiles, so I'd been looking around to see what is the best option for me. I've felt left out by not being able to text

My Inglourious Sight

For the past four or five days, my vision has sucked more than normal. I don't know why. It's almost like interference on a television screen.

What a Busy Week

So it's been a few weeks since my last update.  There were several times this past week I wanted write something, but I just couldn't steal an hour to do it.

It’s Not Cuckoo Bananas, But It’s Not Good Either

It has been a busy week, so I haven't had a chance, until now, to post an update on last Fridays appointment with Dr. Garg, the retina specialist. 

Why Do I Bother?

Had a 9.00am appointment yesterday (Friday, 9 July) with my glaucoma doctor at Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia.

The Blind Leading the Blind

Last week, we invited my parents over for dinner.  Eliz was making ribs on the grill, which both of them like, and there was more than plenty for all of us.  

Almost Unbelievable…

As you've read here over the past seven weeks, I've been pretty frustrated and miserable.  On the way to my my cornea specialist, Eliz and I were talking about what I was planning on discussing with Dr. Ayres.

It’s Been a Few Weeks, Not Much New

I haven’t posted an update for about three weeks. In that time, my vision still sucks and I’m wondering if I made the right choice to have the surgery.

A Frustrating Week

Well, it has been a week of total frustration.  Since mid-afternoon last Thursday, my vision has not been good.  Every day when I wake up I hope that it will be better, but then I open my eyes.

Play Ball!

For the first time in a very long time, I got a chance to hit in a softball game.  I've been looking forward to it since the middle of April, after my surgery.

Wow, I was Wrong!

I say that like it doesn't happen often.  Today I had an appointment to see Dr. Garg, the retina specialist I visited several times in January and February.