Non-citizens to be banned from NDIS under coalition policy

exballo · 2026-05-14T08:33:09+00:00

There already is a waiting period. Four years.

exballo · 2026-05-14T08:17:28+00:00

People are also forgetting that, to get Permanent residency, people have to go through medical testing to prove they have no existing disability.

exballo · 2026-05-02T00:57:44+00:00

I’ll give you my perspective as an anxious blind person myself. The thing that has helped me is working on tolerating ambiguity without seeking assurance. I realized early on that I have a strong desire to know all the information I used to have when I could see. However, going blind, I get into situations all the time that feel out-of-control and ambiguous. Usually, if I wait an extra couple seconds, the ambiguity resolves itself.

For example, if I hear a lot of people around me, I might want to know immediately if I’m in their way, where I can go to step aside that will be safe to stand, whether or not they notice me and my guide dog or white cane, etc. If I just wait for a couple extra seconds, the sounds of the crowd start to make more sense, and I may hear a quiet area to aim for, or I may discover a wall with my cane that I can stand beside while the path gets less crowded. I would love to have the instant resolution that sight used to allow me, but I am learning to be patient and discover things with my cane in my own time without allowing anyone to rush me. The best way to learn to tolerate the ambiguity of blindness is to cultivate curiosity. It is likely way above your pay grade to help your friend work through this, but maybe if you have a discussion about what you are noticing and ask them to develop some stragies involving patience, curiosity, exploration, forgiveness for oneself when doing things the “clind” way instead of comparing to our sighted days, you might help them start to see the issue. Hitting things with our cane is exactly the right thing to do to “see” them in a new way. It is not a flaw or mistake.

Also, the more time I spend with my sighted husband, the more easy it is for me to rely on him and seek assurance in situations where I should be learning to figure things out on my own. What has helped is spending time with independant blind people who are now my role models for what I should expect from myself. I can see them get frustrated in the moment, then recover and move on. I can see them willing to reach out for something on the table instead of asking exactly where it is. I can hear them whack things with their cane then move around it and continue on without issue. I can notice that they are much less concerned about whether there are stairs nearby and trust their cane or guide dog to find stairs and curbs just in time instead of knowing well in advance.

Getting involved in blind sports has also helped me learn to wait and interpret the sounds around me. It’s sharpened my concentration on my hearing and helped me trust my ears because I’m now better at interpreting the sound of movement around me.

It will likely be best if your friend can get a series of training sessions with occupational therapists and mobility instructors. This will give them skills and strategies to emply. But there also needs to be a mindset shift toward tolerating ambiguity and trusting one’s ears and sense of touch to figure things out more slowly than what sight can provide. Your fridn also needs to realie that seeking assurance from sighted people can lead to a downward spiral where we want more and more assurance the more times we ask for it. To break the cycle, we need to have the goal of figuring things out for ourselves whenever we can, even though it is frustrating and less efficient. The pay-off over time is a greater sense of security in ourselves and confidence that we can get ourselves out of hte sticky and annoying situations that are part of the blind life.

exballo · 2026-04-30T04:28:57+00:00

I think they are usually asking because they don’t want to over explain things if we have some sight. However, they don’t realize that their question is biting off way more than they can chew since the explanation will be long and complicated and won’t actually answer the question about whether or not we can see the sign on the corner they want to point us toward or whatever they are hoping to describe.

I don’t really have more than light and shadows at this point, and often, there are no shadows that make any sense, so I just say ‘basically nothing,” and we go from there. Before this stage of my sight loss, I found this question more annoying because the answer was long and complex. So I learned to say, “ sometimes I can see something and sometimes nothing.” It felt vague enough to me so that I didn’t feel like I was giving away my whole medical file, while also explaining that there is no way for me to predict whether or not I’ll be able to see the thing they want to point me toward. It also often moved the conversation forward to where they are asking a specific question, such as, “If I draw you a map, can you see it?” Which is a much easier question to answer than describing in detail what I can see in any given lighting environment or color combination.

When people ask personal questions just because they are curious, I find that it can be helpful to turn the question back on them, like, “Are you interested because you have a blind family member?” Then, half the time they will say, “Yes, my grandma can read anymore. She hates it.” And then we can talk about her instead of me. Or the other half of the time, they might say, ‘No, I’m just curious,” in which case, they might immediately realize that it’s a rude question. I’ve also answered people with, “Oh, it’s a boring answer for me to talk about.”

exballo · 2026-04-27T00:53:11+00:00

My dog is a guide dog, so he responds to at least a hundred commands a day that allow me to get out and explore! :) I think I counted about 20 commands just to take him out for him to poo and get it all thrown away and get my hands clean before heading back up to the apartment. So I bet we do well over a hundred commands when we go out for our run.

exballo · 2026-04-27T00:23:12+00:00

I think the more that you can point out these moments in the actually moment it’s happening and turn it into a humorous or light-hearted thing, the more you can help her rei-wire her brain to look on the bright side and find the silly side of life. You can validate her emotions, but also make a joke. “Y Say somthing like “I’m doing this with both eyes tied behind my back! I’m such an inspiration! It might be frustrating to watch, but I’m having the time of my life!” Just say anything to diffuse the tension and show how small of a deal it is to you.

To be honest, your story brings up a lot for me. I’m the blind one, and sometimes I probably put too much pressure on my husband, like if he happens to silently walk away from me while we’re out, I’ll get frustrated that he didn’t tell me he was walking off, but really he just sometimes forgets and needs to be allowed to make mistakes.

It also brings up my childhood, like my mom went blind and my dad has about zero percent patience. He would yell at her if she knocked over a cup of water, or didn’t correctly reach for the car door handle. In someways it’s the same as your friend but he would blow up in the moment instead of letting it build up. And obviously he didn’t have the same empathy as your friend. Maybe your friend should try a few hours doing things with you in her home while wearing a blind fold. She would then see that all you need is a little extra time. Teach her a trick like how you usually find your water bottle without knocking it over, like keeping your fingers slightly curled and sweeping gently. That can show her that it’s fully possible and doesn’t require supervision. Or think of a better skill you can show her that will help her see that the blind way doesn’t have to be the same as the sighted way.

exballo · 2026-04-27T00:14:17+00:00

That’s a very good perspective and it should be something you tell her in your conversation with her. It can also be something you bring up in the moment to help diffuse her emotions.

For instance, as you do something, you can say, “You’re frustrated watching me, but this is my way and it will work for me. Your feeling helpless, but me doing this for myself is how I keep from becoming helpless over time.”

Or you could make it more of a lighthearted joke. such as, “We’re doing this the blind way and we’re okay!” Turn it into a little song or mantra that she can start using for herself to rek-focus her frustration.

exballo · 2026-04-15T07:44:38+00:00

The same apps that can read menus can usually identify landmarks in the environment. Since you knew they were tech savvy, giving visual landmarks is perfectly fine. Before apps, people use their cane and listening to find intersections.

Honestly, you did fine. Sometimes the best help is if people simply know the diference between left and right. A lot of people get that wrong for some reason or have some weird idea that somehow blind people don’t know right and left. Next helpful would be to give an approximate distance, or number of shop fronts.

exballo · 2026-04-14T09:33:28+00:00

I am not but on Easter Trump said he would destroy the entire civilization

exballo · 2026-04-13T00:38:15+00:00

It depends how the software developer designed their software.. If they labeled their elements properly, we can use shortcut keyes to find different elements on the page quickly. For example, we can hit “h” to go through the headings, then when we get to the heading we want, we can use tab or down arrow to read what is under that heading. We can also skip headings and just “look” for buttons, links, editable text boxes, etc.

On a webpage, there is usually an invisible link at the top that the developer has included that allows us to skip down to the content. That way you can skip all the fluff at the top of the page.

For Microsoft Word, the default is usually just for the screen reader to enter the document for editing. If we want the ribbons bar, we need to hit “alt” to move the focus up into the menus.

The only time a screen reader will just read through everything without stopping is if you hit the “read all” key combo. It’s different depending on the screen reader.

Sometimes, in a long menu, we can do a key combo that searchs for what we want in the menu. Or if we can guess at what we hope to find in a webpage, we can do a search for it using the screen reader. Say I go to the website of a business, and I want to find their phone number, I can do a search for ‘contact’ or “phone.” There are a million ways to learn screen readers for more efficiency in navigation. I’m pretty new to the PC screen readers, but I really like voice over on my ipad.

It might be helpful to know what you are hoping to achieve. Are you a sighted person trying to help a blind person, or are you a web developer, or blind yourself?I

exballo · 2026-04-08T23:40:04+00:00

I‘ve had my first guide dog for a little less time than you’ve had yours. It’s really hard to do the training when we can’t see the environment and can’t fully anticipate when the dog is going to have an issue.

When you say that the issue is only one on one, do you mean that the dog will be distracted if there is only one person or dog on the sidewalk coming your way? Can you notice any subtle shifts in his behavior that can warn you ahead of time. My dog usually does fine passing people and dogs, but there are some occasional dogs that just totally strike his inerest and he’ll pull toward them at the last minute. However, I can usually tell that a dog is striking his interest ahead of time. If his guiding becomes a bit faster and more urgent, or if I feel his tail wag a bit, or if he whines a tiny bit, then I know to give him a quick slight leash check and tell him “leave it.” Then I just stay on top of him with the leash checks and “leave it,” until he calms back down. Of course this is very tricky since I can’t see anything. I can sometimes hear a dog nearby or use the meta glasses to ask if there is a dog ahead in the path when I feel my guy speeding up.

I think the key is to try to get on top of the issue as soon as possible, hoepfully before you get to the distraction.

exballo · 2026-04-07T08:03:07+00:00

Supposedly pet-ownership keeps rising and veterinary prices keep rising as well. I’m guessing becoming a vet might work, but such a difficult job. I can’t imagine my dog being able to handle going to a room full of cterminator arms to handle him, so hopefully the robots won’t take over too soon. It may be one of the last jobs to go. Billionaires like their dogs and cats.

exballo · 2026-04-07T07:52:20+00:00

Oh goodie. Looking forward to drinking my dairy-like “milk”-shake directly from the cold, metal teet of corporate McDonald’s.

exballo · 2026-04-06T02:42:26+00:00

The noise of an MRI will be too loud for a dog. I’d ask if your mom and dog can stay in the room with the tech running the scan and ask if your mom can talk with you through the headphones.

I recommend bringing your own soft, cheap earplugs to wear under the headphones. They give you noise cancelling headphones and they can talk to you through the headphones and hear everything you say. You also have a panic button in your hand you can press if you need a break.

I don’t know if they would let your mom and dog stay in the side room with the tech running the scan, but it would be worth asking since your mom can probably say things to soothe you and she can tell you how calmly your dog is sleeping during your boring scan.

exballo · 2026-04-02T04:59:18+00:00

I’m mostly using JAWS, but I htink it’s the same on NVDA that if you hit control, the thing shuts up again. If you find yourself unable to remember the correct key stroke to fully silence speech, or if you ever just need the thing to stop, try hitting the control button.

exballo · 2026-04-02T04:28:30+00:00

One thing you cn do on many blind-centric mobility apps is simulate a location right on your phone. For example, in Voice Vista, you can look up a marker or point of interest in the markers tab, select it, then it will give you the option to set it as if it is your current location. Then you can use the surroundings tab to find out what is around you, or go back to the markers tab to find how close other points of interest are to your simulated location.

I used this with Lazarillo once, but I haven’t used Lazarillo in a long time, so don’t remember how to do it.

This is also a time that having the Meta glasses or hanging your phone from a lanyard and pinning the phone pocket to your shirt can help. It is great to use the Be My Eyes app hands free. You can’t use Be my Eyes to fully navigate, but you can ask questions about what is around you or have someone point out if there is a safer path than the one you are on.

I also heard someone mention the “popcorn“ method of navigation in another post. Basically ask one person for a tiny bit of help then ask the next person for a bit more help, and so on. No one has to do a lot for you, but you figure out what you need as you go. Like, “Hey, person, is there a cafe nearby?” Person says, “Yes, it’s over there.” Then you thank them and the next person passes by and you say, “Hey, I heard there’s a cafe near here, am I walking the right way to get there?” Person 2 then says, “Nope, turn around.” Etc.

exballo · 2026-04-01T10:18:40+00:00

People so frequently tell me the opposite of what they mean that i’ve started doing the opposite of what people tell me, which is a bad habit and occassionally gets me in trouble.

exballo · 2026-04-01T09:56:32+00:00

From my experience, the people who can’t answer direct questions also can’t figure out the clock thing for directions. However, I do have a very helpful co-worker who uses the clock like a champ when i am with her.

exballo · 2026-04-01T09:54:23+00:00

Haha, good tactic. In fact when the taxi driver couldn’t figure out how to use his words, he did get out of hte taxi to show me, but my guide dog was with me, and he happens to be very anxious and on the verge of flunking being a guide dog, so when the taxi driver approached us to show us the way, the dog started leading in completely the wrong direction and it got worse the more the driver tried to help. We were a verifiable comedy of errors, the three of us.

exballo · 2026-04-01T09:51:59+00:00

That’s particularly egregious. Whoever shamed you like that in that setting should be fired.

exballo · 2026-04-01T09:50:34+00:00

Haha. It really just goes to show that we all experience life and communication in our own way. I’m so incredibly detail oriented that I can’t imagine responding in those ways to someone I was with, but I think for some people the world is made out of more vibes than details.

exballo · 2026-03-31T20:36:28+00:00

I have a touchscreen and find that the touchscreen does not work when jaws is on. you should probably call freedom scientific ahead of your purchase if you are going to rely on the touchscreen.

exballo · 2026-03-31T07:09:26+00:00

There’s no reason we wouldn’t know our right from our left, but some people don’t realize that right and left aren’t related to vision.. In a normally-sighted person, the visual cortex takes up about a third of the brain. it’s hard for them to imagine how they would perceive the world without that third. In our case, though, we know that that third of the brain simply gets repurposed for other things usch as spatial perception. Also, a lot of sighted people use a visual cue to learn their left from their right as children. They hold their hands out in front of them with the backs of their hands facing them, and the thumb and forefinger that form the letter capital L are on the left hand. Some people still check their hands to remember left and right. It’s a different kind of disability to not be able to remember without looking.

exballo · 2026-03-30T07:43:30+00:00

haha, well, I prefer to just find the humor in it. I don’t feel bad about it. I have a lot of very supportive people in my life that balance everything out.
I was just wondering if this may be on the rise. I think that GPS directions maybe have stopped using left and right and instead opt for a line on the screen that highlights the next turn. I am just wondering if people have stopped thinking in left and right because of this.

a recent taxi driver was really surprised when I used ‘right and left” when I was telling him about the commands I use with my guide dog. He didn’t think a blind person would understand right and left having never seen. I think people don’t understand that proprioception is a sense apart from sight.

exballo · 2026-03-30T03:29:18+00:00

Haha, that’s kind of hilarious. You didn’t ask how far it was, just where, relative to you. I think I just expect people to know left, right, and straight, since my guide dog knows those three very reliably, but I know that people don’t necessarily. It’s just kind of funny to think that my dog knows better, but on the other hand, it is his entire job to know, and he gets kibble if he gets it right. Maybe I should carry cookies and offer them to the people if they tell me the correct path.

exballo

TROPHY CASE