I know what it feels like to be
visually impaired
have been losing my sight for years
I am not blind yet
two operations have helped
but it is difficult for day day
so, I walk with friends when out
go shopping with friends
and yet, still go to dance class
I use my memory
of the dance moves
the shape of the dance floor
aware of my space always
I let the music lead
four steps this way
three that way
two forward
one backward
I feel the others dancers
close to me
so, I dance free of any fear . . .
Become a Tennis VIP,
A Visually Impaired Player - just like me,
No matter how your sight loss occurred,
Your vision black, incomplete, or blurred,
With adapted rules and cool soundball,
It’s a great sport - designed to suit all,
Don’t question your abilities, or be shy,
Just join in the fun and give it a try ...
Visually impaired - I view the mirrors
The effect - I danced in life
Colors - Hues impressed my very soul
I became the artist -I painted
Love of life's beauty - realism indeed
Even the flower the challenge at most
Sanity within me as I push brush
Exerted up all night it takes a toll
Teachers- astounding bringing best
But yet I see the critique in me built
Esteem developed it is the roll
I too cultivate some derogatory weed
I paint views -. Opinions , it's a test
IQ in painting challenges the mind
Imagery I still see that prism of colors
Hues in front of me, yet still I find
That the warms and cools I stroke
Yet should I charcoal first too
The beloved conte then broke!!!
It shattered the mind - ideas now
In a bind......
When she takes her life into her own hands
with fingers that read braille
from dot to dot
Refuse to live in the void of darkness
between A-Y
No boat was built
to stand on shore
She wants to remove the writing itch
from dot to dot
Soft words that tickle the tongue
Let light shine in all lighthouses
over the seven seas
Read all favorite books
over and over again
creating images
sprinkled with angel dust
free rein to your imagination
For those who are blind
or visually impaired
a brilliant invention
Read and write
from dot to dot
to a flood of experiences
15.11.2022
Sun :) - A-L Andresen :)
Copyright © All Rights Reserved
INVENTIONS
ARE THE MATERIALIZATION
OF THE IMAGINATION.
IMAGINE...
IF YOU WILL...
A SMARTPHONE
THE SIZE
OF A GRAIN OF RICE.
IMPLANTED
IN YOUR HEAD.
WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AND CONNECTIONS
TO SUPER COMPUTER
SATELLITES
ORBITING THE EARTH.
ANSWERING QUESTIONS
FASTER
THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT.
GRAPHENE LENSES
COVERING YOUR EYEBALLS
PROJECTING IMAGES
FOR VISUAL ASSISTANCE
AND FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED.
IMAGINE FREQUENCIES
REVERBERATING
BACK AND FORTH
BETWEEN YOU
AND THE UNIVERSE.
CREATING VISUALS
OF GALAXIES
2.5 MILLION
LIGHT YEARS REMOVED.
IMAGINE...
TRAVELING
TO THE EDGE OF QUASARS.
ADVENTURING
INTO AND THROUGH
BLACK AND WHITE HOLES
WITH OUT FEAR.
EXPLORE DARK MATTER.
EXPERIENCE
THE FRAGRANCE AND TASTE
OF COSMIC DUST.
COMMUNICATE
WITH A DEGENERATE DWARF.
VISIT AND MINGLE
WITH A BROWN DWARF.
UNDERSTAND
HOW AND WHY
THEY ARE CONSIDERED
THE UNDERACHIEVERS
OF THE UNIVERSE.
FEEL THE ENERGY OF
THE UNIVERSE.
EXPLORE THE THEORY
OF MAGNETIC STRUCTURE
OF MATTER.
COMPREHEND AND UNDERSTAND
THE HELICAL SOLAR SYSTEM.
COMPLEMENTS OF YOUR
FUTURE SMARTPHONE.
Michael E. Harris
08162021
Birthdate? My family tells me
it was 1900 or so.
I don’t remember being born;
I know when I started to grow.
My first real friend was named Reggie
We first met when I was just six.
It was Christmas Eve, we read from
the Bible and we played music.
I had put on a lot of weight
by the time the war rolled around
World War I that is. Without me
that war wouldn’t have got off the ground.
I won’t brag, cause I’m handicapped.
I’m wired only for sound, not sight.
You’d call me visually impaired
And you know, you’re exactly right.
In my golden years, my pursuits
brought a world of music to you.
I made live drama popular,
did a fair share of preaching too.
Always tried to keep a handle
on current events and the news.
My biggest changes over the years
have been size and battery use.
February 22, 2020
Brian Strand: Strand SELECT Y
On 24 December 1906, the first radio broadcast for entertainment and music was transmitted from Brant Rock, Massachusetts to the general public.
I glanced in the mirror
and saw an awful sight
it haunted me each day
and troubled me at night
And so I tried to blend in
uncomfortable with fear
so unhappy with myself
that I'd wish to disappear
I soon became invisible
seeing nothing when I stared
intoxicated in my mind
and visually impaired
Caught up in the perception
of who I should have been
when all I really needed
was approval from within
I countered all the insults
created by my brain
and found that self-love
was stopping all the pain
The trouble is that now I've cured
much of my self-doubt
instead of wearing camouflage
I just want to standout
Alison completed the triathlon in Rio,
With Hazel Smith, her guide athlete,
‘Cos she’s visually impaired, not solo,
And so needs Hazel to see the beat.
She comes from Dunfermline, Scotland,
Hazel comes from Edinburgh, capital,
She loves to sing whilst a cooking hand,
And worked as a physiotherapist vital.
She wanted to be a runner, but injuries,
Prevented this, so she took up triathlon,
With her friends’ persuasion, frivolities,
In 2014 it quickly became her profession.
Alison collected the bronze in Kitzbühel,
Austria, at the ETU European Champs,
And still in that year, 2014, a gold bushel,
In Edmonton at the ITU World Champs.
2015, and Alison struck pure gold again,
At the ETU European Champs, Geneva,
And then at the Chicago ITU World den,
She took for the two of ‘em another silver.
2016 and the ITU Worlds in Rotterdam,
The Netherlands, and Alison won gold;
She trains in Loughborough’s stadium,
And was born in 1987 as eighties bold.
It was Hannah’s young dream to win golds,
At Paralympics because she was born blind,
So she races in the visually impaired class,
S12 along with many other blind swimmers.
Both Hannah’s parents are sporty and athletic,
So they wanted Hannah to participate in sport,
So they all chose swimming having no focus,
No balls, no team mates, others to focus on.
Hannah loved it, and after seeing Simmonds,
Swimming at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008,
She asked her parents if she could swap clubs,
‘Cos she wanted to take the risk, do more hours.
At the 2012 London Games Hannah won thrice,
A silver for the 400m freestyle, bronze for back,
And another bronze for the 100m S12 butterfly.
In the 2013 Worlds she took 3 silvers, 1 bronze.
In 2015 at the Worlds again, this time in Glasgow,
Hannah sealed 1 gold medal in the 50m freestyle,
And another silver 100m freestyle, so in Portugal,
At the Euros 2016, she won one of each medal.
In Rio she took the gold for the 100m backstroke,
In a time of 1:06.06, 6 seconds faster than Matio;
She trains, exercises in Woking Swimming Club,
And studies sports science at Salford University.
Abby comes from Largs in Scotland,
And is visually impaired by Stargardt,
The progressive vision disease panned,
By some of the other Paralympians.
Born on the 4th day of August 2003,
She’s a student at Largs Academy,
She trains hard in the backstroke,
At N. Ayrshire Amateur Swim Club.
So because she’s only thirteen,
Rio was her first Paralympic games,
But for the backstroke 100m S13,
She took silver in a time of 1:09.09.
When she was very young her family,
Holidayed in Australia, and, sad,
That she couldn’t swim, like the rest,
She learnt afterwards with desire.
Sophie is a visually impaired para-cyclist,
So her partner is Rachel James, the tandem,
She’s on the Boot Out Breast Cancer team,
And is a mastermind at Friends, all shows.
From Poynton in Cheshire in England great,
Sophie was born on 9th February in 1996,
And started racing as an adult in 2013’s year,
When she was initially piloted by Helen Scott.
After Helen won three British cycling events,
She went international she changed pilot,
To Rachel, and they won two gold medals,
In Newport, to miss the WR by 0.73 seconds.
She made the Glasgow Commonwealths,
To win the gold in the sprint, 2-0 straight,
And at Rio Sophie, but this time with Helen,
Won gold with a WR, in the B 1000m trial.
Steve loves mountaineering, he was the first,
Visually impaired person to climb El Capitan,
Solo, and there he met Karen Darke, cyclist,
Who got him into para-cycling ‘cos it had can.
“Climbing is something I really love, so I hope
[I] never have to give it up. I’m certainly going
to make the most of it while I can. I just hope
it helps to inspire [disabled people],” adding,
“to believe that anything is possible if they set
their minds to it. If I can do it, [then] anyone can.”
Steve is a total sportsman, who loves to get
Challenged, and he feels met by the bike klan.
He was born in New Zealand but is a Scot today,
Is from Moray with ailment Retinitus Pigmentosa.
He trains in Manchester with pilot Adam Duggleby,
And went down a bomb at Rio, from others’ faster.
For the Individual Pursuit B he secured the gold,
And likewise in the Road Time Trial B, gold medal,
Outside in the Road Race B he stuck in to hold,
Onto a podium placement giving a bronze pedal.
James is a former sprinter, visually impaired,
Who suffered disappointment at exclusion,
From the 2012 games because he procured,
A grade three hamstring injury of dissociation.
But he keep going until 2015 though distraught,
So he entered the sporting discipline of cycling,
And quickly made it onto a programme wrought,
For world class sports people who are angling.
He’s Welsh, born on 24th June in the year 1991,
And comes from Ponthir but lives in Manchester.
His pilot can be Craig MacLean: in the tandem
Sprint 2016 Worlds he won bronze - a stormer.
"You're beautiful!" He said.
"You're very handsome!" She whispered.
"I love you!"
"I love you!"
They kissed.
He stepped back,
picked up the White cane
and walked out saying:
"Bye darling...till evening!"
"Bye!" She said
and groped around
for her white cane.
(White cane: A white cane is the stick used by the blind or visually impaired.)
Forever embraced by the darkness
My life a terrible sight -to me narcissism
In my ever-pending thoughts unconscious
Liberally minded
Visually impaired to my future
Evergrowing desire to please
The feelings, my thoughts I write
Yet bound in chains with no release
The words I speak
My future dark so bleek
Different in my way of expression
In my way of looking
Struggling to befriend I am achieving
A goal I see none can see
The things I do none to share
Unperturbed, anti-social, a "weirdo"
The term you call to me because of being my true self
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