Melissa Roe / is on Nostr

Welcome to my corner of the universe! I'm Melissa Roe, and I've been totally blind since birth, in my late 30s and bisexual. I'm a graduate student working part-time as an AT trainer while I complete my master's in special education. I live in California with my husband and retired guide dog. I enjoy podcasting, creative writing, reading, dream interpretations and discussions about spirituality and psychology. Looking forward to the connection with friends old and new.

Last Notes

2025-02-17 20:07:56

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@nprofile…pye9 You are 100 percent right. I recently had a friend tell me they're sick of going on mastodon because people always compalin when someone doesn't add alt-text to an image. Yes, alt-text is an important to the VI community. I'd wish for people to have the same equal access to images they can't see, but some people have made it their mission to get upset when alt-text isn't used. Yes, alt-text is important, but there are much bigger fish in this community to fry! Especially now, with the picture describing sources with generated AI, people can get a some-what description if they need a picture described. We've really lost touch on the real priorities that should be mattering to this community, such as increasing educational opportunities and encouraging more blind people to join the workforce. With us being such a small population, a 70+ percent unemployment rate isn't enough of a glaring oversight for people to see what's wrong with the big picture here. I really want to know who wants to maintain this narrative and why, because it's time to move over and grant new leadership to a generation who is passionate about real change. A 70+ percent unemployment rate in any population is not okay, and we can stop some of the wasteful spending in our government if people actually did their jobs and gave students what they need instead of the recommended set of equipment and instructional methods. We have so, so much work cut out for us, but no one's really willing to dedicate the time to fix it.

2025-02-17 19:54:21

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@nprofile…pye9 You know, you have a very valid point. This community truly lacks awareness of the destructors that lie within its own borders. As I pointed out in a post earlier, I'm reaching out to my third county in the hopes that I can finally find a place that's willing to let me complete my hours so I can finish my degree and become a certified TVI. In this community however, you have to be someone of great recognition before people even give your notion one consideration. It doesn't matter though. If you're blind and lean anyway toward the left, your personal endeavors aren't important to the over all cause. I'm just trying to finish the requirements so I can continue to give back to a community that for many years felt misunderstood because our blindness wasn't a disability that's always visible. Still, I count myself fortunate because I was able to register for the practicum even though it's not being honored by the department that promised to accommodate me. The districts that pride themselves on diversity, equity and inclusion seem to only extend that grace to certain minority groups, and the rest of us have nothing else to do but to keep fighting just to survive. Where can we turn? Certainly, a community like this would normally be cohesive and supportive, but we're unorganized and judgmental, not giving a single consideration to some of those in our community who have other physical and/or cognitive needs. I've done a lot of reflecting and I feel I may not be able to linger in this community much longer if I intend to grow. Yet, those who supported the D E I premise will cave to pressure if it means they'll still get their feet massaged by Doge every night. Such a shame, but we keep going. Hugs.