WEBVTT

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(upbeat music)

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Welcome to Hadley Presents.

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I'm your host, Ricky Enger,

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inviting you to sit back, relax,

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and enjoy a conversation with the experts.

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In this episode, we discuss performing home maintenance

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and repairs with a visual impairment.

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And our experts are experienced home repair

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and woodworking enthusiast, Gil Johnson,

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interviewed by Hadley learning expert, Jennifer Ottowitz.

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Welcome to the show, both of you.

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Hi.
Thank you.

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This is something, and I know I say this

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on a lot of these shows,

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but it turns out that I know very little

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about a lot of things,

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and home repair is one of those things

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that I know very little about.

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And so I'm really looking forward to diving into that

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and figuring out how to use a hammer

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on something besides my own thumb.

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So before we do that, before we get into that,

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I wanna get just a quick introduction

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from both of you and tell us about who you are

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and what you do.

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So Jennifer, let's start with you.

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Hi everybody, I'm Jennifer.

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I'm a senior learning expert with Hadley.

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I've worked as an instructor with Hadley since 2013.

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I'm also a certified vision rehabilitation therapist,

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which means I work with adults who are losing

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or have lost their vision.

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And in the course of my career,

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I've had the chance to teach folks

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how to do home repair tasks.

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I'm also blind myself and have had occasions

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to do minor home repairs.

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So I'm excited about today's topic.

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Very cool, how about you Gil?

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I'm Gil Johnson.

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I'm totally blind.

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I've had worked for 44 years in the field of blindness.

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I started as a rehabilitation counselor for the blind

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and I'm a supervisor and worked my way up

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through the ranks into administration.

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But my love has always been woodworking

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and being able to do home repair.

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I started that when I was very young

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and at my current age, I still do.

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I'm looking forward to hearing all about that.

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I bet you have some interesting stories to share with us.

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So Jennifer, I will hand it over to you and off we go.

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Well, Gil, one of my favorite Christmas

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presents that I got from my parents was when I had

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one of my first apartments and it was actually a toolkit.

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It was called a ladies toolkit and it came in a pink box

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and all the tools, they were what I would call

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the starter set of hand tools.

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But what I really liked about the present

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was that there was also an expectation

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that I, even though I was visually impaired,

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could learn how to use these tools like anybody else.

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And I did learn how to use them.

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I still have them today and still use them.

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But I know that when people first lose vision,

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especially that not everyone has those expectations.

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And I'm just wondering, with your experience,

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what words of encouragement or advice do you have

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to help people know about the possibilities

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in terms of how someone can perform home repair

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and woodworking tasks when they have a visual impairment?

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I have known a number of blind

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and visually impaired people

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many of whom have recently or relatively recently

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become blind or visually impaired.

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All of the things that we know about losing vision

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and adjusting to it are true.

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It's an adjustment and some make it more easily than others.

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And one of the things that is typical

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of people that lose vision is their fear

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and the fear of others around them

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that they will not be able to do,

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certainly not be able to operate power tools

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or hand tools very well, or to do home repair.

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It's part of the adjustment process

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to learn that, yes, indeed, I can.

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I can overcome it.

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Blind and visually impaired people

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can do almost anything they want to

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if they have the basic skills or can learn them.

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But the most important thing is having belief in themselves.

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Every time that I've seen somebody have some success

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it has done nothing but encouraged them more.

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Not everybody wants to do home repair work or carpentry

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but for those who do, I can tell you

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it is very possible.

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And today we'll talk about some examples

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of things that have been done

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and some projects and some tips

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that I've developed over the years

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for myself and for others.

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It really is about whatever level

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you're comfortable with, right?

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I mean, there may be times when it's better

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and easier to call in the professional to do the work

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but we certainly want folks to know

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that if you have a desire to start

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or continue doing these tasks,

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don't rule it out just because of a visual impairment.

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But I wanted to ask first

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because safety is so important

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anytime anyone does home repair tasks.

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And I know that it's especially a concern

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for people who have trouble seeing.

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And like you mentioned also their family members

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who may worry about their safety.

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What are some tips that you can share

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to help keep people safe when they're working on a project?

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There are some very obvious things

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about being able to do things safely.

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One of them is to be organized.

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Whenever I go into somebody's workshop

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and I find that it's cluttered

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or there's stuff all over the floor

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or there's things just laying around here and there,

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I get a little nervous

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because that is not safe.

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That would be one thing.

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Another is that there needs to be good lighting

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for those who have some vision.

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For all of us having good ventilation

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is really important as a safety feature

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because if there's dust or stuff in the air

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that can cause all kinds of problems

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and a good ventilating system will help with that.

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You wanna have a good selection of the right tools

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to do what it is you wanna do.

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If it's a fairly simple repair task,

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set of screwdrivers or pliers or a wrench or two,

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you might need hammers of course.

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Something a little more involved might require a drill

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but you need the right tools.

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And back to the kind of organizational theme of this,

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they need to have their place

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and so they're not just laying around

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partly because of safety

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but also if you're trying to do something

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and you're groping around looking for this screwdriver

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that, oh, it was here just a minute ago,

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where the heck did it go?

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That can be frustrating.

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The kind of clothing you're wearing is important

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because if you're in a shop

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whether you have just hand tools

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or you have more involved tools,

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if your clothing is loose and flops around,

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it can catch in things and that can be dangerous.

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I always say if you have long sleeves,

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if they don't fasten close together at the wrist,

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button them if you have buttons

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or put a little rand around them.

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Anyway, keep it clear.

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Same would be true with hair length.

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Hair can get caught in things.

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You bend over and the hair flops down

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and that would be true for men or women, doesn't matter.

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Wearing closed toed shoes is important.

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All of us drop things.

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You drop a tool, you drop a piece

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of something you're working on

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and if it hits your foot

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and your foot is not well protected,

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you're gonna get hurt.

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If there's loud sounds where you're working,

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you may wanna consider earplugs.

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You may also wanna wear goggles

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if there's a lot of dust flying around

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or if you're chipping cement, for example.

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So those are some of the safety tips.

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These are all pretty basic

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and it would be true for anybody

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whether they have a vision problem or not.

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And I think a tip for protecting your eyes,

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that's one I often forget about

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because I think that, well, I don't see so well anyway

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so it doesn't really matter but it does

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because like you said, dust can get in there,

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cause injury or possibly infection.

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So that's an important one to remember.

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Going back to being organized,

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I'm just wondering for you personally,

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are there particular ways that you stay organized?

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I have a rack on a pegboard

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for my screwdrivers, for example.

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Now, not everybody's gonna have that many screwdrivers

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or they're not gonna have a pegboard.

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If you don't, then having a drawer

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where you can put screwdrivers, wrenches and so forth

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in as orderly way as you can.

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We all gather a lot of nails and bolts and screws

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and washers and nuts

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and all the kinds of fasteners that you need.

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A lot of people just throw them all in one place.

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I don't.

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I have probably 30 or 40 little wooden boxes

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that over the years I've built

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so that nails of one size will go in a box

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and bolts of another size will go in another box.

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And I could not operate the way that I do

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if I didn't have things sorted out like that.

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But when I first started, of course I didn't have that.

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Can you share a little bit?

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I know when it comes to safety,

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it's natural for people to wanna look at what they're doing,

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but sometimes you can't always get close enough to something

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or leaning in close to see it may not always be safe.

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So what tips do you have to help people

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use their remaining vision

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and all of their other senses

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to help them when they're doing a project?

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If you're totally blind, as I am,

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then you wanna use every sense that you still have.

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Sense of touch, sense of smell, hearing.

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Smell in particular is one

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that people don't think too much about,

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but you can sometimes realize

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that something isn't going quite right

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because of the odor you get from it.

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So that would be one thing.

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And that would be true whether you're totally blind

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or have some vision.

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Everyone that I've known that has some remaining vision,

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they wanna use it.

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And I say, why not?

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You should, but use it in a safe way.

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If they have prescriptions, prescription lenses,

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you can get those prescription lenses

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actually fitted into goggles

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that would protect your eyes

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and still give you the magnification

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that helps you see a little bit better.

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Another thing that people with low vision

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that depend on a lighting source,

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you can use a lamp of different kinds.

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There's different kinds of lamps,

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but those with kind of a flexible gooseneck

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where you can get the light focused

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on the work that you're doing can be very useful

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and enable you to use the vision that you have

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with the correction that you have for it

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with a good light source.

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I know too, like with my pink handled tools,

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there's some interesting things

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you could do with contrast too,

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just like maybe putting some colored tape around the handle

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so when you lay down the tool, you can find it easier.

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And there are a lot of different strategies like that

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for folks with low vision.

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And I know you've got tons of tips

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and other suggestions like that.

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And we are gonna talk about more specific things

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in upcoming podcasts,

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but just wanted to ask you a little bit

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to describe some of the projects you've worked on

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and tell us a little bit more

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about any general tips you have for folks

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to get them started or restarted

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doing home repair and woodworking.

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My first major project when I was about 14 or 15

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was I built a desk out of using birch wood.

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Now this is not home repair,

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but it's using a lot of the same skills

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that you would use

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if you're doing something around the house.

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We are still using that desk today.

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And the pride I took in that

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and the pride that my parents had

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that I could build something like that

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that looked good and it's sturdy.

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One of the things that was really kind of,

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if you excuse the pun, an eye-opener for me,

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my parents had a home and the attic in their house

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had some storage space, but it didn't have a light.

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And I looked up there and I saw

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where there was a junction,

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what they call a junction box.

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It's a metal box where wires come into it.

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And I've kind of figured out which wires did what

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and I installed a light bulb socket

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into that junction box and it worked

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and it didn't blow a fuse.

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And that gave me a lot of confidence.

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I was really, I was impressed with myself.

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Every time you do something

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and you accomplish something you didn't think you could,

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feel good about it, brag about it

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'cause that reinforces your confidence

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in being able to do something else

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that you didn't think you could do.

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I completely agree.

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And sometimes you may find

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that you're doing it a little differently now

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that you're having trouble with vision

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that maybe you did before, but you're still able to do it.

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And it could be something as simple as tightening up a knob

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on maybe a drawer in the kitchen

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or doing a major project.

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I know you've made furniture, so that's pretty major.

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So it could be anything from small to big.

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And like you said, success breeds success.

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So I wondered if you could just talk briefly

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about your Gil's guide to home repair,

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the books on home repair

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and then the woodworking for the blind.

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I wrote eight different guides.

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It's probably a step-by-step guide

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and those will be available

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or the links to those will be available.

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Just to give you an example,

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one of them was changing light bulbs.

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You wouldn't think there would be much to that,

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but for somebody that is not sure

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if they have the ability to do something,

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you may think, "Oh, I can't change that light bulb.

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"It's hot."

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Well, then turn it off.

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Replacing fuses and circuit breakers.

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All of us overload a circuit in the house.

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Sometime we put too many things in

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and all of a sudden nothing is working

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and it either has a fuse that protects the house

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from burning down or a circuit breaker.

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And so this guide describes how to find those

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and how to go about replacing them safely.

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Replacing faucet washers.

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A faucet that drips is annoying and it makes noise

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and it wastes water and it costs money.

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And with the right approach,

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can replace faucet washers very easily.

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Unclogging straight stopped up drains is another one.

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A sink can get clogged up and there's different ways

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00:16:31.800 --> 00:16:34.950
you can go about unclogging that.

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Installing a ceiling fan.

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Living in California, I can tell you,

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ceiling fans here are a must

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and they're almost as good as air conditioning.

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Not quite, but almost.

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And that's a little more of a complex task,

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but again, it's very doable.

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I've probably have installed a dozen of them myself.

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Fixing toilets that don't seem to wanna shut off

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after they've been flushed.

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00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:06.990
There can be some very, very simple fixes for that.

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00:17:06.990 --> 00:17:08.910
Sometimes it can be more difficult,

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00:17:08.910 --> 00:17:13.110
but there's a guide describing how to do that.

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How to replace a faulty light switch

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or a wall outlet, electrical wall outlet.

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This again may seem kind of more challenging

359
00:17:23.100 --> 00:17:25.320
than a lot of people would wanna do,

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00:17:25.320 --> 00:17:27.270
but if you turn the circuit breaker off,

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then there's no electricity there,

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00:17:28.590 --> 00:17:29.760
you don't have to worry about it,

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00:17:29.760 --> 00:17:31.650
but you do have to wire it right.

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So there's a guide describing that.

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Those are the ones that I've written.

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00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:37.590
I have three or four others

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00:17:37.590 --> 00:17:41.013
that are kind of in some one stage of being written

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00:17:41.013 --> 00:17:43.560
that I haven't finished up yet,

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00:17:43.560 --> 00:17:46.470
but they're a step-by-step guide

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and it really is aimed at people who are totally blind

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00:17:50.820 --> 00:17:54.090
or have usable vision.

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00:17:54.090 --> 00:17:55.831
And there's a lot of great information

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in those guides.

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00:17:56.760 --> 00:17:59.280
And Gil has also provided us with a list

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of some books that are available

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through the National Library Service.

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00:18:03.690 --> 00:18:06.630
Otherwise I call it the Talking Book Service.

378
00:18:06.630 --> 00:18:09.150
And these are books in audio format

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00:18:09.150 --> 00:18:11.830
that you can get on doing home repair.

380
00:18:11.830 --> 00:18:16.050
I don't think they're necessarily about doing home repair

381
00:18:16.050 --> 00:18:17.730
as a person with a visual impairment,

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00:18:17.730 --> 00:18:19.110
they're general information,

383
00:18:19.110 --> 00:18:21.930
but you can take that and use the techniques

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00:18:21.930 --> 00:18:25.650
that Gil's suggesting in his Gil's guides,

385
00:18:25.650 --> 00:18:29.070
put them together and be on your way, right Gil?

386
00:18:29.070 --> 00:18:31.560
Right, I think there's five books

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00:18:31.560 --> 00:18:34.140
that NLS has published over the years.

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00:18:34.140 --> 00:18:36.300
And there may be more,

389
00:18:36.300 --> 00:18:38.700
some that I didn't happen to catch,

390
00:18:38.700 --> 00:18:41.550
but these cover a whole range of topics.

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00:18:41.550 --> 00:18:45.390
And they can be useful.

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00:18:45.390 --> 00:18:50.010
There are many communities have an organization

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00:18:50.010 --> 00:18:54.950
or a group of either woodworkers or home repair people

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00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:57.450
that they get together

395
00:18:57.450 --> 00:19:01.090
and they talk about how to do various projects.

396
00:19:01.090 --> 00:19:05.130
Again, not necessarily aimed targeted toward blind people,

397
00:19:05.130 --> 00:19:07.080
but the ones I've seen,

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once you get to know some of the people in there,

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00:19:09.650 --> 00:19:12.900
they can be of an awful lot of help to you.

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00:19:12.900 --> 00:19:15.030
It's a group called Woodworking for the Blind.

401
00:19:15.030 --> 00:19:18.990
And it's a group of blind and visually impaired people

402
00:19:18.990 --> 00:19:23.990
from the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain

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00:19:24.270 --> 00:19:28.260
who are, their main interest is woodworking,

404
00:19:28.260 --> 00:19:32.130
but they all, we all do home repairs.

405
00:19:32.130 --> 00:19:36.150
And then finally, if any of you have questions

406
00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:41.150
about how to do a certain thing, a repair around the home,

407
00:19:41.460 --> 00:19:45.150
if you wanna send your inquiry into Jennifer,

408
00:19:45.150 --> 00:19:47.160
she can pass that on to me.

409
00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:51.540
And if I can, I'll tell you what I know about it

410
00:19:51.540 --> 00:19:54.780
or try to put you in touch with somebody else who can.

411
00:19:54.780 --> 00:19:55.613
Excellent.

412
00:19:55.613 --> 00:19:59.160
And we'll have your written work linked in the show notes.

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00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:01.890
And so if people do have questions,

414
00:20:01.890 --> 00:20:03.510
perhaps they wanna ask you, Jennifer,

415
00:20:03.510 --> 00:20:06.060
or they have a specific question for Gil

416
00:20:06.060 --> 00:20:07.920
that they'd like to pass along to you,

417
00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:09.600
how can they contact you?

418
00:20:09.600 --> 00:20:12.225
Sure, you can reach me by email at

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00:20:12.225 --> 00:20:16.299
jennifer@hadley.edu

420
00:20:16.299 --> 00:20:20.095
or by phone, I'll give our main toll-free number,

421
00:20:20.095 --> 00:20:25.095
1-800-323-4238 and just ask for Jennifer Ottowitz.

422
00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:28.313
Thank you both so much

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00:20:28.313 --> 00:20:30.330
for all of this information.

424
00:20:30.330 --> 00:20:35.280
I feel like anyone who is kind of starting on this journey

425
00:20:35.280 --> 00:20:38.730
of either home repair or woodworking, or perhaps both,

426
00:20:38.730 --> 00:20:43.350
now there are lots of places that they can begin looking

427
00:20:43.350 --> 00:20:45.960
just to get an idea of, you know,

428
00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:47.520
how might I go about doing this?

429
00:20:47.520 --> 00:20:49.920
And all of the wonderful tips that have shared,

430
00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:53.460
those are incredibly useful as well.

431
00:20:53.460 --> 00:20:54.690
Thank you, Gil.

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00:20:54.690 --> 00:20:56.040
Thank you, Jennifer.

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I appreciate you're both joining us

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and thank all of you for listening.

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Got something to say?

436
00:21:03.540 --> 00:21:06.830
Share your thoughts about this episode of Hadley Presents

437
00:21:06.830 --> 00:21:10.110
or make suggestions for future episodes.

438
00:21:10.110 --> 00:21:11.880
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439
00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:16.290
Send us an email at podcast@hadley.edu.

440
00:21:16.290 --> 00:21:21.290
That's P-O-D-C-A-S-T@hadley.edu

441
00:21:21.390 --> 00:21:25.053
or leave us a message at 847-784-2870.

442
00:21:27.890 --> 00:21:29.774
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00:21:29.774 --> 00:21:32.441
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