Handiwhat? ... around the house

A few years ago, after I had bought my first condo, and decorated it myself, two friends, a couple, offered to help me spruce it up a bit. This was not a pair of well-meaning sighted people giving the blind guy a handout. The husband is blind, and his wife sighted. Their real motive was to make my home more attractive for when I invited female guests over.

Anyway, one of the projects was to replace an ugly light FIXTURE hanging over the dining table. I had always been afraid of anything having to do with electricity. My friend Alex demystified the entire thing for me. With their guidance, and Jana’s eyes to let us know which wire was white and which was black, I changed my own light!

This was the first of many home improvement projects that I have accomplished, mostly on my own, in my own home. Besides having installed many light fixtures since then, I have also replaced water faucets and a garbage disposer, AND installed a dishwasher in our kitchen, replaced a wall switch with a dimmer, and an exhaust fan in a bathroom.

I doubt that many, if any, sighted people would have offered to teach me to wire in a new light fixture. They would have been unsure of my capabilities, fearing what they fear themselves, closing their eyes and playing with live wires. Today it’s easy to go on line and read a DIY blog or check out a Youtube video to understand how to complete a project safely, and decide if it is something I feel I am capable of. The man on Youtube won’t judge my capabilities based on his own fears. He won’t even know that he is assisting a blind person, and he won’t be afraid either.

Blindness is not disabling. Any blind person with his or her other senses can do these little odd jobs and many more. It is true that for some of these tasks I have succeeded with the help of others who have shared bits of wisdom, and my wife is the one who now tells me which wire is black. But there are tools available which make it possible for an unassisted blind person to tell colors, and test electrical connections.

Is the work always perfect? No, but it’s functional and I did it, and my wife and I have worked together to accomplish something. That’s more valuable than paying an outsider to do something I can do myself.

That day when my friend Alex and Jana taught me to replace the light fixture in my house, they did much more than help me impress the ladies. They gave me the confidence to do many jobs for myself and, eventually impress with my confidence, not my home decor.