Hi John,
And this is related to computing, how?
I understand your fustration, but,
This is not the place for this particular message.
Richard Q. Justice-list moderator
[email protected]
[email protected]
----- Original Message -----
From: "John_Justice" <[email protected]>
To: "BLIND COMPUTING" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 10:29 PM
Subject: [Blind-Computing] WE'RE FINALLY READY!
Hey group,
I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Linda and I are both totally
blind.
We just finished packing up our personal belongings in preparation for
the
painting contractors and carpeting people who will be arriving next week.
The thing is, we have accumulated a lot of stuff in living here for the
past
twenty-four years. When a painter comes in, they have to move
everything
and that means record cabinets, stereo equipment, books, VCR tapes,
cassettes, all of our heavy coats, etc. etc. it took us quite a while to
do
it all.
Even now, after two full weekends of filling cartons, I still have our
sound
system to disassemble. That will mean labeling every single cable so
that
I
know how to put it back when they're finished.
Not every room in the house is being painted this time. Our kitchen,
hallway and hall closet, living room and upper hallway are being done.
This
house is so old that the corners of the walls are starting to crack and
some
pieces of plaster are falling down. It isn't as awful as it sounds. On
the
corners of walls made of sheetrock, the builders usually use something
called a corner bead. It's a metal plate which extends from the floor to
the ceiling and protects the edges of the sheetrock from being damaged.
But
as a house gets older, it settles and the thin layer of wet plaster which
covers that beading, dries out and cracks. Almost every single corner in
this entire house has the same problem but the ones on the main floor are
the worst. We live in a hillside home. that means the house is built
with
an additional floor at the rear. Yu can come in the front door through
our
main entrance and the kitchen will be on your left. On your right, is an
alcove which holds the stairs going up to the second floor. if you walk
straight ahead, you come into our living room/dining room area and
there's
a
door on your right which leads to a second set of steps going down. This
is
a relatively modern home so both flights of steps are right above each
other. if you go down this second set of steps, you are on our lower
floor.
there's a half bath down there, a laundry room and a big family room
where
I'm now sitting. At the end of the family room is a double glass door
which
leads out onto the patio at the rear of the house.
The front of this floor, where the stairs come down, is actually under
ground. If you look at the back of our house, you'll see the patio, then
two more floors above that. From the front, there's only one additional
floor.
There are a lot of hillside houses in Pennsylvania because the area is so
hilly.
Now back to the renovation. We had to fight the landlord tooth and nail
to
get this work done. We ended up filing a complaint with the Human
Relations
Commission stating that they were treating us differently because of our
blindness. they were, there's no doubt about that. We are blind so they
didn't figure we'd need new paint or carpeting and they refused to do any
renovations. On top of that, they tried to imply that we had refused the
work. It was an awful mess! We had to bring in our own contractors to
do
the work. But in the settlement, we got them to agree to spend up to
twenty-five hundred dollars on repairs, painting and carpeting. We got
smart there and used people who had worked for the landlord's agent. In
that way, we could be sure that the work would be done right. The
contractors would have us to deal with and, if they messed up, the
landlord's agent is a really nasty character. I have had several fights
with him in the past. It doesn't take much for this guy to go to four
letter words, yelling screaming and threatening.
We had an old gas stove that was about ready to blow up. The pilots were
so
badly corroded that they wouldn't stay lit and the oven changed
temperature
as much as ninety degrees at any given time. They sent in some so-called
gas appliance expert who claimed that the stove was fine. So we brought
in
our own licensed professional and he condemned the stove in writing. The
township building inspector sited the landlord and gave him ten days to
replace the stove. We got a new one but it's the cheapest one they could
find. At least it's a new one and it has those electronic lighters, not
the
old fashioned open pilot type we used to have.
The same thing happened with the refrigerator and they tried to give us
an
apartment sized one instead of the standard nineteen cubic foot model we
had. I forcefully reminded the landlord that we were entitled to the
same
equipment we had before and that right was protected by law. That sent
him
off into another one of his famous screaming fits.
We did get the right refrigerator.
But the biggest joke of all was our driveway. When it was installed
thirty
years ago, the contractor had done a terrible job. As it got older, the
center of the asphalt sank until there was a huge hole in the middle of
the
pavement which measured about eight inches deep in places. We begged and
pleaded to have that driveway repaired and they refused. But the
building
inspector wrote them a letter informing the owner that if one of us was
injured by falling, the owner would be liable for all kinds of damages.
The driveway was resurfaced about two weeks later.
As you can imagine, the relationship we have had with the landlord hasn't
been all tea and roses. but we can't afford to move. If we could, we'd
be
out of here. Those two flights of steps are hell for my wife. Her knee
surgery didn't work well and she has to climb up and down those stairs.
It
causes her a lot of unnecessary pain. We like the house but we could do
without those blasted stairs.
I wanted to have a stair climber installed but Linda won't hear of it.
they aren't very safe for blind people anyway.
Well, that's our story my blind friends. It has been one hell of a ride
up
till now.
I hope that those contractors get in and out of here with the least
possible
trouble.
. John and Linda Justice
With guide dogs Jake and Zachary
PERSONAL E-MAIL: [email protected]
John and Linda Justice
With guide dogs Jake and Zachary
PERSONAL E-MAIL: [email protected]
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