Numerous Experiences And Continued Progress

I've been forgetting to mention that in reading The Gift Of Fear the Bookshare app on my phone has not kept my place. So every time I'd open the Bookshare app to read that particular book I've had to pay attention to what page number I left off of then select for the book to be displayed by pages. Then I'd have to go through all of the pages until I found the page where I'd left off. In the blog entry that I'd written Monday I forgot to mention the fact that I'd called my new insurance company that same evening. The lady I'd spoken with Monday evening from my new insurance company asked for my insurance ID number. I told her that I didn't have said number handy because the number was such a long number for me to read off of my phone. However the lady informed me that she'd needed me to give her said ID number if I needed her to give me answers that pertained to my specific case. So although that was kind of frustrating, not to mention annoying I gave her the number she'd requested. Once I'd given her the ID number she'd requested I told her the things I was calling to inquire about. The first thing I'd told her I was calling to ask about was whether that particular insurance company had a mail order pharmacy that they paid for that particular company's members to use. The lady I'd spoken with didn't know the answer to that question of mine except to inform me that the Claims Department of my new insurance company would need to be contacted by my current pharmacy about my wanting to transfer my medications to a different pharmacy. That advice sounded weird to me but I went ahead and asked her the second question I'd wanted to know the answer to: I wanted to know whether my new insurance company would stop mailing me notices in print because I'm blind and therefore I don't read print. The lady then told me that I'd need to contact the county office of the county that I currently live in to ask the county office that particular question. So I'd also forgotten to mention in the blog entry that I'd written Monday that after I'd gotten off the phone with the lady at my new insurance company I emailed my current pharmacy to let that particular business know what I'd found out from my new insurance company regarding the fact that said pharmacy isn't contracted with my new insurance company. In the last blog entry that I'd written yesterday I'd also forgot to mention that Monday evening I'd had a discussion with a friend about the fact that I'm rethinking my decision of how long I want to stay at the community college I'm going to be attending. In the discussion I'd had with said friend Monday evening I'd told him that the reason I'd been rethinking how long to stay at community college was because I don't know whether my new VRC can pay for housing when I transfer to a state university. Because within the first few times that I'd spoken to my new VRC on the phone I'd asked him whether he'd be able to pay for housing when I attend a state university. The very first response he'd given me to that particular question was that yes he could pay for housing when I attend a state university. However although I'd forgotten to mention this particular situation even happening I can honestly say that I could tell in my new VRC's voice that he was uncertain about something. To this day though I don't know why my new VRC has acted so wishy-washy when the subject of him paying for my housing when I attend a state university is brought up. Because I've brought up the same discussion with him a few times (both on the phone as well as when I'd gone to his office to meet him for the first time last week). And each time the same discussion is brought up by me my new VRC has the same reaction. Although as I said above I'm unable to tell why he acts so wishy-washy when I ask whether he's going to be able to pay for housing once i start attending a state university. Anyway so in having this particular discussion with a friend of mine Monday evening I expressed to said friend that what I know right now is that I don't want to depend on my new VRC to potentially pay for my housing when I start attending a state university. Because at this point it doesn't seem like my new VRC is at all interested in paying for my housing once I start attending a state university. And that's what's causing me to rethink what I'd originally wanted to do which was to only be at community college for a little less than a year then transfer to a state university. Plus I've already found out that it's expensive as fuck to live in this particular state and I'm not too excited about having to look for a room to rent in a totally new city once I start going to a state university. So my thinking has changed to wanting to extend my stay at community college for two years...but that's just me thinking out loud right now. Because if it turns out that in attending this particular community college I come to discover that I don't like the professors who teach the classes I take at said college I may decide to shorten my stay at community college as I'd originally planned to do. Yesterday evening I received an email from the same person who'd called me earlier in the day from the OSD at the college I'm going to be attending. In the email the lady had sent me she informed me that the person who's going to be my reader for the upcoming assessment that I have to do at the college would be available next Wednesday and Thursday at 11:00 in the morning just as I'd requested. In the same email the lady had sent me she'd also informed me that the computers that are in the Assessment Center suck. Shortly after I'd read her email I replied thanking her for letting me know. A little while later I replied to her email again to ask her if the OSD would please Braille the prompts for the entire assessment. After I'd sent her the second email I finished reading The Gift Of Fear. All in all that particular book was a good read. The Gift Of Fear was definitely right on in saying that women are socialized to always be polite even when they're faced with potentially dangerous situations. I think The Gift Of Fear is a book that everyone should read though simply because we do have the power to predict when we're in danger (our intuition or gut feelings) is specifically what I mean. Shortly after I'd finished reading The Gift Of Fear I wanted to start reading a book called Braving The Wilderness: The Quest For True Belonging And The Courage To Stand Alone. However the Bookshare app was giving me trouble. So I deleted that particular book from the Bookshare app then re-downloaded that particular book. However nothing changed. I was still unable to read Braving The Wilderness: The Quest For True Belonging And The Courage To Stand Alone. All I kept being showed were images which was very frustrating to say the least. I then posted an FB status update to ask if any of my blind friends who use the Bookshare app have ever experienced the same problem. Unfortunately though no one replied to that particular FB status update. Throughout the day Tuesday I'd received text alerts and email alerts from Amazon.com's website informing me that both of my packages have been shipped. However I never know whether the alerts I receive from Amazon.com are actually honest or if said alerts have been sent too soon. LOL. So it's kind of frustrating. This morning I texted a friend of mine who also uses the Bookshare app to ask her if she'd run into the same issue that I'm running into now. A little while later she texted me back saying that she hadn't had this specific issue with the Bookshare app before but that I should try uninstalling and reinstalling that particular app. Just to be safe though I immediately replied to her text message to double-check that I wouldn't have to pay for the Bookshare app again. Because that's $20 that I'll never get back. Fortunately though she said that my app store would recognize that I'd already paid for the Bookshare app. Unfortunately though uninstalling and reinstalling the Bookshare app did not fix my problem as I'd hoped it would so I used my MacBook Pro to search Bookshare's website. I wanted to make sure that the issue I'm experiencing had not already been asked about by someone. However this particular issue was nowhere on Bookshare's FAQ. So I then contacted Bookshare to ask for that particular business's help getting this issue resolved. Shortly after I'd emailed Bookshare I called my insurance company to see if I could get the number for the county office of the county that I live in. However I didn't want to talk to an agent and I couldn't get that particular number from my insurance company's automated system. So I then Googled the county that I live in along with the words "health and human services" or something to that affect. I then found an email address that I could use to contact the agency that I wanted to contact. However in the middle of double-tapping on said email address though I received an email from Bookshare. After I'd gotten rid of said email notification I received a phone call from my new VRC. So I answered his phone call. During his and my conversation with one another he'd told me that he'd just emailed me a copy of my Individual Plan for Employment (IPE). He then asked if I could go to his office tomorrow morning at 9:30 to sign my IPE. I said that would work. He then said that he hadn't forgotten about the fact that I'd wanted him to check whether he'd be able to pay for my housing whenever I attend a state university. I was glad he'd mentioned that because it would be a load taken off of my shoulders if he'd be able to help me in that way. He then mentioned the fact that he'd received my voicemail from the other day where I'd asked him to please reconsider allowing me to have Orientation and Mobility (O&M) services. He told me that the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) has trouble getting mobility instructors to that particular agency. He then told me though that he was going to look into whether he could pay for me to have access to Aira which works like this: a blind person wears what are called smart glasses then presses a button (although I'm not sure if the button would be on a blind person's phone or whether said button would be on a blind person's smart glasses). Once a blind person presses the button though he or she'd automatically be connected to a sighted professional who works in the blindness field. The sighted professional who works in the blindness field would then walk the blind person through whatever he or she needs help with (whether he or she needs to match clothes, look for a store in a mall or any number of other things that a person could think of that a blind person might need help with). The cost for Aira though is pretty expensive but when I think of how that particular technology would be a game-changer for me and other blind people who might get to use it, you can't put a price on something like that in my opinion. I hope I'm not getting myself excited for nothing though because it would be neat to experience what Aira is like for myself. During my conversation with my new VRC he told me that once I'd signed my IPE then DOR could start providing me services which is exciting. After I'd gotten off the phone with my new VRC I read the email that I'd received from Bookshare Support. In the email that Bookshare Support had sent me I was asked which Bookshare app I was using (I didn't realize that there was more than one Bookshare app). You learn something new every day I guess. LOL. In the same email I was then asked by Bookshare Support whether when using the Bookshare app VoiceOver (VO) only says the word "image" aloud in one particular book or whether when using the Bookshare app VO says the word "image" aloud in multiple books. So I immediately replied to Bookshare Support. In the email I'd sent Bookshare Support I let that particular business know that I was using Bookshare's Read2Go app. In the same email I'd sent Bookshare Support I then let Bookshare Support know that VO spoke the word "image" aloud in multiple books that I'd tried to read. After I'd sent that email to Bookshare Support I sent an email to the agency that controls my insurance coverage. In the email I'd sent that particular agency I explained to said agency that I currently receive print things in the mail from said agency which is unhelpful because I'm totally blind and do not read print. I then asked said agency if in the future they'd send any and all communications to me to my email address. I'm not sure whether that particular agency will do that for me but I'm hopeful that they will because I'm asking for equal access to something that sighted people have access to by default. The fact that I'm asking for a reasonable accommodation from that particular agency should make said agency want to accommodate me.