Free Republic

A little-known provision in Kansas law that allows the blind and other people with serious physical infirmities to carry concealed weapons in public places likely will not get reviewed by state lawmakers this session. Kansas legislators are expected to debate a proposal that would allow concealed carry permit holders to bring their guns onto college campuses and into many public buildings. But the chief proponent of that bill said Wednesday he has no plans to introduce legislation that would clarify a 2010 law change that removed the ability of the Kansas Attorney General to deny a concealed carry license based...

Oren Almog says he serves in the IDF “like everyone else.” There are a few differences: Terror cost him his eyesight – and five relatives. A suicide bombing attack at Haifa’s Maxim restaurant in 2003 killed 16 people in addition to Oren’s father, brother and other family members. He went blind while being treated for his wounds. He obviously is exempt from the draft but insisted on enlisting in the armed forced and being like most other Israelis – and now he is a soldier n the IDF. He is a volunteer soldier in an intelligence unit, the name of...

I know the power of prayer so I humbly ask my fellow FReepers to pray that we find my son's glasses. You see, my 5 year old is legally blind in his left eye with his glasses. He has a whole slew of eye issues and late september had his 3rd eye surgery. We haven't been able to find his glasses in about a week and I'm getting pretty frantic. We're also awaiting word for winter lay-off's any day now. I almost expect hubby to come home with his lay off slip today. UGH. Our insurance only pays for one...

Peshawar — In Pakistan, where many seek government benefits for any physical disability, there is an entire family of blind people living in Peshawar without receiving any benefits from the government. These blind family members should be recognized as ideal examples of Pakistani citizenship. Qari Asad Ullah — one of the elder brothers of the remarkable family — works as Hafiz QURAN in a private school in Peshawar, where he earns 2500 rupees (27 dollars) per month and also another 2500 rupees teaching QURAN to students later in the day. His family expenses are about 54 dollars monthly but their...

The Blind Man In The White House From the desk of Johnny Fincioen on Fri, 2011-09-09 20:56 Photo: Vice President Joe Biden appears to temporarily lose his mind during President Obama's jobs speech on 9-8-11. This is not an altered photo, but a well-timed freeze-frame from a video recording made by Russ Allison Loar. Obama lost his way. He is drowning in economic problems: unemployment doesn’t fall, au contraire; the economy is in a virtual standstill; the Government debt reaches dangerous heights; the yearly deficits are just plain immoral, and the dollar is weak. He still believes it’s the government’s...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Posters have gone up in the area of Spring Street and Lexington Road about Job, a 5-month-old kitten that has been reported missing. Job was taken from the animal shelter, to the Woodstock Animal Foundation, to a local couple for adoption. The kitten is also blind. Anyone with information is asked to call 502-553-5740 or 502-396-0974

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian woman who was blinded by a suitor who threw acid on her face has pardoned her attacker at the last minute, sparing him from being blinded by acid as retribution. ... this is an excerpt, as per the rules

In the state of Kansas, to carry a concealed firearm you need a gun — preferably something that fits nice under your jacket, in your pocket or perhaps in your purse. You also need a license, the state’s seal of approval that you can hide a firearm on your person. What’s less clear is whether you need eyesight. It certainly is suggested, unquestionably helpful. But following a change in state law, it is no longer clear whether it is required. Kansas legislators during the last session approved a number of changes to the state’s concealed carry law. One of them...

A viral video vaulted Ted Williams and his golden voice to fame, but the real hero of this story is the woman he left behind. Patricia Kirtley raised four daughters alone after Williams split 23 years ago and dove down the rabbit hole of drugs. Not only that, Kirtley took in the baby boy the radioman had with another woman and raised him as her own. Oh, and by the way, she's partially blind.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 841, The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, legislation that will provide blind, visually impaired, and other pedestrians greater security when traveling in close proximity to hybrid or electric vehicles. "The passage of this legislation is momentous and marks over two years of vigorous advocacy by ACB membership that has resulted in consensus by the blind community, auto industry, and Congress," stated Mitch Pomerantz, President of the American Council of the Blind. "The silent nature of hybrid and electric vehicles, coupled with their growing popularity, presents a dilemma....

A little girl who has been blind since birth has seen her mother and father for the first time - at the age of four. Izabelle Evans can now see up to three feet in front of her after groundbreaking stem cell treatment in China costing £50,000. Parents James Evans and Hollie McHugh said nothing could beat the feeling of the first time their daughter looked into their eyes and said: 'mummy' and 'daddy'.

My mom and I were actually looking to adopt a new cat when we got Jack. I have a friend who boards her horse at a local riding stable and one of the barn cats gave birth to a kitten. It seemed that spaying didn’t work on the cat, so she gave birth to a single, deformed kitten and was not able to produce milk. Luckily the owners recently had her fixed, so I’m hoping this doesn’t happen again. Jack (at the time he was known as Stevie Wonder) was born without eyes. He’s very lucky with his timing....

As a blind Muslim woman, Mona Ramouni has had to make do without a guide dog her whole life. The 28-year-old's strictly religious parents would not allow a dog in the house, considering the animal unclean. But then Miss Ramouni stumbled across a website article about miniature guide horses in April 2008. 'It was something that I never thought about for myself,' she said. The psychology student used three years of savings from her job at a Braille proofreading company to pay for a horse to be trained to act as her guide. Since welcoming three-year-old guide horse Cali into...

All warm blooded animals were created by God to have five basic senses. However, when we lose our sight, or are born blind, we find it difficult to deal with a world made for those who see. Blind people cope in a world built for eyes by using trained guide dogs. It has been a partnership that both man and dog have learned to appreciate and love. Well, what I have for you today is a video of a German Spitz dog named Rowan, who was born with no eyes. Except for his owner who takes care of him, he...

HOUSTON (AP) -- Suzi Hanks reads Playboy magazine for the articles. And the jokes. And the letters and cartoons. And yes, for the pictures. Each week, for an hour, Hanks snuggles close to a microphone in a tiny soundproof closet, reading - and describing in great detail - portions of the latest Playboy issue for the blind.

MSNBC UNHINGED: Host Says He is Sorry Glenn Beck is Going Blind Because He Won't See The Country He is Trying To Destroy Naked Emperor News

Sorry, but I just have to say this. WTF is wrong with this guy? I've been tolerating this kind of BS from this guy Savage because I agree with him on a lot of issues, but this is way over the top- NO MORE!!!!! Regardless of whether you like both/either one of these guys, don't you think this is counterproductive and divides conservatives at a time we REALLY REALLY need to be together? Michael Savage attacks Glenn Beck; calls him the 'hemorrhoid with eyes', crazy, and a fraud (among other things) after Glenn announces he may be going blind. He...

During a tearful and passionate speech at his "American Revival" meeting in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Fox News host Glenn Beck revealed that he may be going blind. During his speech (video below), Beck told the audience, "I can't focus my eyes." Taking a shot at health care reform, Beck said, "I went to the best doctor I could find, while I could still go to the best doctor I can find." Beck, 46, says he has been diagnosed with macular dystrophy, and joked that the doctor told him, "You could go blind in the next year . ....

I don't think I have ever seen a dog wearing glasses before. Well other then in cartoons anyway. You must admit that it takes a lot of love and patience to teach a blind dog how to play fetch. Then again, I must admit that I have no clue as to whether or not the dog went blind eventually or was born blind. Follow this link to see the video of the Vision Impaired Dog Wearing Glasses Playing Fetch

WASHINGTON -- Could a blind person drive a car? Researchers are trying to make that far-flung notion a reality. The National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech plan to demonstrate a prototype vehicle next year equipped with technology that helps a blind person drive a car independently.

ELMO, Mo. | When Charlie Wilks went turkey hunting Saturday, he didn’t get to see the big gobbler that strutted across a field and put on a show in front of him. Wilks, 14, has been blind since age 6, when a brain tumor took away his sight. But that didn’t keep him from shooting a trophy bird on his first turkey hunt. Against all odds — and with a lot of help from a couple of mentors who went to great lengths to organize the special hunt — he accomplished the seemingly impossible. “Even though I’m blind, I don’t...

A pornographic magazine for the blind has been launched - complete with explicit text and raised pictures of naked men and women.The book, the brainchild of Lisa Murphy and called Tactile Minds, is designed to be 'enjoyed' by the blind and visually impaired - and is on sale for £150. Among the 17 raised images include a naked woman in a 'disco pose', a woman with 'perfect breasts' and a 'male love robot'. Canadian Lisa says that she made the book to fill a gap in the market, adding: "There are no books of tactile pictures of nudes for adults....

He has no legs and no eyesight, but Marine Cpl. Matthew Bradford has four more years of military service ahead of him after becoming the first blind double-amputee to re-enlist. The rifleman was injured in January 2007 in Iraq when a roadside bomb exploded right under him, the San Antonio Express-News reported. But after years at the Center for the Intrepid, a privately funded, cutting-edge rehabilitation center, Bradford, 23, has learned to walk with prosthetic limbs and navigate without his vision, and he only regrets that he can’t return to combat duty in Iraq, the paper reported. Instead the Kentucky...

Mike Hanson plans to hike the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail end to end, without ever seeing the ground under his feet. On Monday in Georgia, the St. Louis Park man -- who lost his sight at birth -- will start his seven-month trek to Maine, navigating by GPS. He has mastered its use by cell phone and trusts global positioning technology to steer his every step. "It gives me everything I would need to know about the trail but the view," Hanson said. "I will be able to hear and smell what is going on." If he makes it, he'll be...

West Point, N.Y., Feb. 2, 2010 – Soldier, infantryman, Airborne Ranger, combat diver, mountain climber, skier, tri-athlete, surfer, husband and father are just a few words to describe Army Capt. Scott M. Smiley. Army Capt. Scott M. Smiley salutes 1st Sgt. Deon E. Dabrio after returning the guidon during the U.S. Army Warrior Transition Unit change of command ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., Feb. 1, 2010. Smiley is the first blind officer and second wounded warrior to hold a position of command. U.S. Army photo by Tommy Gilligan  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Yesterday, the...

Just an observation. Watching it just now the "blind Ralphie" scene was cut. The movie (at least the 2 AM showing) is missing the scene after Melinda Dillon tastes the soap when it should have cut to Ralphie. Offensive to the sight-impaired I guess, not that they'd have seen it. I told you not to use "Lifebuoy." Major Award destruction. Household accident or domestic violence by proxy?

FORT BENNING, Ga., Dec. 24, 2009 – The first blind student to attend the Maneuver Captain's Career Course here graduated with his class Dec. 15 in a ceremony attended by family and friends. Army Lt. Col. Fredrick Dummar, commander of the Special Operations Recruiting Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C., congratulates Army Capt. Ivan Castro on graduating from the Maneuver Captain's Career Course at Fort Benning, Ga., Dec. 15, 2009. Castro, who will be assigned to the recruiting battalion, is the first blind student to attend the course. U.S. Army photo by Kristin Molinaro   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

FRESNO, Calif. -- An experimental device that uses the tongue instead of the eyes to "see" could be on the market next year, and a blind Fresno, Calif., teen hopes to be among the first to take one home. Researchers say their BrainPort device does not replace the sense of sight, but lets the blind perceive images, making it easier for them to navigate their surroundings. One group they foresee benefiting: Troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who are blind because of brain injuries. BrainPort consists of a tiny digital camera mounted on sunglasses. The camera is attached by a...

Surror Yousif Nasar, president of the Basrah Blind Association, recently demonstrated talking software to a member of his association. With this technology, BBA members can now email and surf the Internet. The U. S. State Department's Basrah Provincial Reconstruction Team provided the software after hearing of the association’s needs. Photo courtesy of Multi-National Division – South. BASRAH — Under the former regime, many elements of civil society were neglected here, including the handicapped. Upon hearing of the needs of the Basrah Blind Association, the U.S. State Department's Provincial Reconstruction Team asked how it might help. "It's an honor to meet...

Irish ophthamologists are warning of a wave of blindness affecting religious pilgrims who are being encouraged to stare at the sun. The incidents are taking place at the Knock shrine in County Mayo in western Ireland. For the past 130 years, pilgrims have visited the holy site, hoping to see visions of the Virgin Mary. In recent months, a new series of visions has drawn thousands of visitors to the shrine on days prescribed by a clairvoyant named Joe Coleman Ten thousand gathered in early November when Coleman told them: "The Rosary is to be said at 3 p.m. and...

Gene Therapy Transforms Eyesight Of 12 People With Rare Visual Defect A single injection in a patient's eye brings 'astounding' results. The findings may offer hope for those with macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Thomas H. Maugh II October 24, 2009 Pennsylvania researchers using gene therapy have made significant improvements in vision in 12 patients with a rare inherited visual defect, a finding that suggests it may be possible to produce similar improvements in a much larger number of patients with retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. The team last year reported success with three adult patients, an achievement that was...

CHICAGO -- If you're looking for somebody to cheer for during Sunday's marathon, Steve Baskis is your man. The 23-year-old Iraq veteran lost his sight last year when a roadside bomb exploded next to the vehicle he was driving. One of his best friends, Victor Cota, was just a few feet away from him at the time and lost his life. Instead of falling apart, though, Baskis did exactly the opposite. He needed an outlet for competitiveness and he wanted to show people that life doesn't end just because you lose your vision. After numerous surgeries to repair his injuries,...

Blindness first began creeping up on Barbara Campbell when she was a teenager, and by her late 30s, her eye disease had stolen what was left of her sight. Reliant on a talking computer for reading and a cane for navigating New York City, where she lives and works, Ms. Campbell, now 56, would have been thrilled to see something. Anything. Now, as part of a striking experiment, she can. So far, she can detect burners on her stove when making a grilled cheese, her mirror frame, and whether her computer monitor is on. She is beginning an intensive three-year...

A legally blind woman has bagged a bear in the Upper Peninsula.Villa tells WLUC-TV her "limited sight" only allows her to "see the difference between light and dark" and "silhouettes of people."

WASHINGTON – If you think your kids spend a little too much time on their laptops, take heart: Michelle Obama has the same problem. The first lady made the rueful revelation as she feted the nation's top innovators and designers in fields as diverse as architecture, technology, fashion, and communications — winners of the annual National Design awards — at an East Room luncheon Friday. "What would we do without our laptops?" asked Mrs. Obama, addressing one of the winners, Bill Moggridge, who designed the world's first laptop. "My kids would die," she said to laughter. "They'd be — they...

A driver told a blind cancer sufferer to get off his bus when a woman and her children became hysterical at the sight of his guide dog. George Herridge, 71, told how the mum flew into a rage and shouted at him in a foreign language. A passenger explained she wanted him to get off the bus during the incident on May 20. Mr Herridge, from Tern Close, Tilehurst, said: “Her child was kicking and screaming and someone off the bus told me her child was frightened of my dog. The driver said, ‘Look mate, can’t you get off?’ “I...

Blind photography: the very concept sounds like an oxymoron. But an intriguing and often striking exhibition of photographs in Riverside, California, argues that it emanates from the core of contemporary art. The show "Sight Unseen," at the California Museum of Photography until Aug. 29, features everything from underwater scenes off Catalina Island, transvestites in New Orleans and Braille-enhanced black-and-whites as well as portraits, nudes, landscapes, travel shots, abstracts, collages, and everything else you might expect from a "sighted" photographer. Except the subtext and context is blindness: the photographers are legally blind, some born without sight or with limited vision, and...

A BLIND INTERNATIONAL interpreter who says he was dragged off a Belgium-bound flight, arrested and held in custody in Philadelphia for hours without food or water faces an arraignment Thursday. His crime: He questioned why his U.S. Airways flight was delayed nearly two hours. Nicola Cantisani, 61, of Brussels, Belgium, a professional translator who has been blind since birth, was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, police said. "This is taking airplane security to a new and ridiculous level," said his attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr. "It's pretty crazy." Cantisani and his wife, Paola, were returning to Brussels April...

FENTON, Mo. - A legally blind man was credited with saving a woman after authorities said a 45-year-old man broke into her apartment on Saturday night. Authorities said the man, a convicted rapist, was waiting for the woman to return home from work. A neighbor who asked to be identified only as Jerry heard noises coming from the apartment. Jerry is blind in his left eye and has about 25 percent vision in his right eye. Jerry told KTVI-TV that he went to the apartment and kicked open the door, surprising the would-be attacker, who locked the door. The woman...

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Ameneh Bahrami is certain that one day she'll meet someone, fall in love and get married. But when her wedding day comes, her husband won't see her eyes, and she won't see her husband. Bahrami is blind, the victim of an acid attack by a spurned suitor. If she gets her way, her attacker will suffer the same fate. The 31-year-old Iranian is demanding the ancient punishment of "an eye for an eye," and, in accordance with Islamic law, she wants to blind Majid Movahedi, the man who blinded her. ...

Aquanetta Gordon knew that her remarkable son's life on Earth soon would be over. "You can let go," she told him. "You can go home. When you get to heaven, tell Jesus to save that spot right next to you. That's for your mother." Hours later, Ben Underwood, the blind Elk Grove teenager who dazzled people all over the world with his ability to "see" with sound, died at home with his family surrounding him. Ben would have turned 17 on Monday. Instead, friends and relatives will be gathering on that day for his funeral. The service is scheduled for...

Chances are you've seen a blind person accompanied by a guide dog. But what about a guide horse, a service parrot or a monkey trained to help an agoraphobic? These are just a few of the nontraditional service animals that are used across the country to help people with disabilities and psychological disorders. As their uses are expanding, however, the government is considering a proposal that would limit the definition of "service animal" to "a dog or other common domestic animal."

Guide Horses have shown great promise as a mobility option, and people who have tried Guide Horses report that the Guide Horses perform exceptionally well at keeping their person safe. These friendly horses provide an experimental alternative mobility option for blind people. People who have tried Guide Horses report that the horses demonstrate excellent judgment and are not easily distracted by crowds and people.

Blind band will be Rose Parade's first Tuesday, October 21, 2008 3:12 AM By Jennifer Smith Richards THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The entire student body had been herded into the gym to sing The Star-Spangled Banner, which was video- recorded for a school project. That was pretty cool, in itself -- several of the roughly 120 students at the Ohio State School for the Blind have perfect pitch, so it wasn't your average school-choir rendition. What happened next was even cooler: Music director Carol Agler's cell phone rang and the crowd went quiet. She held the microphone to the phone's earpiece...

She went to a Brooklyn emergency room suffering from what she thought was just a kidney stone, but a medical nightmare left her partly blind and a quadruple amputee. Tabitha Mullings claims doctors at Brooklyn Hospital Center failed to diagnose an infection that has literally eaten her alive. RELATED: BOY WITH GIANT LIMB GIVEN $200G FIXUP "Sometimes I can't believe it's me laying here," the mother of three told the Daily News Wednesday from her bed in the very hospital she blames for her ravaged body.  Wiping tears with a bandaged stump, Mullings struggled to explain how in a...

The human mind can be mystifying in its capacity to accommodate both disability and genius in the same person, as 60 Minutes found in a little boy named Rex. Rex was born blind, with brain damage so severe it looked as though he would never walk, talk, or do much of anything. And yet he has a talent few of us can imagine. To understand Rex’s brain would be to unlock mysteries of language, memory, and music. Correspondent Lesley Stahl has followed Rex and his mother, Cathleen, for several years now; she first met them in 2003.

Reporting from Sacramento -- California has often been tagged as the "nanny state" for passing laws that some people say interfere with citizens' lives. But now it has earned the label for a whole different reason, thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Republican governor announced this week that he had appointed a nanny -- his own children's nanny, in fact -- as a part-time state regulator on the Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind. Lindsay Ann Schnaidt, 32, a Democrat from Hermosa Beach who has worked for the Schwarzenegger family for seven years, will be paid $100 a day...

Four Australian teenagers were charged Thursday with attacking an almost blind greater flamingo that is believed to be the oldest bird of its kind in the world, police and zoo officials said. The flamingo's head and beak were injured and it was bleeding from an eye after the attack at Adelaide Zoo that left it in a critical condition, zoo staff said. "The bird arrived at the zoo in 1933 and was a mature bird at that stage," a spokeswoman for the zoo told AFP. "So although we don't know it's exact age it is at least 75 years old...

After months of work by The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), guide dog Vargo has become the first guide dog in the UK to enter a mosque after the Islamic Shari’ah Council issued a historic fatwa11 stating “a blind person, in the light of Shariah Law, will be allowed to keep a guide dog to help him and if required to take him to the mosque for his prayers2”. In this momentous event today (on Wednesday 24 September), Vargo accompanied his 18-year-old owner Mahomed-Abraar Khatri to his local mosque in Leicester, seen...

ST. PETERSBURG — Before dawn on Wednesday, Virginia Zinn heard a crash. She sighed, peeked out the door and saw a familiar scene. Here we go again, she thought. For at least the seventh time, a vehicle crashed into Zinn's home on 12th Street S. This time it was a school bus. At 6 a.m. The bus, heading west on Ninth Place S — an unpaved 10-foot-wide alley a toe from Zinn's place — struck the overhanging roof of her home as it tried to turn onto 12th Street S. Police estimated the damage at about $800, to be paid...