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Frequently asked questions
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Wow, you must really be borred to take a look at my little personal biography. Is it now my job to enlighten you with "stuff?" OK here we go. First comes my utmost borring, short, to the point, little, damned, biography. After this we'll get to the good stuff (yup, the good stuff!) So, read this borring stuff first and you will be rewarded in the end.
You may not notice, but I am totally blind, no sight at all whatsoever, with the exception of light perception. The truth is, blind individuals are as good as sighted individuals. I don't have someone code my site for me, I do it myself. "How" you might ask? I use something known as a screen reader.
A screen reader is a piece of software, which connects to and works with supported internal and external speech synthesizers. The screen-reading program I use is known as JAWS For Windows.
When a blind individual has access to a screen reader such as JAWS, they can:
• Read, write, reply to, and manage Email,
• Browse the internet and have a conversation through most popular IM applications,
• Interact with web forms and computer applications.
These are just some of the endless tasks a blind individual can perform with a screen reader. The screen reader takes text written on the screen, and reads it back through the specified synthesizer, resulting in an audible reading of screen text. Furthermore, users of the screen reader can write scripts, or small computer programs which command a screen reader on what to do when this key is pressed, or what to do when this happens, giving the user full satisfaction which the application for which these scripts are written.
I get asked the question about ten times a day, "Were you blind from birth?" The truth is, no! I was born premature, weighing in at 2 pounds 2 ounces. Due to oxygen problems, I suffered gradual blindness, and a possible retina detachment was found. Operations, however, did not succeed, and my retina was soon confirmed detached, causing permanent blindness. At this point, I was four-years-old.
I began learning Braille since pre-school. By the time I got into First-Grade, I could read small books in Braille. One of the first books I ever read was a kid's beginner about Tim and Pam.
Moving in my school life, I started experiencing challenges. Challenges like avoiding teachers' wraths, and the world famous, keeping a distance from poles! The fact is that although you have a cane, it doesn't mean you're protected. What I learned, unfortunately the hard way, is that it depends mostly on how well you use the cane, in terms of "staying in step" and making the proper motions, and arcs with the cane.
My first computer experience was in first-grade, however the first time I learned what a "screen reader" was was in sixth-grade. Although I use a computer with JAWS mostly to do my work, I read by tactual bumps known as Braille.
For my success in life, I owe it to some people, specifically teachers who have made my days miserable, but have taught me a whole lot. Specifically my sixth-eighth-grade vision teacher, Miss Wit. Check this out! My note taker, a portable two-pound computer, crashed on me. I was told to redo all the work that I lost, just my luck, being the whole term! The reason? I didn't back up my files to a PC like I was told to! I'll never forget that one day. You can bet I learned a ton from it! If you have no back up source, constantly keep hard copies on hand! If you do have a back up source, back up often!
Teachers are there for two reasons:
1. To make your life a living hell...
2. To teach you and motivate you for doing good, and letting you clean yourself when you fall in mud! Oops!
Although I suffered total blindness, I have a goal. In fact, I have many goals. I'm now in high school, going for a standard diploma. In the future, I plan to work for Freedom Scientific, inc.
I've written this biography for two purposes:
1. To prove that blind individuals are just as good as sighted individuals.
2. To hand down some advice which I feel will be a good phrase to follow for victims of blindness.
If you are blind, or are facing gradual blindness, consider the following phrase:
It's your attitude not your aptitude which determines your altitude...
Uh huh, right, the section you've been waiting for has finally passed through your screen reader or your eyes, which ever is appropriate.
Before we begin, be aware that I have been told: "You spell like a child but write like an adult." This is understandable; after all, I am a little child correct? But where does this adult stuff come in? I don't know and can't answer it; it's one of those "teacher said this" mysteries. You know, they (teachers) say stuff but you don't really know what it means? Yeah, I do spell like a child; I do remember spelling believe as "beleev." Also, I get double r's mixed up; for instance, I still have to ask someone if offerred is spelled "offered" or "offerred." As a matter of fact, I don't even know if I've spelled it right here lol! Anyway, this is what I have been told but whether it's true, that's up to you!
Have you ever tried to get smart and say: "Hello [person name]!", and that person turns out to be someone totally different from the one who you addressed? Well I have. It was my seventh-grade Language Arts teacher; I said "hello Mrs. Ward." The teacher turns out to be a substitute and says "No I'm not Mrs. Ward, I'm bla." Wow did that hurt; luckily noone was there but me since everyone likes to hang around in the halls until the late bell... I wonder if this ever happens to sighted people?
Another thing that really gets me is people on cellphones. Once, this dude was walking into a bathroom talking outloud. At first, I thought he was talking to someone else; ay, he even entered a stall and kept up the conversation! I remember thinking "OK, this dude's in a stall with someone else?" I mentioned this to my friend (we had gone to the theater,) and he said "no, Munawar, he was on his cellphone!" Yes yes I know, another "ouch" moment. I can still feel my ears growing hot as I write this; o well, it's all part of being blind :-d (sticks out his tongue.)
One thing everyone knows about me is that I love (love) User Agreements (those "legal documents" written for copyright Etc.) Um, I even sound like I'm going to arrest my brother if he screws up the computer, check out the following agreement:
Your action of logging onto this system signifies your acceptance to the terms of this user agreement. Any violation of this agreement and/or the terms held within will result in denial of user-rights. The user is not permitted to change display settings which are system-wide changes. These include, but are not limited to: altering monitor size, or widening and/or changing the color depth of the screen resolution. Furthermore, the user is not permitted to edit the Microsoft Registry so as to put forth negative results to the operation of the system. In addition, the user is not permitted to download additional visual components for Microsoft Internet Explorer which may render the browser unusable by a screen reader. These components include, but are not limited to: hot bars, MSIE backgrounds, skins, or 3-d toolbar buttons. If the user installs video drivers because a program has requested them for successful operation of games or other programs, the user must uninstall these drivers and reinstall the JAWS For Windows Video Intercept libraries before ending his or her Windows session. The user is further restricted to access folders which are the property of another user (C:\documents and settings\other_user) without the verbal/written permission of the user whose profile is being accessed.
Yeah, it's all been written by me and shows itself on user-logon to the computer! My point is that I love user agreements a whole lot; as a matter of fact, ask me to write you a well-written, official-looking agreement, I'll be glad to do so!
Now for the showoff stuff: BPCPrograms has all been written by me; yes, even the user agreement and submission policy! I script in JavaScript, PHP, and VB. I also write scripts for JAWS (my little screen reader.) So, that counter thing you see on the program download area of BPC has been written by me. Let's just say that this whole site has, as a whole, been written by me (yes, me!)
Nay, do not yawn! I hate it when people yawn at my workz! Anyway, that's about all there is to say about me (mind you, to put here.) And one more thing: I do like talking and can talk for hours about stuff so if you ever see me around don't hesitate to form an acquaintanceship or friendship with me. Right, now I'm starting to yawn myself (don't say it; authors are the only ones allowed to yawn at their works.)
Most of my friends and not to mention acquaintances will know of this stupid little bird named A.J. I call him "the feathery ball." Anyway, he's my bird and he hates my guts! Maybe it's because I can't see him (right, too black :-)), so I keep sticking my finger in his eye (accidentally, mind you.) O and once I was walking through the living room to answer a phone call and A.J. (not having enough brains to comprehend) crossed my path; we did meet and he was thrown back (accidentally kicked) like 10 feet, ouch! I mean all I felt was this furry thing and a whole gust of wind and wings flapping and all.
When A.J. wants attention he screams! I mean this thing (considering its size (very small)) can scream so loud he sometimes sounds like a fire alarm! It's sort of like feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Come to find out, he's alarmed because of our landowner in our backyard (um, who ever heard of a watchbird?)
Right, here's where you get to see all my little activities I do and graphics of A.J., and other nifty things which should, in turn, make your visit to this page worthwhile.
These graphics are pretty much self-explanatory; more graphics of my birds can be found on my homepage. The truth is, AJ does have a mate (at least we assume she is his mate.) He's my Mom's friends's bird but every now and then when the friend is out of town she leaves her bird with us and AJ (it is obvious) loves her! Every time she is here he whistles with the best of tunes. So, he loves her--- maybe they'll mate one day.
This one doesn't even deserve a place here; it's not part of the household (then again, not even the birds are because they're not human unless I'm a bird,) but everyone says this cat's cute and for all you people who want to say "awwww," now's your chance! Let's say it together now... one... two... three... "awwwww, how cute!"
Ahh, yes, I do run track. It's done like this: the coaches assign someone to me called my tetherer. We are given one rope; I prefer my tetherer to be on my left so there he is (the tall one.) We both grab hold of the rope; when the whistle blows, I start running. It is vital for my tetherer to remain behind me at all times; if he crosses the finish line before I do, the race is void. That way, I am the one setting the pace and he is not dragging me along. 
Well, that's all; hope you had fun... My FAQs section follows!
This secton contains frequently asked questions I receive in my everyday life. If you wish to submit a question to be posted here, right, ask away!
Q: Were you blind since birth?
A: No, I was sighted until the age of 4.
Q: Do you remember seeing anything at all (colors, people, Etc.?)
A: I can't really answer that one. Sometimes I think I do remember color yes. For some reason, I feel like I remember the color blue the most. Don't know if it's true though; I don't really know how color looks.
Q: Why is your right eye sort of grayish and your left eye a regular color?
A: The pupil (center core) was removed from my right eye since I developped Glaucoma.
Q: Can you see anything at all?
A: Yes, I can distinguish between brightness and darkness, but that is all.
Have a nice day!
Munawar Bijani