A
group of us were discussing favourite TV shows when someone in the
group turned to me and said, “but you probably don’t watch TV anyway.”
The
supposition was that because I can’t see the screen, I wouldn’t be able
or interested in “watching” TV shows. Well, the assumption is both
true and false. I don’t watch much TV and I am certainly selective in
what I watch.
I was talking about this with my friend, Sue
who is totally without sight. We agreed that one of the easiest
programs to follow was the daily news. The commentary is clear,
although the content is often disturbing and seems to be repeated many
nights over. Documentaries are usually good and so are some nature
shows. Sue commented that sometimes when music is played behind the
narration it takes away the focus for her.
I like to watch
sitcoms where the voices of the main characters are familiar. I enjoy
PBS music programs. I also like sports programs, especially tennis, but
only when the commentators are doing a good job of describing the
action.
Some programs have described video. Lyle finds
this feature very distracting, and because we usually watch TV together
we don’t tend to use this feature. However, I can see this adaptation
can be beneficial for some.
I think the main point of this
post is that we shouldn’t make assumptions about the abilities,
capabilities and interests of other people. I have expressed my
personal opinions about watching TV, but I would not presume to think
that other partially sighted and blind people would think and feel the
same way.
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