COIN COLLECTING AND LOSING VISION

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V19 2016 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 44, October 30, 2016, Article 22

Reader Tom Babinszki submitted these notes on coin collecting and losing vision. Thanks! -Editor

I am a more or less regular E-Sylum reader in the last year or so. I'm writing to you regarding comments by Ann Williams in the last issue:

"The family of Alexander Zaika would like to extend our gratefulness to David Gladfelter, who wrote the article about my father."

"When his eyesight was failing him, sadly he was no longer able to attend."

I am a blind collector. Since I was born blind, I will never have to deal with failing eyesight. However, I have heard several stories of people who had to give up their hobby they enjoyed for a lifetime because of losing their vision.

By vocation, I am helping corporations understand how to make information accessible for people with different kinds of disabilities.

In my free time, as part of my collecting, I explore on my blog what it means to collect coins without vision, and all of its implications: http://BlindCoinCollector.com.

It is something I would like to explore more. I'm curious if there's any way for me to help elderly collectors to continue enjoying their hobby, or at least some of it. Of course, I understand that an expensive coin investment is hard to enjoy without vision, because it will immediately lose its value. But collecting, and being involved in clubs is entirely possible.

I am wondering if your readers could help me with some ideas on how I could bring my profession and hobby together, and help people who are ready to give up a hobby which they don't have to.

The difficulty is that it is hard to find people who would honestly tell me about it. This is not an easy topic to talk about. But without stories and first-hand experiences, there is not too much I can do.

If you or a collector you know has failing vision, please consider reaching out to Tom for advice. His email address is tom@BlindCoinCollector.com .

It's important for people to know that they may have options to consider for staying involved in their hobby come what may. Tom has given presentations at the ANA World's Fair of Money, the Chicago Coin Club and elsewhere. Visit his web site for more information. -Editor

Email is the absolute best way to communicate with me. I work a lot with technology, and I use a screen reader program that reads the screen content and everything I type. There is also such software available on tablets and phones. I actually work at IBM helping developers to make information accessible to people with all kinds of disabilities.

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