Interesting interlocutor

It seems to us that if you do not see and do not hear, then life will end. But blind people do not complain, they sing, dance, cook, sew and even publish a magazine. And the magazine "Your interlocutor" helps them not to desperate

Help your interlocutor help

Text: Renata Serebryakova

Many of them do not know the ABC Braille. Those who know, complain that there are very few books gained by this font, and they simply have nothing to read. And for most blind people, the information gained by Braille is almost the only connection with the world. Therefore, it is so important that the magazine "Your Interlocutor", which is published by the deaf -blind for the deaf -blind, continued to go out. The Co-Union Foundation helped us collect monologues of deaf-blind people, readers of the magazine "Your Interlocutor".

Valentina, 66 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

I do not know how to read Brail, I can still read with a magnifier. Most of all in my life I love dancing, gesture, singing and cooking. When I was small, I sang and danced all the time. At 21, I threw the ballet due to illness. Recently, together with a blind woman, Lena’s woman, we participated in a dance competition in Izhevsk. She hears, and I see quite a bit, and we took the second place.

Yuri, 90 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

Zhenya, 29 years old, a teacher in the center for blindbie

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

I do not feel like a blind person, because I hear perfectly with the auditory apparatus. I always wanted to work as a psychologist or defectologist, help children. But by the end of the school, my vision fell a lot, and I understood that it would fall further, and no one would trust me.

Then I decided to enter the Psychological and Pedagogical University at the Faculty of Information Technology. I was blinded to the first course. I was the only girl in the group, and all the boys willingly helped me. At first I was shy, before that I did not study with healthy people. And then I got used to it. In the fourth year, I began to engage in web development, and simultaneously prepared blind people for work in the call center.

Once I met on the Internet with a blind woman, and she once called me to a meeting of the blind men. I felt very interesting, I learned to communicate with them. I felt that my life should be associated with rehabilitation, I wanted to help these people, explain to them that life did not end. And when they began to recruit teachers to the training center for the blind men in Puchkov, I, without hesitation, gave a resume. Now I teach Brail and teach to work on a computer of total deaf and blind people.

Tatyana, 58 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

I see how in a fog, I don’t distinguish colors, now now everything seems purple to me.

I don’t remember anything from the time when I saw well. Born in the Bashkir village, graduated from eight classes of the school and went to the Vladimir region to work for the factory. Then she worked at the factory for two years in Krasnoyarsk. Then in a sewing factory in Ufa. In Ufa, they gave me a hostel in which I live. I rarely go out into the street, my sister brings me products, if I need to put money on the phone, a girlfriend helps. She is deaf, but sees.

I am very bored in the hostel. Sometimes I want to talk with someone, but I'm shy. I go to a circle of ceramics, sometimes the blind society leads us on excursions. In museums, they describe everything in detail, but we represent. At night, if you sleep reluctantly, I read books and magazines for Brill.

Galina, 55 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

When my son was little, my husband died, then father, mother, brothers. We were left together. I tried to somehow make a living. It was hard. And the deaf told me that it is very profitable to sell ice cream. They advised how to make a box. I traded in my city Orsk, right at the station. Ice cream was disassembled very quickly. For a day I managed to sell 16 boxes. Everyone already knew me, the ice cream was largely signed, the buyers simply poked a finger. The police tried to drive me away, but I wrote to them on a piece of paper that I was deaf, I see badly, and I have a small child. They felt sorry for me. Now is another time, ice cream is sold everywhere, the demand is small.

I don’t read ordinary magazines - it is inconvenient, the text is small, complex, I don’t understand anything. With an electronic magnifier, I read the plane version of “your interlocutor”.

Victor, 67 years old, and his wife Natalya, 67 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

Natalia: "Victor constantly tells me" I want to see. " He is scared. But I can't help. And so I say to him. We are together 42 years. He had no speech or hearing since birth. When our daughter was three years old, Victor slowly began to lose his vision, and at the age of 55 he was blind.

I see, but from birth I do not hear. I can read the lips and, thanks to my mother, I say well. She spoke a lot to me. We communicate with Victor on the dactile ( communication by means of fingers. - TD ).

Victor used to go to work at the enterprise for the visually impaired. But once he said: “That's it, I can’t, I don’t see anything.” And then I had to go to work, because it was necessary to pay my daughter's studies. I worked in sewing and furniture factories. Then the cleaner, but I was reduced. Now Victor and I are always together, I take him with me everywhere, I am his eyes. He asks me: “What color is it? And this? " I tell him all the news that I read in the newspapers and on the Internet. He loves politics very much.

We learned about Braille's alphabet recently, two or three years ago. Now Victor dreams of learning to read Brail, but he is difficult to give him. He has gross fingers, the sensitivity is low. So far, he can slowly read only short words.

Victor wants to do something all the time. He erases, cooks, strokes, and even washes the floors. He knows a lot of things and knows. No one will believe, but Victor can conduct electricity himself. At our dacha, he made the entire wiring. Just asked a couple of times - exactly or not? All the time comes up with something, invents.

He really wants to communicate, but with no one. There are meetings of our club, but this is only a couple of hours. And my hand is very tired of constantly telling him a dactile.

Alevtina, 51 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

I can see your face near, and in the evening, when it’s dark, I see nothing. Vision worsens. Of course, I'm scared, I want to see everything. And I'm deaf since childhood.

I live alone and while I cope with everything myself. If you need to ask someone, in the store, for example, I write on a piece of paper. But it’s hard for me to walk alone along the street, I need escort.

Natalya Borisovna, 66 years old, editor -in -chief of your interlocutor magazine

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

"Your interlocutor" is the only magazine made by blind people. They can tell in it about themselves, about their problems, achievements, about how they cope with this problem, when a person has either lost or loses hearing and vision.

We decided that this magazine would not be tears and complaints about fate, but would carry a very open, good attitude towards life and himself.

Usually, readers themselves send their stories themselves. Recently, a young man from St. Petersburg wrote to me, he is 22 years old, he is hard of hearing and just began to lose sight. In winter, he came to the youth camp, organized by the Support Fund for the Bully Golly “Co-Union”. And for the first time he met the same as him. And his attitude towards himself and to life has completely changed. He knows that he can expect total deafness and blindness, but does not despair. He dreams of being a programmer, but decided to get another reserve profession of a massage therapist.

Recently, one mother sent her story. Her son fell ill at the age of 10, and the doctors did not recognize the brain tumor. Time was missed, and when he had surgery, he was blind and deaf. This year he will be 40. His wife also does not see or hear. The child has congenital atrophy of the optic nerve. This woman is the only disabled person in her family.

I dreamed of being a journalist from school. But since childhood, I have seen and heard poorly. And over the years, hearing and vision worsened. And when I decided to enter the journalism department, my father forbade me, realizing that I could not do this. I graduated from the Faculty of History of Moscow State University. In 1990, suddenly a hearing fell to zero in one month. I survived this with great difficulty.

Once, two friends and I decided that we had to make a magazine for blind men. And in 2003, in my kitchen, we made the first handwritten issue of your interlocutor magazine. We had neither money, no experience, no technology - nothing. Then the director of the Usher-Forum organization found money to print this first number. And our acquaintance manually scored all this on Brail. And this copy was transferred throughout Russia until they lost. There was a time when a ready -made number was lying in front of me, but there was nothing to publish. And no one wanted to help us. Then I wrote to our authors and readers that I no longer have the strength to look for money, and I close the magazine. And letters began to come to me: “Do not close, this magazine is our bridge, our road to each other. We ourselves are ready to pay for him. ” And everyone began to send money. Who could be as much as possible, from their pensions.

Among our readers there are many those who can only read by Bryl. The plane publication is not available to them, because they do not see, but no one can read them, because they do not hear. Since 2011, the magazine began to be released not twice a year, but four. We can print 116 copies on the Brail and 1639 copies of the plane magazine. But this is not enough. I beg you very much - if you have already read the magazine, send it to me, I will send it to Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova. They ask a magazine in the CIS very much, there is nothing on Brail, but there are blind men.

Misha, 53 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

I hear with the device, but I see nothing at all. When I was 33 years old, I first lost my vision. Then it returned, and the second time I lost it in 45.

The happiest time that I often recall was the 20 years that I lived with my wife in Yoshkar-Ola. She was blind, but she heard and taught children to music. Thanks to her, my speech became better because we constantly spoke. Before her, my speech was fuzzy. She is no more, and now I live in Moscow. I had an apartment here, but after family troubles there was only a room. And I live in an apartment rented by a fund for blind men.

I often remember how my wife and I rested on the Black Sea. How, when I saw, I rolled on Cheget on mountain skis. Last year, the Co-Union Fund three times took me to ski skiing to the “pipe” in Krasnogorsk. One coach rode in front of me, the other from behind.

I work in the creative association "Circle", I am engaged in ceramics. We make mugs, plates, bowls. I am happy with clay.

Eight years ago, I had a guide dog. She is always and everywhere with me, a real friend. Before that, I moved with a cane. When the dog appeared, it became much easier for me.

I have a very good digital hearing aid that allows me to listen to music. I love jazz. If I could not hear, I don’t know what would happen.

Evgenia Alekseevna, 84 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

I do not see your facial features, I see only vague contours. And in front of you is an old decrepit grandmother. When I lost my sight, I was 40 years old. I lost his ear from childhood. No one knows why. The diagnosis has not yet been made.

I perceive the world as a normal person. I studied at the Bauman Institute as an ordinary student. Then she worked at the aviation plant, and when I became a disabled person, my boss insisted that I stay as a collector. Excellent conditions were created for me, and I worked for even more than twenty years. We had a wonderful club, I went to all concerts, lectures.

As soon as I began to lose my vision, I myself learned to read Braille. True, with one hand - in the factory laboratory we soldered, and the right hand became not sensitive to reading. Unfortunately, Braille has very little good literature. Because the blind people can now listen to books. And according to Bryl, only those who see and hear at the same time read at the same time.

The magazine "Your interlocutor" is my life. I do not like everything, but he gives me knowledge of what is happening around. I especially fell in love with two notes. A blind man and his wife went to Karelia. They described the beauty of the world. And I was worried with them. Dogs went with them, they were exhausted, tired, and they fed them with their dinner, because they deserved him. And the second note about how weakly seeing and hearing went to the swamps to watch the birds, and there were beautiful red berries. Cranberry. It was so beautiful and great written. I still remember.

I'm alone, I have no children. Why give birth to sick children? I live with my sister. Minutes of despair are often, especially at night. Then I begin to remember my past, my friends, some life situations.

Svetlana, 60 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

I am from Ufa, I worked as an accountant all my life. At 45, I began to lose my sight, the doctors said that it was genetic, and so that I was preparing for total blindness.

Now I have residual vision, I only see that you have a head, hands. I do not see any eyes or your face. I hear with the device.

Of course, I am scared. I do not want to think about blindness, but there is nothing to do. Recently, my husband began to hurt, if he doesn’t, I don’t know what will happen to me.

When I left the work, I joined the blind society and took up ballroom dancing. The other day I will perform at republican competitions. I also like to read poetry. From the scene I speak with Assadov’s poems, because he was also blind, Rubal, Tsvetaeva. I love poems about everyday situations and about love.

I can’t go out without makeup. Still, until 45 years old I saw well, so I remember how to make a beautiful way.

Vera, 62 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

I do not see or hear at all. I never had a deaf from birth, I never had a normal speech, the hearing aid does not help me. Six years ago, I lost my sight. Perhaps all of the fact that in childhood I was sick with meningitis.

I graduated from a machine -building college and, while I saw, worked as a designer. When I lost my vision, it was scary, I was worried, but then I accepted everything and forgot.

I have no time to worry. I speak in the theater. She played in the play “Trown”, sighted and hearing actors told the real stories of the blind men, and we, densely, played scenes.

Through the keyboard with Brayl, I read news on the Internet, I correspond with other blind men on Facebook. Recently I bought an iPhone, I will master it with the Braylevsky prefix.

In the magazine "Your Interlocutor" I like to read about how other blind people live. This is the only source.

Alexander, 61 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

When I became blind and deaf, I did not have panic, I did not worry much and was patience to this.

When I saw it well, I tried to remember everything - I read books, newspapers, watched films. I still keep all this in my head.

I have a wife, she also does not hear and does not see. I managed to see that my wife had wavy hair. I know that she is beautiful. Everyone said that I was lucky. But she never saw me.

I also managed to see our son Roma when he was very small, very long ago, he looks like mom. Now he retells all the news in the evenings. When he was born, it turned out that he, like mine, has Josher's syndrome ( a genetic disease leading to dazzle. - TD ). While he sees well.

When I was nine years old, I entered the Sergiev Posad boarding school. There I watched the blind men and learned Braille out of curiosity. Now I am learning to use a computer with a Braylevskaya keyboard, I am still very far from the Internet.

We talk a lot with our wife, it happens that we even argue and swear. But more than saying, I like to read. In total, I read eight magazines in Brily - historical, church, scientific. Including your interlocutor.

Elena, 57 years old

Photo: Kirill Ovchinnikov for TD

Believe me, “Your interlocutor” is not just a magazine. For us, deaf -blind - this is a window into the world. From this magazine we will learn everything. They say that the blind men can do something. Prepare, dance, travel. This magazine makes my life color.

When I was born, I saw and heard well. But after measles, hearing and vision began to deteriorate. I completely lost my vision at the age of 30. It was a drama for me. When vision is rapidly falling, you understand that today you see something, and tomorrow you will not see it. It is very difficult. Now I still have a photograph. I do not distinguish colors anymore, paints have disappeared for a long time. Only gray, dark and light. Ahead of the darkness, it is very, very scary.

My husband was very worried about me. We are together for 36 years. I put on the auditory apparatus when I had children, I did not hear them crying. When I began to lose hearing and vision at the same time, the concepts of “deaf -blind” were not yet.

Audiobooks are good for those who have good hearing. And many phrases simply do not reach me. When I began to teach Braille's alphabet, I seemed to come out of the Stone Age. I learned how to pronounce some words that I had never heard before. Thanks to Brylya, I can teach poetry.

I take Skype computer literacy lessons. There are special talking programs. You just need to want to live more interesting. I have a computer audio excursion "100 museums". So I can visit Versailles. The voice describes the paintings, halls, but I imagine! I have a rich imagination-I once saw. And then I understand a little artistic language. If a vase with flowers is depicted, and under it there are petals, this symbolizes sadness, loss. I read it already by Brill.

Все домашнее хозяйство на мне. Я что-то чиню, пылесошу, готовлю. Я прекрасно готовлю. Даже в журнал свои рецепты посылаю. Я забросила консервировать — слишком много мимо, не могу блины делать, то недожарю, то пережарю. А вот суп, пирог, салаты — все могу. Я могу шить, ведь есть нитковдеватель.

Журналу «Ваш собеседник» нужна наша с вами поддержка. Right now. Для продолжения публикации и увеличения тиража нужно 1 миллион 645 тысяч рублей. На эти деньги в скромную редакцию, состоящую из трех человек, будут куплены самые необходимые технические принадлежности: ноутбук, принтер, мышь. Будут оплачены работа редактора, бухгалтера, тифлосурдопереводчика, услуги типографии и адресной доставки тиража. Мы можем подарить этим людям еще целый год связи с миром.

The material uses links to publications of social networks Instagram and Facebook, as well as their names are mentioned. These web resources belong to Meta Platforms Inc. - It is recognized in Russia as an extremist organization and is prohibited.

The material uses links to publications of social networks Instagram and Facebook, as well as their names are mentioned. These web resources belong to Meta Platforms Inc. - It is recognized in Russia as an extremist organization and is prohibited.