A Hand Full of Wrenches: Mastering Mechanical Systems Non Visually

I have roughly 20 years of mechanical experience. I've worked around engines large and small, generators, construction equipment, large jet boats and agricultural implements. By age eight I could explain the basic principles of the internal combustion engine. Four years later, maintaining my father's ranching equipment became a standard after-school chore, along with feeding the livestock and gathering firewood. During high school most of the "gear heads," in my class were familiar with auto makers such as Ford, GM, Dodge, Toyota and Honda. I however, learned to work on such brands as Case, International Harvester, Caterpillar, Detroit, Cummins, John Deer, Four Wheel Drive CO (FWD)and the commercial versions of Ford, GM and Dodge. I was responsible for checking and maintaining drivetrain fluid levels, changing oil, replacing fuel filters, charging batteries, greasing Zerk fittings, changing tires, and the occasional removal and replacement of something more challenging, such as a hydraulic pump. Like most things in my life, I came up with many non visual methods for the safe maintenance and operation of this equipment. checking fluids: Engine oil, transmission fluid and anything else measured with a stick was relatively easy to accomplish. Most dipsticks have either two raised dots or notches pressed into the metal. Hey, what do you know? I'm good with feeling dots! The dot closest to the bottom of the stick (or end farthest from the handle) is the "add fluid mark." The dot three or four inches up the stick is the "full mark." I feel for the full mark with one finger, then with the other I gently feel for the liquid. I have to be delicate or my finger could accidentally remove the liquid on the stick, which would give an inaccurate reading. I repeat this process once or twice more to ensure I'm getting consistent readings. Engine coolant is the easiest fluid to check. I employ what I call the "pointer finger test." I remove the radiator cap and stick my pointer finger into the opening. If my finger touches coolant, there's enough; if I can't feel it I add coolant by the quart. The most challenging fluids to measure are fuel and gear grease. Fuel is of course stored in a tank and measured by a gage. I resort to an old-school method of knocking on the tank. I start at the top and listen for the sound to change. If the tank echoes, it's at least partially empty; if the tank has a more dead, non-reverberating sound, it is full or contains some fuel. The point at which the echoing of my knuckles wrapping on the tank change from reverberation to a dampened, dense sound is roughly the level of the fuel. (give or take a couple of gallons). I sometimes use a stick to check fuel levels, but it depends on how long and what shape the fill tube is. Gear grease is the hardest and most messiest thing to measure. Unlike other fluids it is injected into specific moving parts via a small (about a half inch in diameter) tube called a zerk fitting. Sometimes I can tell if there is enough grease by the amount of it I feel splattered around the fitting. Other times I have to use my keen sense of hearing to listen for unusual sounds of the machine during startup. A more accurate method is to take note of how often the equipment is used and follow the manual's suggestions for greasing. The Handling of Fluids: I've gotten really good at pouring liquids in large quantities, and I've also gotten really good at cleaning up messes. haha Heavy duty mechanical fluids such as engine and hydraulic oil, hydraulic fluid and engine coolant often come in five gallon containers because of the large size of the vehicle they are going into. A funnel and a one quart container were my best used tools wen measuring fluids. Like anything else practice brings success. Picture this: I've got four five gallon pales that all look and feel alike, how do I tell them apart? Remember in science class when the teacher taught you how to waft the smell of a chemical toward your nose? I employ the very same technique. Each fluid has a very unique smell, which I learned to memorize. Renches and other Tools: Simple, I feel them! I am unable to read the printed size stamped into the wrench. At first it was trial and error, I would feel the nut or bolt I was working with and try to find a similar sized wrench. Often times it would take three or four tries before I found the correct one. As I progressed, I began to mentally associate the size of the wrench relative to the size of the nut or bolt simply by feeling them both. I can't do it with every size, but I've got the more common one's down, such as 1/2 or 7/16 of an inch. Personally, I like metric sizes the best because a smaller number equals a smaller size. No trying to remember if a 1/2 inch wrench is larger or smaller than a 9/16 inch wrench. Sockets and screwdriver sizes are determined in the same fashion. Batteries: These are not your AA batteries that you put in your TV remote. Actually, one of those AA tubes is called a cell; notice how most of the time you need two? That's because for electricity to flow you need positive and negative circuits and terminals. Automotive batteries require some caution when working around them. Usually they are connected to the vehicle by two cables; a positive and negative. They are color-coded red for positive and black for negative. Hook them up backwards and you can potentially cause the battery to explode, or force the engine to turn in the opposite direction, which can cause problems. So naturally, working around batteries non visually posed some unique challenges. Fortunately, most batteries today have the positive sign (denoted by a +) and the negative sign (denoted as a -) embossed as raised signs. I simply have to feel for the raised signs to know which terminal is which. The battery cables too have their own unique tactual designations. Most of the time the positive cable has a slightly larger connection then the negative one. This is because the positive cable sends power to the vehicle's starter, while the negative cable acts as a grounding wire to complete the circuit. I can not claim that I learned everything I know about mechanical systems on my own. I come from a long line of mechanics, and most of what I know today was the result of my father including me in his work. He believes that I should be treated like anybody else and working around heavy equipment was no exception. He helped me to develop and refine my tactual workarounds, so it's him I thank for this wide body of knowledge. My interest in how things work started at a young age, and was a large motivator in me learning what I know about mechanical systems today. This post just scratches the surface; I think I could write a whole book on this topic.

Being Social Without Sight

Being social as a person with a visual impairment is completely possible. Like many things, acquiring friends and a lover will most likely be done in a slightly different way. There are two main challenges that I think visually impaired people face and they are: 

1. The visual impairment is an obvious disability; it can not be hidden and one can not fake being a sighted person.  

2. As a student majoring in Public Relations, I can tell you that 80% of communication is nonverbal. This is based on the theories of communication. If you don't believe me, head to the closest university book store and buy a Communication Theories textbook. 

Unfortunately, many people in our society view an outward and obvious disability as something to avoid, because "it is not the same as everybody else." I hate to break it to everybody in the world, but we all have some kind of disability. Some, like a visual impairment are obvious; while others are less discrete. The important thing to remember here is we are all on this earth together; we mine as well all get along. As a university student I have found ways to make up for "being different." The first thing I try to do is relax. It's important to be confident in yourself and who you are. If you can't be confident in yourself, how do you expect somebody else to be confident in interacting with you? During lectures and class group work it's helpful to have a pretty good understanding of the material. If you, the visually impaired person have something to offer the class, people will tend to show more interest in you. 

Let me give an example: 

I'm taking a research methods class. One of the assignments was to create a set of survey questions beforehand and bring them to class. During class the students, including myself were told to form groups of three and work together on the questions. The two people I was working with needed some pointers. Because I had invested a little extra time in the homework I was able to explain the assignment to them. I went from the awkward    visually impaired guy to the student in the group who was able to provide some suggestions to my classmates. By the end of class, the three of us were having a great conversation. People love to be offered something, and if you as a visually impaired person can do that, I think the whole fear factor that surrounds the visual impairment will be significantly reduced. People will learn that you are just like them, that you are intelligent and that you can contribute to society.  

If you are sighted, you most likely use nonverbal communication in a variety of social settings. Head nodding, facial expressions and eye contact are very important factors in the world of face-to-face communication. Just for fun, try to interact with somebody (maybe a person you know, or not) without looking at the nonverbal communication they are sending you. That should give you a snapshot of what it's like to achieve good communication as a visually impaired person. I have learned to be a little more bold in my communication. I know that I can't make eye contact with somebody a crossed a room or respond appropriately to a facial expression. Instead I generally take the firs step in communicating with others. A lot of people have a hard time with this, but believe me, it gets easier. Instead of focusing on the forms of communication that I can not accurately send or receive, I focus on what I have. I've met a lot of people in my life, and I've learned how to use voice inflection, speech  and even body posture to make up for the lack of nonverbal communication. 

Another method I use is placing myself in common areas where people want to socialize.  Enter a room, a lounge or any other common space and stand off to one side slightly. Then, listen to the people, and judge the crowd flow. Are people just passing through the space? Are there a lot of people talking? What's going on? The best places usually involve people who are there because they want to socialize. They are not passing by on their way to a class or a meeting. People are not just hanging out on their laptops and smart phones.  Once you as the visually impaired person found a good spot to socialize, pick a spot to sit or stand next to somebody and just say "hello, how are you?" in a calm, cool, collected manner. Remember, be confident in yourself. After doing  this just start asking a few context specific questions. If I were at my university I mite ask things like "what's your major? or Did you go to the football game last weekend?" If you find that the person is giving you very simple answers, try using probing questions. No, I don't mean get all personal! Probing questions are like "I've never done/ate/been there; tell me more; what's it like?" People in general like to talk about themselves, and everybody has a story. Speaking of stories, when I am having a conversation with somebody whom I just met, or even a new friend I tend to speak very little about my visual impairment. I'm not ashamed of it, nor do I think it's not important, but simply put it's a subject that a lot of people know nothing about. If I want to have a one-sided conversation about myself that will ultimately    end in a diversity session for somebody else I'll just start talking about Braille, screen readers, guide dogs and eye conditions. Believe me, nothing kills off a conversation faster than talking to somebody you just met about a topic they can't contribute to. It's okay to answer a few questions about your visual impairment if they are asked, and it's okay to reference your visual impairment if it has a point other than you just talking about it. Personally, if a person asks fewer questions about my visual impairment and my guide dog, I take that as a good sign. Most of these conversations usually end up in me making a new friend. One could argue that the person who asks fewer questions about my visual impairment is holding back, they are uncomfortable and they don't know what to say about it. I agree to an extent, but that just leaves me the opportunity to promote the message of "I'm just like everybody else, accept I can't see, and that's okay." 

The Moral of the Story?  

Creating social circles in a society that judges way too much, and holds friends and strangers up to invisible standards as a visually impaired person is challenging. However, it can be done and it is done. Remember that not everybody you talk to is going to accept you for who you are, but that's okay too. At least you can sort out the cool people from the not so cool people. If you are visually impaired don't limit your social connections because people won't talk to you. Instead make an effort to go talk to them. If you are sighted, understand that a visually impaired person who isn't making full eye contact is not being rude; they just can't see. Never the less, they, like anybody else have a story to tell, and it just may be worth it for you to go and talk to them.