Shopping Blind
DECEMBER 9, 2006 Listen to this Story
- Shopping Blind
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Finding the perfect holiday gift has extra complications for Carmen Apelgren. She's been blind since she was a kid and exchanging money, which all feels the same, can be a challenge. Last week, a federal judge ruled that the Treasury Department had to consider changing paper currency so that different denominations could be easily identified by people who are blind. Bill Radke went shopping with Apelgren to see how this issue comes up in her everyday life.
Notes From Producer Suzie Lechtenberg
Holiday shopping can be a heavy dose of sensory overload: honking cars, ringing bells, jingling toys, cinnamon drinks and pine trees, chattering people and the biting wind on your cheeks (except of course here in Los Angeles). The senses are bombarded. And for Carmen Aplegren, who is visually impaired, holiday shopping is a meta-sensory experience. Her other senses function as her eyes and she picks up on things that the average shopper wouldn't. Like Eartha Kitt cooing "Santa Baby" faintly over the sound system, or the potpourri-like scent that blankets the mall. Carmen's systems for navigating the world and holiday shopping were awe inspiring.
We tagged along with Carmen while she shopped at the Victoria's Secret at a mall in Los Angeles. When she shops, Carmen brings a trusted friend along to be her eyes. With the music booming and the heady smell of perfume in the air, Carmen's friend described the (very pink) surroundings, telling her what was where, and guiding her in the direction she was interested in. Carmen was looking for some yoga pants. When we found them, she ran her hands all over the fabric, taking in the texture. For Carmen, feel is everything, and the yoga pants were quickly rejected for not being comfy enough. Carmen picks her shopping buddies wisely, and takes along the ones whose style she admires. She's got an image to uphold, Carmen says, and she's got to look cool.
For me, holiday shopping is a daunting experience. I'm focused. I get in, and I get out. Quickly. I don't pay a lot of attention to my surroundings. Or I try not to. Perhaps now, after meeting Carmen, when I set out on my own holiday shopping extravaganza in the next week or so, I will take the time to notice the things around me, and my other senses will be awakened.
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