Topic: Opportunity

How to win a video contest

Nov 1, 2009 10:14 pm by: Blake Watson

Okay, so this is my official announcement (and acknowledgment) regarding the status of the “What Can YOU Do?” video contest hosted by the Campaign for Disability Employment. My entry, “Meet Sue,” was the overall winner of over 130 entries. Suffice it to say that I was surprised and overwhelmed at the very idea. Thanks to [...]

5 Comments →

Of disability, Web design, and opportunity

Oct 13, 2009 3:21 pm by: Blake Watson

Greetings stairhaters. A couple of posts back, I gave you a rather vague idea of what I was planning to get myself into professionally. First, I’m laying the groundwork for forming an LLC through which I will do professional Web design work. Second, in order to gain experience and help out the community which has [...]

6 Comments →

Apple and the value of universal design

Sep 10, 2009 10:57 am by: Blake Watson

If you’re the techie type or an Applehead like me, then you know that Apple has announced exciting new updates to its iPod+iTunes product lineup. The highlight of the revisions is arguably the new and improved iPod nano, which touts a larger screen, an FM tuner, and the ability to record video on the fly [...]

5 Comments →

The end of an era

Sep 6, 2009 9:11 pm by: Blake Watson

After twenty-four years of life, eighteen years of education, and one summer of unemployment, the result is an underwhelming product: an MBA who loves a field for which he did not go to school, has been thrown into a world of economic hardship, and is confined to a state in which ten percent of people [...]

4 Comments →

Meet Sue

Jul 18, 2009 9:31 pm by: Blake Watson

The following is a video short I created for the What Can YOU Do? Video Contest hosted by the Campaign for Disability Employment. The goal was to make a 60-second video that is related to people with disabilities and employment. The contest is over now, but a winner has not yet been announced. This was [...]

3 Comments →

Finding your happy ending

Apr 26, 2009 9:43 pm by: Blake Watson

Now that I’m finishing up my last semester in school, I’ve been thinking about the future, about the opportunities I will have, about the opportunities I have let pass, and about the difficulties I will face on the road ahead. Sometimes, the difficulties bring me down. Sometimes, my mind dwells on the things I can’t [...]

Leave a comment →

T-shirts coming soon

Apr 13, 2009 9:49 am by: Blake Watson

UPDATE: Shirts now available at http://ihatestairs.com/. Fellow stair-haters, I have an important update for you. Way back in July, I introduced an idea that my brother and I had. The name of the post was “Disabled people are funny looking” and it presented several ideas for funny T-shirts. We got some good feedback (and a [...]

10 Comments →

My letter about the MSU Student Association

Feb 18, 2009 10:29 am by: Blake Watson

I’m sorry I’m one day late, but here it is. SA should have disability group http://media.www.reflector-online.com/media/storage/paper938/news/2009/02/17/Opinion/Sa.Should.Have.Disability.Group-3632850.shtml The Student Association traditionally includes a cabinet position called Students with Disabilities Affairs (SDA). In recent years, SA presidential candidates have run on platforms that have included reducing the size of the cabinet. To achieve this, Students with Disabilities [...]

Leave a comment →

The formal disability world

Feb 16, 2009 11:00 am by: Blake Watson

When I look at my life in terms of disability, I see two distinct worlds. I see the formal disability world and the informal disability world. The formal disability world consists largely of my participation in an on-campus group called United Students. Other activities in the formal disability world might include participation in any events [...]

One Comment →

What to do in May?

Feb 1, 2009 8:47 pm by: Blake Watson

Image by T Hall via Flickr This semester is my last. If I can get through my last seven hours, I will be graduating with an MBA in May. The choice is where I want to go after that. As it stands now, I see that I have two options. The first is to go [...]

5 Comments →

My computer might be too intelligent

Jan 27, 2009 11:39 pm by: Blake Watson

So I found an old copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. It’s one that my brother had with his old laptop. It doesn’t run on MacOS X, but I’ve got Windows XP installed on my Mac via Parallels Desktop. As it turns out, my typing speed using Dragon NaturallySpeaking is 81 wpm. That’s incredibly fast compared to [...]

Leave a comment →

Why you’re about to spend $20 on an indie documentary

Oct 5, 2008 10:03 pm by: Blake Watson

Mississippi State’s Lee Hall auditorium filled to capacity Tuesday for the screening of “Darius Goes West,” an independent film about a teenager with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy who embarks on a west-bound road trip. Darius, who’s friends helped him make the trip, left his home of Athens, GA on an adventure across the country to get [...]

One Comment →

Disability Awareness: A book review of sorts

Aug 30, 2008 11:25 am by: Blake Watson

You may not be able to tell from the title, but this post is going to be a book review of sorts. One Mary Johnson from one Ragged Edge Magazine penned a manual called “Disability Awareness—Do It Right!” I was inspired to read this book, which I actually bought last year, because my student organizations [...]

Leave a comment →

Programs, Activities, Festivities

Aug 26, 2008 11:14 pm by: Blake Watson

Mississippi State University is home to a small group of students with disabilities who seek to improve the college experience for other students with disabilities. We are called United Students. With the new school year beginning, we are preparing to have our first meeting and begin coming up with ideas. I want us to do [...]

One Comment →

Back 2 School, everybody’s doing it

Aug 11, 2008 4:42 pm by: Blake Watson

From coast to coast, kindergarten to college, it’s that time again. That’s right Stair-haters, it’s school time. My brother and I got moved in to our apartments on campus this past Saturday. Classes begin a week from today. I’ll be using this week to get books, set schedules, break in the new attendants, get parking [...]

3 Comments →