About Me.

I’m never sure what to put in “bio” sections on websites, let alone the “About” page on my own site. If there’s something you want to know about me, just ask, and if it’s a question I get often, or I just find it particularly interested, I’ll add the answer here.

Q&A

How did you get into programming?

When I was bored in class, I used to make little mouse-maze games using Microsoft powerpoint. This got me interested in making games, and I discovered GameMaker, whic has its own programming language built in called GML. While at a book convention in Belgium, I picked up “PHP and MySQL for Dummies”, and that got me into web development.

Why is your username “bigblind”? Are you a poker player?

My username on twitter, github and many other sites and platforms around the web, is bigblind. This username came about the first time I played poker. I played with my newhew and a couple of his friends, and the first time I was the big blind, we all laughed about it, because I’m visually impaired, and not in any dimension a small guy.

In what way are you visually impaired?

I have dysplasia of the optic nerve. I’m not sure hot to express what I see and what I don’t, because I don’t know a percentage or measure to express it, and I’ve never had “normal” vision, so I have nothing to compare it to. I see almost nothing through my right eye, and quite a lot through my let eye (althoug I’m told compared to normal sight, it’s still quite little).

I still see enough to visually find my way around places, although I do use a cane, bot to eel steps and other obstacles, and to signal my impairment to others. On a computer, I usually use a screen magnifier to enlarge whatever is on the screen. on my phone I use a combination of the magnifier ad VoiceOver (IOS’s screen reader).