[Blindtlk] Centers for the Blind

[Peter Donahue]

Hello David,

As Ray and others have pointed out it's not too late for your friend to make
a mid course correction, and enroll in the LCB rather than continuing with
the Reach Program. I believe Amy Phelps worked there for a while and was
trying to revamp Reach's Program, but was unsuccessful. She now works at the
NFB Jernigan Institute. She also gave a wonderful presentation during the
2004 national convention called, "I am a Recovering Vocational
Rehabilitation Worker." By, "Recovering" she meant coming to understand the
NFB philosophy as it applies to the voc rehab program and realizing that old
ideas and attitudes towards the blind did much to keep the blind down and
out and limit our possibilities and expectations. I believe her presentation
appears in a past issue of The Braille Monitor. It's too bad that the audio
of her presentation isn't available to members as it was one of the best
ones that year. She did mention the Mississippi Rehab Center and her efforts
to bring it around to the NFB's way of rehabilitating blind youth and
adults. As your message indicates her efforts were not well received by many
in Mississippi, but we're blessed to have her on the Jernigan Institute's
Staff.

Peter Donahue


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "david" <davidb521 at earthlink.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Centers for the Blind


Well, the Reach does as well.  After all, they did learn a few
things from Ruston, but they did not stay long enough to get the
full benefits.  Maybe if they had, they would have turned out
better.

Dvid

> ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net
>To: "NFBnet Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 13:08:02 -0500
>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Centers for the Blind

>Hello David and listers,

>    If after your friend spends the summer at Reach and feels
that the
>program does not meet her needs she should put off enrolling in
college for
>a year and going through the program at the Louisiana Center for
the Blind
>in Ruston.  I for one would never set foot in a center that
requires one to
>play with shapes on a board, take IQ tests, and does not employ
qualified
>blind persons as teachers and roll models for its students in
training.  It
>sounds like Reach leaves much to be desired.  I won't go near it
with a
>ten-foot pole! The Chris Cole Center in Austin closely models our
centers
>methods and does not require students to take IQ tests, or play
with shapes
>on a board.  Many of its instructors are blind and are members of
the NFB.
>They also require the use of sleepshades by students in training.
Hope this
>helps.

>OPeter Donahue


>----- Original Message -----
>From: "david" <davidb521 at earthlink.net
>To: "Blind Talk" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; "Nfb Talk"
<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>;
>"Nabs" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 12:59 AM
>Subject: [Blindtlk] Centers for the Blind


>Hi, List,

>I had a few questions about some of the policies of centers for
>the blind.  My sister recently went to the Reach Center for the
>Blind in Tupelo, Mississippi since she will be going off to
>college in just a few months.  I was looking at what the center
>does, and talking to my sister about things that go on there.
>Overall, I think the center is one of the best in the state, and
>I admire it for trying to follow the methods used by the center
>in Ruston, Louisiana.  However, it is lacking in some areas I
>think.  First of all, it has all of it's classes and dormitories
>in one single building.  I guess this is not so surprising,
>because I imagine that Ruston is one of the few places that have
>apartment residences that are really designed for you to live on
>your own.  Another thing is that you must be at the center for 3
>weeks before you can go spend a weekend night at home.  Is this
>so the clients will be adjusted to a center like this? I talked
>to one blind man, and he was very indignant about this and said
>that since the students are adults, they do not need these silly
>rules.  Also, my sister will have to take an I.Q.  test and god
>knows what other psychological tests at the center, and she said
>that she thought she would have to take some kind of test where
>she had to arrange shapes on a board or something in a certain
>amount of time, but she may be wrong about this.  Also, almost
>all of Reach's instructors are sighted, although students do have
>to wear sleepshades which is a good thing.  Would it not be that
>hard to hire more blind instructors? After all, I was under the
>impression that Reach was modeling Ruston's methods, and Ruston
>is known for having many blind instructors.  Anyway, this is why
>I have decided not to attend Reach after high school and instead
>go to Ruston instead.  So, what do you people think of these
>diferent centers and your likes and dislikes about them?

>David
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