[nfb-talk] NFB centers

[T. Joseph Carter]

Ahh yes, those poor blind people, FORCED to use a cane to get around.

*sigh*

We need to obliterate that attitude.  Many rehab agencies still employ it
as the first and only philosophy to operate by.  Is it shocking to anyone
that the graduates of these programs cannot function in society if they
have no vision, and those who have some find they can't do anything when
suddenly they lose it?

The whole idea of our training methods, Kirk, is that while you're there
you learn how to do EVERYTHING as a totally blind person would.  Sometimes
you're better off for doing it that way (such as working in the shop),
other times you'll wish you could see something.  These two things might
happen at the exact same time, actually.

But you'll learn how to do it.  And when you're done, you'll be able to do
it without ever seeing what you're doing again.

In your off time, if you have vision, of course you're going to use it.
When I was at the airport around this time last year, I was able to read
overhead signs with a monocular.  However, I also had mere minutes to get
to my plane.  If I were trying to navigate around that airport with my
eyes, I'd wouldn't have done it.  I couldn't read the signs and watch
where I was going at the same time.

Of course, I've got the best travel training in the world, so I didn't
NEED to watch where I was going.  My eyes were focused on those signs to
tell me where to go, and I let my ears and cane get me there.  I'm told
it's quite a sight to see a guy walking with a cane in one hand while
looking through a monocular in the other, and not bothering to stop moving
as he's doing it.  *grin*

I certainly don't walk around with a sleepshade.  I haven't labeled all of
my appliances (though that has more to do with not getting around to it
than not wanting it done), and I definitely use large print far more than
Braille.  The only place I don't use my vision as a substantial part of my
day is when I'm out walking with a cane.  I trust my cane and ears more
than my eyes for anything not literally right in front of my face, which
is probably a good philosophy for a blind guy to adopt.

And yet, if I lost all of my vision tomorrow, I'd be up and running in
a few weeks, working pretty much like I was working before.  I'd have to
get pretty creative since some of my academics are highly visual in
nature, but trust me, I'd figure it out.  Could anyone else say that if
they went from "high partial" to "totally blind" overnight?  Those people
who really learn the skills of blindness at one of our training centers
can, and do.

The way we look at it, nobody's gotta teach you how to use your vision.
If you can see something useful, you're going to look.  Most of the
devices to assist you such as magnifiers, monoculars, CCTVs, and the like
are pretty simple to operate.  There isn't much training involved with
them, so we don't teach them.  Maybe there might be more with MAGic or
ZoomText, but these programs can be learned in an afternoon.  A screen
reader takes weeks to master even if you know what you're doing.

It's funny though sometimes I just reach over and do something without
looking at it, and people who have known me still have the immediate
reaction of how did I do that without seeing...oh, right!  *laugh*


On Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 04:37:35PM -0500, Kirk Harmon wrote:
> David, I have to say that I went thru blind rehab thru another organization 
> and their mobility instructors evaluated everyone individually. If they were 
> legally blind they were tested for how much vision they had to enhance their 
> mobility to get around, if they were total, then of course, they were 
> trained as such. To me by training everyone that comes thru the door for 
> blind rehab as totally blind individuals, it is like having someone that is 
> in need of crutches that he needs to learn how to train on a wheelchair. I 
> feel that all people are different and should be evaluate as such. I am not 
> by any means suggesting that the NFB change it's rehabilitation training 
> techniques, however, I think that once a Legally Blind individual goes thru 
> total blind rehab, if they have different degrees of blindness when they 
> leave that they would, in a very short time, go back to using it. This is 
> just one persons evaluation and input. Kirk Harmon!