[nfb-talk] NFB centers

Fri Dec 14 14:20:20 CST 2007

I have pretty much no chance of losing more vision, and I thought the only
skill I really needed to learn under sleepshade was travel.  

Learning Braille under sleepshade meant no peeking when I wasn't sure what
dots I was feeling, so I had to really learn to feel them.  I left the
Colorado Center reading Braille faster than I read print.

Working in the shop is only safe if you do it nonvisually.  If you are
legally blind, I don't care how high of a partial you are, you don't see
well enough to be safe.  Of course, once you learn the nonvisual skills,
it doesn't matter if you have a sleepshade or not, because you're just
going to trust your hands rather than your eyes.

Having no screen to look at in technology works the same as it did in
Braille.  You really have to learn the screen reader commands, because you
won't get the information any other way.  Once you know the commands, a
high partial can visually glean information out of a program that JAWS or
Window Eyes (or VoiceOver) don't like much using other software, but the
point is that he won't have to.

Learning to cook nonvisually helps you to cook more.  I'm not afraid of
things like ground meats anymore, even though I know that if I don't cook
them thoroughly, they are potentially dangerous.  I know how to tell they
are done and I don't have to burn it to be sure.  I'm also comfortable
using an oven now, among other things.

As for everything else you do under sleepshade, after you realize that the
constitute literally "everything else", you know that you could live
without your eyes if you had to.  If that ever came to pass, you already
pretty much know how it's done, too.

On Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 05:03:36PM -0500, Kirk Harmon wrote:
> Terry, I suppose your correct. I was just thinking about the ones that have 
> lost all of the sight that they are going to. I was not implying that it 
> isn't a positive thing to learn to get around as a totally blind person but 
> was it a necessity. Yours in the cause, Kirk
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Powers, Terry (NIH/OD/DEAS) [E]" <powerst at dcpcepn.nci.nih.gov>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 4:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NFB centers
> 
> 
> > Kirk;
> > I wish I had been given a chance to go to NFB rehab.  I think they train
> > a person to travel as a totally blind person, so that he will be
> > prepared when his sight starts to deteriorate.  Being trained this way
> > does not prevent him from using his existing sight when he is on his
> > own, but he will have the confidence to get around when his sight gets
> > worse, since he has already experienced it.
> >
> > Terry Powers
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Kirk Harmon [mailto:kvh54 at cfl.rr.com]
> > Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 4:38 PM
> > To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NFB centers
> >
> > 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!
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
> > To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 4:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NFB centers
> >
> >
> >> Dear RJ,
> >>
> >> The primary difference between the NFB Centers, and other rehab
> >> centers, is that the NFB uses "full emergence" techniques training
> >> methods that use sleep shade training to prevent you from using any
> >> remaining vision as a crutch.
> >> You wear the sleep shades all day for everything, mobility,
> >> independent living, computer training, and cooking, cleaning, Braille
> >> and pre-employment skills.  In short, everything you do.
> >> The reasoning behind this is so that you learn to depend on learning
> >> good skills of blindness and not on using any remaining vision to
> >> cheat, as most of us do.
> >> This builds a very deep sense of self confidence and helps to develop
> >> better problem solving skills.
> >> You grow, as a blind person, by stretching your self by facing up to
> >> the challenge.  Even a turtle doesn't get anywhere until he sticks his
> >
> >> neck out.
> >> As a student and a NFB center, your are taught all of the basic
> >> blindness skills under sleep shades and then must perform certain
> >> task, using those skills in order to graduate.
> >> After receiving mobility training and being taught the general area,
> >> they will take you out in a van, under sleep shades, get you twisted
> >> around and drop you off somewhere on the street.  You will then have
> >> to orient yourself, figure out where you are by using your skills and
> >> navigate yourself back to the campus.  They observe you from a
> >> distance, for your safety, but do not interfere unless absolutely
> >> needed.  This test is often a pivotal moment in a Blind students life.
> >
> >> A place where they have to make a decision about themselves.  They can
> >
> >> sit there for hours and think about it or get up and use the skills
> >> they have learned to get back to the campus.
> >> Some students feel scared during this test.  It causes them to
> >> question themselves as to how confident they are in their mobility
> >> skill.  There is nothing like the feeling of being disoriented and
> >> lost to get you to get in touch with your inter self.  It places a
> >> mental and psychological barrier there that you are forced to
> >> confront.  Getting pass that barrier can be the most liberating
> >> experience in your live according to the students I have talked to.
> >> In that moment, you have to make a decision as to which side of the
> >> fence you are going to be on.
> >> Students are also expected to take part in other activities like
> >> skiing, back packing, rock climbing or maybe even white water rafting,
> >
> >> unless they have a medical condition that prevents them.  The students
> >
> >> are encouraged to do everything that other people do, such as going
> >> out to dinner in town, the movies, and the fair, shopping, church and
> >> even community service projects.
> >> This is the point of the testing and the training, to make you a well
> >> rounded person.     This is why, many people refer to NFB trained
> > students
> >> as members of the "super Blind."
> >> Not because they are super powered, but because they are super
> >> trained, have the great blindness skills and confidence in themselves
> >> and have learned to believe in the power of blind people.
> >> For graduation from the independent living course.  You will have to
> >> go to the store and shop for all of the fixings for a small group of
> > people.
> >> You
> >> will have to use your mobility skills to go to the store and back,
> >> your training in shopping skills in finding and purchasing the goods,
> >> bring them all back to the center and totally prepare and cook the
> >> meal and serve it to the other students.
> >> The other classes are handled in a similar fashion.
> >> The students are also expected to take part in community activities
> >> which include traveling to a national convention for the experience
> >> and fun of meeting so many other blind people.
> >> Most everyone makes it through the center.
> >> The training is designed to not only build good blindness skills you
> >> can depend on, but to instill in you a positive philosophy and sense
> >> of your own self confidence and ability to problem solve.
> >> The training is not easy and the people are not going to pander to the
> >
> >> students.  They are going to train and mold the student into the best
> >> blind person they can be or want to be.  This is boot camp for the
> >> blind.  The military doesn't make sure that a raw recruit has his or
> >> her teddy bear and security blanket or tuck them in at night.  If you
> >> have a problem with something, the NFB staff will sit down and talk
> >> with you.  The other students are encouraged to help one another and
> >> speak their mind about things.  They commonly ask "why" as to the
> >> reason certain things are taught the way they are such as the wearing
> >> of sleep shades.
> >> The wearing of the shades forces a person to depend on and learn to
> >> heighten their other blindness skills and learn to depend on those
> >> sharper skills which, in turn, builds great self confidence.  This
> >> self confidence and great skills set will make a difference in your
> >> life.  The training also forces you to think about yourself and what
> >> you believe in.  It helps you to search your sole and, hopefully, make
> >
> >> the changes in your habits and mind set through the NFB philosophy.
> >>
> >> As to limits placed on students that attend such centers the rules are
> >
> >> about the same everywhere. They are responsible for your safety and
> >> until they know more about you and know that you are safe, mature and
> >> responsible, they are going to keep you on a short leash.  You earn
> >> the ability to travel off campus as part of the training process and
> >> even encouraged to travel off campus as part of the training.  After
> >> all, would your parents let you run
> >> around, unsupervised when you were a small child?    Often the
> > students
> >> are
> >> young and don't have the judgment skills of an older adult.  Some
> >> would use this "freedom" to just go and get drunk, screw around, get
> >> into trouble and maybe get hurt somewhere.  Being hung over or missing
> >
> >> classes because you stayed out all night is a sure sign of immaturity
> >> on the part of a student.
> >> The instructors are there to teach, not to be your nursemaid.  You tow
> >
> >> the line or you go home.
> >> As for quiet hours, I would say that everyone has them to some degree.
> >> Learning common courtesy for others is also a learned skill.  Other
> >> students maybe studying, reading, working on the computer or just
> >> trying to sleep.
> >> Learning when it is appropriate to be a bit quiet is a learned social
> >> skill and one that not all blind people learn.
> >> I have had roommates who would go out drinking and come back into the
> >> room several times to wake me up just to tell me the bar closed at
> >> 2:00 AM and they were going to an all night bar up the street.  Then
> >> they would come back in, and wake me up, by turning on the TV set at a
> >
> >> loud volume, and then lay there making bus reservations for nearly 2
> >> hours, talking loudly on the phone.  They would then sleep in come
> >> morning and miss half the day's activities at the convention.  This
> >> person was not trained in a NFB center
> >> and I will never room with them again.   they were not the best
> > example of
> >> what a good blind person could be.
> >> As the public judges us based on their preconceived notions, which
> >> type of blind person do you want setting the bar for the rest of us to
> >
> >> be judged by society?  The dirty bum blind guy selling the pencils in
> >> a tin cup or someone who shows confidence in themselves and their
> >> skills?  The General Public is going to judge us all by the best and
> >> the worst example they have seen.  You pick.
> >>
> >> David Evans, NFBF.
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> >
> >> On Behalf Of GMail
> >> Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:36 PM
> >> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> >> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NFB centers
> >>
> >> Much different than that. I couldn't explain all of it to you, but
> >> what you are talking about is nonexistent. From what I understand, you
> >
> >> are free to go
> >>
> >> where you please, and you expected to work, unlike some of the
> > centers.
> >> They
> >>
> >> are very challenging, but it's very beneficial. I'm sure I haven't
> >> said everything. Perhaps someone who's been to one will be able to
> > tell you.
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "RJ Sandefur" <rjs59 at hotmail.com>
> >> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> >> Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 9:53 PM
> >> Subject: [nfb-talk] NFB centers
> >>
> >>
> >> What are NFB centers like? I've been to a rehabiliation center, and it
> >
> >> was a
> >>
> >> bad experience. We had "quiet hours," which we had to observe, and in
> >> order to go off campus, a student needed a mobility clearence. David,
> >> I'm talking about the center in daytona Florida! RJ
> >>
> >>
> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> ------
> >> ----
> >>
> >>
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