[nfb-talk] About myself for David and anyone else interested.

[tribble]

Wow--you have been through a lot and I congratulate you on how far you have 
come.  It is good you can talk about it; that can be cathartic.
I also have multiple disabilities (the politically correct crowd would call 
them "challenges" or "inconveniences"...) and I have also suffered from 
depression and other brain chemistry disorders, which I am at present 
completely free of, thankfully. I would never wish that kind of thing on 
anyone.
My other disabilities (besides blindness) are severe hearing loss that I 
wear aids for, and also OI or brittle bone disorder which makes my bones and 
joints very fragile. Consequently I need to use a wheelchair all the time. 
All this is a challenging mix that is sometimes disastrous.  But thankfully 
I haven't had any major mishaps in some time now.  As for work, I am 
currently not working due to some health reverses but am a computer 
programmer with 12 years experience developing system software.
For anyone interested, I am the owner of the blind-rollers list on 
nfbnet.org.  This is a list for blind persons who also require a wheelchair. 
This list is relatively new but there are already a number of people 
subscribed and we would welcome more for those interested.
I wish you all a very happy new year and hope to see some of you on the 
rollers list!
--Laura Eaves lauraeaves at yahoo.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "helene ryles" <helene.ryles at talk21.com>
To: <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 10:34 AM
Subject: [nfb-talk] About myself for David and anyone else interested.


Hi David,

  No you didn't bore me. I hope you can say the same after I've finished, 
but you did ask about my background. So here goes:

  I am 37.  I was born prematurely with thyroid defficency, mild Asperger 
syndrome and mild deafness which deteriated gradually.  I am now profoundly 
deaf. I was born in Newzealand, spent 2 years in Australia and moved to 
europe at the age of 3.  My folks travelled a lot in France and England. (My 
mum is french and my dad is English).They didn't settle down until I started 
school.  I went to a special school.    It was basically just a dumping 
ground for all the kids, for what ever reason weren't doing too well in 
mainstream.  I education was also suplimented at home as my dad was a 
teacher.  When my dad realised that I wasn't going to take any exams I was 
moved back to mainstream education.  I was bullied so much in the first high 
school that I had to leave. I then moved to a Partial hearing Unit. I made 
friends with the other deaf kids but we were taught using the oral only 
aproach which I am totally against as I was hoping to learn sign language.

  I started losing my sight at  age 17.  I was at Doncaster Deaf college. I 
more or less went to pieces. Especially since nobody could find anything 
physically wrong with my sight and it's still a mystery as to how and why it 
happened. This isn't the first time I suffered from Depression. I also went 
through a really bad patch when I went to mainstream school. I kept fighting 
with the other kids and started self harming there. Anyway life was hell, I 
left the deaf college, went to a couple of blind colleges, went to a unit 
for deaf with mental health problems,  and still managed to be awarded a
   deaf achievers award while training for my first guide dog Bruce. My life 
is very much like a game of snakes and ladders, I'll climb, I even manage to 
get a few volentary jobs, and then depression strikes again and I loose 
everything. Deafblindness is no big deal compaired to Depression.

  I also tended to move around a lot.  I left home because mum and I 
completely failed to get on. She struggled with depression as long as I knew 
her although she tried to deny it while I was growing up.  After getting 
seperated from Dad we were very poor as she could never get  a job. She died 
of cancer 3 years ago.

  I eventually ended up in Peterbough. I had a volentary job working as a 
masseur at the local day centre mainly for people with learning 
difficulties. I also went to pottery classes and ended up doing a couple of 
charity treks for Guide dog's for the blind.  I raised the first 2k and a 
bit without too much bother. Then I fell in love with one of the staff and 
almost imediately enrolled in another charity trek across the Sinai dessert 
this time.  I think this is where things started to go downhill.  When I 
started suffering from depression the dr's just put me on drugs. I ended up 
also taking canabis, meeting my ex flatmates and moving in with them where I 
spent most of my time getting stoned out of my tree.

  It took my guide dog Jilli to get me out of that fix. By that stage my 
self worth had plumitted to zero. I wouldn't have got out of the mess I was 
in to save myself but I would do it for Jilli. Although if I'd stayed on 
that path I
  would have lost Jilli sooner or later. So I made myself intentionally 
homeless.  My friend did point out that if I told the housing people that 
I'd left due to domestic violence, which was true as well, I would have had 
a flat sooner. I didn't want to. Infact I once denied anything the sort was 
happening to the social workers. I just told them we weren't 'compatable'. 
Which was quite dumb when you think of it but I've done a lot of stupid 
things in my time.

  Since then I'm still living in Birmingham, UK in the flat I was eventually 
given. Although I nearly left when this drug dealer moved in and became a 
total nightmare.  Still it's an ill wind as they say. My long cane tecnique 
improved no end after having to negociate the obsticle course that was once 
my path. (I couldn't use Jilli as he was leaving food about and I wouldn't 
be too surprised if it was poisoned).  He's in prison now thank god. I also 
did a course in ceramics, attempted a degree in Ceramics at Wolverhampton 
Uni. I also became vegan, got lots of rescue animals (too many at one stage 
but the number is deminishing). I am now completely drug free apart from the 
thyroxine which I've always needed. But they don't really count. I've 
stopped self harming now too.

  I've been involved with the Animal Rights movement for a while now.
  (NOT ALF/PETA style though). I started reading NFB last year.  After RNIB 
I find their ideas very refressing. It has already started to help as before 
I used to depend too much on the residual vision I have. Which is a good job 
as last summer I started having problems with light sensitivity.  My sight 
has started fluctuating again.

  I hope I havent bored too many people.  Thanks David for your offer of 
help.

  Helene and Jilli.




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