[nfbwatlk] clarification

[Alco Canfield]

Hi, Kevin,

Thanks for the details.  I agree with you that they should have allowed you
to demonstrate what you can do. And then make a decision accordingly.

Alco 

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Kevin LaRose
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 3:04 PM
To: wcb-l at wcbinfo.org
Cc: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Subject: [nfbwatlk] clarification

Thanks to all of you who have responded to my previous message. I think some
clarification is in order with regard to what led up to me saying what I
said and feeling how I feel. For anybody who is wondering, I am not typing
this myself, as I am very slowly learning the skill of typing one-handed and
this type of message would take forever to type one-handed. So I am
dictating it to someone else.

The incident happened Wednesday afternoon. I went to see the hand surgeon
Friday morning. I actually felt like it was an encouraging visit. I got the
impression from her that this would not be as limiting as I had anticipated.

My plan was to mostly rest over the next five days, doing what I needed to
do and learning to do other things as I needed to learn them, up until my
surgery, which will be Wednesday morning. The OTC director called me early
Friday afternoon. My VR counselor was also on the line, and I was not made
aware of this until about five minutes into the conversation. The director
asked me several questions with regard to how I was handling things. I
answered as best I could, and I also gave her the same indications that the
hand surgeon had given me. I think it's important to note here that my wrist
is in a splint, which leaves the fingers and most of the hand free. It's not
fully functional, of course, but it is not a full cast nor will it be after
surgery. It seemed to me during the course of the telephone interaction with
the director and my VR counselor that decisions had already been made based
on preconceived notions. At one point during the conversation, I was even
asked by the director if I was being honest with her in my responses. It
didn't seem like anything I said made an impact of any sort. as I said,
their minds appeared to be made up because of liability issues. I had to
leave, at least until after my surgery, and what I said did not matter. What
is even more frustrating is that my VR counselor, or anybody else, could
have walked three blocks from DSB to the apartments to talk to me in person
and to see what I could do and could not do. But this was not done.

I hope I am explaining this clearly enough that my feelings can be
understood. My point was not to say that the entire OTC did not have faith
in me and my capabilities. I know that there are people there who are fully
aware of what I can do and what I am capable of. It just seemed to me that
there was no interest in even working with me to make this work for all of
us. I appreciate the suggestions that I have already received, and I assure
you all that if there is any problem following the surgery and my ultimate
return to the OTC, I will take full advantage of the options available to
me. I'm going to make it through this, and I'm going to complete the
training. Hope this helps clarify things.

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