[bksvol-discuss] OT: Fwd: Fw: Canes, computers help blind veterans cope
- From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 15:22:48 -0700 (PDT)
SO close to Memorial Day, I thought this article, sent
to me by Louise, would be of interest. Did those of
you who use them know the origins of the canes you
use? Perhaps you already know about the Edward Hines
Jr. Veterans Affairs Hospital inm Illinois and the
rehabilitation work they do there, but I thought U'd
send this on just in case...
Cindy
--- Louise <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: "Louise" <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Louise Gourdoux" <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Fw: Canes, computers help blind veterans
> cope
> Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 14:00:52 -0500
>
>
>
> Appleton Post-Crescent, Wisconsin
> Sunday, May 28, 2006
>
> Canes, computers help blind veterans cope
>
> By Steve Wideman, staff writer
>
> CHICAGO - A year before the end of hostilities in
> World War II, two U.S.
> Army soldiers were asked to help blind veterans use
> long canes to get
> around.
>
> Cpl. Richard Hoover and Technical Sgt. C. Warren
> Bledsoe, both experienced
> in working with the blind, were working to fulfill
> their task by war's end
> in 1945.
>
> By 1948, when Bledsoe was assigned to establish a
> blind center at the Edward
> Hines Jr. Veterans Affairs Hospital in Hines, Ill.,
> the use of long canes -
> the red-tipped, white poles now commonly used by
> people with visual
> impairments - was being refined to an art.
>
> Today, canes are just one of many specialized tools
> Hines uses to help
> veterans, from World War II through the ongoing war
> on terrorism, cope with
> life without sight.
>
> State-of-the-art computers allow veterans to read
> magazines and newspapers
> by sight or by voice-activated audio transcriptions.
> Braille tape measures
> and levels give audio signals for blind carpenters
> and woodworkers, And
> global positioning system devices assist in travel.
>
> "I can teach completely blind individuals how to
> rewire their homes. I also
> teach folks how to hammer nails without seeing the
> hammer or nail and still
> not hurt themselves," said Samuel Janusauskas, a
> teacher and counselor at
> Hines who is leading the rehabilitation of Andrew
> Neumeyer of Neenah,
> injured Jan. 31 in a roadside bombing near Baghdad.
>
> Every veteran at Hines, ranging in age from 18 to
> 98, is legally blind,
> although not all are completely sightless, said
> Jerry Schutter, who manages
> day-to-day activities at the center.
>
> "Eighty-five percent of people who are legally blind
> have some useful
> vision, even a vision arc of 20 degrees, which is
> like looking through a
> straw," Schutter said.
>
> Veterans attend daylong classes during stays at
> Hines that range from
> several days to several months.
>
> They learn skills including orientation, mobility,
> independent living,
> communication, visual skills for those with some
> remaining vision, and
> manual skills such as woodworking, leathercraft,
> metal working and
> mechanics.
>
> "We teach the veterans things like how to fill a
> glass of water without it
> overflowing," Janusauskas said, describing how a
> battery-operated indicator
> placed on the glass sounds when the poured water
> reaches the top.
>
> The veterans stay in college dorm-type rooms,
> Schutter said.
>
> "Our program is more like a school and unlike a
> hospital. Our job is to keep
> the veterans out of their rooms," Schutter said.
>
> "The idea is they are up and doing things for
> themselves. That's the goal .
> to make them more safe, independent and confident to
> do whatever they want
> to do."
>
> Before 1948, blind veterans essentially were
> warehoused in group settings,
> Schutter said.
>
> "They were keeping them in nice accommodations," he
> said, "but not teaching
> them skills that allowed them to be independent and
> able to go home."
>
>
>
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060528/APC0101/6052
> 80535/1979
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
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>
>
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