Well yes, there will always be that gulf between blind and sighted, and some
partial vision won't eliminate that. But I don't think that that fact is
relevant in terms of helping people learn to function optimally. If we're just
talking about skills and not about social acceptance, I can't understand why
using whatever tiny bit of residual sight is left, isn't helpful, just so long
as people recognize precisely when that bit of sight is, and is not, helpful.
I don't understand why this would have changed in the past 50 years. I have
certainly had to make decisions over the years, particularly in the past 9
years, about under which circumstances to depend on my sight and under which
circumstances, the small amount that is left isn't useful. It is painfully
clear when it is and when it isn't. When it isn't, I either have to substitute
another method for accomplishing a task or, in some instances, reluctantly give
up a pleasure like watching an audio described episode of Nature on PBS or
looking at flowers or the pictures in my picture albums. And no, touching a
flowering bush is not as lovely as seeing it. However, if I had ever learned
to sew, (I never did), that is a skill that my partial vision would have been
useless for and it would have been appropriate to tell me not to bother trying
to see the stitches.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2017 8:16 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Blind Man in a Hotel Room
Hi Miriam and All,
Right. Initially I was heavily influenced by the NFB philosophy. As time
passed and I became convinced that the NFB's approach was too heavily weighted
toward teaching every student to behave as if they were totally blind, I began
to modify how our OTC incorporated residual vision into the total training
package. Our Commission director, Ken Hopkins, and our OTC director, Don
Brown, were both mentored by Ken Jernigan. While I had been influenced
initially by Jacobus tenBroek's speeches in the collection, "The Man and the
Movement", I became fast friends with Hopkins, and while he was Commission
Director, I followed his lead.
Ken Hopkins was, and still is, a keen mind. Both he and I have come some
distance from that old hard nosed party line. But after saying that, I hasten
to remind you that societal conditions are some different today for blind
people than they were fifty and more years ago. Nonetheless, my position
continues to be that eyesight is such a dominant sense that if we don't
initially remove it, and its temptations, we will have a significant reduction
in assisting low vision people to become as independent and competent as they
need to become in order to compete with the sighted population.
But in discussing this with prospective students, I would stress that the end
result must include all of our senses. I do believe that in the long run the
NFB's focus on teaching "Blindness Skills", and ignoring how to incorporate all
of our senses, was a road block to large numbers of low vision people who could
have had a far more successful experience. Still, I feel some need to remind
you that the hard nosed approach was appropriate under the conditions in the
30's, 40's, 50's, and even through the 70's. With more understanding teachers,
students are not measured by how much sight they have.
Techniques are much more insightful. Honesty is the best policy, and those
teachers understanding that are developing some amazing students. As far as I
am concerned, there will still be great chasms between the Blind and the
Sighted Worlds, but there continues to be an ever growing understanding toward
those of us who do not conform.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/13/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sounds like the NFB line. But when you have a bit of vision, setting
it aside during a period of the day for training purposes is, I think,
artificial because the natural response is to use vision when you have
it and that's what you'll do for the remainder of the day. So I would
hel people use their tiny bit of vision to its great advantage while,
at the same time, providing all the other skills as enhancements and
backup. When the time comes that your vision doesn't do the job, you
turn to those other skills and sharpen them. I never would have been
motivated to learn braille until I really needed it to make reading
books and writing notes to myself, easier. I remember being in
Spearfish South Dakota at that University's VIP Program for two weeks
one summer in the early 90's. It was like a blind version of the Elder
Hostel Program. Anyway, there were people there with partial vision
equivalent to mine, and some whose vision was better than mine. And
what was shocking to me was that they had never been encouraged to use
the vision they had. They functioned as if they had much less, or none
at all. I remember a social worker, much younger than I. We were at an
American Indian Center, and a sacred mountain was being described to
us where people went to worship. It was right outside a huge picture
window where we were standing. This social worker, a member of our
group, was turned somewhat away from the window. I knew she had some
vision, enough to see that mountain so I asked her if she wanted to
see the mountain that was being described. "Oh yes", she said. Could I
see it? I just told her to turn around and where to look and she was
so delighted. But had I not told her where to look, she wouldn't have
tried. That sort of thing kept happening throughout that two weeks. The
staff, just lovely faculty from the University, always acted as if none of us
could see anything.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2017 3:48 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Blind Man in a Hotel Room
Vision loss is a very personal thing. Each of us come with different
personalities, different sorts of vision loss, different points in our
lives when it occurs, different expectations, different support...or
lack of support, different health concerns, different skills, and very
different abilities to adapt to blindness or severe vision loss.
For many folk, when they first lose vision, it is important to them to
tell everyone exactly what is going on in their eyes. When I taught
an Attitude Class in the orientation and training center, at some
point early on, I would suggest that we go around the room and tell
the class whatever we wanted to share regarding our eyes and how we felt it
impacted our lives.
When we were finally finished, I would say something like, "Okay, you
can see how we are quite different in how much we see, and how we feel about
it.
But one thing we do have in common. We have lost enough vision that
the world will look upon us as Blind. And since the world, the
sighted world, is not informed enough to understand just what we can
do, and not do, it falls upon us to be their teachers." I would
continue...as is my long winded habit, and tell the students, "You may
have the flu, or a diabetic reaction, and I might excuse you from
class or some specific task, but never, never, never use your vision
loss as an excuse. Since most blind people have some usable sight, be
thankful for what you are able to see.
But we are going to set aside your remaining sight and learn to trust
your other senses. Especially those senses that are still fully up and
running.
Today you are all depending upon eyesight that is iffy at best, and
could get you into a real jam. But by sharpening your remaining
senses, learning to rely on them, you will find that at the end of
this program you will use whatever sight you have, as an enhancement."
Without training, without positive direction, suddenly going from
decent vision to drastically altered vision can be immobilizing.
Reminding them that anything worth having is worth working for, these
new students roll up their sleeves and begin upon a journey of hard
work, lasting from 6 to 9 months.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/13/17, Bonnie L. Sherrell <blslarner@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have been seeing better in my left eye than my right eye for years,
and often what I see with my right eye simply gets totally
overwritten by what's seen by the left one.
If Mr. Keillor has deteriorating vision in the eye that didn't get
operated upon, then I find myself wondering if they didn't operate on
the proper eye!
By the way--am going to collect my new glasses prescription today.
Was told the glasses would be ready next Monday, so the optician must
have worked his behind off to get these done to return to Costco
yesterday afternoon! I'll see how well I see out of my right eye
now, although the prescription is becoming so strong what I see
through the right lens tends to make things look VERY small anymore.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even
the very wise cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
We gave the Goblin King control of our nation!
