[guide.chat] In Reply To: [guide.chat] In Reply To: [guide.chat] clubs
- From: "M BOWKER" <bowker288@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Guide Chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 16:24:13 +0100
Hi Jim. that's sad how things worked out for that lady. My wife had a stroke
and needed a lot of help and support from me. Life can be cruel. This club I go
to was started by a disabled person three years ago. Like I said its for all
disabilities. After the membership rose we formed a full committee. It kept
growing and now its a registered charity which as you probably know we can get
grants etc and we have a nice bank balance now so we can buy the necessary
equipment for all needs including Guide soft wear on the computer. But the main
thing is there are 35 members from walking with mental problems and other
things. about six in wheelchairs including myself. We all talk to each other
about our illnesses and learn to understand them.They know a lot about
blindness now So I think a lot of these single blind only clubs that don't do
anything but sleep should start mixing with other disabilities.
Everyone mucks in by making and giving out tea and coffee. Volunteers and
committee people cook a dinner for ys and all this proves to me that it can be
done if people like social services stopped putting us in boxes.
love Malcolm. xxx
Malcolm;
Yes, I agree.
The chair of our local blind club (OK, we have to have one to make it look
official!), Diana, is a brilliant person. She's sixty-eight now. She first came
to the club as a driver/carer for her husband, who had just been registered.
Five years later, unfortunately, he died. In the same year, twelve years ago,
Diana had a stroke which left her not only totally blind, but wheelchair bound
as well. From being an active, energetic person to the state she now found
herself in was, as you can imagine, devastating.
She was herself a former University lecturer, active as a national Scout
leader. Her mind, however, is absolutely fantastic, as, thank God, is her
voice. She said that the members of the club helped her realise that things
were not quite as black as they could seem at first, and that the support she
had from fellow VIPs was amazing, really helping her through the first years.
That's one thing a blind club can do which no amount of social work, psychology
or the rest can; we've been there, said hello to lamp posts...that kind of
thing.
I'm trying to persuade her to try voice-activated computing: I haven't had much
experience with it myself, but I think it would suit her. She cannot use a
keyboard, as her sense of touch, as well as her hand co-ordination, are very
limited.
-----Original Message-----
From: M BOWKER - Email Address: bowker288@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent On: 01/07/2012 23:52
Sent To: Guide Chat - Email Address: guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [guide.chat] In Reply To: [guide.chat] clubs
Clare, I agree with Jim here. Loosing your sight in later life is very hard to
cope with. You say you have never seen and you cope in your world. When, like
me, you loose your sight at the age of 42 years, its frightening to say the
least. You have one world you no and cope with. We had one world we lived in
and coped with. Then suddenly we enter a whole new world of blindness and
nearly all we have learnt over the years has gone out of the window. You have
to start learning all over again like a new born baby. You have to change all
you knew for new ways of doing the simplest things. like eating, dressing.
moving around the house with other people in it. Its hard for them to because
they don't understand blindness and they have to learn. The list is endless.
And if you live alone like me and you want to stay independent you have to
learn how to use the cooker, washer and many other things in the kitchen.
Like you say Clare, Its hard for all of us. But were all different in so many
ways, there's no easy answers.
love Malcolm. xxx
Hi Jim, thank you so much for sharing this it's very much appreciated. I always
love hearing different points of view. I'm very happy I bought this important
subject up. I look forward to hearing others points of view on this matter. So
in a way it seems I do have an advantage as I have never known any different
with being totally blind from birth. This is my world and all I have ever
known. Love Clare
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