My only valuable experience with an agency was learning the little bit of braille that I know at a local Lighthouse. I've had lots of friends work at such places and I believe they do as good as they can under constant budgetary pressures and I think these people do so with hope rather than my cynicism. If I had to even try computer training at an agency, I'd probably have had to kill the trainer for being far too slow for an old hacker like me.
So, you're from Vermont, do you know Mike Richman? He is in his early seventies now but was the best man at my parent's wedding and has been active as a teacher and advocate in the Vermont Counsel for nearly 50 years now. cdh On Nov 30, 2009, at 1:51 PM, Mark BurningHawk Baxter wrote: > You, and I to a lesser extent, and others are the exception. I was > born blind, didn't go to any institutions for the blind, was raised as > an only child, mostly in rural Vermont with minimal help from state > agencies. Graduated from Dartmouth when I was 20, again with minimal > if any help from agencies--didn't have my first experience with any > agencies or institutions for the blind until I was 24, when the > Carroll Center was offering a medical transcription course and I > needed another, safer place to be. They kicked me out of their dorm, > making me homeless, after six weeks there. Rehab flatly refused to > support me and my music career in any way, and pressured me to go to > the Carroll Center in the first place, then pressured me to get > therapy and reform my ways when they made me homeless. I only started > cautiously learning how to deal with the agencies in 2007, when it > became clear that my failing hearing was going to force me out of the > transcription career I'd had for 13+ years. I learned Jaws and > Windows essentially by myself, as I've always been good with tech. > Even now, while I may have learned a little about how to get along > with the agencies and get what I need, it's a very uneasy truce at > best./ I hope to be starting a job at another institution for the > blind soon, but this time as a trainer, not a student, which hopefully > will turn out better. You can see why I advocate for the abolition of > such systems. They do not foster independence of thinking, and tend > to punish outside-the-box people, in my experience. I do realize that > people blinded later in life may not adapt as fully as those born > blind; I'm learning that as I lose my hearing, so I have the privilege > of seeing both sides of the coin, but think about what that implies-- > that the pressure on those whose world has already been blasted by > losing their sight will essentially become putty in the hands of high- > pressure agencies who are set in their ways. The system seems to > punish at both ends--if you're too independent, you're pressured to > conform; if you're new to blindness, you're taught not to think for > yourself. Hell, I didn't even do mobility orienting stuff until last > year, when Rehab here in CA suggested I ry it, and I decided, in the > interests of keeping the peace, what the heck; my mobility teacher > quickly realized that there was very little, beyond the immediate > rehearsing of directions, that she could improve upon what I and my > dog were already going. Since I got Trekker, that's even more so; now > that Trekker is temporarily broken, I truly feel the loss. :) I don't > see how the agencies really have done me any good, other than in the > purely material realm, and if I weren't as articulate as I am about > stating my needs, and as forceful as I am about what I need, which > most people are not, even that gain might be minimal, and even now the > damage is significant. So, that's where my beef with the system(s) > comes in; sorry if that makes it a personal grudge, but there you are > then. > > > Mark BurningHawk Baxter > > Skype and Twitter: BurningHawk1969 > MSN: burninghawk1...@hotmail.com > My home page: > http://MarkBurningHawk.net/ > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
