[Community-service] getting steered away from a service opportunity.

[Catherine Michele Mitchell]

Darian, I'm not buying their excuses.

First of all, it seems ridiculous to me to say you can't touch the plants. Somebody has to touch the plants to keep them alive, so even though I don't see any need for you to touch the plants necessarily, that statement just seems ludicrous to me.

Next, I'm sure if they don't throw in a new docent and have them wing it as they go along. There must be some kind of training, probably even a script about each section of plants that every docent has to memorize. Can they possibly think that a blind person is incapable of memorizing some plant facts? Also, former docents can easily tell you which plants kids usually have questions about so you can be prepared for this. I imagine it's more likely that during your presentation you would be asking the kids questions, like okay who knows what this is called? Or whatever. It's more likely that you will be fielding questions from the kids like hey Mr. if you're blind how do you know where you are? How do you know which plants to talk about? What's that stick for? Or whatever.

Regarding kitty crowd control, I don't really think that's as much the docents responsibility as it is the responsibility of the adults chaperoning the groups of kids. Don't they usually come in from schools with their teachers? Shirley there aren't random groups of Unruly, Unsupervised children storming the botanical gardens demanding tours. You are an adult, and if you tell a group of children  to Stay together,  follow you, and quiet down, would they be any less likely to listen to you than any other adult? I don't see the problem. Besides, my bet is that those kids will never Take their eyes off you. They'll be watching you like a hawk to see how you do everything. 

I'm assuming there are pass through the garden, and, with a little orientation training and a little practice, you could easily learn the route of the tour, where to stop and talk, and what to talk about at each station. Who knows, there may even be auditory clues, such as fountains or street noise, to help you Stay on track. I'm also assuming that at least some of these plants emit an aroma, so after a while you'll probably be able to just follow your nose. This is something the botanical bosses probably haven't considered, that the appeal of the garden is more than just visual.

So there's my rant. I'm looking forward to hearing other peoples ideas.

Boo, for the botanical bozos! I think you'd be great at this job; those Ignorant folks are missing out!

Michele



Michele Mitchell
Tupperware Consultant
781-790-3627
www.my.tupperware.com/michmitch

On Feb 11, 2014, at 3:15 AM, Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I recently was  told about volunteer/ service opportunities at the local botanical garden. one that particularly interested me was one of a children’s docent.  When I asked about the position, i was told that  it would be difficult because you can’t touch the flowers, and the children are going to have questions about the particular  plants they find.  Also  that one needs to keep up with the children, and they will be running around, that you have to basically Herd them around. 
> Basically, I was told of all of the ways that I could not do the job.
>  how would you  devise non-visual ways to  do the job?  how would you approach a volunteerr coordinator when they present  these challenges?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
>   Darian    
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