[Greater-baltimore] {Disarmed} Group busts myths about blind people

[Rovig, Lorraine]

Congrats to the NFB of West Virginia! They are doing us all proud in educating their community - and here's a reporter on the "Martinsburg Journal" who gets it right.
Lorraine

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/570666/Group-busts-myths-about-blind-people.html?nav=5006

Group busts myths about blind people
New NFBWV chapter holds get-together
November 13, 2011
By John McVey - Journal staff writer (jmcvey at journal-news.net<mailto:jmcvey at journal-news.net>) , journal-news.net
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MARTINSBURG - Six years ago, Keryl Rustin of Martinsburg lost her sight.
"It was a neurological condition and there was no cure - it was rare," she said Saturday morning before a seminar conducted by the Berkeley County Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia.
Needless to say, Rustin was traumatized.
"It was challenging for me, and I looked for a support group," she explained.
But there was no support group locally for blind and visually impaired residents. So, Rustin started one.
She is founder and president of the Berkeley County Chapter of the NFBWV.
Attending Saturday's meeting were several state NFBWV representatives, Berkeley County Councilman Tony Petrucci and Veronique Walker, director of the Berkeley County Schools' diversity and student support services, as well as a few members of the public.
Rustin is originally from Baltimore but has lived in Martinsburg for about 20 years. She was an executive assistant for a nonprofit organization in Washington for 15 years.
While the population is growing with the addition of seniors and veterans, it is hard to say how many blind and visually impaired residents there are in Martinsburg and Berkeley County, she said, because they do not get out and about.
"They feel uncomfortable," Rustin said. "That's part of our goal - to let people know they are not hopeless. They're just like everyone else. They're capable of anything. And there is support."
Education for both sightless and sighted residents is the biggest need locally, she said.
The Berkeley County Chapter has six members now. The NFBWV has 60 members and six chapters, including an at-large chapter, Charlene Smyth, president of NFBWV, said Saturday.
"We want to reach out and let people know that services are available to learn skills and techniques to be independent," she said. "It's respectable to be blind. We want to be confident and competent."
Smyth agreed that education for both sightless and sighted residents is the biggest challenge.
"We want everyone to accept us, to treat us normally - we are a part of the community," she said. "People are scared of blind people. We want to dispel the misunderstandings. And we want people to know they are not alone."
NFB affiliates have several divisions within their organizations, such as a blind student association. Bre Brown is president of the West Virginia Association of Blind Students.
The 18-year-old Clarksburg native is attending the NFB's training center in Louisiana before she goes off to college.
"There is a lot of confidence training," she said. "We learn skills, and we get over our fears."
Brown takes classes in home economics, industrial arts, computers and more.
"For home economics, we have to prepare a meal for eight and a meal for 40," she said. "And we work with power tools right off the shelf."
Brown has gone whitewater rafting, rock climbing and hiking in the first three months she has attended the training center.
She attended Liberty High School in Harrison County, where all her special needs were accommodated.
Ed McDonald is first vice president of NFBWV and has been involved with NFB for more than 40 years.
"The real issues we face are the myths and misunderstandings that exist in society," he said Saturday.
- Staff writer John McVey can be reached at 304-263-3381, ext. 128, or jmcvey at journal-news.net<mailto:jmcvey at journal-news.net>
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