[Home-on-the-range] learning from the best - Dr. Schroeder

[Dianne Hemphill]

Good morning federationists- I was so pleased to hear that our very own Dr. Fred Schroeder has been elected as first Vice-President of the World Blind Union...He is one of the most effective and accomplished blind individuals that I know. I will always thank him for his efforts at  coming to the Kansas Rehab Center several years ago, to talk to the staff. I also must give Susie Stanzel another huge thank-you for making it happen. Dr. Schroeder is not only brillent  but a down-to-earth, very humble man who says those things you wish you would have said because he's so good at communication with everyone. Though  some of us did what we could to move our Rehab Center training forward it was not to be in the end with management changes and funding short falls. None-the-less,, before its closure,  Susie set an appointment with Dr. Schroeder,  then SRS Secretary Gary Daniels, VR Director Dale Barnum, myself and Susie, as then NFBK affiliate president. The meeting was so effective that immediately following this meeting Dr. Daniels requested that we hire a new VR Counselor specific to work with blind VR clients. Prior to her work, he wanted her to receive 6 months training under sleep shades at the Center. This was a time when Kansas VR had almost no specialty Counselors left in the system... This went really well and finally  we had support from the higher ups for transition to training using Structured Discovery. unfortunately  we lost this support shortly as Mr. Barnum shortly after retired. Making a transition from a traditional training facility to a new training model is not easy and has many who effectively fought against the change. 

I feel very fortunate  to have the many contacts I have had  with Fred Schroeder, during my 30 plus years in the NFB and 20 years working for the blind in VR. I always go directly to any piece written by Dr. Schroeder because I know that it will be meaningful  and insightful. It would be worth your effort to study what he has written in the Braille Monitor throughout the years. If anyone finds a particularly meaningful article, please alert the rest of us about it and if possible, cut and paste it to a home-on-the- range  posting.  In order to fully grasp where we have been as blind people, we need to make an effort in studying who has helped us move forward.  Dianne