[Home-on-the-range] /f/u networking

[Dianne Hemphill]

	Hi Maryse - good to hear from you - I'm not familiar  with the rehabilitation facility you went through in AZ .  Because we have been talking a lot about how different rehab centers approach their training, perhaps you could share a bit of info about your experience and how it both benefited you and, perhaps could have been more effective. Though we are often a bit negative about traditional blindness rehab,  it can, none the less, have a beneficial impact on people...it can also be the spring board for knowing that the gaining of both skills and building confidence in their use, must be ongoing.  I for one understood at age 18 and going through Kansas, it was just a requirement to "go through" in order to gain the financial support I really needed in order to go to college. None the less, I could have probably gained a few more skills if I had approached the opportunity with a little more maturity and if I had better understood why this could have been more than just getting through a mandatory 10 week college prep course. There was really a great lack of meaningful and appropriate college prep types of skills that could have been available and this course did improve a lot over many decades (too long to help many college bound students, unfortunately.) However, several leaders of the NFBK went through this same course and went to work in some pretty prestigious positions...therefore, I think for some it is a combination of things that get us to what rehab refers to as employment outcomes - working in integrated work settings, earning enough to get off of SSI and/or SSDI, and having some work related benefits such as health insurance . In my case, my family had very high expectations, I was a good student and I was fortunate to become involved in the NFB. My early fear of finding work that I could do with my vision loss was turned around by observing how others at NFB conventions, for example, presented themselves with such poise and self assurance. I wanted to do that  too and slowly figured out how to present myself in a more convincing manner than I might have without learning to do so by learning from those that possessed the qualities that I thought would help me in my search for employment.  As one of our former NFBK scholarship winners Maryse, we'd love to hear how things are going for you and if employment in your field looks like a near future reality. Maybe some us who have become employed can share ideas of our approach to landing the job with both Maryse and others in the job search. Dianne

On Jan 16, 2013, at 9:59 PM, maryse figueroa wrote:

> As HOTRmonitor, I feel there is a real sense of helpful communication between men here.  Since we are all spread out across the state, it,s not easy to set meetings for networking.  However, we could set up a Q and A section on a MO thou basis' for example.
> 
>   As for me, I  owe blindness skills to Southern Arizona Association for the Visually Impaired. In Tucson AZ. a vendor for the state of Arizona.
> 
>   Hoping the beginning of this year  projects what you all desire.
> 
> Thank you
> 
> Maryse
> 
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