[humanser] Readers & Sports

[JD Townsend]

For me sports have given me a fuller sense of self and, so, I often suggests 
sports for my patients.  From basketball to neighborhood walks and 
scateboarding the psychological benefits have been well researched and 
almost always beneficial.

Sports have been very important to me in my personal development.  I was in 
the Ski For Light program and competed against other blind cross-country 
skiers.  Later I was in the Achilles Track Club and ran lots of 10K races 
and 5 NYC Marathons with them.  The competition was not blind specific, so I 
ran with the light dependent with a sighted guide.  And, I have rowed in 
crew, those long narrow boats with the long oars.

There are several blind-specific sport teams in my area, however these have 
never especially interested me.  It has not been anti-blind, but the bowling 
and beep-ball just don’t draw me.

Yes.  I use sighted readers at my hospital-based mental health practice. 
For me the benefits of having a person who, over time, becomes comfortable 
with charts and forms is worth the effort of engaging them.  I currently 
have 2.  One is a retired teacher, she is excellent at skipping over 
materials that I ask her to skip.  The other is an Egyptan MD who is 
volunteering in an effort to keep in practice as he seeks USA licensure, he 
does much of the filing.  I would be less efficient without them.


JD


JD Townsend LCSW
Helping the light dependent to see.
Daytona Beach, Earth, Sol System