[nabs-l] living skills at home

[Ashley Bramlett]

Hi Cindy,
That's a good story.  I am the youngest of three children; muy brothers are 
older.  You were fortunate that your mom was like this.  My mother never had 
the patience to show me things.  My parents did most of the house work; so 
looking back my brothers didn't do many jobs either.  They often helped my 
father in the yard moe grass though.

I'm glad to hear stories like yours.  Being taught how to take care of a 
home along with your siblings is the way it should be.  Then you aren't 
thrown into it as an adult having to learn so much at once.

Early intervention people came to work with me but I think that was focussed 
on the basics such as my gross and fine motor skills.

Cindy even though you keep your food in certain areas of the cabinents, many 
things feel alike such as canned fruits and vegetables and box mixes.  You 
must have a good memory to know what everything is!  That or some vision to 
read labels.

Ashley

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cindy Bennett" <clb5590 at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 7:11 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] living skills at home


>I keep my food in certain aries of the refridgerator and cabinets, and
> my roommates know this, and they have done well with not moving it
> around. I do not label things with unique packaging, but a labeler is
> great for this.
>
> My mom started early with helping me with things. Everyone in my
> family knew how to help me though, it wasn't just her, and i was
> always expected to do as much as my brother and sister chores wise, so
> when i needed to learn something new they just taught me.
>
> Early intervention teachers did come to my house when i was young and
> helped my parents get started, and before that they didn't know what
> to do, so i am very thankful they were able to get help early.
>
> I think it is sad that many eye doctor's offices refuse to connect
> blind people or parents of blind children with blindness organizations
> or other blind people they know. I understand confidentiality, but
> these rules were not around when i was younger, so my early
> intervention specialist connected my mom with the nfb, and she was
> able to meet several successful blind adults which really helped my
> family to not limit me.
>
> Cindy
>
> On 5/2/10, bookwormahb at earthlink.net <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Obtaining living skills is real important to our success.  I went to our
>> state's center which seemed to have high expectations and some blind
>> instructors.  I am still developing my skills in cooking though.  We got
>> that class three times a week.
>>
>> I know many of you went to NFB centers at one point or another, but I'm 
>> sure
>> some of your instruction came at home.  You might have had a willing 
>> parent
>> or family member show you tasks and then you helped with chores or dinner 
>> or
>> maybe you had a rehab teacher come to your home and learned that way.
>>
>> I read articles from Future reflections about parents needing to be 
>> involved
>> and teaching their kids such as the article "Chore Wars" or "Parents: a
>> blind child's first mobility teacher".
>> I came from a protective family but as I got older and my dad got 
>> involved
>> with NFB and I also got more assertive I got to do a little more around
>> here.  I had a few rehab teachers come to my home too.  This was as a 
>> teen.
>> They were good.  I got my microwave and oven labeled and the laundry
>> machines.  I got some basics down from them like how to do laundry,
>> labeling, and how to clean some areas.
>>
>> So what skills did you learn at home?  Who taught you table skills?  This
>> was done for me at school by teachers of the vision impaired and a rehab
>> teacher showed me a few things too.  I was curious where you got some of
>> your skills from because even if you attend a center of any kind they 
>> can't
>> teach you everything.
>>
>> Also, what techniques work for you to label food items?  Dimo tape works 
>> for
>> dry items such as cans and boxes.  But I wonder about the refrigerator 
>> and
>> freezer food.
>>
>> Ashley
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>
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