[nabs-l] The Carroll Center for the Blind

[Salisbury, Justin Mark]

I attended the Carroll Center for the Blind for two consecutive summers with Justin Young, and I would like to give my personal take on it.

Justin and I had this joke where we started the Justin Corporation, an underground mafia meat market.  It was an amazing social experience with all of the other students involved.  If only considering the social frontier, I highly recommend it.

I attended the Youth in Transition (YIT) program in 2006 and then the Real World Work Experience (RWWE) in 2007.  I valued every bit of the experience both years, but I want to first make clear a fundamental disagreement that I now have with the training that I received.  I lost my vision in 2005, so I was newly blinded when I went to the Carroll Center.  They taught me to use my remaining vision as much as possible and taught me ways to use my remaining vision.  I wish that they had taught me how to do everything non-visually.  I wish that they had occluded (blindfolded) me during O&M lessons and other lessons in general.  I learned a lot of great things, but blindness skills should be about knowing how to do things non-visually.  I am now planning to attend an NFB training center (Louisiana Center for the Blind, Blind, Inc, or Colorado Center for the Blind), where I will learn all of the skills I need non-visually.  Also understand that I have a stable visual field and acuity.

I am much better off having gone to the Carroll Center than I was before I went there, but it wasn't the best possible program that I could have chosen.

In the Youth in Transition program, they worked with us on our confidence and social skills.  They taught us some basic cooking skills, how to do laundry, a lot of O&M, housekeeping skills, how to use low vision devices, and they had a class called "personal management," where they taught us about shaving, tying a tie, sewing a button, and things like that.  If we already knew how to do something, they would watch us do it and suggest modifications in technique if necessary.  They also had a class called adaptive technology, where they introduced me to ZoomText and other students with less vision than me to Jaws.  We had a lot of great group activities and social opportunities that I will remember for a long time.  We also saw a counselor while we were there on a weekly basis to make sure that we were adjusting well to the environment.  Another activity, called "people talk," was a time that we all gathered to talk about certain issues that often led to self-awareness and confidence building.

In the Real World Work Experience program, we were evaluated on our skills for a week and prepared for a month of work.  Once we started work, we worked for three days per week in volunteer positions, and we were paid by the Carroll Center.  The other two days were used for field trips and training days.  Again, it was an amazing experience.  Different students were placed in different positions in the Boston area.  We were responsible for using public transportation to get to and from our work sites.  We had two job coaches in charge of about 10 or 12 students in the program, so they weren't with us all the time.  They were sighted people who watched us at a distance while we were in the environment.  

At the beginning of the RWWE program, I met a few adults who were at the end of their adult program, which runs during the regular school year.  They spoke well of their program, but they told me that there wasn't an aggressive Braille standard that they had to meet in their program.  They studied it a little bit, but they didn't become what an NFB training center would push them to become.  Also, students at the Carroll Center live in a dorm and eat at a dining hall, which gives them a comfortable crutch, but it does not push them to really be independent.  When you walk into the dining hall, you are expected to put your cane in a docking station and navigate the dining hall without it by walking in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.

The Carroll Center is a good training center with good people in it, but it is not the very best option available.

I'd be happy to answer specific questions on- or off-list.

Justin



Justin M. Salisbury
Undergraduate Student
The University Honors Program
East Carolina University
salisburyj08 at students.ecu.edu

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD