[nabs-l] The Carroll Center for the Blind

[Peter Donahue]

Hello Justin and everyone,

    For the reasons you point out below I wouldn't mess with the Carroll 
Center under any circumstances. I'm originally from Massachusetts and saw 
the same kind of results you mentioned from students who went there. What 
can you expect from an agency whose founder viewed blindness as a "Dying." 
If you want good blindness training go to an NFB center. Get what you need 
once and it will last you a life time.

Peter Donahue


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Salisbury, Justin Mark" <SALISBURYJ08 at students.ecu.edu>
To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2011 8:57 PM
Subject: [nabs-l] The Carroll Center for the Blind


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



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