[nabs-l] Training centers and their structure

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Dear List,

I know I will be preaching to the choir here so forgive me, but I feel
it is important to stress the importance of choosing a good training
center to attend.

As a blind person-- whether blind from birth, later in life or in the
process of losing vision-- one of the most important things you can do
is attend the best training center you can find.  The reason NFB centers
and other progressive centers follow similar methods is because, for
years now, they have proven to be the best methods for instilling
independence along with a strong functionality with the skills.

We all learn at different paces and with different styles, but these
centers are structured to meet individual needs.  This is why people
train anywhere from 6 months to a year.  If you think you can learn the
skills in less than 6 months and use them effectively, you are mistaken.
Time and time again, I have seen people choose to not complete a
training course and they lack the confidence and ability that most gain
after at least a six month stint.

As for sleep shades, I have always failed to understand why people are
against this.  I initially learned with sleep shades and it made sense
to me.  How better to gain that confidence than to know you can do
things in non-visual ways?  Now that I can no longer use my vision at
all, it makes me feel like I must be less capable when people say sleep
shade training is wrong or not necessary.  The way this comes across is
that vision is still vital to be truly independent, and that when you
have no useable vision, you can not effectively accomplish things.

Do not sell yourself short.  We all have the ability to gain that
freedom and independence we hear so much about.  If you have never tried
something, how do you know you can't do it?  I don't say all this
because I have been brain washed, and I am one of those hard core blind
people; I say all this because I have experienced it and know the
benefits.

We will struggle, we will need to learn, we will not always do
everything perfectly, but if we have been handed the tools and methods
to give us independence and confidence, we will find a way to prove
ourselves to the world.

I agree that placing an untrained student into an apartment scenerio may
not work for everyone.  I understand the reasoning behind this, but I
also know that before you learn skills and the confidence to use those
skills, living on your own may not be the best situation right away.
Not all training centers, good ones that is, follow this style of
training.  You can find centers, like the Iowa Department for the Blind,
where there structure is similar to the NFB centers, but housing is on
campus, not apartments.  Regardless, challenge yourself and find out
what you really are able to do.

Many of us can a test to the positive influence of a good training
center that teaches Structured Discovery.  Sleep shades and completing
six to nine months is essential to these programs.  Do we choose
universities that truncate their programs because we don't want to spend
time completing a degree?  No, we know we have to work for four years,
or longer, so we can receive the best education possible.  Why do we
view training centers for the blind differently?

I urge us all to take a good look inside and figure out who we are and
what we are capable of.  We will all encounter situations in life that
make us nervous or scared, but does that mean we limit our lives?  Do we
not reach our full potential because of nerves?  No, of course not.  We
should not follow an opposite line of thinking, then, when it comes to
choosing a training center.

Centers that do not offer this kind of training only send a message that
blindness is limiting, and one is better off with some vision.  Yes, I
have visited centers like this and it is sad to see blind people not
reaching their full potential or not understanding how independent they
can be.  The reason NFB centers were created was because most other
agencies were not teaching and instilling this sense of independence,
and they were not willing to open their minds to a new way.  Like many
other situations, we were not going to accept this so we opened our own
training centers.  Not everyone graduating from these centers leaves
ready to make their mark on the world, bbut this is life.  Many, though,
leave these centers knowing they can do anything, and they are ready to
face the world.

I am one of these people.  I never understood the fear of training or
the insistance that it was not important.  When I started losing my
vision, I couldn't wait to train.  I knew I could still do things, I
just had to figure out how to do them.  I did not accept what people
told me, that I was limited and would not be able to do a lot of things.
I felt this way long before I trained, long before I knew of the NFB or
any other group.  I was nervous, and at 23, leaving for training, in a
whole other state, was the first time I truly lived away from home.  I
have not been back since.

I live on my own (wel, with my husband, who, by the way, is blind too).
I take the bus, I go to school, I work.  I do everything, and more, and
I owe this to a positive training center.

I will stop.  I apologize, but I feel so strongly about this topic.  As
blind people-- as people-- I know we can do anything we put our minds
too.  I simply don't want to see anyone stifle their own potential.

Bridgit