[nabs-l] Good vs. Not-so-good Training Centers

Dave Webster dwebster125 at comcast.net
Tue Jul 17 17:50:59 UTC 2012 

		I went to wsb in 08 when I first came out here to arkansas.
I personally didn't heer any gun shots out there but I had heard about folks
who had.  One of the students who ad been there for close to a year said
they had heard some.  I was in the microsoft certification program and I had
to leave because after 3 months of being there I crashed demotionally so I
had to go to the hospital.  I have bipolar and stress can cause symptoms.  I
live in a residential facility here in sherwood.  I have tried to live on my
own 3 different times and didn't do well on any of them.  However, even
though I live in this center I live in now they don't require a whole lot.
We do have so sign out when we go places but that's simple enough so.  I'm
very independent but its hard to live on my own with bipolar.
-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Kirt Manwaring
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 10:26 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Good vs. Not-so-good Training Centers

Ashley,
  I just graduated from a state training center which was, by most accounts
(including mine), a pretty good one.  We lived in apartments close (within
walking distance) of our classes.  No, we never had to sign out.  When I
wanted to go to Dennies at 2 AM (it happened sometimes...I was craving
bacon!) I just took a cab and went.  When I wanted to go to the mall or the
movies or whatever, I just walked to the bus stop.  As long as you were in
class, and as long as you were out of each others' apartments past nine pm
(I suppose every state agency has to have at least one silly rule thrown in
for good measure), we were fine.  No signing out necessary.
  Best,
Kirt

On 7/17/12, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Brandon,
> I'm not saying you let them know where you are; just signing in and out.
> They ask you to do that at the state center in VA.
> You may not know where you're going, good point. I agree about the 
> transit thing though; unfortunately, perhaps centers save money by 
> buying cheap land.
> Since training centers need to account for everyone , I can see why 
> they due
>
> that. They might have a legal obligation to know if you are on or off 
> property. I'm not a lawyer, but it probably has to do with that. When 
> we had
>
> a drill at college, they took attendance before everyone left. It was 
> a community college though and may be less common at universities.
>
> It seems that if WSB wanted to serve their students in the best 
> situation, they would relocate to a safer area.
> But I can understand the sign out thing.
>
> Ashley
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brandon Keith Biggs
> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 2:43 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Good vs. Not-so-good Training Centers
>
> I totally Agree, training centers should be in the areas where blind 
> people would be most likely to live, not the cheapest place to live. I 
> was at a program in LA and although the neighborhood wasn't too bad, a 
> guy found a dead body at a bus stop when I was there...
> Also, I am a firm believer in training centers being in a town with 
> good public transportation, NOT LA!
>
> Not be able to contact the student? Mom call your child's cell phone?
> That's
> what my parents did/do when I was at a training program and now living 
> on my own. I'm an adult, if you want to know where I am you can call 
> me... In a new city I'm probably going to not know what's around, so 
> most of my outings will say something like "exploring" or "taking a 
> walk." Of course if I'm staying any extended time at a place where my 
> phone is going to be off for most of the time, I should let someone 
> know where I am, but I go everywhere in my area and it would just 
> become too much to tell someone where I am at all times.
> Thanks,
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ashley Bramlett
> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 9:42 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Good vs. Not-so-good Training Centers
>
> Dave,
> Oh my! Which year did you attend WSB? Were you there for a vocational 
> program or independent living? I've heard good things about the 
> vocational tracks like IRS, but not the general life skills teaching. 
> Its sad to house a center for the blind in a high crime area. Seems 
> counter productive because the director should want students to get 
> out and do their own thing.
> There is a tendency to exaggerate here because people like nfb centers 
> more.
> Its nfb list after all.
> Are you serious? Near enough to hear gun shots?
> Ashley
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Webster
> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 11:43 PM
> To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Good vs. Not-so-good Training Centers
>
> Hi.  My name is Dave.  I actually have been to both centers lcb and 
> wsb which is world services for the blind which formally was lions 
> world services for the blind.  I attended lcb back when Joanne was
director.
> World services gane me good training in a vocational skill but you're 
> right it didn't give good training in personal management skills.  
> things such as cooking cleaning and stuff like that wasn't all that 
> great.  One of the things to keep in mind is that wsb is in a very 
> very bad area of Little rock.  I would not want to go out on my own 
> especially at night.  Noone could pay me enough money to do that.  its 
> such a bad enough area that people have heard gun shots on campus.  
> People have seen others get arrested right there in front of the 
> school so.  Just my thoughts.-----Original
> Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf Of Arielle Silverman
> Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 10:22 PM
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nabs-l] Good vs. Not-so-good Training Centers
>
> Hi all,
> I have not been to WSB and so cannot comment on its quality as a 
> center for specific job training (i.e. the IRS program), but I have 
> heard lots of negative rumors about it, though none as disturbing as what
Amber related.
> I
> will, however, comment on the fact that WSB apparently houses students 
> in dormitories and does not give students any opportunities to prepare 
> their own meals or, presumably, to travel very far between home and 
> campus. I am a proud graduate of LCB and I would recommend NFB centers 
> for many reasons, but one of the biggest differences I can see between 
> good and bad training centers is whether or not students live on or 
> off campus. This is simply because, in my experience, at least half of 
> what I gained from attending a center were things I learned off campus 
> by cooking, cleaning and traveling on my own. When you make the 
> commitment to go to a residential center, you really need to get the 
> most bang for your buck, so to speak, and I think dorm-style 
> accommodations really limit what you are able to learn from the 
> experience. As just one example, a skill I acquired at LCB that I 
> still use on a daily basis is knowing how to safely and confidently 
> cross the street at an uncontrolled intersection. I practiced this a 
> few times in travel class, but nearly all the safety and confidence I 
> acquired in crossing uncontrolled intersections came from needing to 
> cross Bonner and Mississippi twice each day to get to and from the LCB 
> from my off-campus apartment.
> Similarly, many of us decide to attend centers to improve nonvisual 
> cooking and cleaning skills and I don't even understand how you can 
> really practice those things if you live in a dorm. Laundry maybe, but
that's about it.
> Training isn't about just trying something out once or twice, but 
> instead it's about practice and repetition, which is best gotten when 
> you are doing things like cooking, cleaning and street travel on a 
> regular basis and out of necessity. Not to mention that having to sign 
> in and out must really make people less motivated to venture out on 
> their own--but that's a whole other issue.
> So if you are struggling between center options, I'd urge you to 
> consider whether the living situation is on or off campus as a major 
> factor in your decision.
> BTW, I think someone might have posted recently with questions about 
> LCB, but I don't recall who it was. If you still have questions, you 
> can give me a call at
> 602-502-2255
> There's a lot I could say about my LCB experience and a live  phone 
> conversation will probably be more helpful than email.
> Best,
> Arielle
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dwebster125%40comc
> ast.ne
> t
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%40eart
> hlink.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/brandonkeithbiggs%
> 40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%40eart
> hlink.net
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/kirt.crazydude%40g
> mail.com
>

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
nabs-l:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/dwebster125%40comcast.ne
t

More information about the NABS-L mailing list