[nabs-l] Training centers not the real world

[RJ Sandefur]

Men, Thank you for that point. My friend Rohanda went blind four years ago.
Her daughter is Ten years old. Our ehab agency wanted to send her to a
training center. She doesn't want to leave her child. RJ
----- Original Message -----
From: "minh ha" <minh.ha927 at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2013 12:33 AM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Training centers not the real world


All the proponents of training centers, NFB or otherwise keep saying
how going to one will give blind individuals the skills they need to
gain employment or to be successful. I'm just wondering how these
success stories are measured? Do the majority of graduates gain
employment afterwards because of their new found independence skills
and are these numbers higher than those that do not attend training
centers? Maybe it's different for me because I had vision for the
first few years of my life, but all the skills that I've acquired over
the years, I learned from my family and friends. I remember growing
up, cooking was one of the activities that my best friend and I
experimented together; she didn't know cooking skills either so we
played around in the kitchen and taught ourselves how to use a stove,
etc. I think we place too much responsibility on others--if I want to
learn something, I teach myself or I ask someone who knows it to teach
me. Furthermore, I can't see myself taking 6-9 months to essentially
remove myself from society to focus on blindness skills so I can gain
employment. I have had many internships and opportunities in college
because I actually go out there and network and present myself to
potential employers. My point is experience is the best teacher--I can
learn all the independence skills I need at a center, but it's not
going to do me any good without the experience.

Minh

On 11/10/13, Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>  good points thus far, and great discussion.
>   The idea of schools for the blind (at least as I understand them) is
that
> students in these  schools may get  the proper instruction in skills that
> would allow them to be  as successful in the classroom as their
classmates.
> They may also benefit from gaining access to sports that are adapted for
the
> blind where in the public school setting these things are not always
readily
> available .
>   In the training center environment, you are learning skills that will
help
> you   become confident and competent enough to  compete and  succeed  in
the
> world.  in our NFB training centers, we learn the skills  that enable us
to
>   be successful and  gain the attitude and belief  that not only can we
> lead  productive  successful, and meaningful lives,  but that  this should
> be the exact expectation we should have for ourselves.
>  So, while the implication one might get is that such learning
environments
> shelter  people  from the “real world”, it is my view that generally
> speaking they can serve to help you be prepared  for that “real world” in
a
> way that matriculating through mainstream schooling might leave  you
> otherwise ill equipped to do.
>    Darian
>
>
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--
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence

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