[nfb-db] New and introducing myself

[Janice Toothman]

Hello everyone,
I am fortunate to know some of you personally and others from the NAGDU 
list. My name is Janice and I just joined the "half century club" this 
past June 21 (also my parent's wedding anniversary). I am the middle of 
three daughter, both of whom are married but I am not.

I have a wonderful 6 year old black golden lab/flat cross from GDF. She 
has inflammatory bowel disease and allergies. I am currently waiting on 
blood work about possible low thyroid. She had a seizure at convention, 
which she has never done before, so life with Destiny is not dull. I use 
her for guide, hearing and balance.

I began to loose my sight and hearing in 2002, Two years later I was 
totally blind with 70% hearing loss in both ears. I hate my hearing aids 
because I keep getting pressure ulcers in my ear which necessitate my 
not wearing them for 4-6 weeks and applying and antibiotic ointment. I 
also have problems with vertigo in which I take 12.5mg of meclizine TID. 
I use an FM receiver and it is written in my accommodation letter in 
school. I had been a visual learner and read voraciously. I am ashamed 
to say that I am losing my ability to spell because I can no longer see 
the words. I have a hard time imagining them in my head. I try to sound 
them out; but my voice I can barely hear or recognize with the hearing 
aids. I do like listening to books when I often miss words and spend 
time trying to decipher what that word according to the context. Also, 
some NLS readers voices are harder if not impossible to understand what 
they are saying than others that I give up in frustration no matter how 
interested I am in the book. I don't want to get up on my soap box here.

The two things that helped my through the initial terrifying loss were 
drawing on my faith in God's plan in my life and finding the NFB. I 
first got involved with our local chapter and its fundraising 
activities. I attended my first convention in 2007. I became a board 
member for the Sligo Creek Chapter in Maryland. In 2010, Burnell Brown, 
the President of the Deaf-Blind Division asked me if I wanted to be the 
secretary and I was voted in by acclamation.

The Federation has had a significant impact on my life. I has shown me 
that I can be independent and capable individual with a disability(s) I 
have the same rights as those without disabilities in America; Yet it is 
not so! The rights of the disabled have be usurped (for our "own good"- 
meaning to make the well intentioned rich. I will pause to take a breath 
and make the a treatise on disability rights when it was to be my 
introduction.

  AS you can tell, I am passionate, empathetic and new on the scene of 
deaf-blindness. This is due to the person I was before my sensory 
deprivation. But it is even more so since because what I fear most from 
my deafness is the silence. The blindness creates a sense of a black 
hole where people suddenly appear behind or in front of me and I am 
startled like a new baby by a loud noise except this was a collision of 
unseen bodies. While I am not a gregarious person, the social situations 
I prefer are more intimate (e.g. person-person) rather than large-scale 
(e.g. party). This was true before my hearing loss and is especially 
true with my hearing loss where background conversation make it 
impossible for me to understand a conversation that I might try to have 
with another person. Most times I just make appropriate conversational 
noises from time to time often hating myself because I am not speaking 
up to suggest a quieter place to talk. This is problematic because 
sighted/hearing people might pick a location they with their "perfect" 
senses feel this location should be sufficient whereas it may be 
insufficient. Mea culpa.

I have a Master's in psychology and am currently enrolled at Towson 
University to take the additional classes that the Maryland Board of 
Licensed and Professional Counselors required to practice in Maryland at 
a Licensed and Certified Professional Counselor (LCPC). Once I finish 
the courses next spring, I have to do my internship again the following 
year; then, I can study and sit for my licensing exam.

I realize that my hearing disability presents me with challenges in the 
counseling field. However, I feel that the disabled are an undeserved 
population. I wish that I could afford to learn tactile ASL. I learn 
bits and pieces from other DB people but it isn't reinforced. I know the 
"manual alphabet". I don't know if that means my finger  spell is the 
same as tactile American English?

Thanks for your patience.
Janice
Secretary
Deaf-Blind Division