[nfb-db] My thoughts on training centers blind, and deaf blind.

Wed Nov 6 20:46:50 UTC 2013

Scott,
I will have to ask my case manager about the vibra-call system to use while at HK. 
I would generally agree that deaf people who have not been around alot of deafblind people are not patient. I have only been taking sign lessons since the beginning  of the summer, and I know about 600 to 700 signs, possibly more. By no means am I fluent, but while recieving signs, say at an event I am able to pick up enough signs to understand what is going on. For example, I attended a banquet for an deaf organization this past weekend. I was forced to use tsl the whole time, because unless the person was right in front of me, I could not hear them. Nor could I hear the presentor. We are talking for several hours I recieved sign, and although I didn't understand every single sign, I got a majority of it. In fact one SSP, started to finger spell with me, which I am so not good at anymore. I guess because my ability to understand signs has increased. 

Scott, if you have been taking sign lessons for the past year, you must know more words than yous ay. I am sure because you don't use it on a daily basis you forget. I am also sure you vocabulary is not of a 6 month old..LOL 

We can practice together perhaps... 

Marsha drenth  
Sent with my IPhone 

> On Nov 6, 2013, at 5:41 AM, Scott Davert <scottdavert at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi marsha.
> There are no real reliable solutions on the market right now which
> allow one to set an alarm independently who can't see them which also
> require a bed shaker. The Quartz braille clocks tends to break very
> easily, from what several people I know have said. But HKNC will
> provide you with an alarm clock if you request it. I didn't ask for a
> vibracall system when I was here as a student, and have not read the
> handbook in years, though I did do some editing on a much older
> version of it.
> I want to level with you guys based on my experiences attempting to
> learn sign and also based on what other professionals and people who
> have visual impairments have told me. First, you will not be a fluent
> signer in a year, though if you get highly involved with patient
> people, you can certainly come a long way. Second, it seems that
> people who are congenitally blind (meaning since birth) tend to
> struggle a lot more than those who have had vision in the past. This
> is because of the facial expressions Randy eluded to earlier, but also
> because the language is very special in nature. At least for myself
> and from what  other blind people who have later lost their hearing
> have told me, is a common problem. It doesn't mean you should give up,
> but these are just some things to be aware of. I have been getting
> some sign classes off and on for the past year and a half, and I still
> struggle because using it on a daily basis isn't so easy. I've found
> that many Deaf people do not want to take the time and slow down to
> work with me. The only reliable way I have to communicate with those
> who are totally deaf directly is through texting or the Rochester
> Method. And the Rochester Method apparently is too slow, so a lot of
> the Deaf people I've encountered don't seem to want to bother. Maybe
> I've just met the wrong ones, I don't know...
> 
> Scott
> 
>> On 11/5/13, gene richburg <gene5402 at austin.rr.com> wrote:
>> Hi Marsha, well I have either some time in Jan or Feb, but that hasn't been
>> determined yet.  I still have to develop my iep plan with dars, the
>> department of asistive rehabilitation services, HKNC can't give me a date
>> with out that I e p plan, but I have to have a prep meeting  that will
>> include my mom and everyone else.  We were gonna have it on the 24th of
>> october, but Molly Rimer had a death in the family, her niece passed away
>> that morning at age 22, or 23, I for get which, so hopefully things will
>> work out on the 8th of this month, then after the prep meeting then we will
>> be able to develop the actual I e p.  The reason I need a prep meeting, is
>> so my mom can help me figure out what I will be able to expect from Dars,
>> and what they will expect of me.  It's really frustrating, I was supposed to
>> get in back in either august but couldn't because every one that was helping
>> me with the application totally dropped the ball, and me and my mom finally
>> had to step in and straighten everything out,.
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Marsha Drenth
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 05, 2013 4:19 PM
>> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [nfb-db] My thoughts on training centers blind, and deaf blind.
>> 
>> Jean, yes I did receive the student handbook. I got it from the admissions
>> person at HK and see. I think I also read that they do provide the vibrant
>> call alert system. I'm interested in seeing that. Do you have a start date?
>> 
>> Marsha drenth
>> Sent with my IPhone
>> 
>>> On Nov 5, 2013, at 4:52 PM, "gene richburg" <gene5402 at austin.rr.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi Marsha, did you receive the HKNC student handbook?  I don't know if
>>> they provide consumers, or what ever they call people who come there, but
>>> I think they provide some kind of vibra call system, but I didn't get that
>>> 
>>> part very clearily, I'll have to go back and read that, perhaps Scott can
>>> clear that up for sure.  But if you need the handbook, I can email you off
>>> 
>>> list and atatch it to the message.
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message----- From: Marsha Drenth
>>> Sent: Monday, November 04, 2013 8:26 PM
>>> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [nfb-db] My thoughts on training centers blind, and deaf
>>> blind.
>>> 
>>> Maurice,
>>> I think hands down that no one will argue with you that if someone is in
>>> need of blindness skills training, and if they are just blind with no
>>> additional disablity, then going to a NFB training center is the best.
>>> With that said, I am not just blind, but severely hard of hearing. I have
>>> chosen to go to HKNC because of two main reasons, I do not need blindness
>>> skills. I was blind before I lost my hearing. But I do need the skills in
>>> order to live as a deafblind person. I have traveled with a cane, with a
>>> guide dog, read braille, and am able to use technology. The problem lays
>>> in that I also can't hear. There is only one center in this country that
>>> can train a person who is both blind and hard of hearing. With that said,
>>> most persons who go to HKNC, are in need of a audiologist who has worked
>>> with the dual sensory loss. An in house audiologist who understand the
>>> needs of blind persons, visually impaired persons, and those who also who
>>> are deaf, hard of hearing and or hearing impaired; is something that an
>>> NFB center does not have. Just because I have made this desicion, doesn't
>>> not mean that I am less of a person, less of an NFB member, or think less
>>> of the philosophy.
>>> 
>>> Its awesome that you had a successful experience at the CCB. And I am also
>>> 
>>> not sure, of your hearing issues. But if I am reading your message
>>> correctly, your saying those persons who go to an NFB center, are better.
>>> This is the sort of attitude that divides a group. The NFB centers are no
>>> less better than HK, nor is HK better than an NFB center. Its just
>>> different, serves different disabilities, different needs.
>>> 
>>> I have heard of both good and bad experiences at the HK center, jsut as I
>>> have heard of persons going through an NFB center. I just know that for
>>> me, with my hearing loss, it would not be successful to go to a NFB
>>> center. For them to ask me to listen to traffic in order to indicate when
>>> its safe to cross. I can't hear traffic. It would not be viable for me to
>>> have an NFB center to tell me, listen for the water boiling, I can't hear
>>> it boil. The techniques are different, similar but different.
>>> 
>>> Granted I haven't been there yet to begin my training. My desicion was one
>>> 
>>> I made for me. But with that said, I can understand why other deafblind
>>> persons make the same desicion.
>>> 
>>> Its unfair to say that HK is not what blind, or deafblind people should be
>>> 
>>> going to for training, especially if you haven't been there yourself. I
>>> would say that all blind persons should be tolerant of those of us who
>>> have different needs, are in need of different skills than just those you
>>> learn as a blind person.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Marsha drenth
>>> Sent with my IPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Nov 4, 2013, at 6:19 PM, maurice mines <kd0iko at icloud.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Good afternoon, I have been thinking for quite some time as I’ve read
>>>> emails on this list recently, that it might be of some benefit to talk
>>>> about the benefits of attending an NFB training center. Of course the
>>>> question that many on this list will ask why are you even discussing
>>>> this? Because I’ve heard a lot recently a.k.a. read a lot recently that
>>>> the feeling seems to be that HK in C is apparently be only game in town.
>>>> But I believe that if my past experience at the Colorado Center for the
>>>> blind is any indication of how and if the training centers handle death
>>>> blindness, one need not have very much worry about. Remember that the
>>>> training is very individualized. So what may work for you and what level
>>>> of deaf blindness you have, it may not reflect how they deal with your
>>>> neighbor at all. Also as far as I understand the training centers do
>>>> reach out to resources to help that training happen appropriately. So
>>>> you’re
>>>> not going into the great void of the unknown. Also it is good to know
>>>> that based on my experience we found alternative techniques not only to
>>>> blindness but the issues surrounding the lack of hearing. And of course
>>>> we discuss the options should one’s hearing get worse. I guess one
>>>> getting at here is that if you are considering going to a training center
>>>> 
>>>> I think that’s the first part, the second part is actually figuring out
>>>> which one you should go to and the reasons why you want to go to it? I
>>>> think that based on everything I’ve read and people I’ve talked to that
>>>> all three of our centers can handle this well. I think a comment by a
>>>> current staff member made when I was a student at the Colorado Center for
>>>> 
>>>> the blind came out of it conversation regarding the disabilities that is
>>>> neither deaf blindness were just great blindness. It surrounds my at that
>>>> 
>>>> time anyway great fear of writing anything. The staff member said quote
>>>> you can’t just not right. The translation that I took away from that and
>>>> have come to realize in the years since I graduated from the Colorado
>>>> Center for the blind, you can’t just not live life because you can’t hear
>>>> 
>>>> ordered their blindness involved. And depending on what you have to do,
>>>> in many respects you have to get out there and just plain live one’s
>>>> life. Another thought of course comes to mind in many of the writings and
>>>> 
>>>> things that are second national president Dr. Jernigan when he spoke
>>>> about not throwing the nickel. I guess it kind of blows down to accept
>>>> help when you need it and of course find ways of not accepting it if you
>>>> don’t. And last but not least he believed in blind people and I extend
>>>> this adept line people blending into society when in wherever it is
>>>> possible. Just some food for thought on a rainy Monday afternoon. I’d
>>>> certainly would like to read some of the thoughts that you all may add to
>>>> 
>>>> this. But I’ll just leave it at this I have an abiding belief in all of
>>>> the training centers and what they can do in the fact that the NFB
>>>> difference is that they care not just there for a paycheck. But because
>>>> they care and believe in turning out capable and competent people.
>>>> 
>>>> Sincerely Maurice mines. Phone 360-524-0791, work/school email address,
>>>> Maurice.mines at PCC.edu.
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