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

[The Pawpower Pack]

Hi Kerri, 
That is a really great story about your experience.  What is Freedom Bell? 
You are right in that people need to do what is best for them.  You had a great experience. However, you are also someone who communicates through speech.  I work in Louisiana and respect the work that LCB does, because my students have gone there and returned with truly wonderful skills.  However, I am an ASL user.  I can hear a little speech if we are one to one in a quiet place with zero backgroud noise, if I'm wearing my hearing aid.  I can only hear a little bit out of one ear— the other is for decoration, lol.  
So I use ASL, and interpreters if I'm communicating with a hearing person or people.  If I went to a center like LCB, it would be very socially isolating, because once my interpreters left for the day, I would either have to communicate through writing, or go into a quiet place with my hearing aid on.  But I don't choose to where it, for several reasons.  Therefore, if I was in the market for rehab training I would not attend a center such as LCB.  There are other centers besides HK which have strong deafblind programs, with Deaf or Deafblind people on staff.  Affiliated Blind of Louisiana is one that I know of as well as the Career development center in Baton Rouge.  There is a strong Deafblind community here in LA, with many people have Usher Syndrome.  So that is why many programs in my area have good Deafblind programs. 
What I'm trying to say is that you are right, that people she not dismiss the NFB centers, but that there are many different centers for a reason, because there are many different people all with unique needs. 
Best,
Rox, who needs to drink at least one cup of coffee before writing long emails!
Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 7, 2013, at 6:54 PM, Kerri Kosten <kerrik2006 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Everyone:
> 
> I am one of those people who attended an NFB center and had a very
> positive experience. I attended LCB and graduated with a freedom bell
> on January 31.
> I was able to socially fit in fine. I made many friends.
> Of course, I was required to take all the classes but I mainly
> attended the center to work on my travel and cooking skills.
> I had probably the best travel instructor in the country. I loved how
> my instructor held me to such high expectations even with my hearing
> loss.
> In fact, when I first began attending LCB, I was very unaccepting of
> my hearing loss. I felt like I had a lot of hearing.
> It was through hours and hours of communication and patience by my
> travel instructor that I came to accept that I in fact do have severe
> hearing loss and it does affect my life, and I needed to accept it.
> I admired my travel instructor and wanted to be just like him/her. I
> worked as hard as I possibly could in that class.
> Since I am only able to cross streets with very little traffic with my
> hearing, and I can not reliably orient to traffic patterns, my
> instructor made me use a card/sign to get assistance from people to
> cross streets. I also used a braille compass and the compass on the
> Iphone for cardinal directions and I used cardinal directions to
> orient because I could not use traffic sounds.
> In the beginning, my instructor would make me go into businesses and I
> had to tell the person I was speaking with that I had hearing loss and
> to please give me verbal directions since I couldn't follow them by
> their voice alone. I hated hated hated having to tell people I had
> hearing loss but I gained confidence soon enough.
> Normally, when the instructors give students assignments, they are all
> walking and finding addresses. However, my instructor knew with my
> hearing loss I would need to use other forms of transportation to get
> to places so he/she would often give me assignments where I had to
> take a taxicab places. I also learned to hire a driver, and he/she
> even made me plan a trip to another city and I had to hire the driver
> and negotiate the times and pricing with the driver.
> I happened to be the only student with hearing loss when I attended,
> and once I began using the card/sign to cross streets, I was afraid
> the other students and staff wouldn't approve. But, one day I talked
> about it during seminar and everyone clapped and cheered for a route I
> was able to do independently by getting assistance across the streets.
> For my graduation route, I had to do an out of town route. I had to
> pick somewhere I wanted to go in another city, take the greyhound bus
> there, and then take a taxicab to my destination. I took the greyhound
> bus to a nearby city, and took a cab to the mall and navigated the
> mall all day.
> I went rock climbing, white water rafting, horse back riding, and to
> the NFB convention in Dallas with the center just to name a few
> things.
> I even got to participate in the LCB play at the 2012 NFB convention.
> I also performed in the Christmas play.
> I made a meal for 8 people and a meal for 40 people.
> A friend and I even independently planned a trip on our own and took a
> five-day trip from Louisiana to Oklahoma to attend a football game. I
> love sports so my friend and I attended three football games all in
> different states.
> It was a rough road, but in the end my training showed me that I can
> do anything and by using the techniques I learned and enough planning
> I feel I can travel anywhere.
> I loved my training at LCB and felt it was very positive.
> Were there rough times? Definitely.
> There were even times where I questioned whether LCB was for me. But
> in the end, when the nine months was up and I graduated with my
> freedom bell, it was all worth it and I knew I had made the right
> decision.
> I feel each person should make the best decision on training for them.
> They should not rule a center out based on their hearing loss.
> HKNC is not the only game in town, and it angers me that so many seem
> to think it is and NFB centers seem to unfairly get a bad rap. The
> training is very individualized for each person. LCB definitely had to
> change some techniques to modify me. They normally don't teach blind
> students to use a card/sign but for me it was necessary so they did it
> and they said from now on they will continue to do it for any future
> deaf-blind student that attends there. Most students don't need to use
> a compass, but I had to use one. They definitely modified a lot of
> techniques for me.
> The director, Pam Allen is very very supportive. She along with other
> staff members at the center are good friends and mentors of mine. Even
> now that I have graduated, I often receive emails from Pam just saying
> she was thinking of me and asking me how I am.
> Even though I am not a student, my travel instructor said I could call
> him/her anytime to ask a question or if I need help.
> I have talked to other staff members from the center even though I
> have graduated. They truly care even after training.
> A person should be able to attend the center that is best for them,
> not for their hearing. I briefly considered attending HKNC, but I felt
> LCB was better.
> I just want people to realize that LCB and the other NFB centers do
> definitely definitely work with people who have severe hearing loss
> and they (NFB centers) should not be ruled out. I had a very positive,
> successful experience.
> Thanks,
> Kerri
> 
> On 11/7/13, Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Randy,
>> I'd like to know more about these methods in how to learn ASL? Very very
>> curiously.
>> 
>> 
>> Marsha drenth
>> Sent with my IPhone
>> 
>>> On Nov 7, 2013, at 10:33 AM, "Randy Pope" <randy.pope at aadb.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hey Scott,
>>> 
>>> Whatever you do, don't let these people advise you to stick the Rochester
>>> method.  That is a very bad idea.  Many of the DB people would not have
>>> the
>>> patience to communicate with those using this method.
>>> 
>>> With the right people, you will...not maybe....you will master ASL
>>> somehow.
>>> There are deaf ASL teachers out there who would be willing to work with
>>> people like you.  For those DB people who cannot see, there are other
>>> method
>>> to teach ASL.  I know of several who are teaching ASL to totally blind
>>> students, successfully,
>>> 
>>> Randy
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nfb-db [mailto:nfb-db-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Scott Davert
>>> Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2013 8:33 PM
>>> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [nfb-db] My thoughts on training centers blind, and deaf
>>> blind.
>>> 
>>> Hi marsha.
>>> Sadly, my vvocabulary is maybe 100 signs. The classes until very recently
>>> have been so infrequent that I haven't benifited much from them. My
>>> receptive skills are certainly better than my actual signing ones. People
>>> have started to tell me that I should just stick with the Rochester
>>> method,
>>> but I want to keep trying to learn, you know?
>>> 
>>> Scott
>>> 
>>>> On 11/6/13, Marsha Drenth <marsha.drenth at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Hi Gene,
>>>> sounds like you have some things to do. In all due time it will get
>>>> done.
>>>> Good luck, perhaps you will get to come up while I am there.
>>>> Keep us updated.
>>>> 
>>>> Marsha drenth
>>>> Sent with my IPhone
>>>> 
>>>>> On Nov 5, 2013, at 10:00 PM, "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.
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> nfb-db mailing list
>>>>>>> nfb-db at nfbnet.org
>>>>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-db_nfbnet.org
>>>>>> 
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