[Nfb-lions] Brief Introduction

Darlene Laibl-Crowe dlaiblcrowe at att.net
Tue Sep 1 15:05:56 UTC 2015


Nice to meet you, Lion Paul!  And I truly enjoyed your sharing of how you became a Lion.

I don't believe I've ever shared on here before so I will do so now.  The first time I learned of the Lion's Club in our area (Palatka Lion's Club in Florida), I was a young mother and my hearing aid had broken.  I needed it repaired so the Lions gave me a loaner to use since I was also employed at the time until my hearing aid was repaired.  

Now, at this time, I was not visually impaired.  Unsuspecting to me and my family, we found out five years later that I was losing my vision due to Retinitis Pigmentosa.  I had started having problems with things blending into the background.  I had hit shopping carts in the parking lot that seemed to appear out of no where.  Then one day while I was visiting with my mother with my five year old son; I received a phone call from a friend.

Now this was in the mid-80s, the time where no cell phones were thought of; the friend told me that I had pulled out in front of him and he had to avoid hitting me with his vehicle by going into the inside lane of the four lane highway.  At first, I couldn't figure out what he was referring to and then I remembered pulling out of the convenient store.  I didn't remember seeing another vehicle on the road.  

Thank God there were no other vehicles on the road except for this friend.  He was driving a log truck and the reality of not seeing something that big shook me up.  I decided to go and get my eyes checked.  I was told I was going blind and advised to give up driving.  To make a long story short, I went through the emotions did what I could and moved on the best way I could.  

In 2006, I got my first guide dog.  I began experiencing some negative reactions from the community.  People would pet or talk to my guide...distract her and some were totally frightened of her and would literally run screaming out of the store.  Even store associates did not want to assist me.  I knew I needed to begin educating and bringing awareness.

One day, I was approached by a Lion, who invited me to a social with my then 15 year old youngest son.  I went and I began to realize that this was a perfect opportunity for me to join and begin educating about service animals.  I have been doing this ever since.

In 2008, after 22 years of being able to see with my central vision to read print and lips to accomdoate for what I couldn't hear; I began to struggle with additional vision loss.  To make another story short, I began to recognize myself as deaf for the first time in my life and then later deafblind when I met others just like me through a representative from Helen Keller National Center who help me to advocate to have my state send me to New York to train for my dual sensory loss.

In 2011, I began training in New York at HKNC for eight months.  I went there solely to learn how to better advocate for myself and to gain information about how to become gainfully employed again.  I experience so much while there that I came home to florida with confidence that I had never experienced in my life.  I have been advocating and doing all I can to help myself while helping others, too.  

In 2012, I was appointed by the governor to the Florida Coordinating Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to represent deafblind Floridians.  I also volunteer my time as the Florida Support Service Providers Program Coordinator for the Florida Deaf Blind Association.  I am also president of the Florida State Wide Chapter of the NFB and a member of several other NFB committees.  

For the Lions, I have served as Secretary for several years.  Our club--Palatka Lion's Club has been serving our community since 1949 and we are a part of District 35-L.  We are a small club, too--we currently have 16 members.  

In 2013, I was asked by state agency to meet with others in my community who are visually impaired to brainstorm of how to bring resources within our community.  I did and we created Eye on Accessibility Focus Group with a mission to alleviate barriers for those who live in our county with vision loss.  As a Lion, I supported this and also for myself; as I know how extremely difficult it is when you don't have the resources or support that you need---it is isolating.  

Last year, I encouraged three of the blind individuals in the EoA group to join the Lions and as a result one of those members had three family members join.  I was also writing articles for the local paper about vision loss and encouraging people to become active in the community in some form to support those with vision loss and hearing loss.  A couple who are visually impaired contacted the Lion president and we met with them and, they, too, joined.  As a result, I was able to have eight new members join our club!  

Now we have a new set of officers and working hard to promote membership and we hope to double the number!  Lionism is much more than being a Lion, it is actively building confidence within our community by serving their needs---especially the vision and hearing needs.  Diverse membership will bring many rewards and supporting one another will help alleviate isolation within our communities; both small and large!  

Today, I serve as Board of Director advising the current officers and supporting acitivites as I continue to advocate in other areas.  I am also pursuing Master's degree in Human Resources Management.  No, I am still not gainfully employed but I know that one day, I will be an amazing asset to an employer who steps out of its comfort zone to take a chance on me OR I could create my own business and become an employer to hire those who are at a disadvantage.  One thing that I've found is that anything is possible!

Diligently serving, encouraging in Lionism!!

☺ (smile)
Darlene Laibl-Crowe


-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-lions [mailto:nfb-lions-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Paul Smith via Nfb-lions
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2015 9:31 AM
To: nfb-lions at nfbnet.org
Cc: Paul Smith <paulsmith at samobile.net>
Subject: [Nfb-lions] Brief Introduction

Hello fellow Lions.  Just joined this group, so I thought that I'd post an intro about myself and how I came to join my local Lions Club, so that the other list members don't feel that I am a disembodied nonentity.

My name is Paul Smith and I live in Baltimore, Maryland.  My first introduction to Lions was as a preteen when our local club in District 22A, the Overlea Lions Club, sponsored a trip to the circus.  This was back in the mid 1950's.  We even had our own audio describer.  Needless to say I and my fellow students at the Maryland School for the Blind thoroughly enjoyed this Saturday morning activity.

Fast forward to September of 1960.  In that year the same club initiated financially a concert band at the above named school.  Among those who initially signed up for this extracurricular activity was, you guessed it, the undersigned.  The same Lions Club paid for uniforms and musical instruments.  Needless to say we had a great time in band practice and going out on occasional concert tours.

And finally we fast forward to the summer of 2013 when, along with others, mainly from Pennsylvania, I attended a ten-day session at Beacon Lodge, located near Mount Union PA and supported by the Lions of that state.  This was also very enjoyable.

With what you just read, my interest in joining my local Lions Club was piqued and aroused and, so far, I've been a board member of our club; in fact this is my second year of a two-year term.  Our club is quite small, only about 17 or 18 members, but we do what we can in the community.  In November of 2014 we inaugurated an outside pavillion at MSB for which I was present, the only blind Lion in attendance.  I even have a pin depicting, among other things, an outline of this structure.

Well, enough info about me.  Thanks for Lion Milton for posting joining info on SAMNET in the SAMNET Lions forum, a discussion group that I created.  Until I read further posts, I wish all the list members, both individually and collectively, good success in Lionism, whether in your local club or even in a wider sphere.  Lion Paul

_______________________________________________
Nfb-lions mailing list
Nfb-lions at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-lions_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Nfb-lions:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-lions_nfbnet.org/dlaiblcrowe%40att.net





More information about the NFB-Lions mailing list