[NFBMO] Question on additional independent living training as a full-time working blind adult

Gary Wunder GWunder at earthlink.net
Tue Mar 12 13:48:27 UTC 2019


Hi,

In the state of Missouri, how common is it for blind people to need
additional independent living training while they are working full-time? Say
I move into a different apartment to be closer to my job. If I found out I
needed more O and M training, would I contact St. Louis Society for the
Blind and Visually Impaired first, or RSB? 

Hello, Mike, and welcome to the mailing list. Believe it or not, many blind
people are helped by other blind people who happen to know the area.
Sometimes we are helped by sighted people if we first train them to point
out things we wish to know. This eliminates for many of us the bottleneck of
trying to figure out how to get professional services. I will leave it to
someone in St. Louis to say whether you should contact Rehabilitation
Services for the Blind or some other service provider for Cain travel
services. I do believe that you will find it amazing what you can learn on
your own if you can free yourself from the mindset that each new route must
be taught. I had a blind college student teach me just how much fun it was
to get lost and then find my way out. Although we didn't use the word back
then, I guess we would call it empowering today.

Do blind people usually take vacation to accommodate the training
conflicting with work hours? 

I have never taken vacation time for Cain travel skills, because usually
what I need can be handled in an hour or two and can be done on a weekend or
in the early evening. 

Can an O and M specialist help on recommendations regarding which apartments
are good from that perspective, during the search, or is it best to go
through conventional channels like apartments.com?

I suggest that you tell people where you work, take someone to go visit the
area, and consider hiring a real estate agent to help you look at what is
available. I assume that you are interested in something within walking
distance of where you will work. Maybe you will choose something that
provides you with easier street crossings.

My other question on independent living is: What are the different ways in
which blind people deal with mail? On another mailing list, I heard about
the optacon, but would like to learn more about my options. Is OCR more
common? For large stacks of mail, is it possible to get a reader? How does
one find a reader?

I don't think the Opticon is being made anymore. Even in its heyday, it was
never very fast, and people could usually use it only for short periods
because of the intense vibration on the index finger and the need to be very
careful in moving the camera with the right hand. The Opticon was popular in
the 70s, and I think that today it is generally been replaced with optical
character recognition software. The hardware that you have will determine
what kind of software you want to get. If you are going to handle a lot of
mail, you may want a scanner or a self standing camera that works in
conjunction with Kurzweil 1000 or OpenBook. If you intend to use a smart
phone, there is the option of the KNFB Reader or of Microsoft's latest
offering which is Seeing AI.

I believe that a good human reader is still worthwhile and that there are
many benefits of having such a relationship. I can move very quickly through
a stack of papers with the aid of a human being who is good at reading. Lots
of folks are looking for jobs that don't require a lot of hours in a row
because they are already working one job and just need to supplement their
income a bit. Word-of-mouth is always a good way to recruit. Newspaper ads
also work. Sometimes you will have to pay by the hour. If you are willing to
invest time and attention in a person who may just want to help and will do
so because it eliminates some of the loneliness they feel, then volunteers
are certainly an option and can be recruited in the same way. Again, there
is of special relationship to be had here if only we make the effort.

If you want to talk about any of this, please send me a message off list. I
live in Columbia, but I know lots of folks in St. Louis who would be willing
to help you.

Warmly,

Gary - 573-874-1774




-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMO [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Walker (US),
Michael E via NFBMO
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2019 10:35 AM
To: nfbmo at nfbnet.org
Cc: Walker (US), Michael E
Subject: [NFBMO] Question on additional independent living training as a
full-time working blind adult

Hi,

In the state of Missouri, how common is it for blind people to need
additional independent living training while they are working full-time? Say
I move into a different apartment to be closer to my job. If I found out I
needed more O and M training, would I contact St. Louis Society for the
Blind and Visually Impaired first, or RSB? Do blind people usually take
vacation to accommodate the training conflicting with work hours? Can an O
and M specialist help on recommendations regarding which apartments are good
from that perspective, during the search, or is it best to go through
conventional channels like apartments.com?

My other question on independent living is: What are the different ways in
which blind people deal with mail? On another mailing list, I heard about
the optacon, but would like to learn more about my options. Is OCR more
common? For large stacks of mail, is it possible to get a reader? How does
one find a reader?

Thank you,
Mike
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