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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000">
<DIV>Greetings to all!</DIV>
<DIV>Please read and share with others.</DIV>
<DIV>Received from Peggy Chong, the Blind History Lady.</DIV>
<DIV>If interested with receiving information highlighting the blind and the
history, her contact information is provided.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference<BR>Joe Ruffalo, President
<BR>National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey <BR>973 743
0075<BR>nfbnj1@verizon.net<BR><A
href="http://www.nfbnj.org">www.nfbnj.org</A></DIV>
<DIV>Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.<BR>Donate your
unwanted vehicle to us by clicking <BR>www.carshelpingtheblind.org <BR>or call
855 659 9314<BR></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma">
<DIV>
<DIV
style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'>September
9-15, 2017 is Medication Safety Awareness Week. Many and varied
agencies, consumer groups, hospitals, pharmacies and medical manufacturers are
doing much to promote safety in the use of medications in our country. The
Blind History Lady weighs in on this important topic from a historical
perspective looking at the attitudes of the sighted and blind from decades past
and how those attitudes impacted a blind person’s ability to take control of
their own health with confidence. <o:p></o:p></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>With companies such as with En-Vision America, the makers of
ScripTalk, we are working to make opportunities to lead a full life better for
the blind. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Through the decades and centuries, were we as blind people
less equipped or better at taking the correct medication because we are more
careful? Did we mark our medication bottles accurately, tactilely to
ensure correct identification? Have the amounts of prescriptions written
to all Americans in this century made it harder to ensure as a blind person we
are taking the correct meds? To the best of my knowledge, no
statistics or reports regarding the blind and medication mix-ups has ever been
kept. Biennial reports from many schools for the blind to their state’s
Governor and state legislative bodies dating back over 150 years ( a great
source of hidden blindness statistics for children and adults) rarely note
the health of a blind student or “inmate” that was compromised by the blind
person themselves through incorrect medication. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>As The Blind History Lady, I have ran across documentation
and many old news articles that tell of medication mishaps that have resulted in
blindness to young children who were then sent to the state school for the
blind. Parents, living in rural areas, have been left medications by
traveling doctors and not told how to use it or the correct doses. Their
miss-information resulted in the loss of sight for their children. The
same with eye injuries to the young and old alike. Medications have been
left with families and incorrect amounts have been administered to the newly
blinded individual causing permanent damage to the eye. Sighted doctors
and nurses had unknowingly given medication to patients that resulted in
blindness even in a hospital setting.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Had ScripTalk been around for the sighted doctors, nurses and
family members to use back then, maybe a large percentage of blindness could
have been avoided. When beginning my research for this topic, I have
marveled at why this product is not marketed and used by the sighted, not just
the blind. Remember the medication mix-up in the 1946 holiday film
”<I>It’s a Wonderful Life</I>”?<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Looking at history I have realized that the most important
value to those of us who have a ScripTalk in our home is not the identification
of the medications itself, but rather the control and confidence it gives us and
more importantly, a confidence to our family and medical teams allowing us to
have control over our medications, thus control of our lives. Or as one
ScripTalk user put it, to get the sighted off our backs.
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Let’s take a quick look back at the history of the blind in
our country. For the most part, blindness was considered and dealt with as
a condition that must be cured. That the blind who were not able to be
restored of their sight, were broken and needed to be put aside. Religion
played a major part in how blindness was looked at in the home and the
community. How many of us have heard that “The sins of the
Father…..<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Deuteronomy, 5-9 says; You shall not bow down to them or
serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate
me. This message was repeated in many old testament books and preached
from the pulpits, tree stumps and street corners for centuries. It is no
wonder that blinded family members were shut off in back rooms or sent
away. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>As time passed and New Testament readings bringing the
message of God’s forgiveness to the forefront of religions, the blanket of
shame on an entire family of one who became or was born blind was slowly, over
the decades, lifted. Yet, even with passages such as In John 9:1-3,
it is written, As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples
asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the
works of God might be displayed in him. Yet, even today, I talk to parents
who tell me that their first thought when finding out their child is blind is,
“What did I do wrong?”<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>For centuries, blind individuals have been locked away in
Alms Houses and Asylums as it was said to be best for the blind person.
Preveling belief was that someone at the Asylum could take care of the blind
family member much better than family could at home. Yet many of those who
worked in the Asylums had little experience and were just shy of entering an
alms house themselves. Inmates had no control over their lives including
the ability or freedom to leave. The story of the early years of Anne
Sullivan and her brother illustrate the horrors of the old Asylums of the past
and how those institutions impacted blind people.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>When the schools for the blind first opened in our country,
many families who loved their little blind children very much refused to send
them to a school for the blind, no matter how well presented the new
institution. Family feared that if their young blind child was sent
off to the asylum, that family would lose control and never see their
child again, or at least, not as a whole person. While there were
other families who were eager to relinquish custody of their child to the state
where they could be better cared for and understood and in too many cases, out
of sight and out of mind. It is important to note that transportation,
even 50 miles back then was a day’s trip or more that farmers could ill afford
to take to visit or have their blind child brought home for a
weekend. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>At many of the state sponsored schools for the blind, medical
eye care was provided free of charge to the families. This was for several
reasons. 1. The state was the guardian for these young people and it would
not be fiscally or morally sound to ignore their health. 2. This was
an opportunity to “cure” the blind child so they would not be a burden on their
home community or the state’s welfare funds later when they returned
home. 3. It was also a great opportunity for the medical profession
to provide experimental procedures or medication to a controlled group of the
blind and produce results much faster and with a higher rate of success and
assuredness. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>For hundreds of students across America, this was certainly
the case. The School for the Blind was in a larger community and the state
paid for a doctor to look after the children. Some of these children
became guinea pigs for new, experimental medical procedures to
prevent blindness. Not all procedures or surgeries were successful for
some of the children. Biennial reports do tell of several of the
blind children brought under the state’s care who did return to their home
schools with vision restored. Yet, no matter the results, family were
grateful for the efforts made on behalf of their blind, helpless children as
medical treatment in their home community did not exist or the families just
could not afford the doctor’s fees.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>No one during the 19th or much of the 20th century, expected
the blind child or inmate to be responsible for their medication. No
patient, sighted or blind, child or adult, had control over their
medication in a hospital or medical setting. Far fewer people took
medications as they were expensive and also not as easy to come by unless one
lived in a larger community. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>For those blind ancestors who handled medications just as
good or poorly as the sighted. Smells, size, texture of pills or powders
indicated the medication. Marking bottles in braille, or with different
sizes and shapes of bottles and packaging were frequently used to keep
medications separate. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Blind doctors such as Jacob Bolotin or Robert H.
Babcock,(1851-1930) renowned blind heart specialist from Illinois
controlled their careers through the confidence they had in
themselves. During Babcock’s career as a physician,
1877-1920’s, handled medication all the time. He also drew with chalk or
crayon on the bodies of his patients to illustrate to the sighted doctors where
organs lay or where to make the incisions before surgery. For more than 40
years, he actively practiced medicine in the Chicago area and consulted across
the country on cases involving the heart and lungs. According to the
Washington D. C. Evening Star of June 11, 1901, there were already eight or ten
blind physicians, with an active medical practice, in the United States at
that time. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Blind pharmacists such as Sam Jones, a blind man of moderate
travel skills, had difficulty convincing the community that he was up to
the task and after a few years, sold his drugstore in Iowa. While in
Wisconsin, Pharmacist and drug manufacturer, Willard Tubbs, (1869-1931) a
poised blind man with excellent travel skills, not only manufactured
medications, but also demonstrated his wares throughout the Midwest with
confidence. In his later years, he found it necessary to stay back in
Wisconsin to manage his large factory, write books and pamphlets and
travel more to conferences and conventions rather than hitting the road as a
salesman. His clients had confidence in him and shared their trust with
others who asked about the reputation of Mr. Tubbs. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Blind people are a part of the general population with all of
the same fears, worries and confidences as the sighted. When we have
confidence in ourselves, identifying the content of a couple of medication
bottles is no big deal. Just ask Dr. Babcock or Mr. Tubbs.
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Today, a greater percentage of Americans are living longer
and much more independently than before. Senior living facilities are
allowing more and more older Americans to live on their own. More
community services allow more and more older American’s to remain in their own
homes. However, with these targeted housing initiatives and community
based senior services, there can often be a formalization of old stereotypes as
legitimate criteria that need to be addressed in their guidelines, in case of a
lawsuit. “For your safety” is a phrase that some of the older blind
individuals I have talked with say they here far too often from potential senior
companion or service groups today. As a condition of the acceptance of
some community services, the older blind person must declare they cannot
do or must give up certain activities or services, not usually related to the
tasks requested or set down for receiving services. If the competent blind
person continues to cook their own meals or walk to the near-by store for milk,
other non-related services will be dropped. In one case, if the
blind senior wishes to take care of their own medications, then they will not be
able to have a senior companion rake their yard or drive them to the
pharmacy. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Today, most would agree that the confidence level of the
blind in respect to the medical profession, the general population and indeed
the blind themselves is not much better on the whole than it was in
1800. Most still feel that control of medication is best left in the hands
of the sighted. Today, blind individuals pursuing a medical degree are met
with every roadblock possible. Rarely do we hear of a blind pharmacist
earning a living either in a hospital or with the many large drug store chains
who claim to reach out to the disabled communities to employ the
handicapped. Yet, today, we still hear of the sighted overdosing or taking
the wrong medications. The common theory is that if the sighted, who can
read the bottles are still making the mistakes, then the blind surely
will. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>ScripTalk provides a product that promotes Control and
Confidence and a trust in the blind and low vision population to be able
to handle medications with ease and accuracy. Those losing their vision
have no confidence in their ability. ScripTalk is a product that is
available to provide the confidence to this population. With the
confidence they gain from the ability to take control of their medication, they
can move ahead with their healthcare, at home, and with the adjustment to their
new circumstances, building on the success that ScripTalk provided.
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Follow the Blind History Lady at
www.theblindhistorylady.com. Read more from the Blind History Lady at <A
href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/622573">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/622573</A>.
You can also read The Blind History Lady at
peggychong@earthlink.net<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT face=Calibri></FONT></o:p> </P>
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