[nfbwatlk] Convention Impressions

[Alco Canfield]

Well said, Jedi.

Krys, I am delighted that you got so much out of National Convention.  There is no greater inspiration than seeing other competent blind people.  It is a re-energizer.

As someone who has worked as a Vocational Counselor, I would suggest that you get all the skills you can before going back to school.  Believe me, you're going to need them all!  You were right in recognizing the benefit of greater self-confidence.  You get that from mastering new skills and learning at the emotional level that it is respectable to be blind;  that you can become a contributing member of society, and you can have a wonderful life.  

Good luck to you, whatever you decide to do.

Alco Canfield

-----Original Message-----
From: Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 3:47 PM
To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Convention Impressions

Chrys,

I'm glad you got a lot out of Convention. I remember feeling 
overwhelmed when I had my first go. It was awesome though, and I'd 
gladly relive the experience if asked to with the exception of the 
strange illness that passed through our affiliate that year.

As to your question regarding training, my insights are these.

I went to the Louisiana Center for the Blind prior to my Freshman year 
in college. I'm glad I did. I also wondered if I shouldn't have started 
college right away, but I also knew that, for myself anyway, I needed 
to gain some new skills and revamp skills I already had. Since I have 
some vision, I also knew that I needed to learn non-visual techniques 
both because I'm likely to experience further vision loss and because I 
wanted to be sure that I could perform regardless of what my vision was 
doing at any given time. I felt that six months was an even trade for a 
lifetime of success. That is not to say that one can't be successful if 
one doesn't go through training. I found that for me, anyway, training 
helped me to enhance possibilities for success in my own life.

When one goes to a training center such as ours, one gets an 
opportunity to learn blindness skills in an environment where it's okay 
to be blind and where non-visual skills are valued. I gained 
transferable skills that have nothing to do with blindness precisely, 
and I feel that these skills have made college and other pursuits much 
easier. The biggest one is problem-solving. Beyond that, I learned how 
to be resourceful in places where I may not have all the resources I'd 
wish to have. I also found that living, working, and playing with the 
same forty or so people (the center staff and students) prepared me for 
dealing with tense social situations requiring compromise, listening 
skills, and mediation. After all, things can get crazy sometimes. Since 
I went to Louisiana (a place very different from Washington), I learned 
something about intercultural communication, how to deal with culture 
shock, and how to "do what the Romans do." Your experience is likely to 
be different from mine simply because you're a different individual 
from me. However, I think you'll find the center experience helpful on 
many levels, not just blindness. Lucky for us, we live in a part of 
Washington served by a counselor who is willing to get us to the 
centers of our choosing. she honors informed choice and helps us with 
the necessaries to get us where we want to go. Naturally, our friends 
here at the NFBW are also willing to help. We have center graduates 
among us and plenty more mentors who are familiar with the red tape one 
must go through to get what one wants.

Good luck. I hope this has been helpful. It was awesome to see you at 
Convention, and I hope you'll join us for other NFB functions in the future