[rehab] mobility as a Career

Fri Apr 22 21:21:42 UTC 2011

Yeah, and I'm tickled pink that you all *are* out there.  Would love to have
a blind O&M instructor!  I'm not saying a sighted person can't do that well;
many do.  It's just...  Studying a thing, even practicing a thing under
sleep shade, is not the same at all as actually living what you're teaching.
Or so it's always seemed to me.  I can say I had a blind O&M instructor,
because I could get time out of my life to come to where there was someone
who was certified and licensed to keep me safe while I walked to the end of
the sidewalk, I had already trained myself.  Also, to cross streets.  Busy
streets in downtown in a strange city during a convention taking place in
the same area as a festival.  After being unexpectedly dropped off by my
then-husband at the restaurant he had driven us to.  He has
honest-to-goodness, properly diagnosed adults ADHD, and he is a key part of
those types of conventions around here because his naturally tendency to pop
between one thing and another is perfect for that, as is his brilliance and
enthusiasm and any number of other strengths.  It's just that when he's
excited and has a million things he really wants to do all going on just
down the street, well...  Having him pop up in the middle of a good steak
dinner and disappear out the door, leaving you with the check but taking the
car with him is just one of those things you have to learn to expect.  /lol/
Try trips involving hotels and airports and more!  Exhausting good fun for
me.  Mostly.

So, anyway, it's a good thing I didn't some unqualified fool, let alone a
blind fool, trying to teach me to use a cane before I got over here for O&M
lessons...  Where it turned out I absolutely needed to take 2 months of
learning to walk a route in a building, then another couple of months
learning to walk around the same block...  So that, if I really wanted to go
that far, I would be able to find my way around even if someone dropped me
off in a strange neighborhood where I didn't know my way around.  So I
stopped taking lessons and kept doing the things I wasn't ready to learn yet
like going to the mall and taking escalators and stuff.  Good grief!

We do not accept the existence of NFB centers around here, unless you happen
to be in the NFB of Oregon and someone at a meeting tells you about them...
So I did put in a request through my VRC about arranging to attend one,
since I was at a place in life when taking a 6 to 9 month time away from
everything else was actually a perfectly good option.  By the time I was
informed that the VR director had said, "We can't do that," I had moved on
with the rest of my life and the whole thing was by then moot.  Which is a
bummer, because there is more to learn at those centers than O&M or even the
entire curriculum, or so it seems just from getting to know people who have
managed to get there.  Not many from here, but some have moved in...

When I'm about town and any opportunity comes up to do so, I am always sure
to mention the phrase "NFB training center" in a context to indicate that
they're out there and they are a much better option than what you can get
here at home.  Not much on the activism scale, but it's something I can do.
/smile/  I get a lot of chances to talk mobility due to my now almost 5
owner-trained poodle guide.  Bit much of an attention-getter, my girl, but
she does get me plenty of opportunity to communicate and educate.  /grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jane.Lansaw at dars.state.tx.us
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2011 5:11 AM
To: rehab at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [rehab] mobility as a Career

Hi Tami,
There are a lot of us out there.  Have you tried to get into an orientation
center in another state such as the NFB centers?  

-----Original Message-----
From: rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 8:46 PM
To: 'Rehabilitation Counselor Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [rehab] mobility as a Career

Aw, but what's the good in earning the right to say neener neener if you
don't do it when you get a chance?  /grin/

I've been told that in this state blind people can't be O&M instructors
because, well...  All you blind O&M instructors have probably heard it more
than I have.  I don't want to go be one; I just never thought that made any
sense whatsoever.  Many things our VR agency declare to be true as absolutes
don't make sense and turn out to not be true at all, so I guess that's
another one.  Sigh.

Would love to have a blind O&M instructor myself.  That's why I love all the
NFB mailing lists.  If I need to know how to do something and can't figure
it out myself, I can just ask someone who knows.  /evil grin/  I love to
snark, too!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jane.Lansaw at dars.state.tx.us
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 2:49 PM
To: rehab at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [rehab] mobility as a Career

Oops.  I got mixed up.  You would think I would remember because the
director at FSU told me back in the eighties that no blind person would ever
enroll in his program.  He's dead now and I am an O.&M. teacher.  Sorry for
the snark, couldn't resist.  

-----Original Message-----
From: rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Leslie Fairall
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 4:10 PM
To: Rehabilitation Counselor Mailing List
Subject: Re: [rehab] mobility as a Career

<smile< FSU is in Tallahassee, Jane. The University of Florida 
is in Gainesville. They are HUGE RIVALS IN SPORTS, ESPECIALLY 
FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

_______________________________________________
rehab mailing list
rehab at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/rehab_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for rehab:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/rehab_nfbnet.org/jane.lansaw%40dars.st
ate.tx.us

_______________________________________________
rehab mailing list
rehab at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/rehab_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for rehab:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/rehab_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast
.net

_______________________________________________
rehab mailing list
rehab at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/rehab_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for rehab:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/rehab_nfbnet.org/jane.lansaw%40dars.st
ate.tx.us

_______________________________________________
rehab mailing list
rehab at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/rehab_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for rehab:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/rehab_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast
.net