[stylist] New THOUGHT PROVOKER #150- Virtual Blindness, Training The Trainers

Tue Oct 13 03:29:16 UTC 2009

Robert,
this is one of your best provokers!.  I am sending it to several 
people I know.
well written, engaging, presents the issues effectively.
the scene in the class is quite believable.
jc
Jim Canaday M.A.
Lawrence, KS

At 11:31 AM 10/12/2009, you wrote:
>Fellow writers
>RE:  Virtual Blindness, Training The trainers
>
>Here is my #150th THOUGHT PROVOKER. It asks the question, is there a benefit
>to have sighted professionals in the field of blindness to go through
>sleep-shade training? If you have not read the PROVOKER, it follows.  Recall
>that I collect responses and post them upon my web site for all the WWW to
>read and learn from and that URL is- Http://thoughtprovoker.info
><http://thoughtprovoker.info/>   If you wish to receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS
>sent directly to you, just write me and ask, at-  newmanrl at cox.net
>
>
>THOUGHT PROVOKER 150
>Virtual Blindness, Training The trainers
>
>The stress lines on the man's face visible beyond where the dark cloth of
>the sleep-shade covered, told the story of his first travel lesson with the
>long white cane. Probing, tapping, he strove to interpret the information
>provided by the cane. "Is this a drop-off --- and this metal thing --- could
>be the upright for a handrail?"
>
>The nearby instructor, cane standing vertical at his side, responded, "What
>do you think?"
>
>  "I got it!" The woman's finger read the Braille label on the brightly
>colored tube in her hand. "F, M --- face moisturizer. Wahoo! I made and read
>my own label." The woman was one of four sleep-shaded adults working at a
>round table. In the center of the table, were Braille slates, sticky-backed
>labels and other materials. In front of each student were bottles, tubes and
>other personal items.
>
>"I'm not getting this as fast as you, Marilyn." Spoke up one of her table
>mates. "And, you guys, I'm going to need to take my meds, so how else can I
>tell them apart, until I get Braille?"
>
>"What do you think you might do?" A third woman responded. "That is what I
>think the instructor would say. I know you'll figure out something for today
>and you'll get your alphabet tomorrow."
>
>The only man at the table held a green pair of pants over his lap, tying the
>finishing knot to a sewing project. "There we go." Finger reading the small
>plastic tag he had just sewn into the waist band. "G, R --- green. I like
>these tags. And who would ever think you could thread a needle, blind."
>
>Carrying their canes, all 30 sleep-shaded students met at lunch. "Attention
>please. This is your first meal you will handle being virtually blind. It
>will be a learning time --- think, experiment, discover and if necessary ask
>for instruction. When you look back at the end of two weeks, it will be
>interesting to see the contrast between now and then. So line up, get your
>own tray, utensils, go through the line, then find your place at table."
>
>"Ah--- need to cut this piece smaller." Spoke up the first person at the
>table of six.
>
>"Yeah, cutting takes some concentration, but hey ---" responded a tablemate,
>"I suppose I struggled with it back when I was five with my vision and got
>it then, so I'll get it now."
>
>A third person said, "I came into this knowing the first part of this
>training was going to be stressful. But I know it will smooth out."
>
>A fourth tablemate volunteered, "Giving up your sight for a full two weeks,
>from wakeup to lights-out, no peeking, and proving to myself that I can
>function non-visually, is going to give me some insights that I'd never have
>without this opportunity."
>
>"You know," contributed a fifth tablemate, "I tried talking my rehab agency
>into requiring new staff go through 3 to 6 months of sleep-shade training
>like some services for the blind do, but to no avail. And so when I heard of
>this two-week training for rehab professionals, I jumped on it."
>
>"It's the method of training, the structuring of the learning situation and
>the insistence on self-discovery, making you work and work at it until you
>make it yours, that is the part I'm soaking up. These instructors are tough
>on it --- but hey, guess the results will be in the expectations." concluded
>the sixth.
>
>On screen the leader of the workshop spoke to a camera team from a local
>television station. "We have 30 professionals in the field of blindness
>participating in this first Virtual Blindness Training in our Train the
>Trainers series. They are evenly divided between rehabilitation teachers and
>vocational counselors, all working with adult blind persons in their jobs.
>The purpose of this training is to provide the student with an experience of
>virtual blindness, of being newly blind, needing to learn basic survival
>skills. It is 24-7, for 2 weeks. And I underscore: it is not to experience
>the reality of what it is to be blind, nor will the blindness skills being
>learned be fully perfected. However, the participant will come out of here
>knowing that in his guts, with true conviction, and not just intellectually,
>that  he or she and others can function competently non-visually. Finally,
>we are using the most effective teaching method for this type of learning,
>the Structured Discovery Method."
>
>
>Robert Leslie Newman
>Email- newmanrl at cox.net
>THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
>Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info
>
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