[stylist] Just Read a Very Interesting Book

[Chris Kuell]

Hey Vejas,

I didn't know you were in Louisiana. Congratulations on your graduation from
high school, and good luck at the center.

To me, the greatest thing about the NFB is its high expectations. As you
found out from this book, not everybody shares that philosophy. I lost my
sight in 1997, and went to the Carroll Center outside of Boston in 1998. I
hadn't yet fully embraced NFB philosophy, but I knew that many aspects at
the Carroll Centerwould never help me get to where I wanted to be. For
instance, students lived in a dorm, and went to a small cafeteria for meals.
They had a large barrel where people were to put their canes, then sighted
workers would walk you to a table, then go get your food for you. I did this
once, and at my next meal I brought a folding cane and seated myself, and
went to get my own food. The sighted staff tried to convince me this was
unsafe, but I've never been good at listening to stupid advice.

The other big issue was that there was a kitchen in the dorm, but we were
forbidden from using it. Students could pop popcorn in the microwave, but
they were not allowed to use the stove. I tried one night to make myself a
snack, and got reprimanded for it. So, on my last night there, I talked a
group of other non-conforming students into leaving the campus with me in a
cab. Our first stop was a bar, which is where I have my best ideas. Then we
hit a grocery store and I bought hot sausage and onions and peppers and
buns, and we went back to the dorm and cooked up a feast for all who wanted
it. When one of the sighted attendants smelled the food and told me to get
immediately out of the kitchen, I did my best to charm her by offering her
the first sausage and telling her I was leaving tomorrow, so really, why
bother with all the paperwork of getting me kicked out?

My blood pressure still goes up today, almost 20 years later, when I think
of how they treated us like children. I mean, I let my kids start to make
their own eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches when they were maybe 7 or 8
years old. Yet they wouldn't let a 35 year old man near a stove because I'm
blind and might burn myself. 

You've been raised to know better. You can do anything you set your mind to.
Enjoy your time there, and make something really cool in woodshop!

Chris