[stylist] Story, "Help is On the Way"

Fri Sep 16 00:39:33 UTC 2016

My husband worked a summer at the Kansas center, when they had one, and I
spent a week there. Students were advised to leave canes at the door of the
cafeteria and use assistance either from sighted staff or partially sighted
students. Staff referred to totally blind students, in front of them, as the
"unfortunate ones." They would say things like, "Wait for the unfortunate
ones to catch up," or, "Don't exclude the unfortunate ones." While there, I
was referred to with this description, and my opinion was made clear about
it. Students, especially totally blind ones, were not allowed to leave the
facility without sighted people, and during travel lessons, they could not
venture out on routes they had not first traveled with a sighted person
several times with. Students who had been at the center for months did not
know their way around the facility itself, which was not huge, because this
was not a skill thought necessary because sighted and partially sighted
people were there to help. Staff were shocked when my husband had students,
especially totally blind students, cooking on their own and cleaning up
after themselves. Their training kitchen, by the way, was filthy. That was
one of the first projects my husband tackled with students when there. They
were equally shocked when he had them travel around town without sighted
assistance on routes they had not been on before. Many staff wanted him
fired.

You can imagine what they thought of me, a totally blind person, being
there, doing things their students could not do, and things they thought
unsafe for blind people.

So yeah, while some of Vejas's story is a bit exaggerated, unfortunately,
it's not far off the mark for some training centers. When Ross, my husband,
visited chicago's center, it was similar. And many of the school's for the
blind operate under similar philosophies.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vejas via
stylist
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2016 7:25 PM
To: Writers' Division Mailing List <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Vejas <alpineimagination at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Story, "Help is On the Way"

Hi Debbie,
No, I have not had any personal experience with a center such as this one. I
am a Louisiana Center for the Blind graduate, and thought that this would
definitely be a problem, me overexaggerating some things. I based it off
things I'd heard. People at seminar when I was at LCB were talking about how
in a lot of places, totally blind students are treated with less respect,
hence the idea of a "mentor" needing to hold their hand.
I did, however, tour several centers in California for my justification
letter for rehab. The expectations seemed rather low. 
Vejas 

> On Sep 14, 2016, at 06:47, debby via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I have a couple -ts. I'm not an editor so I won't talk about sentence
structure and all that. Have you reY been to a Center like the one you write
about? I've been to a non-federation center and it wasn't like that at all.
It just felt a below exaggerated to me. But I really do like the character
of Maddie.    Debby
> 
>> On Sep 13, 2016 12:38 PM, Vejas Vasiliauskas via stylist
<stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi All,
>> I really would like to get back to writing, so I have written the 
>> following piece, which I have attached as a Word document and will 
>> hopefully go into the email.
>> This is a very rough draft.  Any constructive criticism would be 
>> appreciated "as well as positive ones, obviously).  I feel that the 
>> potential main issue with this story is that I have made too much 
>> effort to prove a specific point about the center that is the main 
>> focus of this piece.
>> Enjoy! 
>> Vejas
>> Help Is On the Way
>> 
>> by Vejas Vasiliauskas
>> Prologue
>> My name is Fiona Itube.  I'm 18 years old, and I live in Montpelier, 
>> Vermont.  I have been blind all my life, but beyond getting good 
>> grades in school, expectations weren't that important to my parents.  
>> People all throughout my school career were always willing to let me 
>> hold their hands; my cane was always in my other hand, though I admit 
>> that I never learned to use it.
>> I was indifferent to receiving blindness training, and so were my 
>> parents.  It was really my teacher for the visually impaired, Ellie, 
>> who insisted I go.  I thought she was a nutty radical, but I applied 
>> for the Department of Rehab so that I could get into the Better Blind 
>> training center.
>> But I never knew what blindness training was, until I met Maddie 
>> Maddox.
>> Chapter 1
>> My start date was September 27.  My parents helped me set up.  I take 
>> that back, they set up for me, while I Whats-apped my best friend, 
>> Fern Allow.  Fern and I were supposed to have spent the summer 
>> together and all that, but then her parents decided that it would be 
>> really fun in Italy, so that's where they decided to go.
>> After my parents finished unpacking me, they hugged me. 
>> "Welove you so much," Dad said.  "Let us know if you need anything."
>> "See if there's anyone you want to meet outside," Mom suggested.  
>> "You should bring your cane, it will probably make you look better."
>> I grabbed my cane and, sure enough, I didn't have to go far.  A girl 
>> walked up to me.
>> "Hi, I'm Francesca, call me Frankie," she said, but her tone of voice 
>> sounded cold.  Finally she asked, "Is that a stick?"
>> "Yes, it is," I explained, "but we call it a cane." 
>> "Oh." She huffed.  "These.  So, you mean, you're totally blind." 
>> "So?" 
>> "Well," she said hesitantly, "I will explain this because you are 
>> new, but typically we don't regard you kind of people very well."
>> "Will I get bullied?" 
>> "Not really bullied per se, but we're supposed to have one and it's 
>> quite a job.  I'm yours.  Whenever we have to go anywhere, I need to 
>> hold your hand to take you there.
>> "And also, we do have to use these things, but we call them sticks.  
>> Canes, we consider way too radical."
>> Chapter 2
>> I got really used to the way of life at the center.  I learned and 
>> understood that, as a totally blind person, I would never be 
>> altogether too successful.  We were told our center's welcome sign 
>> over and over again.
>> Help Is on the Way For Blind People
>> What to Do to Get a Sighted Person's Attention 1.  Look lost, even if 
>> you know where you're going.
>> 2.  Smile, always smile.  Maybe you will charm a sighted person into 
>> giving you a job.
>> 3.  Accept the fact that this will always be your life. 
>> We were also told that in a few years, surgery would allow us to gain 
>> sight and lead a better life.
>> Chapter 2
>> "Honey, I'm so, so sorry," Lesley Clockhammer, the director of the 
>> blindness center, told me as she looked at my apartment.  She looked 
>> around.  "Did Maggie clean your apartment?"
>> "Yes, she did," I said, "but I spilled grape juice all over and 
>> didn't know what to do."
>> "Oh, that's OK," Lesley laughed.  "I'll call her right now to get 
>> back and clean it up.  If I don't, we could have some problems."
>> She sighed.  "Anyway, I'm so sorry but you are going to be getting a 
>> new roommate in a couple of hours.  Her name is Maddie Maddox and she 
>> is from St.  Albans, Vermont.  I know people like to have their 
>> privacy.  I'm so, so sorry."
>> Maddie impressed me from the start.  For starters, she didn't come 
>> with her parents.  Lesley and Maggie, the cleaner, fussed all over 
>> her.
>> "Nope, I can do it myself," Maddie said over, and over, and over 
>> again.
>> When they finally left, Maddie came over to my room. 
>> "How's life here, Fiona?" she asked me. 
>> "It's fine, I guess.  For a blindness training center." 
>> "I really wanted to go to Ruston, Louisiana for the Louisiana Center 
>> for the Blind," Maddie explained.  "But my Department of 
>> Rehabilitation absolutely insistedon no.  My dad is friends with 
>> Lesley Clockhammer's husband, and they said I could come here for 
>> free! I hope that I at least can have some great experiences."
>> It didn't look like it.  Later, as the day progressed, I saw that 
>> there was very little that could satisfy Maddie Maddox.
>> "No," she insisted to her mentor, Davina.  "I don't need any help, 
>> thank you very much! I can walk to the dining hall all by myself."
>> "With this stick thing?" 
>> "Yes, it's called a cane," Maddie said, "and it's here to help me.  
>> Do you have any sight?"
>> "Some," Davina said meekly. 
>> "I find it helps me and it should help you too," explained Maddie.  
>> "That certainly beats stumbling around."
>> Davina retreated. 
>> "I got what I wanted!" Maddie was happy.  "Fiona, you need to tell 
>> your mentor person similarly."
>> "I'm too scared to." 
>> "Oh, come on, girl, you need to learn to speak up for yourself." 
>> "Frankie," I said when she came by for dinner, "I would like to use 
>> my cane from now on.  Thank you for being my mentor."
>> "Suit yourself," she said and walked off. 
>> "See? It was easy!" Maddie cheered.  "Let's go for dinner!" 
>> Chapter 3
>> Julia Spinner, the kitchen instructor, came into our apartment at
>> 10 for kitchen class.  I was still sleeping. 
>> "You missed breakfast," she said.  "No worries, though.  Do you want 
>> some privacy to change, or would you like me to dress you?"
>> From the kitchen, Maddie snickered. 
>> "I'll dress myself, thanks," I said. 
>> "Cool.  I have a spinach cheddar bake for you to make." 
>> "Spinach and cheddar is awesome!" Maddie said.  She was writing out 
>> an ingredients list for the center's grocery store on a large, 
>> old-fashioned typewriter-like machine.  "I love helping my mom make 
>> spinach quiche!"
>> Julia laughed.  "Oh, that's the funniest thing I've heard all day! 
>> No, you're supposed to put it in the oven for 45 minutes."
>> "Got it," I said. 
>> "Just curious," Maddie said, "but what are you having Fiona do for 
>> the next 45 minutes?"
>> "The waiting game," Julia explained patiently.  "As a blind person, 
>> you need to learn to spend more time waiting and less on your mobile 
>> devices."
>> Chapter 4
>> "I'm disgusted with this center!" Maddie ranted and raved that night.  
>> "If I didn't have any self-motivation, I don't think I'd be anywhere! 
>> I was hoping that I could help others in a positive way, and, Fiona, 
>> you have come such a long way.  But I guess not."
>> Maddie had been lectured by Lesley Clockhammer that she was 
>> "overdoing it", and "expressing a form of free thinking which served 
>> as a threat to the center." But then Maddie calked down.
>> "I'm going to get permission to go to the National Federation of the 
>> Blind convention in Orlando this year," she twittered excitedly.  "I 
>> have always gone to them, and they are amazing! I learn so much?"
>> "How are you going to do that?" I asked.  You needed a day pass to go 
>> anywhere.
>> "Both of my grandparents are conviently going to die that day," 
>> Maddie explained, "so I have no option but to go to their funeral.  
>> That's actually what my grandparent suggested.  There's no other way 
>> I can think of that the center would let me go."
>> "Don't you feel strange ly-?was
>> "You gotta do what you gotta do." Maddie sighed.  "But I can't 
>> believe that this is a 9-month program, and the convention is not for 
>> another 7."
>> "Tell me more about this NFB." 
>> So that's what we talked about all night.  This organization wasn't 
>> full of crazy radicals; they actually wanted more expectations of 
>> blind students so that they could live a happy and fulfilled 
>> lifestyle.
>> Chapter 5
>> A month later, and I was even closer to Maddie.  On the outside, we 
>> did what was required: hold our mentors' hands and, in my case, that 
>> of my new mentor Caroline-thank God Frankie graduated.
>> But on the outside, we did what we could.  We split the money to buy 
>> pots, pans and other everyday uses for the kitchen, so that we could 
>> cook for ourselves.  We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, so much so 
>> that Maggie had nothing to do.  One day she told us that she hated 
>> this job, that she knew students could do much better, but coming to 
>> our apartment made her day.
>> It was an ordinary Saturday night when I was woken up by my phone 
>> vibrating to signalize a text from Maddie.
>> "Hi Fiona it's me.  I have decided to leave.  I just can't take it 
>> anymore.  I am going to fight for the Louisiana Center for the Blind 
>> and while I wait, I will do what I can.  Good luck.  Talk to me 
>> anytime."
>> And at that point I knew what to do.  I pulled out my suitcases and 
>> began to pack them.
>> The End
>> 
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