[humanser] Self-disclosure of blindness with a specific population

[JD Townsend]

Hello:

A great question.  Clearly one you've thought about quite a bit.

As you know as a Music Therapist a large piece of any therapy is in the art 
of the therapist.  And, any self disclosure is informed by theory, but 
executed by art.

I often ask my clients if they know why I use a long white cane, in the 
past, my dog guide.  It allows them to identify my blindness, putting some 
of the power in their hands.  In my work with folks with dementia the act of 
asking them for help is, also, empowering.  I will sometimes follow an elbow 
if I can see that it might be a positive for a client.  However, I would not 
do this with a more cognitively able population.  Always focus on the higest 
level of functioning of the client and do what it takes to strengthen that.

And, I have seen such wonderful work with music and your population - let 
them sing out!  Perhaps I'll tell you about having 4 schizophrenic Elvis 
Presley imitators on stage together belting out one of his tunes.

JD
-----Original Message----- 
From: Kaiti Shelton via humanser
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 11:55 AM
To: humanser at nfbnet.org
Subject: [humanser] Self-disclosure of blindness with a specific population

Hi, all,

I'm wondering if I could get some advice here.  I'm a music therapy
student, working in an assisted living facility for one of my
practicum courses.  The population I am specifically working with is
residents on a memory support unit with mild-moderate Alzheimer's and
dementia, although it is a locked unit.  This is the second time I've
worked with some of these residents, and I'm very pleased with their
progress and their responses to the music therapy.

Last year my supervisor advised me not to disclose information about
my blindness, but this time the supervisor after talking to a blind
music therapist agrees that it is important.  Especially since these
residents can feel very vulnerable at times, disclosure can help with
the therapeutic relationship-as I'm sure those of you who are
practicing other human service fields know.

Some of the residents show glimpses of recognition from time to time,
though I can't be certain that they really understand that I'm blind
because of their confusion.  One resident, who was more mischevious,
would move things on me and always told me not to run into stuff, so
I'm pretty sure she knew.  Another resident who is a little more high
functioning may know because until I greeted her with her name, to
which she responded, "You've got it now," she would tell me her name.
She recognized that I learned her voice and then stopped telling me
her name every session.  One resident noticed my glasses had slid a
little down my nose the other day and told me to push them up.  She
started saying, "You should get some new glasses so you can see better
(my lenses are quite scratched from trying to get close to read print
things) and she said, "I'll be happy for you when you get new ones and
can see a little better."

It's remarkable that some of these things have happened because some
residents who have said things are quite confused most of the time.  I
haven't felt right in self-disclosing to them yet.  There has always
been something that happened in the session that made me hold back
when I've thought, "This session might be good for self-disclosure."
My partner in the class has also tried to facilitate opportunities for
me to self-disclose in sessions she has planned, but it has just never
felt right yet.

My supervisor agrees that I need to go when the time is right, but I
don't know why it has taken this long.  I'm usually not uncomfortable
telling complete strangers that I'm blind when I need help or want to
ask a question, so why am I struggling here with these clients who may
not even remember it later on?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.  I'm using "Hit the Road,
Jack" in my session on Tuesday and thought I could use Ray Charles as
a gateway into the self-disclosure conversation, but I want to do it
soon since we're terminating services at the end of the month.  My
partner has already self-disclosed that she was a diver and that was a
big part of her life before college, and that has resonated with a
resident of our's who also dived as a teenager.  I know some of the
residents have eye problems as well, so I'd like to make that
connection if possible.

Thanks,

-- 
Kaiti

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JD Townsend LCSW
Helping the light dependent to see.
Daytona Beach, Earth, Sol System