Making a Difference: The Iowa Department for the Blind

this bus carries some of the students and staff from the orientation center at the Iowa Department for the blind these students are on one of the many field trips conducted by the orientation Center each year today's outing involves gathering some firewood some may ask why are blind adults cutting down trees we say why not at the orientation center we're making a difference the orientation center not only focuses on teaching the alternative techniques of blindness but the confidence to use and adapt them to any situation located in the heart of downtown Des Moines Iowa the orientation center is a residential training program operated by the Iowa Department for the blind housed along with the other programs and services of the department the orientation Center is a place where newly blind adults come to learn the techniques and skills of blindness and more importantly to develop positive and confident attitudes about themselves it is this hand-in-hand effort of developing a positive attitude while acquiring the skills of blindness that sets the orientation center apart at the orientation Center people are not blind adults they are adults who happen to be blind while field trips for hiking skiing and rafting happen throughout a student's stay a more typical day starts with business class daily sessions that deal with the business of blindness it's a class dealing with the attitudes of and misconceptions of the public about blindness and blind people but it also deals with the right attitudes and the correct attitudes that one ought to have about what it is to be blind a lot of the speakers are former students former alumni in the orientation center a lot of them come to talk about you know the everyday situations that come up for all of us as blind individuals Ted Hart came to our class he was a person who knew where he stood as a blind individual very confident I think if you were to ask him he would probably tell you you know it didn't come as easy as pie and it didn't come overnight I had no idea what I was to do in my life I had imaginings of being a rug maker or a basket weaver or caning chairs the rest of my life that's that's all the more was in my mind ted has been blind for over 50 years he could have withdrawn and become dependent on others instead he chose not to let his blindness get in his way I work at John Deere tractor works in Waterloo Iowa when I've been there a little over 30 years now and I'm on a Main transformation assembly line which I've been working on for some year and a half to two years before that I worked as a machinist for 29 years the orientation Center for the blind was what made the difference at the Commission for blind in Des Moines now they're the ones that got me on the right track and got me headed the right direction they gave me the philosophy that I needed as a blind person to know that I could do this kind of thing and that that I wasn't helpless just because of being blind most of the services of the Iowa Department for the blind are located in the same building with the orientation Center it's this closeness that helps reinforce the mission of the orientation center and the department everyone is committed to the goal of helping every student to become independent and productive the building itself is well-kept and clean special features include a gym and fitness center where students get exercise on a regular basis a pool is located in the fitness area for those with a taste for aquatics there's a lounge for students to gather and socialize in during pleasant weather the roof is used for barbecues and picnics the orientation center is also located within a few blocks of several of Iowa's top hospitals and within this extensive medical community diabetic information programs are available the orientation center has also developed a program for deafblind adults what the orientation center did was to solidify and bring to my realization that I could do it what it did was instill that knowledge in me to know that I could do what I chose to do years ago I started bullying and loved it I'm one of the best blind bowlers on the league I scuba dive and I used to water-ski quite a bit I suddenly realized that I don't have to prove anything to anybody anymore I was trying to prove it to the world and I think most of all proving it to me yeah I can do what a sighted person can Karin Moritz came to our business class she talked to us about her own experience as a blind person she's been blind for a long time and she talked about wanting to get into the ministry and become ordained and she made sure that that's what she did I'm the Presbyterian pastor and Guthrie center and I have a congregation of about 80 people of a variety of Ages a lot of older individuals I do spend a lot of time every week doing sermon and worship preparation and leading worship every Sunday morning I spent a lot of time in visitation I visit a lot of my people have had to deal with illness so I do a lot of hospital visitation a lot of nursing home visitation I also do visitation with my congregation as they are not in crisis getting go visit them at their homes and getting to know them a little bit it's me because there's always something different and I really enjoy the variety of the position a lot now I think what keeps me doing it is that I think it's important I did my seminary training at Princeton seminary and decided after seminary that I really liked chaplaincy work so I spent four years in chaplaincy working as a hospital chaplain I worked in some state psychiatric hospitals I worked a little bit at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore I think the thing that struck me the most about the orientation Center was the staff instead of people thinking at first about what I couldn't do the agency and the staff there were more interested in what I could do and helping me learn how to do it more efficiently and better and there were a lot of things that I was I learned how to do that I probably never would have tried before I learned to increase my confidence about traveling like say I've traveled all over the world I'm not sure that I would have had the confidence to do that travel training is one of the most important lessons taught at the orientation center to remain an active participant in career family and social activities a blind person's mobility is imperative Travel training is more than just walking with a cane it's about building the confidence to get around get around your community get around your state get around the world travel training is about getting around and leading an active life students first get used to traveling within the confines of the orientation center gradually as the instructor coaches and sees each student progress routes are assigned so that students can get familiar with negotiating traffic and public transit systems walking west eventually students walk routes of over five miles with ease as the student gets to these final stages of travel the instructor no longer follows or shadows the students shadowing only provides a false sense of security and doesn't prepare the student for the reality of travel after graduation finally students know they are successful travelers when they have completed the final test their drop-off okay Mike here's your drop-off point when you get out of the car you're gonna be facing south instructors take the student to a location and drop them off leaving the student to use their alternative techniques to return to the center students who have residual vision are required to wear sleep shades while they're at the orientation center sleep shades are used not only during travel training but for other lessons as well this approach enables students to learn more effectively the alternative techniques of blindness they can then later use these techniques in combination with their remaining vision this approach also eliminates the need for retraining if more vision is lost I did find that in time I did rely more on the alternative techniques then that I would have if I'd been using my vision because the vision I have some vision but I have just enough to get me into trouble sometimes I think overall for me my blindness is it's a nuisance everybody has something that they have to work with whether it's they're too short I have a friend that's too short and it's really inconvenient when she needs to reach something in the top cupboard and that's kind of how I look at it the times it's inconvenient and there are times I get annoyed by it but most the time I just do what I want to do and I think that that's possible for anybody Randee cleaner came to her business class and talked about how confident he became as a result of going through the orientation center randy also was involved with sponsoring a race car and he hangs out watches the people who are doing the racing the race car is a hobby sufferer doing don't drive no more I just still get the thrills here in the car go around and watch it get your hands on the mechanic end of it you know it's a lot of fun Dave tape actually owns the car just sponsoring and help him all here and there and I have the whole hood with my company logo are in our vending I run a vending business on interstate 35 in Northern Iowa it's a iron our vending which is connected with the Iowa Commission for the blind program they have called business enterprise program I'm responsible for all purchasing all pot machines everything from filling them to working on them to cleaning the building you know they're just keep my hands and everything everything except for driving the machine out here the car the van or whatever we have you know I me I hated to admit that I was going blind but I never on the other hand I had to do something about it get some kind of training the staff at the Iowa Commission for the blind is very helpful I mean no they don't they have a unique way of giving a person confidence I would have saved my fondest memory it was one of the toughest points to his his home act I was never ever one to cook nor did I'd know what its toll was for even for those unaccustomed to cooking the orientation center staff at the Iowa Department for the blind teaches the alternative techniques that allow each student to be fully functional at home home management skills are covered so that each student gains an understanding in how to manage techniques for cleaning laundry household budgeting and other general household skills a big part of these home management skills involves cooking and getting around the kitchen while some students may have an initial fear about using sharp knives or hot stoves the center staff quickly teaches each student proper methods that ensure a safe kitchen environment before graduation each student becomes confident enough not only to cook but prepare a gourmet feast for their fellow students I became a pretty good cook I've made a seven course meal invited everyone up there that was and it was the confidence that I learned from that helped me go on and I think blind people nowadays have a very good chance to do anything they want if they just have the drive it's midsummer and the orientation center students are on another trip this time rafting down a popular river Travis Holly Chuck and Dale Wayne is in with Jim while the field trips offer a break from the normal routine and provide fun excursions for the group the primary focus behind the trips is to put a student's adaptability to the test it's a way of building confidence and a positive attitude then also there's this guy darrell banks he spent some time in the orientation Center the his blindness was the result of a gunshot wound I think it's pretty safe to say that Darrell had a pretty tough life before his stay in the orientation center and totally his stay in the orientation center turned things around for him I think I talked to my counselor about different schools or whatever that I could go to to get some type of skill training so I can still go ahead to college and she recommended this place I was in Commission for the blind and I came up here when I first came they was telling me about how we had to use these different machines whatever the power tool isn't when they cut them on and I can feel a win they were so powerful that I could throw the win just you know really pushing off of the saws moving and for a while I didn't want to touch it or whatever cuz I you know I only had only have so many body parts left and you know I didn't want to lose any of that so I didn't want to get involved with it at first students at the Iowa Department for the blind orientation center become involved in the center's industrial arts class here students are exposed to a variety of different tools and alternative techniques for using them table saws routers planers power Sanders all powerful tools that can be potentially dangerous whether you're a sighted person or not but all tools that are perfectly safe if you use the proper procedures industrial arts class is taught at the orientation center in part to help blind students acquire some basic shop skills several students have even gone on to become carpenters and mechanics but more importantly the centers shop class brings out a student's confidence confidence to tackle challenges that can appear intimidating at first after he showed me the different techniques to using a saw like that really comfortable with it to the point welcome start up a radial arm saw a credible piece of wood and be finished with it before I even knew it right now I'm still finishing up on my son it's table like a desk table where he can you know kind of like a school school that's kind of type of deal and I wanted him to have something that he could happen you so sit down and play with another thing was cutting down trees I mean main thing that I was concerned about was the tree falling on me when I once I got the cutting on or whatever and then I started feeling how to treat shit fall or whatever I really didn't worry about it anymore I was the main one to remain where it was but then again I think I would have felt that way if I had say last great that I had completed was ninth grade so before high school education didn't have too much of it the orientation Center offers assistance to those who are pursuing their GED on-site tutoring is available with adaptive technology so students can study a summer program is offered for those preparing for a higher education career counseling and necessary social skill adjustments are addressed and students have the opportunity to take a course on improving their note-taking skills and study habits this GED is just a start you know to help me to go into further more education right now I'm planning to go to college for psychiatry the school that I'm starting at is slow Valley and back in st. Louis just a two-year college and after I get through going through those two years and i'ma start looking at just different universities how I looked at myself when I first came up here I looked at myself as a blind person but now that I'm leaving her I feel as though I'm just a person that happens to be blinded blindness is not an excuse not to excel in life I mean this it's not a handicap anymore but now slotty talk to us about her experience in Iran her blindness is the result of a bombing that took place there she came to the United States and went through the orientation center I went to high school here and I didn't know any Braille I didn't know anybody even talked to anybody I didn't know any English so I just about had it and then luckily a counselor from the Iowa Department for the blind came to our house and talked to us about their we went and visited their I saw what they were doing I they were teaching Braille I fell in love with computers I thought it was very interesting and and that's what I wanted to do because I always wanted to get a higher education that was my goal all along one of the ways that the orientation Center enables blind adults to meet their goals is through a strong program in communications alternate communications methods enhance one's ability to lead in an independent life Braille is one of the most basic yet one of the most important tools in communication for the blind Braille can open a new world of literature and information the Iowa Department for the blind maintains one of the largest collections of materials for the visually impaired in the United States over 350 thousand pieces are available in various formats such as Braille recorded discs or cassette tape while materials from the library are typically distributed to requesters by mail at a rate of over a thousand pieces each day orientation Center students have direct access to the materials all of which are right here in the same building in today's technological society computers have become an important tool in both business and the home students at the orientation Center attend classes on computer use learning basic computer skills and using a variety of adaptive hardware to accomplish this the orientation Center possesses a wide variety of up-to-date computer hardware and maintains a large collection of the latest auditory and tactile adapted communications technology I went there and I became independent I found friends they gave me a cane and I started traveling on myself so and then they I took home my courses I took shop class and all these they just built my confidence and that's where I got my positive attitude that's where I build my confidence and then I realized that I keep doing no matter what I could do anything I wanted to do I got my bachelor's degree in May of 93 and computer science and French alright I double majored and I graduated with highest distinction and then I started my graduate work at on August of 93 and I just received my master's in French literature and May of 95 and right now I'm a teaching assistant and what I do I teach French classes I teach the second semester French course right now I I teach five days a week and two hours a day first day I went to class and started teaching I don't know if I would have had the guts to do that without their help but when I went there I knew I could do it I had the confidence in myself so now I'm going to France for a year and teaching at the University and then I'll come back and I've applied for a PhD in French and I'm also considering going into international law without the Iowa Department of line I don't think I would have been where I am right now I can do what I always wanted to do and not to ever give up and that's one thing I learned not to ever give up and I'm glad I didn't for the last few years I've started you know I started to think you know hey I can do what I need to do if I want to do it as a blind person you know and I I didn't know how but I figured you know there's gonna come a time where somehow or someway I'd learned in that time came in the orientation center I have two kids and and my daughter said to me I've been here since October last year she says you know mom she's I'm really glad I got my mom back and you know that made me feel good because it's like the this orientation Center is working for me something I've never done and I assure that there's a number of the people that were here today the blind students that haven't done this either and it's kind of a confidence builder in a way letting you know that you're just as capable of doing this as anybody is and I feel real good about you know just to go out there and to know for myself I can do the same thing I did once when I when I was sighted I can still do those kind of things I'd accomplished something today I feel really good about the things I've done in the orientation center to me this is kind of the climax it's kind of the last thing I'm leaving in a couple of days you know it would be easy to say well I'm blind you know I I don't want to go rock climbing and I don't want to go hiking on a trail where there's risks of being dropped off you know every 40 feet or whatever it is I just believe that being vine doesn't have to be a hindrance if I don't want it to be me it can it can just be a characteristic and I can go on living life and doing the same types of things that everybody else goes you