Washington State Department of Services for the Blind

Orientation and Training Center
Fall 2005 Newsletter

One thing all of us have learned here at the OTC is that nothing ever stays the same for very long! We are always looking for better ways to make sure the students have the alternative skills to blindness that they will need when they leave the Center and go to school or begin to look for a job. So we thought that you might want to know of a few position changes that have occurred.

As of October 7, Letha Howard officially ended her employment with the OTC and Services for the Blind. What a gift it has been all these 36 years to have had her as a part of the Center team! Now, that leaves a gap in the Home Economics department! And stepping into that position is our own Equilla Brooks! Yes, the same Equilla Brooks who has been teaching Orientation and Mobility for over five years now. Equilla said she has always enjoyed the home management tasks and is enjoying the change.

Now, while that ensures that Home Economics will continue on, there was a glaring gap in the O&M department at the OTC. And to the rescue came Mell Toy! Mell was our Residential Instructor at the apartments, doing 1001 things too numerous to name. Mell is attending Stephen F. Austin State University at Nacogdoches-don't try to pronounce it!-Texas, and learned how to travel with the cane.

Also, in collaboration between the VR Field Services and the OTC, Al Yardley has been teaching Center and non-Center students how to operate the computer using Zoomtext. Al has been working half days here, and we are excited to be able to offer this service to agency and OTC participants.

Those are the major changes that will occur within the year. But stay tuned for upcoming details. It's never a dull moment here!

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Blindness Skills, Attitude and Motivation
By Timothy Grisham, OTC Student

What are blindness skills? Blindness skills are skills we learn to help us function in the sighted world. When I say, function in the sighted world I mean, skills to help you get around, read, write and skills to help you function without sight. Without the ability to get around, you are limited in everything that you do.

It is a scary feeling to walk down the street without sight. Once you have some cane skills, your confidence and abilities will take you where you want to go. The most important part is the confidence. People think that it is a gift to be able to get around without sight. I don't think so. It just takes a lot of practice and confidence. Sometimes we let our fears get in the way of what we are trying to accomplish. Once we get rid of the fear, we can move on.

This brings us to attitude. Without a positive attitude, it is easy to dwell on fears and failures. Nobody is going to succeed at everything all the time. Don't give up, just keep on trying. It is hard to keep a cool head all the time. You deal with a lot more verbal abuse than most people. You just have to learn to deal with it. This doesn't mean that you can't express yourself. Sometimes people don't understand blind people. This is common. It's up to each individual to express their thought to others. Motivation is also very important.

Let's face it, if you're not motivated, you're not going to do much of anything. The fear of not being able to do something you want to do can become overwhelming. It's easy to be lazy, but it is just a waste of time. Good things will happen if you are motivated and focused.

I have learned a lot since I started the O.T.C. I think that it is important to have some kind of support when dealing with blindness. Hopefully all of us will seek out the support we need long after we are finished with the program. I would like to thank all of the staff and students for all of the training and support you have given me.

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A Journey Inside the Mind of a Dependable Strengths Workshop Facilitator
By Mell Toy

Last term, the OTC broke new ground. For the first time ever, the OTC students endured a several-days long, intensive, fully-interactive job-seeking skills workshop known as the Dependable Strengths Articulation Process. Read on for a glimpse into the daily journal of one of the workshop's presenters

August 10, 2005. Day One. Wow! Such an adrenaline rush right now to be sitting alongside Sheila at the head of the long table, facing the entire group of OTC students! Looking at all sixteen of their faces, I can tell they are anxious and eager, too. Even Sheila is showing glimmers of excitement under her characteristic cool and calm exterior. We all know that every week we will be venturing into unknown waters. Here goes!

August 17, 2005. Day Two. We've already lost one student. Once he heard that we would be recalling and sharing our good experiences with each other, he was out the door. Oh well. We move onward. The 9-dot brain buster really charged up the students. They worked so hard at it that I almost wanted to give them the whole day to figure it out. Also, the students seemed to enjoy sculpting the Play-Do and showing off their Crayola drawing skills. There's some real artistic talent here!

August 17, 2005. Day Two. We've already lost one student. Once he heard that we would be recalling and sharing our good experiences with each other, he was out the door. Oh well. We move onward. The 9-dot brain buster really charged up the students. They worked so hard at it that I almost wanted to give them the whole day to figure it out. Also, the students seemed to enjoy sculpting the Play-Do and showing off their Crayola drawing skills. There's some real artistic talent here!

August 31, 2005. Day Four. Breakdown! The students have revolted! We were going along just splendidly, I thought, but a few of the students made it very clear to me that the homework assignment and the on-the-spot note-taking we need from them is just too much to ask. That threw a bit of a wrench into the plans. A workshop on Dependable Strengths transforms into a Lincoln-Douglas style debate between me and a few dissenting voices. Talk about a reality check. Some students appear to be moving right along, while others are skeptical, frustrated and confused, or just down right disengaged. Sheila and I are going to talk about how to address these concerns and further adapt the workshop to accommodate all students.

September 7, 2005. Day Five. The groups are split right down the middle. Half go off with Sheila to work out of the Resource Room, where they talk about when confusion hit and how to benefit from the workshop at this point. The remainder stay with me to continue the process. The groups have affectionately named themselves the "Lost Group" and the "Found Group".

September 14, 2005. Day Six. Sheila and her group seem to have bonded. Sheila reports that even the taciturn students are opening up. My group is on a roll. Even after the set-back a couple of weeks ago, we are on track. These students have each written their first draft of the Dependable Strengths Report. Life is good again.

September 21, 2005. Day Seven. Sheila has been emailing me these enormous stories dictated to her by the students in the Lost Group. I'd say that there's hope yet. My group is busy taking turns practicing job interviews and how to answer everyone's favorite question, "Tell me about yourself."

September 28, 2005. Day Eight. This is it! I'm not sure who is more relieved at this point - me or the students who have been groaning about the workshops at, well, every workshop. Both groups are rejoined to practice networking. There is new feeling in the air. It's not quite joy, not even positivism, but everyone is cooperating and putting forth their best efforts in the role playing exercises. (Could it be due to Keiko's quiet presence at the back of the room? Hmmm.) With reports in hand, several of the students descend upon the innocent unsuspecting workers and businesspeople of Columbia City. Those who return tell stories of their adventures, and carry back a sense of accomplishment. Their enthusiasm is catching with those from the Lost Group, who are beginning to wonder aloud if they should finish the process next term.

Final thoughts: Out of sixteen original Dependable Strengths students who began this unprecedented voyage with me and Sheila at the helm, 1 dropped out, seven were lost, eight were found, five made it all the way through, and one nabbed herself a solid job lead if not an actual job offer! At the end of the day, that's not too shabby!

Quote by a 4th OTC Term Student - "At first, I thought it would be really tough. It was a lot of mind work - figuring out what to say. It was hard to put down on paper what I wanted to say. But going out there and talking to people and meeting people.it was actually fun towards the end. Dependable Strengths helped me to realize that I had a lot more strengths than I thought I did."

- Cara W.

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Effective Non-Verbal Communication without Vision
By Jay Stiteley, OTC Guest Speaker for Seminar Class

1. Introduction:
   Getting where you are going is only the first step. The Seeing Eye believes that it is just as important to consider how you present yourself once you arrive at your destination. This workshop has been developed to highlight facts about common Non-Verbal Communication, and to provide strategies for including Non-Verbal techniques into a communication style.
2. Some facts about human communication
   1. 80% of all social interaction begins with non-verbal communication
   2. 55% of the message communicated is one's eye contact, body posture, and head position
   3. 38% is how well one modulates their voice
   4. 7% are the words that are actually spoken
3. Eye contact, Body Positioning and Space:
   1. Eye contact is really face-to-face
   2. Face the voice; track the moving voice with your face.
   3. Body space is generally elliptical or egg shaped. (Acceptable space is an extended arm and hand length when facing another individual, about half that when standing behind an individual, and brushing elbows when side by side.)
   4. The low vision individual might consider 90 degree positioning, instead of face-to-face. (The person with partial vision may find that moving in close enough to recognize someone, might make the sighted person nervous. This positioning brings them about a half step closer, but not in the person's face.)
4. Handshaking:
   1. Take the initiative; be sure to get your hand out first, grasp firmly and briefly.
   2. Bend the elbow, center, and extend the hand slightly. (The further you extend the hand the higher it rises, consequently, you might get a handful of something you may or may not want.)
   3. Verbalize your greeting to localize: "How are you?"
   4. Humor can help to break the non-verbal stalemate: "OK, I know you're around here somewhere, just speak up and I'll find you."
5. Gestures
   1. Adding a gesture to a verbal statement increases the potential for a verbal response.
   2. Gestures can incorporate the entire body, or as simple as a smile
6. Conclusion:
   This handout includes 3 "Match Games" which are made up of lists of "non-verbal gestures" and "implied messages" that can be used to further your group's discussion of Non-verbal Communication. We believe that this information can be integrated into a supplemental training program for teaching people who are blind and visually impaired to make use of non-verbal gestures for more effective communication.

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The Wall
By Timothy Grisham, OTC Student

The other night I was thinking about an album I enjoy listening to. The album is called The Wall, by Pink Floyd. Basically, the album is about a man who thinks about his life and all the mental barriers that build up during his life. He recognizes them as bricks in the wall. The more bricks that he put into the wall, the more his mental health slipped away. After thinking about it, I thought that I could use this concept to describe my blindness. So, this is how my story goes.

About 22 years ago, I went to an optometrist for the very first time in my life. I noticed that my eyesight wasn't as good as it had been before. I went to see about getting a pair of glasses. After going through the eye exam, the doctor told me to wait awhile, because he had to check something out. When he came back, about 1 hour later, he told me that he was sending me to an ophthalmologist and I would go see him right away. That is when I was told that I had glaucoma. Glaucoma is an eye disease that there is no cure for. At the time I thought it was kind of exciting. I didn't know then that it was just a brick in the wall.

After being diagnosed with glaucoma, I started to see an ophthalmologist at least twice a month. I got to know my doctor and nurses very well. My doctor, Doctor D., seemed to care a lot about me. He said that the pressure in my right eye was way too high and I needed to get an operation to try to bring the pressure down. This was another brick in the wall.

After being diagnosed with glaucoma, I started to see an ophthalmologist at least twice a month. I got to know my doctor and nurses very well. My doctor, Doctor D., seemed to care a lot about me. He said that the pressure in my right eye was way too high and I needed to get an operation to try to bring the pressure down. This was another brick in the wall.

My right eye seemed to be stable, and then my left eye took a turn for the worse. The doctors told me that the pressure in my left eye was out of control. Since my left eye was the eye that I could see the best out of, this was not good news. Another brick in the wall.

Doctor D. told me that I had to go up to U. of W. right away and get an operation on my left eye. Another brick in the wall. While undergoing surgery on my left eye, I almost lost my life due to complications. Just another brick in the wall.

After recovering from the last operation, I went back to work and tried to sustain some kind of normal life. My work was going well. Sometimes I would even forget that I had a lot of eye problems. Every time things seemed to be getting back to normal, it was time to go back to the doctor. Another brick in the wall.

I started my own business and was doing well. It seemed to take away the stress of the eye issue as long as I didn't think about it. The one thing I knew was in time there was no hiding from the disease. Just a brick in the wall.

I had gone through some hard times with my business when my left eye started to really trouble me. My cornea was going bad and it was very painful. Just a brick in the wall. Wasn't able to do what I needed to do, as far as my business was concerned because I was in constant pain by now. Another brick in the wall.

I contacted a good friend of mine and he said that I could work with him on some of his projects and split the profits. This was alright but it was very difficult. My left eye was in a lot of pain and I didn't know how long I could hang on. Another brick.

A short time later, I went to the doctor, only to find out that my doctor, Doctor D. had died from an illness I never knew about. My new doctor told me that I needed a cornea transplant as soon as possible. It wasn't long before I was back in the hospital receiving a cornea transplant. Just a brick in the wall.

When I got out of the hospital I was really scared because I realized without my left eye functioning I was blind. At the time I still thought that everything would be alright. After recovery, trips to the doctor were very stressful. I had the feeling something was wrong, even though the doctors never said anything. Another brick in the wall.

I was still working, although I've got to admit it was only a matter of time before I wouldn't be able to perform my job anymore. One day I had to go out of town to do some repairs on a job we had done earlier. I drove my own car, which was a new Blazer that I had bought a couple of months earlier. At this time I was really struggling with my eyesight anyway. On this day, I've got to admit that I was driving blind. It took me a long time to find the job even though I had been there many times before. I noticed that I wasn't feeling well at all on the way there. After feeling sicker and sicker, I attempted to drive myself home. I was 75 miles from home and getting sicker all the time. Halfway home my blazer got stuck in first gear. I had to drive the rest of the way home at about 35 miles per hour at the most. When I finally made home I was sicker than a dog. My wife was out of town at the time and I just lay down and tried to go to sleep. A lot of bricks were put on the wall that day.

Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep that night. I called my son about 6 A.M. the next morning. I told him what was going on and that I needed him to give me a ride to the doctor. I was at the door when the doctor's office opened. My son waited in the car while I went in to have the doctor look at me. My doctor checked me out and left the room for awhile. When he came back he told me that my left eye had shut down completely and I was going to have it removed as soon as possible. There was no choice. If I didn't have it removed now, the pain would be unbearable. I made arrangements to have it removed, then walked out to tell my son what had happened. My wife was still in San Francisco, so, I told my son not to say anything and that I would tell her when she got home. Now, the wall was so high that I could not see.

After recovering from my operation, I knew that I could not do the work that I had been doing for so many years. I had to let my business go and hope for the best. Well, the best was not paying my bills, since I was used to making a pretty good living. Right away, I knew that I would have to be retrained to get any type of job. I had quite a bit of motivation at the time. When reality hit me and realized that it was going to be some time before I was trained to do even the basic tasks of a job, I still had hope. Time went by and my money got slim. I had applied for S.S.D. but they told me that it would take 6 months to get any benefits even if I was approved. Soon after that I had to go bankrupt. All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

Time went on; I was slowly adjusting to my new life. I noticed that simple tasks weren't so simple anymore. I still had no idea of what to do in my life. I didn't know anything about blindness. I just thought that it something that I had to deal with. As time went on I started to think of many different ways to make a buck. They were just thoughts; none of them seemed to amount to nothing. When my eyesight got so bad that I couldn't read anymore, anxiety and self pity started to set in. Life goes on right? Day after day, month after month, year after year went on, and I knew that my mind and my overall health was in jeopardy.

I knew then that the wall that had been built up around me had to be torn down. I also knew this was not going to be an easy task.

Tearing Down the Wall

I knew that if I was going to be a happy and productive person, I would need some help. The first step I made was to contact the DSB. I made an appointment to talk to a counselor. I had begun to tear down the wall.

A few weeks later, I met with my vocational rehabilitation counselor again. I gave her all the papers that she had gave to me to apply for the program. A couple of weeks later she called and told me that I had been accepted for the rehabilitation program. Some bricks were starting to fall.

The next time I met with my counselor we discussed my plan of rehabilitation. At that time we talked about the O.T.C. and how it would be good for me to get some blindness skills. I didn't realize at the time that this would be the key to tearing down the wall.

A few months later, my wife and I went up to the O.T.C. to take a tour of the facility. I had some mixed feelings about the place but I knew that it would be good for me to go there. It was a very good decision. Some more bricks came tumbling down.

Now the date was set for me to start my schooling at the Orientation and Training Center for the blind. I had about 2 months before I would begin. In the meantime I took a couple of mobility lessons and studied typing on my keyboard at home. I think that this loosened some bricks in the wall.

Finally, it was time to start my schooling. I didn't know what to think at first, because it was the first time I had attended school since I was in High School. By the way, that was a long time ago. The first day I moved in to the student apartments, and met my new roommate. I could tell right away that this was going to be quite an adventure. The bricks were getting looser.

In my first term at the OTC I learned a lot of blindness skills and how to deal with being blind in a sighted world. The school was more than I had imagined. Learning skills from very professional teachers that really had an understanding of each student and how they could teach them what they needed to. The students come from various backgrounds, ages and personalities. Getting to know my teachers and students was a good experience. The wall was being torn down during this period.

In my second term, I was learning all the time. My attitude and confidence were building. The wall was crumbling down all around me.

I am in the third term at the OTC and the wall has been reduced to a pile of rubble. I have learned so much from my teachers and students, it would take another story to tell about it. I am going to graduate in about a month (September 23, 2005). I would just like to say, this was probable the best experience of my life.

I am walking away with a toolbox of blindness skills, an attitude that will help me through the good and bad times and the motivation to keep going. When I walk out of the door of the OTC I will carry these things with me for the rest of my life.

I would like to dedicate this story to Jim Portillo for being a huge inspiration in my life!