JesseWhat are everyone's thoughts on training centres for blind people like this one?
https://www.blindinc.org/
Worth attending? A terrible idea?
https://www.blindinc.org/
Worth attending? A terrible idea?
@JesseF8693 In my opinion, it highly depends on who runs the center, what other people's experience s have been like etc. There are some really great facilities I've heard of aorund the US that are pretty awesome, but there are several that just plain suck on all levels. I've heard Colorado has a good one and Texas has Criss Cole I've heard good things about. Never heard of the one you mentioned.
@blindbat84 I am open to recommendations. The family isn't too keen on sending me across the border but at this point, I don't care what they think. I do have agency over my own life, and Canada isn't the centre of the world, for better or worse
@JesseF8693 I've never been to one myself, I checked out the state one in Illinois and decided it was not for me as I had already learned my life skills I needed. I did get vocational rehab for O&M and other blindness related skills like braille, but not much else. The Blind Institute of Technology is the only other disabled focused org I've gotten involved with and it has been the best thing ever so far.
@JesseF8693 My partner went to Criss Cole and could likely give you some info about it for sure, its been a while since he went there so things could have changed some, but he's always talked well of it. What are your guals more specifically I guess is a good place to start, what areas do you want help in?
@blindbat84 Whatever skills I need to get out of the house. Some things I know, some things I'm learning and could brush up on.
@JesseF8693 You are in canada right? Is there no equivelant of a state vocational rehabilitation government agency to reach out to for skills training? I know squat about Canadian government stuff except some of the accessibility laws, nothing on actual govenmental disability oriented bodies.
@blindbat84 There's vision loss rehab, but I don't feel like I get the most out of them. There are no training centres in Canada like there are across the border, so specialists will just come to your house for a few hours then leave. I want to immerse myself more fully into the experience, if that makes any sense. But without family behind me.
@JesseF8693 That makes absolute sense. Hopefully you can get some good suggestions. Please, no NFB centers, especially with the crap they've had to deal with lately. Being that you are from Canada, I don't know the procedure for getting into a center, but I guess the first step is if you find one you may be interested in, reach out to them and explain your situation and see what the process is. I know normally state vocational rehab usually has a hand in that but may not always.
@blindbat84 @JesseF8693 when I went to carroll center in 2011 after college and me bombed. state paid for it. and there was someone from canada there. hell there was also someone from canada at guide dog foundation when I went there too.
@blindbat84 NFB run or just partners in general? I do remember hearing something about sexual harassment a couple years ago.
@JesseF8693 NFB run. Can't do Criss Cole sadly because you need to be a Texas resident, looking up the Colorado one now to see what it has for requirements, just in case.
@blindbat84 The one I linked to is not run by them, but I think is associated with them in someway? I would have to look at their website again.
@JesseF8693 Looks like the Colorado one is NFB based, sad as it looks pretty neat, I don't think that's the one I've heard good things aobut, I don't know the name of it sadly. Also, something that was just pointed out to me... do you have a passport?
@blindbat84 I do. But it's locked away in a family safe.
@JesseF8693 That is... a definite problem.
@blindbat84 That's one way to put it.
Brian Moore@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 that's a minor detail. funding will be the big issue I think. Like Sarah said, contact them and see what they say.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 don't touch NFB centers. I've heard horror stories.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 colorado centre is nfb run.
@bmoore123 @JesseF8693 Yeah, I figured that out after more reading.
@blindbat84 @JesseF8693 there sort of is. they contract it out to a charity. However, nothing as intensive as those residential things like you have in the states.
Amy@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 when you finish whatever training you have, will you go back to your family? This happens a lot and undoes whatever training lots might get from whatever center. It’s rough if your family doesn’t believe in your ability to live and work independently. And the thing training centers often do not focus on is employability. I’m only saying this because wherever you choose, if the end goal is breaking free and being on your own it might be worth thinking about
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 at a trading center you’ll learn things like using technology, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and orientation and mobility and sometimes braille. But you won’t really get employment assistance or job skills. Some may but that’s not guaranteed.
@amy0223 @blindbat84 If I have anything to say about it, honestly? No, I won't. I've felt stuck here for the longest time and don't want to have to rely on them to get around, like I could hopefully do on my own in a city.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 I think you might have a problem getting funded. don't know what the cost is but it isn't cheap. Can't see ontario funding that when cnib has such a monopoly particularly with vision loss rehab ontario but they don't offer anything that intensive. residential training centres simply don't exist in this country.
@bmoore123 @blindbat84 Yeah. And my family is apparently making the decision for me that I'm not going across the border to go to a training center. Just like they refused to let me at least attend Ross at one point before they finally caved. I had some of the most fun experiences there.
I am my own person, dammit. Can't wait to get out of here. If it is a mistake, it's my mistake to make, no?
I am my own person, dammit. Can't wait to get out of here. If it is a mistake, it's my mistake to make, no?
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 it is. However, family dynamics can be a complex thing. Yes, you are an adult and allowed to do well or screw up on your own. However, some families don't get that. happy to discuss privately.
@bmoore123 @blindbat84 It's less that and more, they say they will let me walk into walls as it were, but whenever I try to assert myself I always end up having to fight for it and they react as if I'm being an idiot or I'm not considering what's involved. When I'm very much aware of what would be, but I'm just not letting myself be beholden to them.
Living in a small town with shit for any kind of transport doesn't help either.
Living in a small town with shit for any kind of transport doesn't help either.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 yeah, I imagine that is a problem. I grew up in Montreal, a big city with lots of good public transit so I learned early and was going to school on my own on transit by grade 6
@bmoore123 @blindbat84 I've never had that option.When I do mention the public transsit system in London the family tries to essentially scare me out of using it because it's so unsafe, and they get other blind people to back them up.
Driving is unsafe too, though.
As for walking to school, they didn't let me start doing that until high school. Even then, they only let me in the afternoon..
I don't go anywhere as is because there's nowhere of interest to go.
Driving is unsafe too, though.
As for walking to school, they didn't let me start doing that until high school. Even then, they only let me in the afternoon..
I don't go anywhere as is because there's nowhere of interest to go.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 well, unsafe it may be but since you aren't going to be able to drive any time soon, what other choice do you have. Toronto transit can be unsafe but I still got to get around. I don't have another choice. welcome to life!
@bmoore123 @blindbat84 I have the choice of relying on them to go anywhere, which I would really rather not. I don't want/need them following me everywhere I go.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 imho, that is not a real choice. what if you like want to go on a date or something? do you really want to bring family?
@bmoore123 @blindbat84 Exactly my point, yes.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 also, I place a lot of value on the ability to determine when I want to go somewhere or not. I don't have to ask anyone or plan it days in advance. that is not something I would be prepared to give up for anyone!
@bmoore123 @blindbat84 Again, this exactly. If I want to go anywhere it has to be worked around their work schedules during the week or on weekends. That's why I just don't bother. Like I said, I don't want/need them shadowing me everywhere I go. I can literally count on one hand the number of times I've been anywhere without one family member or another, outside of my time at Ross/scouts/camps for the blind.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 is the plan that you will live at home forever. might be a question worth bringing up? what is their thinking about future plans. maybe you don't want to spend your adult life living with your parents
@bmoore123 @blindbat84 They say they support me, but then they limit me by saying they don't want me, say, going to a training center outside of the province. I'm not sure if they even know what the plan is, and frankly I don't really care if they do.
Though my sense is they just want me to do whatever I can, learn whatever I can, from the comfort of home.
But I won't learn what I need to be independent if I'm dependent on them.
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@bmoore123 @blindbat84 Granted, I'm still going through college classes and residence is expensive as hell, which is the main reason I'm not looking at going through the training this summer.
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@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 well, there is no training centre inside the province or the country for that matter.
@bmoore123 @blindbat84 Exactly. I can't do the things I might aim to in Canada, unfortunately. Forget about doing them in a small ass town. But they reacted negatively to my mentioning a training center across the border, just as they did when I mentioned the possibility of attending a guide dog school not in Ontario. Their thought? Let one of us come with you for the weeks you're gone.
Uh... yeah, not happening.
Uh... yeah, not happening.
@JesseF8693 @bmoore123 @blindbat84 Wow WTF? No, just no no no. Do they even realize how that sounds? You go to a place with a bunch of other blind adults, with a parent tagging along? Uh... What do they thing other blind adults do for goodness sakes?
@Faylen @bmoore123 @blindbat84 Hell if I know. But that's not even the half of the shit I deal with.
The rest of it is too long to go into in text.
The rest of it is too long to go into in text.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 well, actually, there is a program in BC that is trying to emulate the US experience. look up the pacific training centre for the blind.
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 they do good work
@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 blind inc is one of the nfv centers like the Colorado center and lcb.
@JesseF8693 You'll likely get a huge variety across the spectrum from hate to love and in between, because it really is a shades of gray matter. I've personally never heard of this one you posted about and it sounds like a private one, not a state run one, so that's pretty interesting in and of itself. The hard part will be finding people who have been to these sorts of places to give you honest reviews if you are looking into it.
@blindbat84 @JesseF8693 carroll center is private, not a state run or blindness org ran one but they were really good for job stuff. life stuff, even counciling. hell our little art club that we had even did a drum circle one time and that made pagan me happy. it's also where I started my collection of crystals! the counciler for that program was kick ass.
@JesseF8693 it depends if you're willing to learn what they have to teach you. and want the help they can give you. there's loads all over the place, NFB runs some. I'm personally fond of the carroll center in Massachusetts. went to a 5 month program there to brush up on things I already knew. talk to people who have been to them, if you can.
@lunar_fang I don't know anyone who has been, but I do know I want to do this. Of course, like I said, the family isn't too keen on it, because it would mean I leave the house and cross the border. It would be inconvenient to get me there is a line they've used in the past for guide dog school and it's a line they will probably use again
@JesseF8693 you have to put your foot down then. if they want you to be an independant person who they don't have to worry about then they should help you gain that indipendence. if they give a shit about you at all they'll help you.
@lunar_fang I'm in the process of trying to do just that. Honestly, once I'm gone, in all likeliness, I won't look back and won't come back. I have been held so tightly to the family since the day I was born and I'm tired of living here. I don't know if they know this or not, but I don't plan to tell them. I'll probably just cut contact eventually.
@JesseF8693 do what shan did. fuck you family bye. but she at the time had a partner. so she wasn't like out on the streets and what not.
@lunar_fang I don't know if I can afford that in my current situation. Plus, where would I get a ride out of here anyway?
@JesseF8693 go fund me. like other blind people do when they have shit situations.
@JesseF8693 Maybe not a question that can be easily handled in a few words. As a 70-year old blind from birth who never fullly partook in a blindness trainer of any sort, there are definite advantages, if one can do it, from giving six or nine months to mastering skills of blindness. Of course, many can't or won't do that for various reasons. As for Blind Inc and the other Federation training centers, I've always been suspicious of them because I've been suspicious of the Federation. However, there's no known reason to believe that a local state-funded center will be any better. The Federation does base the curricula of their facilities around a positive viewpoint of the potential of blind people and the challenges posed by society, and state centers may not have such a philosophy. There is lots of recent documentation about patterns of sexual malfeasance at the Federation centers, perhaps the situation is better now since it has come to light, though no leader has been chastized for this abominable conduct which they certainly knew about. thoughts?
Justin Yarbrough@JesseF8693 @blindbat84 I've got issues with some of the NFB's philosophies and personally wouldn't recommend one of their programs, but I wouldn't be where I am today if not for the program I did attend after losing my sight.
Hell's Kitchen Bitches! 🦮🔥@JesseF8693 So transparency, I've never attended one as basically I learned along with my siblings how to do ADLs as a child and don't really need one, however I have observed many clients of varying ages attend these and what I'm going to tell you is that the 3 nfb centers are good, you will come out with really, really fucking good skills. But they are not going to hold your hand or accept excuses or whining. They will push you far beyond your comfort zone. It is like bootcamp
@Pawpower Nah, no wining. I want to be the hell out of this house. I'd settle for that happening next summer after I finish college though.
@Pawpower @JesseF8693 yes, she's right