An Aha Moment, Sort Of
Mar. 7th, 2018 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzyjjHi all. I'd like to talk about an aha moment that happened just last week. Given the scope of this journal that may seem like just a small and insignificant thing. But please read on, I beg you. A neighbor friend and I were over here at my place hanging out, as we frequently do. We were discussing the weather, and the fact that I needed to get somewhere via ADA paratransit. I happened to mention to him again that some of the drivers I've had have gotten lost and asked me for directions. Then he told me about a landmark that is currently on the buildings to the right and left of the building in which he and I live. I think the definition of "landmark" is pretty self-explanatory. Correct? Yes. Well, the reason this is so significant to me at this particular point in time is because I have never before been told this by anyone let alone a formal orientation&mobility specialist. That's right, in the almost 14 years that I have lived in this building nobody has told me that. As good as my 2 tutors are--and as good as the other support staff and neighbors here are--not a single one of them ever told me about this landmark out in front of the building. So in other words, I was missing out on some important information.
I am not faulting them though. The reason for this goes back to the idea of formal orientation&mobility instruction. To cut a long story short, I was told several years ago by some unnamed people at the state vocational rehabilitation agency in no uncertain terms, that if anybody other than a formal O&M instructor showed me anything, that those people would get in "serious" trouble. I was never told what kind of "Serious" trouble would be brewing. That was before my parents and I heard about Center for Independent Futures, please see my profile and/or links on each entry page. As a matter of fact, CIF wasn't even a thing yet. When we first joined CIF and were making preparations for me to move into my own place, we inquired about some formal orientation&mobility training for me, since we hadn't met my tutor yet. But the agency denied our request, for what reason we'll never know. But I--and perhaps my parents--can only speculate that it had something to do with money and self-serving bureaucrats of our state.
So I'm asking you--dear readers--was I right or should I be having these tutors work with me more? Thing is, they have other people too that need and deserve their services. So as y'all can see I'm in sorta a quandary here. I'm getting my first iPhone soon in part due to the built-in? GPS and I may go for some training at a place here in Chicago which apparently has a formal O&M instructor on staff. But I dunno.
I am not faulting them though. The reason for this goes back to the idea of formal orientation&mobility instruction. To cut a long story short, I was told several years ago by some unnamed people at the state vocational rehabilitation agency in no uncertain terms, that if anybody other than a formal O&M instructor showed me anything, that those people would get in "serious" trouble. I was never told what kind of "Serious" trouble would be brewing. That was before my parents and I heard about Center for Independent Futures, please see my profile and/or links on each entry page. As a matter of fact, CIF wasn't even a thing yet. When we first joined CIF and were making preparations for me to move into my own place, we inquired about some formal orientation&mobility training for me, since we hadn't met my tutor yet. But the agency denied our request, for what reason we'll never know. But I--and perhaps my parents--can only speculate that it had something to do with money and self-serving bureaucrats of our state.
So I'm asking you--dear readers--was I right or should I be having these tutors work with me more? Thing is, they have other people too that need and deserve their services. So as y'all can see I'm in sorta a quandary here. I'm getting my first iPhone soon in part due to the built-in? GPS and I may go for some training at a place here in Chicago which apparently has a formal O&M instructor on staff. But I dunno.
