Change. It’s inevitable in a person’s life. Sometimes change occurs slow and over the course of years, while at other times change happens quick. When change occurs in a quick burst, the transformation is easy to witness. And transformations can be a positive experience. Mine was.
Near the end of 2013, I underwent a change that affected who I am as a person and English instructor. I was introduced to some assistive technology to aid me in my everyday life and with my job. This technology came in the form of a cane and a laptop installed with the JAWS (Job Access With Speech) software that reads documents and online content on web sites.
Before I begin to describe my transformation, let me explain about my vision disability. At age fifteen I was afflicted with severe vision loss. Eventually it was diagnosed as optic neuropathy. The culprit? Doctors speculated that a virus attacked my optic nerves and atrophied them. The condition was irreversible. This condition left me with limited central vision due to a blockage in the center of my vision.
However, there were gaps in this blocked area that allowed me to have some central vision in my right eye. This helped a little and I could do limited, slow reading and I was mobile. Though difficult and, at times, frustrating, I carried on without any assistive technology for twenty-eight years.
Why did I go so long without assistive technology? I’m not really sure. But my best guess is pride. I wanted to continue doing on my own. I wanted to be independent and say, “Look, despite my vision loss, I was able to do it!” In hindsight, that way of thinking hindered my independence and growth as a person.
This past year, I came to the realization that I needed help. I was tired physically and mentally of the slow process of grading students’ essays and other work. Grading essays took days when reading them on my own. After a session, I was spent. I began to think that there surely was an easier way to accomplish this task of grading essays.
In addition to wanting help for my job as a teacher, I began to notice that despite how freely I thought I maneuvered through Holland’s sidewalks, my mind was on high alert making sure nothing got in my way. Again, like trying to read essays on my own, I often came back from a walk mentally tired.
Change. It was coming in my life and little did I know how much it would impact me and transform me into a more independent person with a disability.
In November 2013 I started receiving cane training. I was introduced to a few canes. I chose one that seemed to fit me. I called the cane Gypsy, since she and I would do a lot of traveling together.
Over the course of the next few months, I underwent training with my cane. I was trained indoors and outdoors, in fair conditions and wet and snowy conditions. Soon, My cane helped quicken my pace as I walk. Now, no matter if I’m walking at night or while snow covers sidewalks, my cane acts like my eyes on the ground while I keep track of my surroundings. Life is easier with Gypsy.
Now, on top of making my traveling easier, my cane is part of who I am. My cane brings attention to me as a visually impaired individual, something that remained hidden from strangers and society for more than two decades. People now see the cane and take note that a person with a vision disability is approaching. In years past, I hid from my disability, never bringing attention to it. It was as if I were embarrassed by my disability. Now, because of my cane Gypsy, my disability is in the open and it is part of who I am.
Besides acquiring a cane for my vision disability, I also attained some software to help me with my grading of schoolwork. The JAWS software, installed in my laptop, reads any document or PDF. The reader voice is computer generated. I call the voice Fred.
In the previous three years as an adjunct English
instructor at Grand Rapids Community College, I went through the same rigorous routine after collecting a batch of between twenty and twenty-five essays per class (I normally teach three classes per semester). I’d bring the essays home and hunker down, reading for days.
When I was done grading a batch of essays, my back hurt from hunching over, my eyes were irritated and I was drained. Not to mention, the vast time I spent away from my family, cooped up in a room grading.
When I received JAWS software and used it for the first time during the 2013 fall semester, life became so much easier. I’d gather a class’s worth of essays, collect them into a zip file and download them onto my laptop. Then I let Fred do the talking (reading) as I listened while he read the essays. With this software I was able to grade essays at a much quicker and efficient speed.
During that first semester using JAWS, again, my vision disability was upfront. Sure students know of my disability, but now every time I ask them to turn in an electronic copy of their essays, it’s a reminder that their instructor has a disability.
Change. It happens all the time. It’s inevitable, really. When it happens there may be a sense of uncertainty but if that change is for the positive, embrace it. Change involving assistive technology transformed me. I am now so much more open with my disability and feel I’ve gained independence in the process.
- Roel -
It is awesome that the availability is there for the disabled..and I couldn't be more pleased than to know you are taking advantage of them and not only that but that your life is easier because of them.
Posted by: Lynda Endres | 02/07/2014 at 07:38 PM