Adjustment to Blindness Group Story

Sitting around a table at the SSB office in Marshall, you would think the five older folks gathered together were a group of siblings reunited after a long separation. The group is warm and welcoming and eager to hear about each other. One of the group members begins to express a thought and before she can finish the others jump in to reinforce her idea. What they really are however is a group of seniors who have been struggling to come to grips with vision loss.  The group consists of Wilbert Werner, Gene Hochhalter, Lloyd White, Anne Rockman and Eunice Hanson.

This group came together for eight weeks in 2010 to go through an Adjustment to Blindness class taught by rehabilitation teacher Sylvia Diers who is a contractor for SSB. The class teaches blind and visually impaired people to learn new ways to do the things they need to remain independent. They learn cooking techniques, technology, skills of daily living and white cane travel. “It shouldn’t be called adjustment to blindness.” says Hochhalter. “Maybe something like, adjustment to vision loss would be better.” The group did agree that when presented the idea for a group by Lynne Zick in SSB’s Marshall office the term “blindness” sounded scary, but they realized once they were there just how valuable the class was.

What was the most important thing the members learned? Each member pointed to specific things they liked such as working with tools or using their fingers to feel their way through a problem, eating without self-consciousness or learning to cross the street safely. In the end though, the overwhelming consensus was that the class was important to teach confidence and acceptance of the vision loss. They agreed that creating a comfort level with the loss was essential for moving on with their lives.

One member, Lloyd White, has been blind all his life.  He has always had a guide dog and came to class to learn cane travel skills.  The group agreed that White’s attitude and example of having lived such  a full life was an inspiration and helped them realize that they didn’t need to be afraid of blindness. White says, “If you get upset, you compromise your ability.” Well, he sure got through to Anne Rockman.  Before the class she was having difficulty adjusting to her blindness and was considering selling her home. In fact her son and daughter had been staying with her to provide support.  After the class she says, “If something else happens I know I will be prepared to deal with it.” She now is happy living just where she is, in her own home.