By Lisa Ansay —
Outpatient therapies at Barrow Neurological Institute continued through the Holidays for PT and Speech.
Occupational Therapy has not been available through Barrow for months due to staff shortages, so we’ve ramped up that facet of rehab at the homestead, and those therapies continued through the Holidays as well. (OT deals with all the skills for daily living, as well as those needed for work or school that include technology, writing, navigating, etc).
Orientation and Mobility training for the blind was applied for and declined yet again by another rehab agency of the State of AZ, so Taylor has yet to receive any training for white cane use, or basic mobility for the blind. If you become vision impaired, and are under the age of 55 in the State of AZ, there is no training or rehab available. -Unless you can hold a job for three months in a “work trial” – and they will give you a bus pass. After holding a job for three months, they’ll open the benefit and allow rehab, orientation and mobility. For a newly blind person. Pretty ridiculous.
Adaptive tools and technologies have become commonplace around Encanto Fitness.
You may remember some months ago, Taylor set up a climbing rope from one end of the house to the other, with knots tied at points that indicate a floor change/step, the bathroom doorway, etc. He holds a “locking ‘D'” carabiner and glides it along the rope until he hits an indicator knot for self-navigation. This allows him to move independently through the house without a sighted guide. He otherwise always has a sighted guide.
He works with a program on his PC called “Talking Typer” which provides lessons and drills for keyboarding refresher for accuracy with audio feedback for the vision impaired.
He also very much enjoys audiobooks, and receives regular mailings from the Audio Library at the Foundation for the Blind. The last audiobook he was listening to was written by an autistic man, describing how it felt to be “non-verbal” in a speaking world. Very fascinating story. People are amazing.
Movies with Audio Descriptive Track are a treat. Visualizing the action sequences as they are described by a narrator is great for the brain!
Watch the Described Television Public Service Announcement (Windows Media Player)
Watch the Described Television Public Service Announcement (MP4)
There are TV shows and motion pictures with Audio Description, so you can either check listings on http://www.afb.org/tv.aspx or check out the ‘Languages’ selection on most DVDs, and if that disc has the descriptive narrative, it will be listed there.
Taylor has begun classes for the semester at the AZ Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and is currently studying the assistive technologies available on handheld Apple products, i.e…iPod, iPhone and iPad. These devices – with no special added features, simply the stock iOS – offer the latest and greatest assistive technologies on mobile devices for the vision impaired. Super cool stuff.
He will begin work with numbers in braille. Braille is a complex language in and of itself, and many people do not choose to learn braille these days with technology as it is. He is not yet enrolled in a class, but we will make up some fun activities to learn the numbers, for now. We have braille UNO and positive-relief dice for Yahtzee and raised-dot dominos (all of which Taylor very much enjoys – and wins) for fun and brain work.
It’s all really just fun and games!
Love to you all and Happy New Year!
