I got a call last week from the state services for the blind last week (now I know they refer to themselves as the DSB), and went down to the office for my interview. "Down" to the office turned out to be correct, as they are located down a flight of stairs in the basement of the Arkansas Services Center. There was a small printed paper sign pointing down the stairs, and it crossed my mind that most people looking for this place would have someone else with them. All sorts of irony has been hitting me lately.
The closer I got to the office, the more I wondered what this "interview" would entail. I don't generally get nervous about such things, but the 95 degree afternoon and the descent to the basement office had me literally in a sweat. All this was dispelled when I went in the door. These are some of the friendliest government employees I have ever met.
Much more than merely cordial, the vocational rehab guy and the independent living lady were extremely helpful and upbeat about what the service could do for me in the future. Things are not so bad right now for me; I mean, I still am driving and can still read the computer screen as long as I've hiked up the resolution and made all the fonts bigger. I do qualify for services since Mr. MacDee is never going to leave, and even though it might not be next week, things will be downhill from here.
What they did do now is take my application and start my file. They have to get medical records and such, and coordinate things with the VA. This all makes me feel much relieved. My big worry was having no resources when the time comes to need them.
So now I have this great clock with giant black numbers on a white plexiglass open face that also has tactile markings. Seems like such a small thing to get excited about, but I have been guessing at the time for a while now, because I can't read my watch or my clock without my glasses when I first get up(or, more correctly, haven't gotten out of bed yet). They gave me some cool little stickon things for the appliances, and a lighted magnifier. Woohoo! I can read the phone book! (Please don't laugh. Too much, anyway.)
Adaptive technology, and rethinking some of the ways I do things. I can handle this. Right?
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1 comment:
Right, you can :-)
A word of warning about the bumpy sticky things (we call them bump ons). They fall off. Sometimes they fall off into the food that one has just lovingly microwaved. Marvellous things, but they do taste horrible. Just so you know ;)
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