Success Story: Becoming a Caregiver

By Elizabeth Weisser

I graduated from the Nebraska Center for the Blind on October 9, 2009, and moved to Camp Verde, Arizona eighteen days later where I began training for my new job as a caregiver at Rainbow Acres Ranch, a not-for-profit residential facility for individuals with developmental disabilities. I am one of a rare few to have a job waiting for her prior to graduating from the Center.

Attending Center training did prepare me, in some major ways, to make a successful transition back into the working world. While in training, I took a plane, on my own, to visit Camp Verde and Rainbow Acres. Having accomplished the first leg of my journey under sleep shades, I knew that I could navigate through an airport and get on the right plane. I also knew that, unless by choice, I would not have to relinquish my cane so that it could be stored in the overhead compartment. Storing it between the window and the fuselage works just fine.

My white cane is one blindness alternative that I learned to use during Center training that I will not abandon. As I am currently the only blind individual working at Rainbow Acres, and as I have a large amount of residual vision, white cane issues have arisen several times in the month since I have started my job: where to store it, reactions to it, etc. As I had never used a white cane before August of 2008, I am still adjusting to life with a cane myself. However, I now look forward to the pitch dark nights at Rainbow which force me to rely on the cane; I must trust it in order to travel safely, and I quite enjoy the challenge.

Being the only blind person around has many challenges in any environment. At Rainbow, many of the blindness alternatives that I have learned are not readily available or are, at this point in my career, inefficient solutions. There are no taxis, there is no bus system, which means I must rely on my networking skills. Neither I nor my employers have a Braille embosser, nor do I own a Braille note taker. This means using slate and stylus, requesting a reader for documents that are not readily available in other formats, and speaking up for myself in order to have crucial documents enlarged until I can transfer them into other formats. As a result of attending the Nebraska Center for the Blind, I can read and write Braille...slowly. Since no one else can read or write Braille, I must motivate myself to practice with what materials I have available.

I do have access to a computer. I am using the JAWS screen reader program and the keystrokes that I learned in Communications class to help me type this article now.

Several of the blindness alternatives and skills that I learned in Home Management class will soon come in handy if they haven't been put to good use already. Every house that I have visited at Rainbow has a gas stove, and thanks to Home Management, I know how to use one, to listen for the tick-tick-tick of the pilot light and feel for the heat of the burner. Also, I have spent many mornings with the Crafts crew experiencing, through trial and error the joys of knitting and beadwork. Beadwork requires threading and re-threading a needle. I am hoping to join the crew on a more permanent basis, and will add denture dental floss, an alternative in needle threading, to my next shopping list.

Though I have experienced many things in my short time at Rainbow Acres: taking blood pressures, passing out medications, and filling out and filing necessary paperwork just to name a few, I am sure to encounter many more unfamiliar things in the future. The amount of information that I am required to learn is immense. In order to learn the skills I will need, I have had to be a good team player and be open to others teachings. Teamwork is an important skill that the Nebraska Center for the Blind helps individuals to develop. Without the staff and clients of the Nebraska Center for the Blind, I would not be where I am today, a caregiver for Rainbow Acres Ranch.