Interviews to Empower Presents Stacey Bruton

Hello, and welcome. We are so glad you could join us today. Our interviewee this month is a good friend who inspires others to be their best, just by being herself. Allow me to introduce to you Stacey Bruton.

Q: What is your eye condition, and are you totally blind?

A: My eye condition is retinopathy of prematurity. I was born two months early and received too much oxygen.

Q: How long have you been blind?

A: I have been blind since shortly after birth. I am a twin. When I was a few months old, my sister was grabbing for objects placed in front of

her. I was not, so my parents discovered I could not see.

Q: Is anyone else in your family blind?

A: No one else is blind in my family.

Q: Did your parents treat you any different because of your blindness?

A: They wanted me to do as much as my other siblings. I think sometimes they were protective. For example, my sister had a pogo ball. It was a ball that had a platform in the middle of the ball. One would stand on it and jump keeping your balance. My mom told me not to get on it. I was very determined and got on the ball when everyone was inside. They may have seen me through the window. I really don't know.

Q: Did you attend a public school or residential one?

A: I attended a public school. My parents moved from Maryland to Pennsylvania so I could attend school with my brother and sisters. In Pennsylvania they started mainstreaming when I was supposed to go to kindergarten. My parents had to go to school every year to talk to the teachers. The teachers did not know what to do with me for my education. My parents worked collaboratively with the teachers to figure out the best way to teach me.

Q: Do you read braille? If so, when did you learn it?

A: I read braille. I began in kindergarten when everyone else learned to read.

Q: When did you begin learning orientation and mobility skills?

A: I began in kindergarten.

Q: What extra curricular activities were you involved in, if any?

A: I was involved in chorus in sixth grade and in eighth and ninth grade.

Q: What was your major in college?

A: My major was early childhood/elementary education. I am certified in visual impairment k-12. I also hold a Masters from Liberty University as a program specialist with an emphasis in reading.

Q: What is your job now?

A: I am a Teacher for the Visually Impaired for Harnett County in North Carolina. 

Q: What types of assistive technology did you use in school? Which ones do you use now?

A: I used a braillewriter in school and a little of the slate and stylus. My grandfather bought me a Braille 'N Print. That was a device in which you placed the braillewriter on a box. It took what one brailled and put it into print using a printer. The Lions Club purchased a typewriter for me. When I would write checks, I counted the spaces and lines on the typewriter to write my checks. I used an Opticon for reading novels for recreation in high school. Now i use Jaws for

Windows, a Pacmate, braille display, scanner, OpenBook, Apple computer

with VoiceOver, and an iPhone.

Q: So you are a wife and mom. Can you tell us about that?

A: I have been married for ten years. My daughter is five. I love being a mom. Some things are challenging, but I think that is true of all parents. One challenging part is dispensing liquid medication, especially during the infant years. Another challenge was feeding baby food especially during the first phase where the cereal had to be real liquidy. As children get older, they are able to do more for themselves and can be very helpful.

Q: What do you think is the most challenging about your blindness?

A: Transportation is a challenge. I wish I could drive so I wouldn't have to rely on someone else to take me places. I used to live in Raleigh and had access to taxi service. There is a transportation service in my county, but they aren't always easy to work with.

Q: How has your blindness helped you?

A: My blindness has helped me see that God has a special purpose for me. Sometimes, I'm not sure what that purpose might be. When i was born, I had a ten percent chance of surviving. My sister had a twenty percent chance of surviving. My parents call us their miracle babies.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who is losing their vision?

A: Connect with any resource or service you can find to support you. 

Q: Is there a particular verse or quote that has been an encouragement to you over the years?

A: Matthew 11:28-30 "28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in

heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” NIV

Stacey, thank you so much for allowing us to interview you. Your determination is an inspiration. And, thank you to all you faithful readers out there. We would love to hear from you, so drop us a comment. Until next time, take care and keep on keeping on.

Be blessed.

Discerning the Difference

Hello, and welcome. So glad you could join us today. Anita here with you, and this week we're talking about knowing the difference between accepting help or refusing it. When do we educate others about blindness, and when do we relax and concentrate on developing friendships? Read on, and leave your questions or comments below.

 As a blind or low vision person, sometimes we get tired of always proving ourselves capable to others. Like everyone else, we want to just relax and be ourselves. If we allow someone to get us a drink, we want that to be okay. We know we have the ability to get that drink, and usually we do get it, but maybe we're just tired. It is okay to allow someone to do things for us. People with vision also do it.

My cousin is quite capable of mowing her lawn, even though she is sighted and a woman to boot. But, she has our other cousin or someone else mow it most of the time, and that is okay. She isn't judged as helpless and inferior because of this, like you or  I might be due to our blindness. Another cousin, the mother of two very adorable boys, relies on her mom to help out with the kids. "Mom, change the baby's diaper," or "Mom, feed him this baby food." Again, she is not judged as helpless or inferior because she can see, but you or I would be thought incapable of accomplishing these goals by many people with vision.

As I've probably said in other posts, there is a time to educate, but there is also a time to forget about education because we are too busy, because we are tired, because we want to show someone else respect,  or just because we want to. The key is that, for the most part, we are independent and other people know that and the ones that don't can witness that on a regular basis by observing us independently doing things. Remember, before we get offended at someone's offered assistance or, perhaps, their forced assistance, we have to step into their shoes. They have no or little knowledge about blindness. They've been taught blindness is the most horrible thing that can happen to a person. They are reacting to us based on their concern for our welfare and because they don't know how to act any different.

Like any student learning about any other subject, they will need to start out by learning in small steps and by watching us teach them through our actions and by what we do to motivate them to learn about blindness. For example, if we rudely respond when they do something for us, what are we teaching them? Blind people aren't happy and are embarrassed about their situation. Poor soul. But what would it say if, instead, we accepted their assistance, and, if nothing else, we gave them a positive experience with a blind person. If this is a person we will see again, maybe it will open the door for him or her to take another small step toward learning about blindness through a conversation with us. It is critical that we know how and when to accept assistance and how and when to refuse it. I'm not saying we should always let someone help us because they pity the blind; I'm saying to think about the situation and how our response will communicate a message about blindness to someone else. We need to send the right message for the small step in their blindness training to occur.

My pastor's fiancee is often willing to give me a ride to Sheetz after church on Sunday, and many times, I accept the ride. This isn't a time to educate her about blindness; it is a time for me to relax and enjoy being pampered and having someone to go in the store and assist me with ordering since I generally rely on the assistance of customer service when I go there regularly throughout the week. I educate her about blindness by being independent most of the rest of the time. She has commented how she doesn't need to help me because she knows I can do it; after all, I manage during the week when she isn't in town. These comments tell me she is observing, and she has learned that I am not helpless. And, she is still learning, but she is very respectful and offers assistance. But if I refuse it, she also respects this decision.

My pastor is impressed with my ability to walk to work each day. Sometimes, blind people get offended when someone seems amazed at what we do, and this can be annoying to me at times as well. But remember they haven't been trained in the area of blindness. While the pastor over assists sometimes, he is slowly learning about the capabilities of the blind. Just the other day at our church picnic, he wanted to know how I knew when I reached the end of the block. I wasn't offended at this question. I was happy to educate. What brought this question up was that, after the picnic, I pulled out my Braille Sense Plus, and began to edit the braille manual, DUCKING INTO UEB, I am writing. Some of them were curious about the refreshable braille display and braille in general. They were also impressed because I could talk with them as I worked. I provided them with a mini lesson on blindness.

The pastor drove me to the picnic, and when we arrived, he guided me to the picnic table and made sure I was seated before he returned to the car to assist the elderly gentleman who  also rode with us. His over assistance in making sure I was safely seated was unnecessary, but I chose to allow him to do it. He was being a gentleman, and he probably was also a little uncertain about my capability to get there myself, even though he regularly observes as I travel about town. Was I telling him I was incapable when I accepted his assistance? I don't think so. I was building a connection so I could help him to take another small step toward his blindness education. When it was time to leave, I stood up from the picnic table and made my way toward the car. He made no move to offer assistance as I approached the car. I know if I requested it, he would have gladly assisted me. Did his observations of my being independent on a regular basis and my blindness mini lesson at the table help him to climb another small step? I don't know, but I'll have to ask him about that sometime.

At this same picnic, an older lady sat near me. We had a great time talking, and others occasionally walked over to sit to talk with us as well. We didn't talk about blindness. We talked about her grand kid and his friends who were out playing in the park and about how she is raising him. And, we talked about all kinds of other things I don't quite remember now. When it was time to eat, she asked if I wanted to go up with her to get my plate or if I wanted her to bring me something. I chose to let her fix my plate. In such situations, food is not always arranged in an abc order so I wouldn't know what I would be serving myself until I checked with the utensil and then I might not be able to detect the type of the food. Sure, I could have asked the person in line near me, but I like most picnic foods, and it was Sunday. I can educate these people about blindness in other ways and at other times. If I were starving, I could serve myself, but I chose not to in this situation. And, in my opinion, that is fine.

When I worked at Blind Industries and Services of MD, or BISM, I did go through many a buffet line where I served myself. Fortunately, on those occasions, the person who arranged the food described for us its order within the line. At a training center, it is important to be what I think of as over independent where you do everything for yourself and receive no assistance with any task. This is critical because oftentimes people who are blind get used to depending on others, and therefore, think blind people aren't as capable as sighted people, when, in reality, there confidence and skills are weak due to lack of use rather than lack of ability.

At a quality training center, like the one at BISM, www.bism.org, the goal is to teach blindness skills, to build confidence, and to develop a positive attitude about the capabilities of the blind. This can only be accomplished if the person fully participates in the training. Unfortunately, sometimes blind people can become so independent that they forget that it is okay to accept assistance after training is complete, but most importantly, that not everyone has experienced the intensive blindness training they have received. When they forget this, they respond inappropriately in certain situations, which tends to turn others away from such programs and/or from the National Federation of the Blind, www.nfb.org, which is unfortunate. We don't prove ourselves capable by never accepting assistance; people with vision accept assistance because they need or want it. We educate others by being independent on a regular basis and by accepting help when we need it. And, like I did at the church picnic, sometimes, we open a door where people with vision feel comfortable asking questions and where we can help them to better understand how someone without vision uses alternative blindness techniques, adaptive and accessible tools, and knowledge to successfully accomplish a goal.

Do you have any experiences you would like to share with us about learning the difference between accepting help or refusing it? We would love to hear from you. Drop us a comment or send us an email at adkinsandwells@gmail.com. We're also on Facebook at facebook.com/adkinsandwells/.

Thank you for being with us today. Be sure and come back next Thursday for another edition of "Interviews to Empower". Until then, concentrate on those friendships, and be sure to educate the sighted in our would with a smile.

Be blessed.

Baking Blind

Happy Thursday, and welcome to our blog. S. J. Wells here with you today. A couple of weeks ago, Anita led the discussion on flipping foods. Today, I’m going to talk about baking. Yep, you heard that right’ people who are blind and visually impaired can and do bake. Bread, cakes, cookies and whatever else we can come up with. Come along with me, and let’s see what’s cooking in the oven today. :)

In high school I took home economics. My teacher taught me to boil macaroni, mix up a meatloaf, oven fry chicken, how to put on a pot of beef stew and how to mix up a pan of cornbread. But, my favorite was learning how to bake and ice a cake. My first one was orange flavored with orange flavored icing. Just a simple box of cake mix and a few ingredients later, I was dusted with powdered sugar, yet ready to take my creation to a local Bible study I was part of. My second cake was white with white icing, and I baked it as part of my final test in that class.

In 2003 I became friends with a woman who made homemade bread. She offered a class on it at our church, and I went to it. She let me feel her dough at each stage, and at the end, we got to eat our creations. Excited to try this new skill, I cleared off my kitchen table one summer day, put my toddler in a walker and began pouring out ingredients. Warm water, dry yeast, sugar and salt. I stirred then measured in the flour. I plunged my clean hands into this mess and started to knead. A few minutes of hard work went by, and I thought I had made a big mistake. Yet, I was already a mess, the toddler was joyfully emptying my towel drawer, so I either had to keep going or give up and quit. I kept going, and several minutes later that mess came together into a stretchy, silky-smooth lump. I placed it in an oiled bowl, oiled the top, covered it and set it aside to rise. An hour later, I punched it down, separated it into 3 loaves and placed it on a baking sheet. I preheated my oven to 350, spritzed my loaves with water and put them in the oven. Seriously, about 20 some minutes later, I pulled out brown loaves of bread that were almost perfect. So thankful I didn’t give up.

Fast forward several years to 2011. My grandmother passed away that February, and finding it helped if I was busy, I determined to learn to bake cookies. I had a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old and a husband who loves chocolate, so I had plenty of taste testers. I copied down a few simple recipes and went to work. I also began setting aside box cake mixes and trying from scratch. To my surprise, some people even began paying me for cookies.

Now, it’s 2017, and I find myself wondering what types of advice would I give to a person who is blind who wants to venture into baking. At the moment, I’m contemplating baking a batch of cookies to take to my in-law’s this weekend. My first approach, just as it would be if I could see is to find a recipe, preferably something we all like. Several of my recipes are saved on my Mac book’s hard drive, but if I want something new, I search the internet. When the recipe I want is sitting before me, I read over it to see if I have all the ingredients. Next, I get out what I will need and follow the directions on that recipe. A few minutes later, I’ll have dessert. But, what if it isn’t that simple?

Here are some tips

Cookies

1. Keep your hands clean and use them more than spoons for mixing, especially when the batter or dough is too stiff to stir.
2. When using a hand mixer, keep fingers out of the bowl and trust your sense of hearing. Also, think of how the mixer feels in your hand. You can tell after much practice  if your batter is mixed well, depending on how the beaters sound and how the mixer feels.
3. Sometimes, it is best to crack eggs into a separate bowl before adding to your batter. This way you can check to make sure egg shells do not get into your cookie dough. I have also cracked them into a glass and used a fork to beat them. A glass or cup has taller sides, and it is less likely for your eggs to splash out as you beat them.
4. Keep track where your plugged in mixer is at all times. Unplug it from the outlet and put the beaters in the sink as soon as you are finished with it.
5. Keep a sink of soapy, hot water so  you can wash as you go.
6. You can either use a measuring spoon or your hands to place cookies on the cookie sheets. A spoon helps you learn what size you need, but when I use my hands to roll them into balls, they turn out prettier. If you roll them with your hands, press your fingers down onto them very lightly after you place them on the pan so they don’t roll off.
7. Always use oven mitts, and bake a test cookie before placing an entire pan of cookies into the oven. Recipes are general, and you might have a different oven than the recipe maker. Different altitudes have an effect on bake times and temperatures, too, so test one cookie before proceeding with the entire batch. Also, if your baking time is different then the recipe, be sure and write it down, so you will know next time.

Bread

1. If you don’t have a talking food thermometer, test the temperature of your water with your fingers. If it feels too hot to touch, then it will kill your yeast. Yeast is a living organism, and extreme heat as well as extreme cold can kill it. Also, keep yeast out of your deep freezer and your mouth. When your water feels like warm bath water, go for it.
2. Add your yeast to the water and tilt your bowl slightly to swirl the water. Your nose will tell you if your yeast is coming to life. If you are using quick yeast, you can skip this step. That quick stuff is mighty quick. LOL
3. Follow your recipe, here, too. I mix flour in a cup at a time. Usually, when my spoon has difficulty stirring, I lay it aside and plunge my clean hands in there. I do a lot of mixing by hand way before it ever makes it to a floured board for kneading.
4. Spread a little flour on your board, place your lump of dough on to it, and get your hands in there. Push down, spread out, gather together, turn it over, press down and… Keep on working. It will start coming together, if you have followed the directions. Sometimes, you will need to add a little more flour if it is too wet or a little more water if it is too dry. You will know by the way it feels, what it needs. Too wet, it will stick to you and the board. Too dry, it will come apart. Keep working until sweat gathers on your brow and you think you can’t do it anymore. LOL
5. When it holds together and feels silky-smooth, you’re probably ready to put it in the oiled bowl to let rise. After rising, follow your directions. Make sure your oven is preheated, use oven mitts and bake it. Done bread will have that hollow sound when tapped, that you have always heard about.

A note on measuring spoons and measuring cups. I use normal ones bought at Walmart. I keep them together on the little ring, and that way I know which one is which. However, you can buy ones marked in braille from www.blindmicemart.com. Anita has a set of these, and I like them. I've just never had the money to buy them.

I could talk about a lot more than bread and cookies, but these are the basics. Whether you use a prepared mix or start from scratch, take your time, trust your nose and your sense of touch and your sense of taste. If it doesn’t work out the first, second, third or fourth time, keep trying. If you don’t know whether you can trust yourself or not, keep working, write down what you experience and learn from it. The key to baking and everything else in life is don’t give up.

We hope you have enjoyed today’s talk on baking. Questions? Drop us a comment below. We would love to hear from you. Also, we’re on Facebook, so come on over to facebook.com/adkinsandwells/ and like our page for updates and encouragement.

Blessings.

4th of July Miracle

Hello and welcome to the blog. S. J. Wells here with you this week with a story to tell. It’s a story of family togetherness, improvisation and simple blessings. Read on, because today I’m talking about 4th of July miracles.

Once upon a time, there was a mom who was blind who felt sad that she could not drive her daughters to see the 4th of July fireworks. Knowing from previous experience, sighted drivers are few and far between, she prayed for help from the Lord.

Around 9:45 pm on July 2, she was in her daughters’ bedroom hearing their prayers and hugging and kissing them goodnight, when there came a pop from outside. “Was that fireworks?” She asked.

“Yes,” her daughters said, glancing out their bedroom window into the backyard.

“Let’s go out and watch,” said Mom.

So, there on the steps to the back porch, Mom and girls sat. The girls kept their faces turned toward the night sky, ooing and awing over each burst of color. “I can feel it in my chest,” the oldest said.

“I want to sneak and watch the neighbors,” the youngest said.

For fifteen minutes, laughter bubbled up, and a closeness, warm and peaceful settled over the backyard, as each firework lit up the dark sky, outlining the steeple of the church one street over. When the display ended and Mom and girls were walking back inside, the girls exclaimed over the fireworks that they had been able to watch for free and without any of the crowds found in the city. Mom rejoiced over the simple, straight forward way that God had answered her prayer.

Two nights later on the 4th, Mom was once again telling her daughters goodnight, when that all-to-familiar popping was heard again. Out the door they went, Mom’s ears pricked and girls eyes wide open. After a few minutes, the youngest got bored and went back inside, but the oldest girl stayed outside, describing each firework to her mom who could not see. Thirty minutes later, the night around them quieted, and both Mom and daughter joined the youngest inside where they hugged, kissed and said their prayers. Another night of firework watching was behind them that did not include searching for a driver nor dealing with crowds. God had answered twice. I suppose you could call it a double blessing, a 4th of July miracle.

When I was growing up, several elderly folks tried to discourage me from getting my hopes up about marriage and children. How could I change a diaper? How would I manage if my house caught on fire? How would I know what my children needed? What would I do about going places? These were questions that haunted me at first, but they also fueled my determination to prove them all wrong. I could get married and have children, and I could do it as well as anybody else.

I don’t know who was putting off the big fireworks over the weekend, but I hope they know how thankful I am for them. Those fireworks went off practically over my backyard; my girls saw them with no difficulty. I had been feeling a little down that I didn’t have a ride to the fireworks displays in the area. However, nothing could have been better than the ones my girls and I were part of both Sunday and Tuesday nights. We laughed and teased each other, sat close together on my back steps and just enjoyed our time together. Money can’t buy that kind of happiness. After all, it isn’t the quantity of time, money or material things that is important, it is the quality of time, the realization that money isn’t important and the absence of material things that puts us in a position to hear from our Creator. Remember that the next time this world and its cares start to choke out your relationship with your heavenly Father.

What did you think of the story? Would love to hear from you, so drop us a comment below. Be sure to follow the blog, as lots of exciting things are on the horizon.

Until next time, be safe, remember to smile and hold your love ones a little tighter.

Blessings.