Hello and welcome! We are so glad you could join us today for another edition of Interviews to Empower where we all get to meet everyday folks, living everyday lives while blind or visually impaired. Our guest is one who will inspire you, so without further adue, allow me to introduce Chris Westbrook.
Q: Tell us a little about your self.
A: I am 34, and live in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. I am a computer programmer for an advertising agency. I am a christian and am very involved in my local church. I also enjoy playing violin and sometimes saxophone. In addition to my blindness, I have a hearing impairment so I wear two hearing aids. I also use a quad cane because one of my legs is weaker than the other one due to a herniated disk in my neck that developed later in life. Despite these challenges, I am still able to live independently and live a fulfilling life. I live by myself and have a lot of good friends. I like helping others, so I hope answering these questions will help someone.
Q: What is your eye condition, and how much vision do you have?
A: I was born premature and suffer from a detached retina as a result. I have no vision, not even light perception. I have been that way since birth. The hearing loss came on early as well due to some of the medicines I was given. I have worn hearing aids ever since I can remember.
Q: What blindness specific training have you had, and do you feel it has been beneficial for you?
A: I was pretty fortunate growing up that I had good parents who were able to incorporate daily living skills into normal life growing up for the most part. I did attend a local training center in Pittsburgh for a few weeks one summer that was modestly helpful, though it probably would have been more helpful if I had applied myself a bit better. I think any blind adult/adolescent should be able to take care of themselves and present with reasonably good appearance barring some other major special needs, and I am fortunate that my parents taught me to do this, even if I didn't always listen at the time. :)
Q: What about educational experiences?
A: I attended public school, though in the early years of my education I was in a special resource room for most of the day learning Braille, etc., which I think was helpful though I don't know if that is done much these days. Learning Braille has been extremely important to me. after high school, I attended a college hear in Williamsport for two years and then transferred to Juniata, where I received a bachelors degree in information technology.
Q: How do you compensate for your disabilities when it comes to hobbies?
A: I play violin. Even as an adult I still take lessons. I record either the lessons themselves or pieces my teacher will play for me on my iphone and then listen to them and learn by ear through the week. Sometimes the teacher will take my hands and show me things he wants me to work on like positionning, etc., but I don't think this is much different than a sighted person. Same goes for the saxophone, although I am not taking lessons with that anymore. I am involved in my church with youth ministry. If i am teaching a lesson, I write the bible verses I am going to use ahead of time in my iphone and then read them with a braille display as I am teaching. I also enjoy reading both with synthetic speech and with my braille display depending on what mood I am in and what I am reading.
Q: What kind of work do you do? What accommodations do you need for your job?
A: As I have said, I am a computer programmer for an advertising agency. I also write reports and deal with our employees if they have issues with our system. I can do most things independently except for designing the visual layouts of screens and sometimes reading screenshots people send me with error messages. Generally the accommodations I need are pretty trivial, and they can just be handled by other colleagues.
Q: Are you a member of any blindness specific organizations? Why or why not?
A: I am a member of the National Federation of the Blind. Though I am not particularly active because we do not have a local chapter around here, I do go to state conventions. I think it is important to associate with other blind people so you can help others and learn from others how they get along in the world and so you can advocate for things that need done to make our lives livable in this modern world. I also think it is essential that we have sighted friends and participate in the sighted world around us
Q: Could you share with us your most embarrassing Blindness experience or your most meaningful blindness moment?
A: I think looking back my most meaningful moment/time period was when I was able to get my own place and start living independently when I knew I could really live on my own.
Q: Do you have any advice for our readers?
A: Learn all the blindness skills you can. Learn Braille. Be kind to others. Fairly compensate those who help you, and allow others to help you at times even if you can do it yourself just to make things easier. Try not to become too dependent on any one person. That can lead to unhealthy situations. Above all, be thankful and be generous to others.
Thank you so much, Chris for chatting with us today. And, thank you, dear readers for being here. If you would wish to contact Chris, he has generously provided his email adress. It is westbchris@gmail.com. He says “I would love to hear from parents and/or students with questions, or other blind adults for that matter. I am concerned that younger blind students are not being allowed to be independent and do things for themselves, and I hope my answers here will allow others to see that they can live independent lives. Thank you for the opportunity, and I look forward to hearing from your readers.”
There you have it. :) We hope this interview has empowered you in some way. We would love to hear from you, as well. You can either drop us a comment or send an email to adkinsandwells@gmail.com. Be sure and come back each 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month in order to catch all our posts.
Until next time, be blessed and enjoy your summer!
