The first week isn't over, but its been awesome!

Its been a great week so far, it's Thursday now my time, and most everyone I know in the world is snuggled into their beds, but here in India, the birds are tweet tweeting, the cows are waking up wandering the streets looking for fruit scraps to gobble up, while the random vendor is walking down the street yelling at the top of his very well equipped lungs offering some ware or another. You have to be very tired to sleep in here.

The three of us, Lauren, Susan and I have been quite busy. We start our day anywhere between 9 and 2 depending on the activities. Yesterday we worked with a little guy who's name is not spelled correctly here but sounds like Abbeyshake. He's 8 years old, is blind from being born too prematurely and has never in his life that I can tell been allowed much independence. That changed for him yesterday and you could see him blossoming like a flower from it. He's such a funny guy, his language is positively hilarious. At one point yesterday I had him on the street listening for the different sounds, he identified the cars, the auto's (version of a taxi cab here) and the motorcycles, but couldn't figure out what the soft pat pat of people's feet was. I gave him some clues, saying it walks on two feet, etc, I'm not kidding here, he says "Shall I brandish my cane and scare it away sir?" Seriously, those were his exact words. This is what makes working with children so FUN! We discovered that it was people walking on the street, and then joined them.

In addition to having his first piggy-back ride, see below, its blurry because we are running:

He also got to climb a wall and probably for the first time in his life, touch a roof:

One of the aspects of working with children with visual impairments that I'm trying to drive home to the people here, as well as many folks in the US, is that just like sighted children have all these crazy adventures growing up, its critical to proper development that blind children also have them. Climbing this wall was a way for him to use his body in new and creative ways, solving problems, and better learning to drive the "machine" he'll have with him the rest of his life. 

At the end of the lesson he kept talking about needing get these "Facts published" and wanting to write his adventures down. We are meeting again on Monday and Wednesday next week to have more adventures, where Abbeyshake for the first time in his life will buy something with money, probably a mango, and cut it up by himself after walking down the street to get it. 

The training is going well, the teachers are eager to learn and very interested in all that we do. I'm already seeing a change in their expectations, and its a real thrill to see them critically observe the blind people as they walk by them at the center now. They're O&M's already :-) 

This Saturday I'm meeting with the parents of many kids around here, I'm hoping to change a few opinions of the ability of blind people. Abbeyshake's family, for example, doesn't think he should walk independently, he works on his cane once a week at the center, and then in "2-3 years time, perhaps he can use it during the day when he's completely independent." This will never happen that way, and this guy is too able to be stifled like that, hopefully we can make a change while we're here.

I'm really loving the time here, the city, and the people. Quin is a celebrity, everywhere we go people want to pinch his cheeks and look at him. A blonde haired, blue eyed, baby is not something people have seen, and they can't get enough of him.

Well, that's all for now, can't wait to tell you more!

~Mickey

Its 12:02am, hello Jet Lag :-)

One thing about jet lag, every time I've had it, its made me significantly more productive. I'm so awake when the world is not, and I can focus much better :-) Today was the first day here, I spent some time with Shanthala at Enable India. First impressions are good! I met a number of clients of the center, many of them have decent mobility skills and use a cane, though most of the canes were just aluminum tubing, that's similar to what we have in the states, just without white tape. Enable India has done some great work with getting people into jobs around Bangalore. I can't speak to the quality of the employment because I've not seen it, but they are working, and not always in stereotypical "blind" jobs, and that's great.

I've spent some time this evening formulating some discussion topics for our classroom lectures that will start Monday. In typical "me" fashion, I'm leaving them very soft so that we can better capture those "teachable moments" that come up in discussion. I've not lectured here before, but I get the sense that it'll be less formal than it was in Vietnam, and I can hope for some questions and real discussion with the students. In Vietnam if you all remember, they think its disrespectful to question the teacher, which is really counter to my style of teaching. So we had to do some work on both ends to work better, so here's hoping this is a questioning group of people!

Teaching indoors first, which is how we do it in the states is not going to happen, they just don't have the indoor needs that we have in the US. There are large buildings, but most the need is moving outside, and in small 600-1000 square foot spaces. I think I'll begin the actual skills teaching outside in a park with some nice long sidewalks and no traffic which should simulate the long halls we get inside to get that cane technique working.

First impressions of India: Its very similar to Vietnam and Costa Rica in terms of city "feeling". There are tons of vehicles on the road, little to know adherence to traffic controls, and "chaos" everywhere. This is at first glance, the people on the roads make it work though, and I've yet to see even a rear end collision, though I'm certain they happen. Like in Vietnam I will teach people to walk along side the road rather than on the sidewalks, for the same reason, the sidewalks are poorly maintained and often disgusting with garbage, animal excrement, and random holes and pitfalls. The streets are much better maintained, and the people are very aware of what's going on around them, so the safety is higher than one would initially think.

Many tools I use for traffic at home may not be as useful here. The intersections do not have predictable patterns for the most part, so orientation by them is probably going to be hard. Because its overcast permanently here due to monsoon season, using the sun for orientation will also be difficult, though that only lasts a couple months of the year, its also the time I happen to be teaching here :-) We'll work around these obstacles though, I'm just not completely sure how yet, but that's much of what this style of teaching is all about, and one of the reasons I love doing it.

India itself is great, the people are very kind, hard working, and wonderful. One major difference so far from Vietnam though is the prevalence of cows. I had heard about cows being in India, and their holy nature and such. I kind of "got" that idea. I had even heard that you see them in the street, but I assumed it was like in Costa Rica where you would see them grazing on the side of the road, often picketed. Yeah, no. The cows here are like stray dogs, but as big as, well, as big as cows. They are often seen ripping into garbage bags of vegetable scraps laid out on the sidewalks. They are completely indifferent to people, you can walk right up to them and they don't even so much as glance my way. Smug bovine for sure. They know they have it good. There is also a bunch of them. I'm sure I've seen 50 or more already, and I've only been here a day. Come to think of it, no bulls though... I'll keep looking.

So picture this, the traffic of New York City, but 3-4 times more motorcycles, car exhaust, broken sidewalks, garbage in the street, and cattle roaming around, and you have the roads of Bangalore. I know it doesn't sound great, but its home to a lot of people, and I can see why, its neat!

I'm going to try to get some sleep now. Oh before that, the cars are different, the passenger seat is on the driver's side, and one drives on the left. That means the stick shift is operated with your left hand. Anubhav says I can drive tomorrow, I can't wait!

~Mickey

We arrived

Hello friends, we're in Bangalore. Quin, my son is bouncing off the walls and its 3:30am, lets hope he calms soon. No significant issues to report except that I'm having troubles accessing money right now, the bank is going through some update and can't give me any information. Here's hoping this resolves by tomorrow. I'm going to bed. :-) Happier, more awake posts to follow.

~Mickey

Preparing for Bangalore

Its Sunday morning, June 26th. In just a few days I'll be boarding a plane that after a series of layovers will result in my landing at midnight July 2nd at 12:15am. Melissa and Quin, my wife and 18 month old son, will be coming along. The two interns, Susan and Lauren will be joining us on the 5th of July. I have to be honest, I'm not looking forward to 25 hours of travel with an 18 month old, but maybe he'll surprise us. The original plan was for me to go alone, but Melissa has been so supportive throughout this whole process, it seemed unfair to not have her come on this trip. So, she'll be doing the tourist thing, and hanging out with Nandini and her new little guy Arnav.

I hope to get some great photos and video to bring home with me. I'll be posting to the blog as much as possible, and hopefully, like in Vietnam, Melissa will stay on me to keep updating. Its really hard to do sometimes because at the end of the day I'm completely wiped out. If its anything like India, whenever I'm not in my room, I'll be "on", the people are full of questions and hunger to learn more. Already we are meeting with parents in the community, other people that work with blind people around Bangalore. Though I love it, it is also very tiring.

In addition to working in Bangalore I'll be making a weekend trip to Hyderabad. I've spoken with Santhosh Kumar, a former resident of Hyderabad who is now here in the states getting a degree in orientation and mobility. He's already a teacher of students with visual impairments. He has raised money and organized for me to make a trip to Hyderabad to talk with the staff at the school for the blind there. I'll be doing a one day workshop on the importance of independent movement for people with visual impairments, touring the school and meeting the teachers. In addition to this, I'll be hopefully setting up operations for next summer to spend a month training new instructors.

According to Santhosh there are 300 students at this school. There are 30 totally blind students in 10th grade alone. From the way I understand things, these students are academic, but not independent. They do not leave the center, and they don't have the skills to travel independently in a new environment, or very well in a known environment. Santhosh says that sighted guide, one person leading another in a specific way is not even done. As you can imagine, if you can't move around on your own, it makes it very difficult to have a job. It doesn't matter how good someone is academically, independence is what other people subconsciously want to see before they can imagine someone working and being successful.

Many people have asked me how prepared I am for India. This is a tricky question, using wisdom gained in Vietnam, as well as experience from traveling in other countries, even developed countries like Austria, every place is different. I can't come up with a detailed plan for teaching until I'm standing in the location I'll be teaching in. When I got to Vietnam, I naively assumed I'd start just like I'd start here, working on basic skills and progressing forward. In Vietnam though, I had to convince the people I was working with that blind people could be independent. They are working from a completely different set of expectations. I expect that it may be similar in India, though I'm approaching it with an open mind.

Then of course there are the completely different ways of handling traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular. Its easy to forget how powerful our white cane laws are in the US. People actually know what a white cane is. When I was in Vietnam, just because someone had a cane did not mean that the people recognized they were visually impaired. So we'll have to see how India is in this regard. Here we have ADA or the "Americans with Disabilities Act" which is a set of rules and standards that must be adhered to when designing both indoor and outdoor spaces. Things like the truncated domes at the end of sidewalks, or curb cuts for wheelchairs. This is not taking into account all the other "code" and standards that must be in place for everyone like exit signs, specific ways stairs are set up, or traffic controls and cross walks. We are very controlled here, which is a good thing for someone that can't see, because much of the environment can be depended on to behave a certain way.

This is one of the only concerns I have about the scalability of Ability Beyond the Horizon. I worry because I talk with other O&M instructors in the US and many of them are very dependent on the set up of our environment here in the states. A fundamental requirement of this work is the ability to walk into any environment and work with it. We can't prevent people from being independent because of a lack of standards. In Vietnam it required having people cross in the middle of the street rather than at cross walks, as well as not using the sidewalks at all since they were so unsafe, a completely ridiculous idea here in the United States. Everyone that we have volunteering for us will have to have an ability to think on their feet and problem solve to be successful. Orientation and mobility specialists do this to some degree all of the time, but I've noticed that many get very dependent on the way it is here in the US, and I worry that this will be difficult for them to let go of when traveling abroad. We'll see, I have faith that this is a small hurdle to overcome, and maybe won't even be an issue, but I can't say I haven't worried about it.

I'll be writing as much as possible detailed notes as to the pacing and organization of training while I'm in India, so that future volunteers will have a guide to work with while they are in another country. Don't worry, I won't put them here, that will quickly lose many readers. :-)

My next update will be from India, while you wait, have a look at some traffic in India that was sent to me recently. What you see is a man lying back on a motorcycle texting while going down what appears to be a highway. Lets hope I don't see this guy while teaching street crossings in Bangalore!!




~Mickey

Heading to India June 30th, thanks to you!

Well, our goal has been reached, $6,000 is in the bank, or was until I spent nearly $2,000 on a plane ticket to India. I'm patiently awaiting the visa to come in, and off we go June 30th, returning August 2nd. Coming with me are Lauren Barr and Susan Yarbrough two FSU orientation and mobility students. They are going to assist with teaching as well as helping to coordinate in-services that we are organizing while in Bangalore for both the parents and the local staff working with people with visual impairments in India. What's also great is that I met someone at a conference that is from Hyderabad, India and he is flying me to his community while I'm in Bangalore to begin setting up operations for next summer, so 2012 is planned already. We'll be looking for two other locations as well, so if you have ideas, please let me know.

While in India I'll be updating much more frequently, with pictures and experiences that I've had. I want you all to know how much impact your support is having. Thank you so much for your support, I can't wait to put it into great use in just a few short weeks. Now I have to get all this stuff wrapped up at FSU before I can go! Please email me or comment here if you like, mickey@abilitybeyondthehorizon.org or find us on Facebook at Ability Beyond the Horizon. See you in India!!

~Mickey

Presenting at a Leadership Conference for Visual Impairments about our Efforts

I don't have a ton of time as I'm prepping for a week long trip to two different conferences, the big one for ABH is in Seattle to present at the Josephine L. Taylor Leadership Institute. Its a big leadership conference for the field of visual disabilities. So please forgive me if this post seems all over the map. I'm a little nervous as this is the first real public unveiling of our efforts to people in my field. I'm looking forward to some great questions and discussion which can only make what we're doing that much better.

We're doing a major fundraising push at the moment to gather funds for the trip to India this July. We've split the obligation amongst the "we". That's everyone that is responsible for making this ship float and sail. We've recently added our EIN number to the donation page for easier tax purposes. We're also crafting a letter for donors for their records. You may not know, but there is required language from the IRS in these letters if the donation is larger than $250. All these things I'm having to learn just to help people. Yikes. It'll be worth it though!

Also, a major shout out to Joe Strechay Vice President of Ability Beyond the Horizon. He has taken this fundraising thing very seriously and has raised nearly $1,000 in the last couple of weeks. Our goal is $6,000 to make the trip a reality fully supported by ABH, and not just my own pocket. The trip is a reality regardless, we have 5 people in India that are ready to go. Thanks Joe, you are incredible.

I was talking with a new friend the other day, Maria Morais, who is a pretty active member of the National Federation of the Blind. Their site has this great quote:

"The real problem of blindness is not
the loss of eyesight. The real problem
is the misunderstanding and lack of
information that exist. If a blind person
has proper training and opportunity,
blindness can be reduced to a physical
nuisance."

The conversation made me better sharpen my awareness that we're not just planning to teach new orientation and mobility instructors, what we're really doing is facilitating greater independence for people with visual impairments in developing nations. Being able to travel independently is a beginning step, but even before that is the belief that someone who cannot see still has the same right and ABILITY to be independent as anyone else. We've got at least 5 people in India, and I know many others at their respective organizations that also believe this. They just want to know how. Thank you for your support, it truly means the world to me and others you'll never meet, but they'll know about you. I thank you for being part of the "We".

~Mickey

So much happening!

We are amping up for India! Some great new developments of late. I've started some major talks with the Rotary in Tallahassee. They have said they will support our project, though it is still unclear as to in what capacity this will be. Financially in some form I'm certain, and we're also looking to work with the international Rotary network to help us with logistics on the ground wherever we end up working.

Rotary International is in nearly every nation of the world. What that means to us is that we have an already established network of people in whatever community we're going to that is dedicated to community building and good works. That kind of "staff" would be near impossible to hire. I'm really excited about the possibilities this offers.

We're also having a retreat this evening that I'm very stoked about. Ken Armstrong of The United Way of the Big Bend is facilitating it for us. The goal is to get the board all organized and on the same page. What's awesome about this is that I'm just a teacher with an idea, and Mr. Armstrong manages a multi-million dollar non profit. One, if he thinks its worth his time to give this retreat, that means to me that we're really doing something worthy. Just the idea that he's will to invest in us with his time and knowledge is invaluable. Two, he REALLY knows his stuff, and having someone like him to talk with and bounce ideas off of is just amazing. He's already been tremendously helpful.

I've also come up with what I think will be a great fundraiser for us. A 5k race, but the catch is, its a partner race, and one of the team members must be blindfolded. We'll teach everyone human guide, the specific method used when a person guides another person around, which will be a benefit to our local community. Then we'll have a blast as people "race" through a 5k course, complete with obstacles. The people I've mentioned this to already are super excited. Now I need to figure out the logistics of making this all happen. If anyone knows anything about this kind of event planning, please write me. I tell you, this project is really causing me to diversify my list of abilities!

So next steps: Formalize a relationship with Rotary in Bangalore. Finalize paperwork between us and the folks in India. Plan the fundraiser. Raise 6 thousand dollars to make the trip a reality. Change the world. *or a small piece of it in India, but to those kids and adults with visual impairment, it will mean the world. This I promise you.*

Thanks for continuing to support us, I love getting your feedback, don't ever hesitate to email if the mood strikes you. Money gets us around the world, your friendly support keeps me amped and keeps the wheels turning, I can't do this without either. Thank you for providing both.

~Mickey