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Departments
- Independent Living: Vision loss provides platform to help others
- Vocational Rehabilitation: Passion, hobby become career for Kingsley man, Iowa Self-Employment Program: Working for themselves, IDB's Victoria Kollmann receives prestigious award
- Library: Photos of 50th anniversary, Honoring a D.E.A.R. reader, From the Librarian, Booklist
- Orientation Center: A look back in history with Jim Crawford, Finding the perfect tree
- Youth Transition: Youth program makes a transition of its own
- Business Enterprises Program: Healthy food coming to a vending spot near you
Independent Living
Vision loss provides platform to help others
By Barb Weigel & Julie Bergeson, Contributing Writers
Margaret Oliver woke up one morning in her mid-sixties and realized something was terribly wrong. She couldn’t see anything out of her right eye except a big red spot. Her local eye doctor sent her to Iowa City, where she learned she had histoplasmosis, a disease caused by a fungus which can result in blindness.
Although the disease had affected the right eye, the vision in her left eye remained unchanged. Margaret went back to her job, working full time as a nurse. 
In the late 1980s, during cataract surgery, the surgeon discovered bleeding in Oliver’s left eye. A specialist performed a surgical procedure to stop the bleeding. Recalling the day she went back in for her follow up appointment, Oliver remembers thinking she was going to be given a new prescription for glasses and sent on her way. Instead, she learned the procedure didn’t work and there wasn’t anything else that could be done for her. She would go blind. Margaret said she “felt like someone had hit me across the middle with a two-by-four.”
A short while after receiving her diagnosis, Oliver received a call from a vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselor from the Iowa Department for the Blind (IDB). She remembers feeling angry and thinking “how dare this person who, I assumed, was sighted tell me they are going to help me learn how to live without my eyesight.”
After this call, Oliver did a lot of thinking and realized she could live for another 30 years. She decided she wasn’t going to spend them twiddling her thumbs. But she needed help. When the VR counselor called again, Oliver agreed to meet with her.
Oliver explored her options and decided the best thing was to attend the IDB’s Orientation Center. While she was hesitant about her decision, she was also hopeful.
Though she received support from most of her family, her daughter was skeptical. But after two months in training at the Center, her daughter said, “I am so glad you’re doing what you are doing because now I feel like I got my mom back.” It was then that Oliver knew she had done what she needed to do, for herself and for her family.
During her training, Oliver learned how to live life without vision. Of all the classes she participated in, wood shop was her favorite. She remembers her first day, cutting an old piece of wood. The smell of the wood and the noise of the saw enthralled her. Through the course of her training, she made a headboard, of which she said: “To this day, I am very, very proud.”
Oliver’s training not only gave her the skills and confidence to return to her own apartment to live independently but it also gave her the desire to work again. Initially funded through an AARP program, Oliver joined the Independent Living (IL) program at the IDB as a teacher’s assistant.
For 13 years, her kind, understanding manner helped countless senior citizens adjust to their own vision loss. Just as she had been when the IDB first contacted her, many of those she talked to were quiet and hesitant. Oliver would wait two to three weeks to give the rehabilitation teacher a chance to visit the client and then she would call again. Echoing her own experience, Margaret’s clients began to change. They started to open up and, after learning she also lost her vision later in life, became more willing to talk about their situations. They started asking more questions and became willing to receive the services they needed to maintain their independence.
Throughout the years, Oliver also assisted with IL’s Senior Orientation program. The weeklong training in the Orientation Center provides seniors with an opportunity for concentrated skills training and a chance to meet other older Iowans experiencing vision loss. Meeting others is one of the most beneficial aspects of going through the program, Oliver said.
Oliver said at the beginning of each session, the seniors were scared, and their voices were shaky. She remembers the participants not knowing what lay in store for them. During the week, however, she observed a “180-degree” change in their voices, and confidence began to replace anxiety.
Oliver said during her time working in the IL program she most enjoyed visiting with clients. To hear them exclaim: “You are blind, and you’re doing this and you’re doing that” gave Oliver the freedom to share her story and encourage others to receive services and improve their lives. “I know I helped them but they also helped me,” she said.
Oliver is now 82, and she retired from IDB in 2009. She continues to keep in touch with some of her clients, and she remains an advocate for IDB services.
“I just feel like whether it was my doctor that sent my name down to the Department or whoever did it, thank God they did because I would be a much different person right now,” she said. “I would probably still be sitting twiddling my thumbs if I hadn’t done what I did. I am so thankful for the Department.”
For more information on senior orientation or other independent living services, call (800) 362-2587 or e-mail barb.weigel@blind.state.ia.us
Vocational Rehabilitation
Passion, hobby become career for Kingsley man
By Shoshana Hebshi, Editor
A trip to Kingsley, Iowa, is not complete these days without a stop at The Shooting Shop. Wait, where is Kingsley?
Travel the county roads through the rolling farmland of northwest Iowa, make sure to stay on the east side of Sioux City and north of Highway 20. Roll into the small town with its quaint tree-lined streets and mom-and-pop shops, drive up Burlington Street. Tucked away behind a little cream-colored house, The Shooting Shop is every gun owner’s dream.
Most important, it is Bob Farmer’s dream that has been realized.
After his vision began to deteriorate from retinitis pigmentosa, Farmer, 47, was forced to rethink his working life. As a purchasing agent for Dean Foods—one of the largest employers in the area—Farmer worked 12 hours a day until the company required him to operate a vehicle. When he couldn’t do that because of vision loss, he worked from home for three months. Then the company laid him off.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” he said. “There’s not a lot of job opportunities in Kingsley.”
David Lenz, an employment specialist with the Iowa Department for the Blind, met with Farmer and had a frank discussion about his future. “We talked about what he wanted to do, did he want to go back to work, and how we could accomplish that,” Lenz said.
Farmer told Lenz about his dream of being a gunsmith. Once the seed was planted, the project was underway. Farmer signed up with the Iowa Self-Employment Program, a part of the Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Working with IVRS and the Department, Farmer secured start-up money, training and assistance in getting his business off the ground.
First, an assessment study was conducted to determine the consumer need in the area. Those results came back showing that locals with hunting licenses were eager to have a gunsmith not connected with a retail chain. “People want a personal experience,” said Farmer.
“In that small, eight-county area, there were 11,000 people with hunting licenses,” said Lenz. “There’s definitely a strong contingency of people who own guns and shoot guns and get ammo, and get their guns fixed if they’re broken. The only competition was big box stores, who ship their guns off to get fixed. So there was appeal to keep it local.”
The local excitement was palpable. When Farmer held the Shooting Shop’s grand opening Sept. 11 in the room he built off his garage to house the new store, more than 100 people came to explore the store and meet him. Local media also covered the shop’s opening and wrote about this blind man who is becoming a gunsmith.
But in Farmer’s and Lenz’s view, he is just a hard-working man realizing his dream.
“During this whole process, he called me at least once a day,” said Lenz. “He really made it happen. If you’re an entrepreneur you have to make it happen. You can’t sit back and let other people do it for you. You have to be the one that worries about everything.”
Farmer now keeps himself busy with the store 16 hours a day. He uses a magnifier to help him see when he does detailed and intricate work on the guns he fixes. He also custom creates ammunition and sells retail guns of all makes and kinds.
Every day his business seems to grow, he said. He recently had an offer to move his shop to nearby Sioux City or Moville, which he turned down.
“I’ve got something to get up for now,” Farmer said.
“He’s a typical hard-working American entrepreneur,” said Lenz. “If you want to be successful, you can be. He doesn’t feel sorry for himself. He just moves on.”
Iowa Self-Employment Program: Working for themselves
Since its inception in October 2007, the Iowa Self-Employment (ISE) Program has assisted 117 Iowans with disabilities to achieve entrepreneurial success. Formerly known as the Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Program, the ISE is a partnership between Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services and the Iowa Department for the Blind.
Self-employment is regarded as a viable employment outcome for recipients of vocational rehabilitation services. There are two qualifications that an applicant for the ISE program must meet:
1. The applicant must have at least a 51 percent vested interest in the business and
2. The applicant must actively own, operate and manage the business in the state of Iowa.
There are five steps in the ISE program: Initial Planning, Application, Business Plan Feasibility Study, Implementation and Client Follow-up.
Funding for the ISE program is appropriated by the Iowa Legislature. Clients can receive up to $10,000 of technical assistance funding and an additional $10,000 in financial assistance to cover the purchase of equipment, supplies, or other costs. This financial assistance must be matched dollar for dollar with funds provided by the client.
There are 94 individuals using the ISE program, three of whom are working directly with the IDB.
IDB’s Victoria Kollmann receives prestigious Iowa award
In October at the annual Iowa Rehabilitation Association (IRA) Conference, Victoria Kollmann, VR counselor for IDB, was awarded the Gerry Byers Award for Outstanding Service. Kollmann, regarded by her colleagues as an extremely effective counselor, has worked at the IDB for 16 years and is passionate about her work, having helped more than 200 blind or visually impaired Iowans to find jobs or establish their own businesses.
Kollmann has been very active in the IRA, which plays an important role in educating and motivating its membership to help people with disabilities to achieve employment and life goals. “It was a wonderful honor, and I know that Gerry Byers was an excellent rehabilitation counselor and involved with IRA, and I don’t know I can ever fill his shoes,” said Kollmann. “It made me feel really good that people thought of me in that way.” u
Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Fabulous at 50!
The Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped celebrated its 50th anniversary Nov. 5, 2010 with an open house at the IDB. Those who came not only enjoyed a book-shaped cake, they also made their way through several booths demonstrating all aspects of Library service, including downloading digital books from the web.
Tracey Morsek, former Library Director, addresses a robust crowd during the open house.
(Left) Tracey Morsek receives a certificate of recognition from Cindy Jones of the Governor’s Office.
(Right) Library staff Sarah Cranston (left) shows Library users a digital talking book player.
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(Left) Library staff Karen Schweitzer (sitting) demonstrates how she and other staff edit audio recordings to make digital talking books. (Above) A book-shaped cake had Braille and Roman characters wishing the Library a happy 50th birthday.
Honoring a D.E.A.R. reader
By Kelsey Anderson, Contributing Writer
With a book in one hand and a white cane in the other, Mavis McVeety appears to have found her niche at the Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
During the Library’s 50th anniversary open house on Nov. 5, McVeety was given the D.E.A.R. Reader award to acknowledge her outstanding support for the library.
McVeety began using the Library in 1961, as a student at IDB’s Adult Orientation and Adjustment Center. The Library has since become one of her most valuable resources. While working at the State Historical Society, McVeety was able to give exhibit tours because the Library created Braille versions of museum guides.
“Some of the people thought a blind person couldn’t give guided tours in the exhibits, but I did,” she said.
McVeety continues to use the Library to provide her with recreational reading materials. Every day she reads a Braille book and listens to an audio book at night. With her own digital book player, McVeety believes improved technologies make reading “so much easier.”
McVeety has also made several contributions to the Library. As a volunteer, she helped produce Braille materials for other readers. Recently she donated a 72-volume Braille dictionary, which is shelved in the Library’s Career Resources Center. “I know that we have the career center for students and people who are writing resumes, and I thought that was a great place for it,” said McVeety.
“As a borrower myself and having had books Brailled for me, I realized that was just a really important part of what we do here, and I really wanted to be a part of that.”
From the Librarian
“The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” -- Dr. Seuss
Greetings! I am Randy Landgrebe, Program Director of the Library. I returned to the IDB on May 3, 2010 and began my duties as Program Director on Nov. 15, 2010.
I have nearly 20 years of library experience in public libraries in Iowa and Colorado, during which I have worked with some of the best people in the world: library patrons!
Among the goals Library staff will be working toward in the months to come is converting the locally produced magazines from cassette to the NLS digital cartridge. The digital magazine will allow patrons to easily read magazines as they are most often read—not cover to cover; but however the patron wants to read it!
This goal is just one piece of an overall plan to create and maintain the very best Library for the Blind in the United States.
Please contact me with any questions or comments regarding Library service. I can be reached by telephone at 1-800-362-2587 or 515-281-1291 or via email at randy.landgrebe@blind.state.ia.us
Sincerely, Randy Landgrebe
Booklist
When someone confronts vision loss (or any other life-altering change), reading about it can provide guidance, inspiration, and practical advice. Hearing the stories of others, be they historical or current, can give new perspective to one’s own experiences. These titles are a sampling of the Library’s holdings from the subject area “Disability – Visual.”
DB/RC38282, LT5651 If Blindness Comes by Kenneth Jernigan
Defining a “blind person” as one who has to develop so many alternative techniques as to substantially alter his pattern of living, this guide encourages the newly blind to ask “how can I do it?” rather than “can I do it?” The history and purpose of the National Federation of the Blind are discussed as are other available services, programs, devices, and employment information. 1994.
BR15781, DB/RC59457 The Blindness Revolution: Jernigan in His Own Words by James H. Omvig
Blindness activist and attorney examines the transformation of the Iowa Commission for the Blind by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, a National Federation for the Blind leader. Describes Jernigan’s reorganizing the service agency beginning in 1958 from its ineffective medical model to a civil-rights-based “empowerment” organization. 2005.
BR9962, RC39905 More Than Meets the Eye: The Story of a Remarkable Life and a Transcending Love by Joan Brock
Thirty-two-year-old Joan and her husband Joe were employed at the Iowa Braille and Sight-Saving School when Joan suddenly lost the ability to see the color pink and soon was irreversibly blind. Then Joe was diagnosed with cancer and died. Joan and her daughter moved, and Joan obtained a “talking computer,” spoke about her experience, and wed a high-school crush. 1994.
DB/RC67704 Label It! Braille and Audio Strategies for Identifying Items at Home and Work by Judith Dixon
Advocates investing time and energy to label items to organize one’s environment and make daily life more manageable. Offers tips on methods, tools, and materials for creating labels for apparel, medications, food containers, appliances, and miscellaneous items. 2008.
BR13354, DB/RC51875 The Education of Laura Bridgman: First Deaf and Blind Person to Learn Language by Ernest Freeberg
Chronicles the life of Laura Bridgman, who, born into a New Hampshire farm family in 1829, became deaf and blind at the age of two. Freeberg recounts Laura’s transformation into a woman who voraciously absorbed the world around her under the tutelage of Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe of the Perkins Institution for the Blind. 2001.
BR16939, DB/RC63900 Blind Rage: Letters to Helen Keller by Georgina Kleege
A blind professor and author pens letters to the deceased Helen Keller and probes for the private feelings behind Keller’s idealized public image. Kleege expresses admiration for Keller but criticizes her as an unrealistic model. Speculates about Keller’s love life and personal emotions. 2006.
To request these or other titles contact your Reader’s Advisor at (800) 362-2587.
Orientation Center
A look back in history with Jim Crawford
Compiled by Rebecca Swainey, Contributing Writer
Jim Witte, a former program administrator of the Orientation Center, talks with Jim Crawford, a former Orientation teacher. Crawford was hired in 1967 by Kenneth Jernigan, founder of the Iowa Model for the rehabilitation of blind individuals. Crawford was part of the Center team until his retirement in 1996. Witte sat down with Crawford recently to talk about the old days.
Witte: When you left the Commission (IDB) one of the newsletters talked about you as being a sort of a renaissance man…. I’ve always thought of you more as a man for all seasons…remind me how you came to Iowa in the first place.
Crawford: When Max Rutledge was building that new building on Grand Avenue for Farmers Mutual Hail, he was talking to Russell Lundy about personnel and Lundy said, “Why don’t you ask Crawford if he wants to come down from Minneapolis?” I was editor there at the time of a weekly newspaper. So, I came down to Des Moines, we talked about all kinds of things, and Max hired me.
Witte: You went from that job to Grinnell, right; to the radio station?_opt.jpeg)
Crawford: No. One day Max said they were getting rid of my job at Farmers. So I went to Russell and asked, “Do you need an editor?” Luckily he did, so I went to work for Russell Lundy as editor of Iowa Business and Industry Magazine for five years. Then I went to work for the radio. I was a salesman for the station over in Grinnell. I still have a long recording somewhere that told about my radio experience.
Witte: So, how did you come to work at the Commission for the Blind?
Crawford: Well, because I had met Kenneth Jernigan, when Jim Valiant (administrative assistant) left Mr. Jernigan called and asked if I’d like to work for the Commission. I said I would but my son had one more year of high school so I felt I had to stay in Grinnell. Mr. Jernigan waited the year and called again. He was dismissing one of the rehabilitation counselors and wanted me to take his place in Field Operations. My first job was going down to cover areas south and east. After a year I went into Orientation for awhile, then back to Field Operations for a few years. I landed back in Orientation in 1978 where I remained until my retirement.
Witte: Your work with the Lions Club was an important factor in Jernigan wanting to hire you. Your background in journalism and your very active role in Lions (eventually including over 50 years perfect attendance and twice serving as District Governor) made you a natural for the Commission for the Blind. In fact, your Lions background put you on a first name basis with Jernigan.
Crawford: Oh, I was. (Chuckle) In fact, after we agreed to the deal he said, “Oh, one more thing—there’s no more Ken and Jim. It’s now Mr. Jernigan and Mr. Crawford.” Back then staff members were to refer to one another by surnames only…. But speaking of Lions, let me tell you how we built those first bookshelves for the library. I was president of Downtown Lions Club at that time and I said “I think we ought to do something for the library for the blind. Their books are just sitting on the floor of the gym.” Once I got my club interested we bought and cut up the lumber, took the pieces to the Commission and worked in teams to put it all together to get the books up off the floor.
Witte: I remember you and some other Lions coming through what’s now the shop area. You were there to put those shelves together. I met you for the first time then, but I didn’t see you again until 1967…. I taught you travel then, I think, in staff training.
Crawford: Yes, you did…
Witte: You were always a very good salesman for the philosophy of the Commission for the Blind. That was one of the strong points for your being in the Orientation Center. A big factor was your personality. Your sense of humor was always evident and very valuable to the Center. I mean, you were able to get along with everybody and you were well-liked and respected by all the students; even back in those days when you were rousting the male students out of bed at 6 a.m. for gym class. … So, when you look back at those years in Orientation, what gave you the most satisfaction?
Crawford: When I sent somebody on a 5.2 (miles--final travel route) and they made it. THAT was my biggest source of joy and sense of accomplishment.
Finding the perfect tree 
Orientation Center students and staff chose a 12-foot concolor pine from Murphy’s Tree Farm as part of its annual preparations for Christmas. Students choose the tree, help cut it down and, back at the IDB, decorate it.
Youth Transition
Youth program experiences transition of its own
In a move to improve services for blind and visually impaired youth in Iowa, the Iowa Department for the Blind transferred its two Transition specialists, Tai Blas and Keri Osterhaus, to its Field Operations division.
As of Oct. 1, 2010, Blas and Osterhaus became Transition vocational rehabilitation counselors and began carrying a caseload of blind or visually impaired youth.
In this new role, Blas and Osterhaus will continue to plan and organize educational activities during the school year and the summer, bringing groups of youth together in weekend retreats and summer camps, plus they will take on additional duties of helping the youth gain job experience and plan for college.
The Transition program began in 2002 as part of IDB’s Orientation Center. Transition Specialists were focused mainly on helping youth build confidence as they learned the skills of blindness (cane travel, non-visual techniques, etc.). The youth were also assigned a separate VR counselor to set career goals. This reclassification of the program enables the Transition specialists to focus on long-term goals for the youth.
“We realized that work experience before graduating from high school was becoming more important for these youth to obtain,” said Megen Johnson, program administrator for the Vocational Rehabilitation program, who will oversee the Transition team. “In the end, the youth will not only gain the social and personal benefits of going through the Transition program, they will now be able to set career goals and easily continue working on these goals as they transition into our regular VR program.”
As counselors for the youth, Blas and Osterhaus will provide more continuity of service for the youth.
“This move smoothes out the process for the students and for us,” said Blas, who has worked for IDB since 2008. “Each youth in the Transition program will have Keri or myself as his or her counselor, instead of having us in the program plus a VR counselor. There will be just one point of contact for families.”
Osterhaus and Blas will work with youth from age 14 until senior year of high school, at which time plans will be made to assign the student to a long-term VR counselor, who will assist and follow him or her until the case is closed and education and career goals are met.
For more information about Department Transition programs, contact Tai Blas at (800) 362-2587 or via email at tai.blas@blind.state.ia.us
Business Enterprises Program
Healthy food coming to a vending spot near you
By Roger Erpelding, Contributing Writer
‘Vending machines are often the last place you can find healthy food choices” states Susan Klein, a consultant with the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH).
Yet, two blind vending managers with IDB’s Business Enterprises Program will be stocking their machines with healthy alternatives beginning in January, as they participate in a healthy choice initiative sponsored by IDPH.
Carl Drees and Dan Meier, who operate vending facilities in the Wallace and Lucas state buildings in the Capitol Complex, will pilot this program in their machines. The length the program will run will depend on the customer demand and financial success.
Standards for the initiative are set by the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey-Vending (NEMS-V), using a three-tiered coding system for food: green, yellow and red. Foods will be marked with a green or yellow dot to signify them as healthier options.
Green foods and beverages “give a serving of whole grain, fruit, vegetables or low-fat dairy products.” Green products also have 35 percent or less of their calories from fat, zero transfat, 400 milligrams or less of sodium and 200 calories or less per serving.
The yellow foods must meet the same criteria, except they are not a serving of whole grain, fruit, vegetables or low-fat dairy.
Red foods will not be marked, as the program wants to draw attention to the green and yellow foods.
Program coordinators at IDPH believe many people avoid using the vending machines in the buildings because there is a lack of healthy options. Since the Lucas Building contains about 200 IDPH employees, and they are more health focused than the general public, program coordinators believe it is a good site to test for this theory.
As they pilot the initiative in their operations, Drees and Meier will work toward a goal of providing 30 percent of these healthy choices in each of their vending machines. Items may include Dole fruit crisps, Baked Lay’s chips, baked pita chips, granola bars, Fiber One bars, Kashi bars, small Rice Krispie Treats and whole-grain Pop Tarts.
Several approaches will be used to point out the healthy food selections to customers, including using the color-coded dots, says Carol Voss, spokeswoman for the program and nutrition coordinator for Iowans Fit for Life, a division of IDPH that promotes healthy lifestyles. Public information will be distributed explaining the program and encouraging people to visit their vending facilities to find more healthy options. There will also be a food cart featuring several sample items that will tour the Capitol Complex. Drees and Meier will incorporate marketing tools, such as clustering healthy items on the right side of the vending machine close to the areas where customers place coins and bills to begin the purchase process.
“It will be interesting to see what sells and to see if people are being more health conscious,” said Meier.
Darnell Huppert, a senior account executive with food wholesaler VISTAR, has also been involved in this project. At a recent meeting he brought by a variety of items that will meet the green and yellow criteria.
As the demand increases for healthy choices by customers, manufacturers will come on board to provide more of the healthier products. The vendors are looking forward to these new products to increase the possible selections. “If you put something new in the machine, everyone wants to try it, and if it is good it sells,” said Meier.
Voss said she hopes this pilot project is only the beginning of promoting healthier eating for Iowans. IDPH has applied for an additional grant to target customers in rest areas and state parks. “We hope this will be another surge to keep the program going,” she said.
How long will the pilot project last and what is its future? At this point, no one is certain. Will the healthier choice products sell? All are positive and hopeful. Additional grants, upcoming federal regulations on vending nutrition labels and customer demand will also have a great deal of influence on this question. And as manufacturers provide healthier and tastier products, the sales will correspond accordingly.
“If state employees eat healthier,” said Drees, “they will miss less time from work, resulting in reduced health care costs, saving Iowa taxpayers’ money.”
