Annette Beauchamp Appreciates Help from OOD

Annette Beauchamp of Columbus, Ohio worked for the same employer for 21 years, doing a job she loved, when her vision became so limited, her safety was in danger.

She explained, “I was almost hit by a car trying to cross the street more than once. I would fall over things in my own house. I would pour liquid into glasses that were turned upside down and make a mess.”

Cataracts, nuclear sclerosis, malignant myopia, and night and color blindness were taking a toll on Annette. Fortunately, she connected with Deborah Winston, Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor at Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD), with the Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired. 

Transcripts and MP3 files are available at ood.ohio.gov/podcast.

Do you have a disability? Do you want a job? OOD can help! Visit OODWorks.com or call 800-282-4536 to get started. 

Find OOD on social media: @OhioOOD. 

Have a disability? Want to work? Visit OODWorks.com!

Transcript

OOD Works Podcast Episode 41 Transcript

Annette Beauchamp Appreciates Help from OOD

Kim Jump: Deborah Winston is a Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor at Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities with the Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired. In this episode, you will hear from Deborah about the services she provides to individuals who are blind or have low vision including services that supported a participant named Annette Beauchamp. In Annette’s words, because of your services and staff, even with my fears, I feel comfortable with how to function daily with limited vision. She went on to say, my life has changed.

Kim Jump: Deborah, thanks for joining the podcast. 

Deborah Winston: Well, thank you for having me.

Kim Jump: Well, I’m curious. Your role in supporting individuals who are blind or have low vision is a special one in our agency. Can you tell us about that?

Deborah Winston: Sure. BSVI, that’s the acronym, well we help people that are blind that want to continue to work, want to find work, want to better their, you know, their lives in general. We help with basic things like orientation and mobility services. You have some people that have never been taught to ambulate on their own, to walk with a cane, and to get around inside and outside to get around their home or their community.  We provide things like low-vision equipment. Equipment, such as basic things like lighting to help them to be able to see in their homes and not trip over their shoes, their own shoes in their home. We try to help them to live a better quality of life. A lot of blind and low-vision people have a fear. They don’t venture far because they can’t see. So, we want to help them to function inside their home and outside. We help them with gadgets in the kitchen so they can prepare their own meals safely. Gadgets that will help them operate a stove safely. Things of that nature.

Kim Jump: Yeah. Well, it seems like those fears make sense given that there would be a lot of safety concerns for someone that especially had vision and then is experiencing vision loss.

Deborah Winston: Absolutely. Those are the ones that are really difficult because the blindness is new and sometimes is sudden. And, it takes a lot of patience to help them because they are still in denial and trying to figure out how to live their lives now. So, absolutely, I’ve had people tell me that they go to pour a glass of water and the glass is upside down and they’ve poured water all over the counter. We have basic techniques to help them function without doing little things like that.  But you’re absolutely right, they are very fearful if they lose their vision suddenly because that’s a whole new world for them.  

Kim Jump: I’m just thinking, some of the individuals you are meeting that this a new, a life change for them. They’re just unaware of the gadgets, the technology, the resources that can help them.

Deborah Winston: You’re absolutely right. We hear back from participants saying just that they had no idea that you could put bump dots on your stove or your washer or dryer to help you understand the settings. Or, exactly how long you’re putting something in the oven for. Little things that help them do the basics that they took, for those that could see, they took for granted.  And, for those that could never see, just didn’t think they’d be able to do. So, you’re absolutely right. Just little basics like that and helping. I had one participant who told me that she wasn’t familiar with COTA Mainstream. She didn’t know that she could get a bus that would come and pick her up at her home and take her to work or to wherever she wanted to go. And, one of my participants told me thank you because, she goes, I want to go to the museum. I love the museum and I haven’t been in years. Because she has nobody to take her or wants to share that type of experience. But, now with the COTA Mainstream, she goes to the museum on a regular basis. So it’s little things like that. It’s just helping you to live your best life. You know disability is one thing. But it doesn't have to stop you from living a really full and happy life. 

Kim Jump: Yeah. A full and happy life and as independent as possible.

Deborah Winston: Yeah. 

Kim Jump: Not as reliant as a friend to take you to a museum.

Deborah Winston: You’re absolutely right. That’s absolutely it too. The independence that it brings back to those that once had it and to those that never did. It’s amazing. 

Kim Jump: Yeah. So I kind of touched on, I’m picturing more mature adults and like a disability that’s brought with experiencing vision loss, how can OOD support younger people? At what age can we start working to support, maybe a young person who is blind or who has low vision.

Deborah Winston: Oh, absolutely. We start at age 14 and we can help the students that are blind or have low vision in school. You know, to help them to gain that independence as well by providing technology that would assist them and getting their classes and getting their lessons and being able to participate in class even though they have that disability. We also help the young people with the very same things. With mobility, with summer youth services in the summer to help them become more independent, and to become more integrated into society as a whole. So we try to help them, and I think it’s great when we get them young like that because you know you really have more time to help them to grow into that independence. We help them with college as well so that they can also have a career. And, live like everyone else does. I wanted to say like normal, but that is so incorrect. But, to just live like anybody else does that doesn’t have a disability.

Kim Jump: Yeah. That’s wonderful. Deborah, let me ask you what do you like best about your job?

Deborah Winston: I absolutely love helping people. I absolutely love helping people that didn’t otherwise think they would be able to do something, or get a job, or go to school, or just live in their home. Like I said, or just get on a bus and go to the museum. That kind of thing just warms my heart, so it’s just so fulfilling to see people grow, ya know to see them grow and change, - grow into themselves they call it, ya know. Grow into yourself. You can do whatever you want to do.

Kim Jump: Oh, I love that. I mentioned the participant that you were the counselor for Annette- when did you first meet her?

Deborah Winston: I first met Annette, she was on my caseload in’21 – 2021. And she was such a sweet person. She was working at a place that she had been for 21 years, and had never, ever had assistance of any kind. Orientation or mobility services- she didn’t know anything about any of that. She didn’t think that she would ever be able to see… to actually see. Annette was so sweet. She told me stories.  Like, she would walk down the street trying to catch the normal COTA bus. Her vision was really, really limited. And she told me she’d almost been hit by car more than once, because she didn’t carry a cane. Ya know, they didn’t know she was blind and can’t see, and she‘s almost been hit by a car a couple of times. She said, “I walk on people’s lawns and they tell me to get off their lawn,” ya know because she can’t see where she is going. And I told her we are going to change all of that for you. We’re going to get you a cane, we’re going to get you some orientation and mobility services. We’re going to teach you about COTA Mainstream, so that you are not on the regular bus, COTA. Which, you can’t even see the signs, how are you supposed to know? So, she was thrilled. She didn’t think it was possible. She just didn’t think it was possible. She thought her life was, such as it was. Such as it had been for years. So, she was a delight to work with. She came in just wanting to more or less, save her job, because everything is going computer, now. And you’re having to read screens and she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t read a screen, a computer screen. So, we got her some rehab tech services to help her in that area, and she just kind of blossomed. She just kind of grew. So, she was a delight. She’s such a sweetheart.

Kim Jump: That’s great. I think with that we’ll go to her voicemail. “Hi Miss Deborah Winston, this is Annette Beauchamp, and I was just calling to say: thank you. Your agency and the people that work for you, that have helped me out, I just wanted to just say, thank you for all that you have done and the different items that they have given me. I do use on a daily basis and getting around my home, and when I do go outside it makes a difference. And being able to see, and step, and look around, and just not, ya know, feel uncomfortable in my home or outside. The items have arrived. I appreciate the people that came out, ya know, and talked to me and enlightened me on different things and it just makes my life just a little bit better. And I just wanted to call and just say thank you for blessing me to stay blessed. That’s all I wanted, was to do just say thank everybody. Because they don’t know how much of a difference these little items, and these little suggestions, and the help and the reach out, that they’ve done for me, is so much appreciated. And it helps me so much, so, ya know, thank you, and have a good day!” 

Kim Jump:  That’s such a special voicemail, that she left you. I know, I’ve heard from our other counselors, too, how much that means to hear back from participants and how their lives have improved.

Deborah Winston: Yes, truly, truly hers it was so, because it came in on a Sunday and I was sitting here watching TV and you could hear the voicemail coming in my work phone and I said, “really, it’s Sunday, who are you?” And when I listened to it on Monday, it was Annette. So, (laughing). Yeah, for her to- it was really special because I know she must have to have been coming back from something that she really must have enjoyed to leave a voicemail like that. Because yeah, who else is thinking about OOD on the weekend? (Laughing.)

Kim Jump: (Laughing) She was thinking of you with much appreciation. That is an amazing thing. I love that. And you know Annette was able to work more than 20 years at Schmidt’s, but she did explain to me, that ya know back in January 2022, she did retire because of her diminishing vision and that wasn’t easy. She shared with me she misses the place and the staff there were like her second family. So, that does lead me to a question for you, Deborah, and that’s our services, in general, are geared for individuals with disabilities that want to work, but what else are we able to offer individuals who are blind or who have low vision, that maybe they are like Annette, they are to that point where they are kind of done with the workplace. Tell us just briefly about the Independent Living Older Blind program that we have at OOD.

Deborah Winston: Yeah, the Independent Living Older Blind program is for individuals that are 55 and older, that do not want to work. They’ve retired or for whatever reason, they don’t want to work. That program is designed to help them to live safely and as independently as possible in their homes and in their communities. So, we’ll provide the same types of services, orientation and mobility services, rehab tech services, low vision services, but they are designed to do everything but to help them to work. But that’s really appreciated when you’re 55 and older and don’t want to work. You still will want to be safe, and you want to be as independent as possible. So, that is what that program is designed for.

Kim Jump: Great. Well, Deborah, it has been a pleasure to hear from you about what you do and to hear Annette’s appreciation for you. 

Deborah Winston: Thank you. Absolutely. My pleasure. Pleasure talking to you, too, Kim. Absolutely.

Kim Jump:  You keep up the good work. You’re out there making a difference!

Deborah Winston: Thank you, I hope so. I like to think so.