“Teachers are IT,” was Blind Corps’s third project of training the trainers series in Turkey. It was all about Turkey’s continuing efforts to improve the quality of life for their blind. Our goal was to share with Turkey’s professionals within the field of blindness, what we in the USA have found to be the best training method to teach blindness skills, to introduce blindness related equipment, along with instruction in a core of the basic blindness skills needed by a blind person in order for them to be the best they can be. The training philosophy presented was Structured Discovery Method (SDM). In short, SDM’s first order of business is to set up the student with an introduction to the basic techniques and/or tools to perform a given task, such as independent travel. Second, it places the student into a learning environment and allows him or her to work it out as to how to apply the skill to the situation, and make that skill, that confidence his or her own. And as to the basic skills that we presented, they are elaborated upon below.
Our Blind Corps team consisted of 8 instructors and they were: Michael Floyd )President; blind, a drug and alcohol counselor - former OandM instructor), Fatos Floyd (Vice President, blind, Director of the Nebraska training Center with the Nebraska commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired - NCBVI), Nancy Flearl (Secretary, sighted, District Supervisor for NCBVI), Buna Dahal(Board Member, blind, Training Consultant), John Schmitt (Board Member, sighted, VR counselor for NCBVI), Robert Leslie Newman (Board Member, blind, VR counselor for NCBVI), Kim Adams (Teaching Consultant), sighted, and George Binder (OandM Instructor, sighted).
We were invited to come to turkey to provide this training. We all were volunteers. Most of the costs for this trip came from our sponsors. Blind corps members conducted fund raising for the equipment and materials we’d need to conduct the training. Our Turkish partners for this trip were, the Turkish Ministry of Education, the municipality of Istanbul, and Bey Az Ay (the leading non-profit organization of the blind in Turkey).
Our students were teachers of both youth and adults; staff from government and private schools for the blind and staff from private rehabilitation services. Our student body totaled 33, with 4 non-teachers (2 blind consumers, 1 HR person and 1 private school owner); 10 of these were blind individuals.
The mission of BLIND CORPS is to share our knowledge and experience of U.S.-developed blindness rehabilitation techniques and tools with blind people and those serving them, including families, friends, and professionals in developing nations. To read more about Blind Corps and see pictures and film clips of our work, go to http://www.blindcorps.org
Blind Corps’s connection to Turkey comes from our Vice President, Fatos Floyd, an Istanbul native. It was through Fatos and her husband, Michael’s visits back to family and their demonstrated competency, that initially developed into requests for talks, small demonstrations and instructional sessions, and ultimately lead to the creation of Blind Corps. It is important to note, that the Floyd’s attribute much of “who they are as a blind person” to their long time membership within the National Federation of the Blind and their many years of professional employment in rehabilitation of the blind.
This third training had students arriving Sunday, May 30th and staying until Friday, June 8th. The training took place at the Florya Ozurluler Kampi, a 15 acre camp for the disabled, owned by the municipality of Istanbul. It is located within the city limits of Istanbul; city around its north, east and west boarders, the shore of the Sea of Marmara at the south. The camp has 50+ cabins accommodating 4 individuals each), with several larger buildings where classes were held, such as a cafeteria, an internet café, a seminar building.
Our program’s strategy, as with the previous 2 trainings, was to provide our students with a 2 week immersion into the “what is” Structured Discovery Method (SDM) and into the “how to” apply it in teaching blindness skills. Participants were given an abbreviated version of the type of training provided to new staff within several USA SDM training centers (examples being Nebraska, Iowa, NFB centers and others). We had only 2 weeks to provide our students 120 hours of class time; 2 weeks was the limit they could get leave from work and the 120 hours being the requirement set by the department of education to receive a certificate of professional training.
On Monday May 31st, our first full day of training, we presented everyone with a new long white cane, a sleep-shade (maskee in Turkish) for those with any functional vision and discussed our expectations of how we wished to have students conduct themselves during training. The expectations/rules were- 1. The sleep-shade will be used during all training and while moving from one class to another. There would be breaks from the sleep-shade; meal times were exempt, unless it was a training time and/or if someone wished for additional experience. 2. When on campus, the cane will be used at all times, even if the person is sighted and not wearing a sleep-shade. 3. Students were not to go sighted guide with one another. 4. In terms of helping other students; at all times during class or at dinner or after hours, if a fellow student was experiencing functional difficulties, allow and encourage that student to work out the situation, and if necessary, provide information and/or instruction. 5. During seminar or class, have only one person talk at a time.
Our typical day of training was 12 hours. We started at 0800 and finished at 2100; breaks adding up to about an hour were mixed in. (Note- Turkey operates on a 24 hour clock and so on our USA 12 hour clock, it would be from 8:00 AM extending to 9:00 PM). In further explanation, the 3 hours during this time relating to meals, staff and students ate together, which promoted further discussion and acceptance of one another. Then as for the hours that staff put in -- we started out one hour before the students with a staff meeting, working through their breaks preparing materials, finishing with an end of day meeting, pushing our average day to 14 hours.
Our strategy for this years training was to quickly get one or two students familiar with the teaching/learning task at hand, then have them teach the next person, an so on down the line of students; everyone getting to be a student, then the teacher. The skill classes that we had everyone take part in were:
Cane Travel Class: “Baston” is the Turkish word for cane. The first two days we had small group classes, 3 or 5 individuals, and worked on basic 2-point-touch technique and orientation to the camp. Later classes covered navigating stairs, stowing the cane when seated in a classroom or at dinner, in a car or on a bus, etc. On the third day, we took all 30+ students as a group out of the camp, down to the sea shore and onto the boardwalk (a cement road like surface. There we conducted such activities as running, climbing rocks and a cargo net. Other off-campus trips we took were: A walk along the boardwalk to a chi (tea) shop at a nearby harbor. a walk to a restaurant along the sea shore (all these walks were a mile plus in length). A walk into a local neighborhood to work on skills specific to bus travel, to work on street crossings, handle oneself in a store setting and more. The final activity was a scavenger hunt, where students were placed on teams and all information was in Braille.
Turkey facts about travel- All most without exception, the blind of Turkey who use a Bastogne, prefer a folding cane. And in respects to the use of a dog guide, there may be 2 of them in the country of Turkey; Muslins find dogs to be unclean; cats out number dogs about a million to 1. Environmental wise- sidewalks in many neighborhoods are very narrow and broken up or non-existent and/or people park their cars on them and so people walk in the street. And I’ll tell you what, there is a lot of traffic in Istanbul, drivers speed and do not follow many rules, and the pedestrian does not have the right of way. Istanbul is a city of 15 million plus and has a variety of types of mass transit systems. And though the blind do get around, there are many situations when the wise blind traveler would ask for assistance to cross a street.
One of our students, a 29 year old guy, a teacher in a school for the blind, had never used his Bastogne to travel on his own. He was super excited to find what a cane did for his independent travel.
Another student, a 20 year old woman (one of our 2 consumers), also had not used a cane out on her own and was only allowed to attend school to the fifth grade. During one of our seminars, where each person was asked to share what they had learned during the first week, she said- “I was lied to all my life. They told me that because I am blind, I could not do anything. Here I have learned I can walk by myself, learn to read and write, cook, sew and care for a baby and much more.”
Braille Class: Most of our blind students knew Braille and one of the sighted teachers did (visually). Those who learned Braille with us, learned to read and write the alphabet. Each student was given a slate and stylus and a Braille “Doodad” (a learning device which is held in your hand and has dots you push up and down to form patterns).
Turkey facts about Braille- Children who attend one of the 14 government schools do not learn Braille; Braille is taught in private schools. And the reality is, there isn’t much Braille available within the country to read. The Turkish Braille reader when learning their alphabet, learns 29 characters to our 26. Most reading is by recorded materials; most libraries of recorded books are in small and scattered collections by the various non-profit services for the blind. (There is one government center/service for adults. Services for the blind are mostly handled by local non-profits; all are small, providing more social, non-skill services and they do not work together with other services.)
Cooking Class: Cooking was a half day long class and was held twice. We chose some of their traditional dishes that required many basic skills like, peeling, slicing, dicing, mixing, frying, grilling, baking. The dishes were, potato salad, chocolate cake, cacik (yogurt and cucumber), and kofta (meatballs).
Turkey facts about cooking- Turks do not rely on recipes, nor do they use measuring devices, other than their hands. Most of our students have cooked; all sighted staff had, 3 of our 7 blind students hadn’t. And in general, cooking is a woman’s job, yet grilling on a Mongol (a grill) is a man’s. Most of our blind students had grilled. (Our 29 year old blind teacher hadn’t and when asked how the grilling went, he said with a huge grin, “I did it and ate it, too.”
Another interesting and charming fact about our students, is that when you got them out walking or sitting down in a group and working on a task that they were enjoying, they will start singing; one may start, then others will join in. One day, while holding a seminar, a child joined us, and at one point he became engaged in the discussion and soon he had the group all singing along with him.
Sewing Class: This class was of a 2 fold purpose. The project chosen was to make a tactile book to teach basic shapes, like a square, a circle, a triangle, a rectangle, etc. (an inexpensive and useful item that could be replicated in Turkey.) The pages were pieces of felt and the shapes were cut from various different types of material. assembly of the book required cutting out the shapes, sewing them on a page, then placing all pages in a stack and at the left margin, sewing down through all layers and attaching buttons to seal the binding.
Turkey facts about sewing- To our students, this was the most fascinating skill we had to share. For they had no knowledge that it was possible for a blind person to thread a needle. Sure, many of them could sew, but someone else always had to thread the needle.
Self Care Classes; grooming, makeup, health care, labeling: These classes were held once, each. In men’s grooming, we covered areas of their concern- shaving, tying a tie, and other general self-care issues. The women dealt with- applying cosmetics, nail care, hair styling, clothing and more. Additionally, one day we covered health related alternatives- identification of medications, drawing insulin, talking blood pressure cuff and blood meter, child health care, and more. Labeling items around the home was another one time class. Ironing was another skill area.
Turkey facts about self-care- Generally speaking, men go and get a weekly shave from a barber; shining shoes was similarly handled. Women from the younger generation tend to wear makeup and a shorter hair style. Government employees- men cannot wear a beard and women cannot wear a head covering (beards and head coverings can be signs of a more conservative religious practice).
Home Maintenance Class: The project was to make a wooden, Braille Doodad- a learning tool to teach Braille. It required placing a pre-cut block of wood into a template (a guide for placement of the drill-bit), drilling out the six holes, then inserting 6 pegs.
Writing guides were also shown how to construct and use; a full page letter guide, a signature guide (the concept could be used for any type of writing guide). We also taught most of the blind students to write their names, a skill that no one had ever expected them to perform.
Turkey facts about home maintenance- Most of the blind students had no experience in this type of activity; they would not be expected to use tools (too dangerous). Also, in Turkey, a blind person’s signature is usually challenged and not accepted; a banker might say to you, “You do not know what you are signing.” Or, “Someone could forge your name and you would not know it.”
An observation made to us by several students, about the treatment of the blind in Turkey, verses within the USA, is that the blind are better treated in Turkey. Yet, they would admit, that expectations of the blind are lower in Turkey, than in the USA.
Seminar Class: Seminar was the only class that was held every day. The Turkish people enjoy discussion and are very vocal. We started each seminar with asking for volunteers to share what they have learned or were feeling. This was usually very upbeat. Also for discussion, we used speeches by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, THOUGHT PROVOKERS by Robert Leslie Newman and descriptions of the use of the sleep-shade and Structured Discovery Method.
Turkey facts about seminar- On the first day, we challenged our students to have an open mind. In relation to understanding and acceptance of Structured Discovery Method, we began with taking a pole and getting consensus on which learning method worked best for all present – it was getting a handle on the basics of something, then be given time to work it out on their own. And this of course, is SDM in a nutshell.
Another special moment came about after each student shared what they had learned during the first week. All were positive. One guy said, “I came here not knowing what to expect, I knew my subject as a teacher, but I find that you have taught me how to teach.” Several commented on a new found awareness of what a blind person can be expected to do.
Then, they asked us to tell them what we felt they had learned. We responded with a question and another challenge – First we told them that they were the best class we have had. Our question was, “Are you excited with what you have learned?” They answered “Avet,” Turkish for “yes.” Our challenge to them was, “Think of this, if at the end of training you are still feeling that you have started something special within yourself, then look into each others eyes and agree to keep in touch to support and challenge one another. Think about creating a group of professionals to further this new understanding, this new teaching philosophy and help others within your profession to know of it and teach them how to do it.” (One outcome, a student challenged all others to, after working with this new approach for six months, that each write up a report and share it with other members of the group.)
Additional events while in Istanbul: Each time we have worked in turkey, the word got around and we got unexpected visitors and requests. The two most interesting in 2010 were: First was a visit from a representative from the Red Crescent (similar to the USA Red Cross). They were asking for our assistance to help their organization evaluate their readiness to, for the first time, train disabled people to perform customer service at their call centers. We listened to their training model and their intent for intergrading these workers into the existing centers and gave our suggestions.
Second, we had a visit from the Istanbul Traffic Authority; the department who over-see the streets and public transportation systems. They were about to open up a new one-of-a-kind traffic park; a training facility for children. We did go and visit this park and WOW, interesting! It was a scaled-down city; everything was “kid size.” You walked around through various types of streets (including a round-about) , street crossings (with and without audible signals), a traffic tunnel, an over-pass and buildings (including a visitors center, a hospital, and others). They even had electric cars for the children to drive (I drove one, using my cane to follow the curb). The park was to be used to train children on the rules of being a good and safe pedestrian and the operator of a vehicle on the street. They wished to know how to best train a blind child in this new setting. We gave a few suggestions, with one of them being, that they hire one of our former students to have on staff.
Friday, June 11th was the final day of training, the passing out of certificates and the ceremony of our closing. The Turkish people are very much into recognition of events and accomplishments. In years past, where we had an official “opening ceremony,” this year we did not, however our closing was made part of the camp’s official opening. And this was a very large affair! There were hundreds of people. It started off (and finished( with live Turkish music, followed by speeches from politicians, public recognition of Blind Corps and the passing out of a token number of the earned certificates. Yet the real closing for us, staff and students came after the big Turkish Hullabaloo. It was the personal goodbyes by individual and small groups of our students. There was much hugging and the Turkish kissing of both cheeks. And the saying to one another, “Teshekkurler," (Turkish for thank you). “And until we meet again, Inshallah.” (Turkish for “God willing).”
There is talk that we will go back; turkey is not finished with their efforts to change what it means to be blind.
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