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Annual Report 2005
Mission Statement
To provide the services needed to minimize the devastating effects of
combined vision and hearing loss upon the individual and family.
Message from Executive Director
“Character cannot be developed in ease
and quiet. Only through experience of
trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened,
ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
Helen Keller
The 2005 Annual Report celebrates another successful year of service to
youths and adults who are totally deaf and blind or who have varying degrees
of combined hearing and vision loss.
For twenty-one years the Center has made a significant impact on the
lives of the individuals we serve.
Clients can describe how difficult the journey has been. Despite trials and barriers, each one can
express the great joy of achieving specific goals. It is this joy that everyone involved with
the Center shares. The personal
testimonies in this year’s report will illustrate the trials and triumphs our
clients experience each day.
The Center continues to provide individualized rehabilitation services for
every client, support to the family, access to the
community, consultations, information and referral, and public
education/technical assistance. In
2005 the Center succeeded in allocating 85% of the budgeted expenditures to
direct program services. The remaining
15% was applied to management and fundraising activities.
Time has proven that the Center has made a great difference in the lives of
the individuals and families served.
With the support and dedication of our Board of Directors, staff,
volunteers, and donors, we continue to strengthen and expand programs and
ensure that people who are deaf-blind can be viable and active members of the
community.
Most gratefully,
Paulette Bartelt
Executive Director
Message from the President
During a year of many natural disasters requiring immediate donations to help
those affected by them, the Center for Deaf-Blind Persons is thankful for all
the contributors who still kept us in mind.
Your generous donations enabled the Center to continue its outstanding
services for those trying to manage despite the loss of both sight and
hearing. The Center for Deaf-Blind
Persons is the only provider in Wisconsin
with the in-depth, hands-on, all-encompassing services needed for this
population.
We would like to thank all the volunteers and staff that make the Center
work. These are not simple or easy
skills they have mastered; but then, being deaf-blind is neither simple nor
easy. The daily challenges are
immense. We are thankful for those who
have chosen to help doubly disabled people face these challenges.
I would like to personally thank the Board of Directors for their continued
support. It is through this team
effort that this agency has developed and will continue to offer exemplary
services.
Most gratefully,
Terrie Treland
President of the Board
Board of Directors
President Terrie Treland
Vice President John J. Laskowski
Secretary Harvey Pogoriler
Treasurer Edward Brady
Directors: Dr. Richard
Brunkan
Reverend
William Key
Dr. William
Myers
John
Rydzewski
Linda R.
Treland
IN THE WORDS OF OUR CLIENTS
Marco
The first time I came to the Center was
in 1995. I started training at the Center
but had to leave because my family moved to Racine.
In 2005 my mother had three strokes, and we moved back to Milwaukee so we could be
closer to her family. When we came
back, I contacted the Center in the spring.
I wanted to be able to cook breakfast and dinner to help my mother.
I want to work. Ruth from the Center told me to apply to
the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) so I could get services. The Center helped me fill out all of the
paperwork and gave me information about the waiting list. They also helped me find other services
like Transit Plus (subsidized transportation) and some programs to help my
mother.
My DVR counselor talked with the Center
about having me come for an assessment.
I was so excited when he told me I was going to come to the Center for
an assessment and that the Center would let him know what I needed to work
on. I was nervous because I didn’t
know how people would react to me. I
am looking forward to meeting new people and learning to get around on my own.
Note: Marco began receiving services at the Center in January of 2006.
Lynn
The staff motivates me to try something
new. I learned a lot from coming
here. I will list a few things the
Center has helped me with.
The Center and the employment specialist
helped me get a job. It took almost a
year, and interviewing was scary. I
have worked at a pizza shop for two years.
It took a while to learn my way around the restaurant. I learned about landmarks and got lost a
few times. I like working with all the
people. They are always helpful. I like it when I have extra money to
spend. My family was pretty happy when
I got my first paycheck. I was too.
In cooking class I learned how to make
a shopping list and about healthy eating habits. It is fun to learn about different
menus. Now I am learning about kitchen
safety. I learned how to be careful
around the stove. I also learned about
raised markings and how they can help me use the microwave, and how to label
ingredients with Braille so they are easy to find when I need them. I made a lot of treats for the others that
come here. I am learning how to spread
butter and peanut butter. It is hard
but I am getting it.
I also learned to clean, vacuum, make a
bed, and do my own laundry. Laundry
was hard at first, learning what temperature to wash things in and knowing
how long to set the dryer for. Folding
was hard but I worked on it. I wasn’t
100%, more like 95%.
I learned how to send emails to my
friends. Having a computer is as
important as having a telephone or a radio.
I would be lost if I did not have a Braille display to read messages
and tell what I wrote. It was fun
learning new things like downloading books and magazines. I also learned about the Internet. It’s a whole new world to explore without
going anywhere. If you want to know
about anything, the Internet is the place.
You can search for anything, like restaurants and nutrition
information. You can even send emails
to your friends and family. I love it.
I am involved in a social group called
WISH (With Impaired Sight and Hearing) that meets every month. It is fun to meet new people and have a
good time with them. My favorite thing
to do is to go to new places with WISH.
I like supporting other people in the Support Group and having them
listen to my problems and help me.
I love my world because I learned all
these things and made friends at the Center.
Susanna
I’m glad that the Center’s teacher
comes once a week. We have a nice time
together. I am learning Braille. We go over the letters several times. I didn’t realize that those six little dots
could make twenty-six letters. I call
the “A” the little squirt. I enjoy
learning Braille. I hope that I’m
going to be good at it so I can read and label my things.
The teacher also helped me label things
like my stove and microwave. The
teacher helped me get a special tape recorder with raised markings and easy
controls so I can make it loud enough to hear the talking books from the
Library for the Blind. She also helped
me to get the Bible on tape so I can listen to it.
The teacher helped me to see what I had
in my chest of drawers. I had hats,
gloves, tablecloths, and clothes, but nothing was organized. We took everything out and put it back in
order. So I know where everything
is. It brightens my day when she
comes. When nobody comes, it’s kind of dull.
I’ve learned so much from all of these visits.
REHABILITATION SERVICES
Assessment
An assessment based on background information, client interview, and formal testing
reveals the interests and needs of a consumer and leads to the design of a
service plan with realistic outcomes.
Advocacy
Individuals having a dual sensory loss learn about their civil rights and
proper techniques to best advocate for themselves with a landlord, employer,
and others in the community.
Independent Living
Individuals learn adaptive techniques for safe cooking procedures, cleaning,
wardrobe care, grooming, money management and other personal and home
management skills. One-on-one instruction
focuses on augmenting or replacing sight with touch, and hearing with
vibrations.
Adaptive Technology
Learning to use new technology opens opportunities at work, school, home and in the community.
Equipment may include a Braille telephone system, vibrating signal
system (an alert to the sound of the telephone, doorbell, smoke
alarm), computers with Braille display or large print access, and a variety
of other devices.
Communication Skills
Alternative communication methods provide new ways to express self and to
receive information. Clients may learn
to communicate using print-on-palm, raised alphabet cards, tactile sign
language, and print-to-Braille devices.
Employment
The Center assists individuals with career exploration, readiness training, job
development/placement, and job coaching.
Support is also available to the employer and co-workers to maintain
open lines of communication.
Leisure Skills
Individuals develop creative pastimes to fill empty hours formerly used to
watch television or listen to the radio.
The activities often improve tactile sensitivity and motor
coordination, the benefits of which are seen in all other areas of
rehabilitation training.
Orientation and Mobility
Traveling safely with reduced vision and hearing requires special
techniques. Individuals learn to
independently travel within their homes, at work, and in the community by
using a sighted guide, white cane or dog guide.
Support Group and Individual
Adjustment Services
The weekly support group promotes a sense of normalcy by allowing individuals
with similar problems to gather and discuss issues of grief, loss,
frustration and resolution. Clients
with extraordinary issues receive individualized adjustment services at the Center.
Social Opportunities
W.I.S.H. (With
Impaired Sight-Hearing)
This monthly group enjoys many activities:
bingo, card games, holiday celebrations, and community outings such as
the zoo, museum, and more. Volunteers
from the community and sign language interpreter training students from area
colleges and community technical schools assist WISH members.
Support Service Program
The Support Service Provider (SSP) empowers consumers by providing access and
information while shopping, banking, mail reading, apartment searches, and
other tasks in the community.
SERVICES TO COMMUNITY
Consultation
A consultation provides comprehensive informational sessions on resources and
support services available to individuals who are deaf-blind.
Information and Referral
The Center provides up-to-date information on deaf-blindness and referral
assistance for family members, individuals, professionals, and other
agencies.
Older Adult Series
The Center’s outreach, education, and training services for seniors in
retirement communities and other settings consist of a series of four
one-hour presentations. During these
interactive sessions, seniors may use an assistive listening device to
enhance their remaining hearing, try out free amplified phones, learn of
low-vision aids, handle independent living gadgets, practice communication
methods to use in noisy settings, learn coping strategies and much more. Individualized training is also available.
Public Education and Technical
Assistance
Presentations, demonstrations, exhibits, workshops, in-service trainings and
tours of the agency are available to schools, professionals, and community
organizations to heighten awareness about deaf-blindness as a unique
disability. Hands-on
training/demonstrations are available to community organizations needing
technical assistance with their consumer who is deaf-blind.
STAFF
The Board of Directors would like to thank the
skilled and dedicated staff and volunteers.
Paulette Bartelt – Executive
Director/Instructor
Christopher Bruce – Employment Specialist/
Sign Language Interpreter
Michelle Jaksic – Sign Language Interpreter
Gretchen Kapperman - Orientation and Mobility Specialist
Alyssa Leighton – Specialist in
Deaf-Blind Services/
Community Support Service Provider
Jenny McKitrick – Sign Language Interpreter
Howard Traxler – Computer Training/
Assistive Technology Coordinator
Nancy Parey – Office Manager/
Assistant to the Director
Joan Schneider – Office Support
Ruth Silver –Founder/Director Emeritus and
Consultant/Coordinator of New Projects
VOLUNTEERS
Carly Bieri
Robin Conn
Lynn DeLarue
Jacqueline Doggett
Michelle Jaksic
Melanie Kaplan
Margery Krueger
Laura Lindstrom
Michelle Page
Cristina Saccullo
Andrea Santini
Marvin Silver
William Thill
Juliette Welch
And numerous W.I.S.H. volunteers and fieldwork
students from the interpreter training programs at Milwaukee Area Technical
College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Summary of Data
The Center serves individuals who are totally deaf and blind or have varying
degrees of combined hearing and vision loss.
This year’s clients range in age from 25 to 101 and reside primarily
in the Greater Milwaukee Area. The
agency served 53 clients at the Center and off-site. They received from one to multiple
services. The Center participated in
hundreds of consultations and information/referral requests. Numerous individuals and organizations
gained heightened awareness of the needs and potential of persons who are
deaf-blind through presentations, workshops, exhibits, demonstrations and
tours of the Center.
Data Table
|
Program
|
Hours
|
Percent
|
|
Independent Living
|
1,667 Hours
|
33%
|
|
Communication
|
1,489 Hours
|
30%
|
|
Older Adult
|
1,020 Hours
|
20%
|
|
Employment
|
496 Hours
|
10%
|
|
Community Reintegration
|
333 Hours
|
7%
|
The Center for Deaf-Blind Persons, Inc.
is a non-profit agency serving youth and
adults with combined hearing-vision loss.
Tax-deductible contributions or bequests are deeply appreciated.
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