Though Deaf and Blind, I Found Security/AS TOLD BY JANICE ADAMS

Efforts to Improve My Life

Throughout this period, I had a continuing thirst for learning and a desire to be creative. I read constantly, painted, sewed, and embroidered. I wanted more out of my life than what the future held for my friends who were only into drugs. So I registered  in a regular college near home to pursue my interest in art.  About this time i decided to learn sign language because I was frustrated at being left out socially.

Eventually I transferred to the National Technical Institute for the Dear in Rochester, New York, to major in ceramic art. Although my eyesight was progressively getting worse-a fact that I somehow refused to recognize-I felt as though my life was heading in the right direction. But then my college counselor made face reality by telling me that I would soon go blind.

The institution was ill prepared to handle my needs, and I had to leave.  What would I do now? Although saddened by the prospect of soon becoming blind, I was determined to  find a way to live independently and not end up as, in the words of an article the counselor gave me, 'one of the loneliest people in the world.' I returned home to Iowa to learn how to read Braille and how to us a cane for mobility.

Next time: Though Deaf and Blind, I Found Security/AS TOLD BY JANICE ADAMS - Move to Washington D.C.


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