Jim Shares His Classroom Presentation
with MD5 Regional Lions
Thank you to my fellow Lions for inviting me to present today.
I am Jim Hoxie and I am legally blind. My assistant today is Sheila Powell. She is a retired teacher who has helped me in providing programs on the “White Cane” to our local third graders.
Are any of you visually impaired?
Sheila: From a show of hands, there are seven people here today who are visually impaired.
Jim: Do you know someone who is visually impaired?
Sheila: Jim, all the participants in this session have a hand raised. Everyone knows someone who is visually impaired. Many of them know you.
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Sheila: So Jim, if you are legally blind, how much can you see?
Jim: I can’t see right or left when looking ahead and I only see outlines of the shapes in front of me.
Terry Powell approachs Jim to shake his hand and announce: “Hi Jim, I am Terry Powell and I am extending my hand to you.”
Jim: Thank you, Terry, for announcing yourself as you approached me. Thank you for telling me that you wanted to shake my hand. I saw your shape when I heard your voice but I had no idea that you had your hand out for me to shake.
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Jim: I wasn’t always blind. I was a forester here in the Black Hills. In 2001, I started seeing an ophthalmologist and I was diagnosed with glaucoma, which causes high pressure in the eye. Glaucoma can damage the optic nerve and cause vision loss. In 2013, my eye pressure went up to 60 and the high pressure damaged my optic nerve. I was then diagnosed as “legally blind.”
There are more than 12 million Americans, over the age of 40, with some sort of visual impairment. About 1.3 million are “legally blind.” More than 3 million Americans are living with Glaucoma.
In 2017, I was referred to the Hines VA Blind Rehab Center in Chicago. While attending there, I received one-on-one training in orientation and mobility, which is leaning about the use of the tall white cane and how to cross streets.
I also had technology training such as using the iphone, living skills, and manual skills such as working with tools.
While visiting with one of my instructors, at Hines, about the tall white cane, I told him about an incident with a car at an intersection that almost drove over the tip of my white cane. Some people were not familiar why a person with low vision or who is blind would use a tall white cane. My instructor suggested that when I returned to Spearfish, that I visit with some of my friends, who are teachers, and go into the third grade classrooms to talk about what the white cane means. I decided to do that with the help of my teacher friends.
At the end of our second year of presenting to the third grade students, Joanna and I decided that we should make this information into a book, so we could educate the public on what the white cane means and help the visually impaired people everywhere.
We talked to the local Lions Club about monetary assistance with getting the book illustrated and published. They provided us with a grant, which we appreciated very much. THANK YOU LIONS!
During the week of Oct 15, which is White Cane Safety Day, we have visited with the third grade students at our local Creekside Elementary School for the past 5 years. We have presented iour information to about 800 students. The children are always enthused and interested.
I have noticed a big improvement, with the children riding their bikes, on the bike path. They say, “I am on your left,” as this helps me to not step out into their path.
Sheila: So Jim, what did the children want to know about your being visually impaired?
Jim: Questions the children have asked are: Can you tell time? Can you read a book? Do you drive? Do you watch TV? They were amazed that I could fix my own breakfast and cook my own meals if I needed to do it.
I demonstrate my talking tools to the children: Talking Clock, Talking Book, Talking Watch. The kids are always very interested!
Sheila: What is the difference between a regular weight-bearing walking cane and a tall white cane? (Jim shows BOTH canes.) When you worked with the third grade children, how did you get them to work with the cane?
Jim: I made 15 white canes for the children. They look just like mine.
Half the class would follow me with their canes while the other half of the class would work with my assistant in reviewing the Grandpa’s White Cane book's list of do's and don'ts to help a blind person. The students could decide if they wanted to have their eyes opened or closed while they walked with the canes.
Sheila: The picture is on page 21 of the book. The children are walking with their canes.
Jim: While sweeping, the students can hear the difference between a tile floor and the carpet. They can detect the difference between the trash can and the leg of a metal chair. The children listen.
Sheila: What if you drop a plastic glass or have an obstacle in the way?
Jim: My cane reaches the object before I do so I can hear it and stop. Then I decide how to go around it.
Sheila: Jim, could you have gotten a dog to guide you before you learned about the white cane?
Jim: No, I had to be proficient with a tall white cane before I could ask for a dog to guide me.
Sheila: There are several types of jobs for dogs. There are police dogs, detection dogs, hearing dogs, sled dogs, herding dogs, search and rescue dogs, hunting and tracking dogs, therapy dogs, military dogs, and the list goes on and on. Jim’s dog is a working, guide dog. He is not a protection or attack dog. How much training does your dog have before he can work for you?
Jim: About two years of training before I received my Guide Dog Star, from the Fidelco Guide Dog Training School in Connecticut.
When Star was ready to be my working guide dog, the Fidelco Guide Dog trainer and Star flew to Spearfish. We worked together about eight hours a day for two weeks. They stressed that Star is a working dog. His job is to guide me safely. They stress that people, other than the person the dog is to guide, should not have eye contact with the dog, should not talk to the dog, and they should not touch the dog. When people interact with a working guide dog, the DOG IS distracted from working for the visually impaired person.
A daily schedule for a guide dog includes: relieving, walking, feeding, dog play time with a ball, letting him be a dog in a field, using the harness, crossing intersections.
Sheila: The audience is curious to see Star work.
Jim provides a demonstration of Star's skills and tells the audience how intelligent Star is.
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Grandpa’s White Cane is about Jim’s story, becoming visually impaired, and how the White Cane helped to increase his confidence, independence, and safety. In the back of the book there is the history about White Cane Day, which is celebrated October each year. The Dos and Don’ts for people with White Canes, White Cane Information, and there is also a list of resources available for people who are visually impaired.
Thank you so much for your participatin in this conference session. Jim will be available, in the back of the room, to answer questions.