-
Roberta McCall
-
Practicing What She Preaches
- Published in: Update - Issue 2 - 2009
- Listen to Article
Photo caption:
Roberta learns to shoot a cross bow
with the help of a spotter, Barb Terry, at Island Lake State Park in Michigan.
Photography by Jon Armstrong
As a rehabilitation teacher for the Michigan Commission for the Blind, Roberta McCall teaches adaptive skills to people who are newly blind. “I teach people new techniques for cooking, dialing the phone, and telling time,” explains Roberta. “Basically, I ask people ‘what do you want to be able to do,’ then help them learn to do it.”
During the course of her job, Roberta has seen people self-select out of activities because they are blind. She tells people to advocate for themselves and get out there and see what accommodations are available to help you do the things you want to do. Roberta also practices what she preaches.
In the past year Roberta has tried two new activities – target shooting with a cross bow and scuba diving. “When shooting the cross bow, I was able to do everything by myself except for seeing the target,” she says. To assist her in aiming correctly, Roberta has a ‘spotter’ look over her shoulder into the eyepiece of the crossbow who directs her up, down, left and right. “The visually impaired person has to use someone else’s eyes, but the rest they do themselves. They are dependent on the skill of the sighted person, so you better make sure the sighted person is good at what they do,” she explains with a laugh.
Roberta tried scuba diving even though she was fearful of the sensory deprivation of not being able to see or hear under water. After the experience she says she’d love to do it again. She expected to have no sense of up or down since she couldn’t see. However, because your body moves up when you breathe in and down when you breathe out, it wasn’t an issue. “We adapt to the person being blind through the use of touch,” explains Eric Billips of Aquatic Adventures who was Roberta’s instructor. “It’s important that the scuba diver know how deep they are in the water. I get the divers attention by squeezing their hand, then I draw a circle on their palm representing the gauge, next I pinch their fingers once for every 10 feet we are below the surface.” Roberta was the first person with visual impairment that Eric taught. “She did great. She had no fear and was swimming around and having a blast.”
Roberta’s Leader Dog “Nova” went to the crossbow shoot with Roberta, but did not go to the scuba training. “I left Nova at home because I thought she would get worried about me when I went underwater. My first Leader Dog ‘Jake’ would get frantic when he couldn’t see me when I went swimming,” she explains. “I knew she’d be happier at home, but you know she’s thinking ‘leave that here, take me, I want to go’ when I pick up my white cane. These dogs really begin to take on a position of responsibility for you over time.”