[Applause]
when I was growing up I never saw
anybody who is visually impaired or
blind that’s because they weren’t in the
community they weren’t in my schools at
that time children with visual
impairments were educated in residential
schools and so they were virtually
invisible in the community like if you
had asked me if someone who is visually
impaired or blind could swim or run a
mile I would have said no I mean 35
years ago how many of you would have
thought someone who is visually impaired
or blind could run a mile anybody I
didn’t and now that all changed on when
I went to college I had two professors
who ran the VIP program and that was
visually visually impaired person
program and it was a recreation program
for adults who are visually impaired and
through that program that it ran every
semester and I went every single year
that I went to school there and I met
adults who are competent and independent
athletic and really funny and so from
that program I heard about ski for Lake
which is a recreation program for adults
who are visually impaired in the Poconos
in Pennsylvania and they heard about me
from the VIP program and so they asked
me if I wanted to volunteer for that
cross-country ski program
I immediately said yes the fact that I
didn’t have a pair of cross-country skis
and I didn’t know how to ski didn’t
really matter to me and so after we at
this ISA Lite program they taught us in
an orientation about visually impaired
visual impairment about how to die
someone who’s blind they taught us the
cues that we needed and then they taught
us how to cross-country ski under
blindfold and then I met Susan now Susan
who was 48 years old and she was blind
and she had done that program the year
before except she hadn’t cross-country
ski than a whole year so she was really
nervous and so I got her on the course
and we were we were cross-country skiing
and we’re gliding and our arms were
moving and I thought we were doing
pretty well until we got to the top of
the hills and she just tensed up and so
you know we had to sidestep down the
hills every time we got to a hill I
thought it was a little slow going there
and it made me a little frustrated
because we’re moving so slowly because I
didn’t think the hills were that big but
then again I could see the hills and she
couldn’t see the hills so the next day
we went out on the cross-country course
and we did an entire loop of this hilly
loop and we did it twice and it was two
and a half miles and it was the farthest
Susan had ever skied and frankly it was
the farthest I’ve ever skied at it time
– but she looked up to me and she said
Lauren I never could have done that
without you and I was 21 years old I
will never forget that moment that sense
of validation that sense of
accomplishment up until then I had
taught people and I had never felt that
feeling before I mean it was
like a drug I had to do it again and
like I remember thinking right then and
there I am going to figure out a way to
do this for the rest of my life
luckily after I went to graduate school
and got my master’s degree I got a job
at the Perkins School for the Blind in
Boston Massachusetts and so I taught in
the deafblind program and I taught
adapted physical education and so you
might have heard of Perkins School for
the Blind because that’s the school
where Helen Keller was educated anybody
I did not teach Helen Keller but I did
teach Eddie now Eddie was deafblind and
he could see some lights and darks
and he could see some shapes and the way
he communicated was he I signed and he
felt my hands my sign language and then
he would just sign back to me and Eddie
was on the community rowing team and he
was on my crest cross-country running
team and the track and field team he was
on swimming and he was a good athlete
and so that first year at Perkins some a
teacher go with the flow we had parade
Halloween parade and so I dressed up in
my clown outfit and I was riding my
unicycle it’s me my clown outfit my
unicycle and so I was going around
campus and if the kids were blind I
would let them feel my clown outfit I
let them feel my unicycle and so I got
to Eddie and Eddie’s feeling my unicycle
my clown outfit he says Loren you have
to teach me how to ride the unicycle I
want to learn how to ride the unicycle
and I’m skeptical I mean I’ve been
riding my unicycle since I was 10 and I
know even for hearing excited people
riding a unicycle isn’t easy and how
many of
you can ride a unicycle anybody nobody
derive unicycle so I’m thinkin okay
here’s a student he’s deaf and blind and
he kept saying when are you gonna teach
me harm please when are you gonna teach
me and he persisted and persisted so we
made a plan all right what we’re gonna
do is we’re gonna meet at the track and
at Perkins they had a guide wire along
the whole side for kids who are blind so
they can run so they can run straight so
he held onto the guide wire with one
hand and he held on to me with his other
hand and what he did was he’s riding up
and back he’s riding up and back so we
met every week and we went a little bit
each time and he got better and better
and then it got cold out so we went
inside into the gym and in our gym we
had a big ladder along the whole entire
wall the whole gym so Eddie was holding
on to the wall and he let go for a
second and he could hold on let go for a
second and he started getting better and
better letting go and then he was able
to push himself off the wall and ride
into the gym what’s getting pretty
excited but this might really happen so
then it got warm outside and we went out
back out to the track and he could see
the thick lines on the track and I’ll
show you what Eddie can do now
those are the guide wires
[Music]
[Music]
in six months I taught one of my
students who’s deaf and blind
how to ride a unicycle but Eddie’s will
and his determination and his
perseverance really taught me to believe
Eddie made me believe in what kids who
are visually impaired or deafblind can
do so I got the bug I wanted to teach
other people how to teach kids all the
sensory impairments so I went back to
school for my doctorate I got my
doctorate I went to the college at
brockport in Brockport New York SUNY
Brockport that’s where I am now and we
have a great adapted physical education
program with a wonderful curriculum but
when I first arrived there I realized
that we had one problem because after
teaching at Perkins I know that kids
with visual impairments can do sports
but I also know that the people who
teach them need to learn from experience
not a textbook you can’t learn how to
teach kids with visual impairments or
deafblindness from a textbook there are
61 thousand children with visual
impairments in our schools today and
what I wanted to do is help make them
invisible and so my solution was
capabilities so chem abilities is a
one-week educational sports camp for
children who are blind visually impaired
lines and so what we do is we pair up a
counselor who’s usually a college
student with a camper who’s visually
impaired and the counselor teaches the
camper
motor skills they teach some different
sports and they teach them modifications
that they need for their type of visual
impairment and at camp the other thing
that we do is we assess all the kids and
so they learn how to push themselves so
that they’re not just participating but
they learn how to achieve because so
many people look down at kids with
visual impairments and they think they
can’t achieve and then the last thing we
do is we teach about advocacy we teach
them how to advocate for themselves so
they’re included in physical education
and so they’re included in their
after-school sports teams and they can
join sports teams and so a wonderful
story here is Christopher one of our
campers just this this semester was
getting a push back from his athletic
director and the coach of his
cross-country team because they were
afraid he was going to get her well he
advocated for himself and he joined his
cross-country team and in the first meet
he came in third place out of 66 other
kids he showed them okay so in 22 years
now we have twenty capabilities around
the country and we have eight camp
abilities all around the world and it’s
still growing and so let me just tell
you the story about Peter so Peter is
one of our campers from our Alaska camp
he’s Native Alaskan he’s 15 years old
here he’s blind and he had done camp
abilities six times at this point and
Peter because of his advocacy when he
learned at camp who joined his wrestling
team at his high school and he got so
good that he was on the news all over
Alaska many people sent me that
it was source of pride for me and so at
camp that year that I went to visit the
camp abilities Alaska you know just like
any last day of camp it’s bittersweet
and everybody’s really sad it’s the last
day and so the parents were coming and
after the award ceremony they’re taking
their kids home everybody’s hugging you
know the kids are crying they are
exchanging phone numbers and Peter’s
parents haven’t come yet
it was one o’clock pick up so okay so
we’re cleaning up he’s helping me clean
up we had a lot to clean up it takes
hours so we’re cleaning up he’s helping
his parents still hadn’t come and he
says to me Lauren when when is camp next
year and I told him the dates for
camping next year he’s not quiet
we’re still cleaning up it’s three it’s
3:30
and I said hey Peter wouldn’t your
parents coming he said oh they’re not
really coming until 5:00 I told him to
come at five we’ll pick up time as at
once and why aren’t they coming till
five
he said Lauren I just don’t want it to
end and he came over to me and he put
his hands on my shoulders and he said
Lauren thank you so much for starting
camp abilities I love everything about
it
I love the sports I love the music I
love my friends I feel like I fit in
here
and he said Lauren only 360 days till we
can come
can meant a lot to Peter and so let me
tell you about Martha so Martha is from
Allegheny New York little town and she
came to camp first when she was 13 and
just like any other kid she made friends
she did all the sports and she learned
advocacy and she had a great time so she
went back to her school and then her
freshman year in high school she joined
her high school swim team and she did
pretty well with her psychic tears on
her swim team and the next year when she
came back to camp
she’s very athletic again she’s doing
all the sports but our swim director
noticed mark that was extremely fast at
swimming and so we recorded her times
and when we looked up her times with
against the same kids her age gender and
her level of visual impairment right
then she would have become an eighth in
the world right then so when her parents
came to pick her up we were telling her
parents all about the Paralympics and
about the United States Association for
blind athletes and how cool would it be
if she could swim against other girls
with the same level of visual impairment
what would that be like and so that next
year at camp abilities Martha wasn’t
there she was out competing on the
junior circuits and winning and her
senior year she was recruited to get a
scholarship to go to college for
swimming but from college she was
recruited from the US Paralympic swim
team
to train in Colorado Springs for two
years this past Paralympics in Rio
Martha came in eighth in the world
representing the United States and now
she’s training for Tokyo
so camp truly made a difference for
Martha I could go on and on about all
these athletes I could tell you story
after story but I want to share this is
Maddie she’s one of our athletes and
after her fourth year at Camp her
parents wrote me a letter and this is
what a part of the letter said she is
strong independent outgoing and mature
she believes in herself she believes she
does not have a disability she has a
different ability and I’d like to close
with a message from any
Hey
[Music]
[Music]
thank you
[Applause]
when I was growing up I never saw
anybody who is visually impaired or
blind that’s because they weren’t in the
community they weren’t in my schools at
that time children with visual
impairments were educated in residential
schools and so they were virtually
invisible in the community like if you
had asked me if someone who is visually
impaired or blind could swim or run a
mile I would have said no I mean 35
years ago how many of you would have
thought someone who is visually impaired
or blind could run a mile anybody I
didn’t and now that all changed on when
I went to college I had two professors
who ran the VIP program and that was
visually visually impaired person
program and it was a recreation program
for adults who are visually impaired and
through that program that it ran every
semester and I went every single year
that I went to school there and I met
adults who are competent and independent
athletic and really funny and so from
that program I heard about ski for Lake
which is a recreation program for adults
who are visually impaired in the Poconos
in Pennsylvania and they heard about me
from the VIP program and so they asked
me if I wanted to volunteer for that
cross-country ski program
I immediately said yes the fact that I
didn’t have a pair of cross-country skis
and I didn’t know how to ski didn’t
really matter to me and so after we at
this ISA Lite program they taught us in
an orientation about visually impaired
visual impairment about how to die
someone who’s blind they taught us the
cues that we needed and then they taught
us how to cross-country ski under
blindfold and then I met Susan now Susan
who was 48 years old and she was blind
and she had done that program the year
before except she hadn’t cross-country
ski than a whole year so she was really
nervous and so I got her on the course
and we were we were cross-country skiing
and we’re gliding and our arms were
moving and I thought we were doing
pretty well until we got to the top of
the hills and she just tensed up and so
you know we had to sidestep down the
hills every time we got to a hill I
thought it was a little slow going there
and it made me a little frustrated
because we’re moving so slowly because I
didn’t think the hills were that big but
then again I could see the hills and she
couldn’t see the hills so the next day
we went out on the cross-country course
and we did an entire loop of this hilly
loop and we did it twice and it was two
and a half miles and it was the farthest
Susan had ever skied and frankly it was
the farthest I’ve ever skied at it time
– but she looked up to me and she said
Lauren I never could have done that
without you and I was 21 years old I
will never forget that moment that sense
of validation that sense of
accomplishment up until then I had
taught people and I had never felt that
feeling before I mean it was
like a drug I had to do it again and
like I remember thinking right then and
there I am going to figure out a way to
do this for the rest of my life
luckily after I went to graduate school
and got my master’s degree I got a job
at the Perkins School for the Blind in
Boston Massachusetts and so I taught in
the deafblind program and I taught
adapted physical education and so you
might have heard of Perkins School for
the Blind because that’s the school
where Helen Keller was educated anybody
I did not teach Helen Keller but I did
teach Eddie now Eddie was deafblind and
he could see some lights and darks
and he could see some shapes and the way
he communicated was he I signed and he
felt my hands my sign language and then
he would just sign back to me and Eddie
was on the community rowing team and he
was on my crest cross-country running
team and the track and field team he was
on swimming and he was a good athlete
and so that first year at Perkins some a
teacher go with the flow we had parade
Halloween parade and so I dressed up in
my clown outfit and I was riding my
unicycle it’s me my clown outfit my
unicycle and so I was going around
campus and if the kids were blind I
would let them feel my clown outfit I
let them feel my unicycle and so I got
to Eddie and Eddie’s feeling my unicycle
my clown outfit he says Loren you have
to teach me how to ride the unicycle I
want to learn how to ride the unicycle
and I’m skeptical I mean I’ve been
riding my unicycle since I was 10 and I
know even for hearing excited people
riding a unicycle isn’t easy and how
many of
you can ride a unicycle anybody nobody
derive unicycle so I’m thinkin okay
here’s a student he’s deaf and blind and
he kept saying when are you gonna teach
me harm please when are you gonna teach
me and he persisted and persisted so we
made a plan all right what we’re gonna
do is we’re gonna meet at the track and
at Perkins they had a guide wire along
the whole side for kids who are blind so
they can run so they can run straight so
he held onto the guide wire with one
hand and he held on to me with his other
hand and what he did was he’s riding up
and back he’s riding up and back so we
met every week and we went a little bit
each time and he got better and better
and then it got cold out so we went
inside into the gym and in our gym we
had a big ladder along the whole entire
wall the whole gym so Eddie was holding
on to the wall and he let go for a
second and he could hold on let go for a
second and he started getting better and
better letting go and then he was able
to push himself off the wall and ride
into the gym what’s getting pretty
excited but this might really happen so
then it got warm outside and we went out
back out to the track and he could see
the thick lines on the track and I’ll
show you what Eddie can do now
those are the guide wires
[Music]
[Music]
in six months I taught one of my
students who’s deaf and blind
how to ride a unicycle but Eddie’s will
and his determination and his
perseverance really taught me to believe
Eddie made me believe in what kids who
are visually impaired or deafblind can
do so I got the bug I wanted to teach
other people how to teach kids all the
sensory impairments so I went back to
school for my doctorate I got my
doctorate I went to the college at
brockport in Brockport New York SUNY
Brockport that’s where I am now and we
have a great adapted physical education
program with a wonderful curriculum but
when I first arrived there I realized
that we had one problem because after
teaching at Perkins I know that kids
with visual impairments can do sports
but I also know that the people who
teach them need to learn from experience
not a textbook you can’t learn how to
teach kids with visual impairments or
deafblindness from a textbook there are
61 thousand children with visual
impairments in our schools today and
what I wanted to do is help make them
invisible and so my solution was
capabilities so chem abilities is a
one-week educational sports camp for
children who are blind visually impaired
lines and so what we do is we pair up a
counselor who’s usually a college
student with a camper who’s visually
impaired and the counselor teaches the
camper
motor skills they teach some different
sports and they teach them modifications
that they need for their type of visual
impairment and at camp the other thing
that we do is we assess all the kids and
so they learn how to push themselves so
that they’re not just participating but
they learn how to achieve because so
many people look down at kids with
visual impairments and they think they
can’t achieve and then the last thing we
do is we teach about advocacy we teach
them how to advocate for themselves so
they’re included in physical education
and so they’re included in their
after-school sports teams and they can
join sports teams and so a wonderful
story here is Christopher one of our
campers just this this semester was
getting a push back from his athletic
director and the coach of his
cross-country team because they were
afraid he was going to get her well he
advocated for himself and he joined his
cross-country team and in the first meet
he came in third place out of 66 other
kids he showed them okay so in 22 years
now we have twenty capabilities around
the country and we have eight camp
abilities all around the world and it’s
still growing and so let me just tell
you the story about Peter so Peter is
one of our campers from our Alaska camp
he’s Native Alaskan he’s 15 years old
here he’s blind and he had done camp
abilities six times at this point and
Peter because of his advocacy when he
learned at camp who joined his wrestling
team at his high school and he got so
good that he was on the news all over
Alaska many people sent me that
it was source of pride for me and so at
camp that year that I went to visit the
camp abilities Alaska you know just like
any last day of camp it’s bittersweet
and everybody’s really sad it’s the last
day and so the parents were coming and
after the award ceremony they’re taking
their kids home everybody’s hugging you
know the kids are crying they are
exchanging phone numbers and Peter’s
parents haven’t come yet
it was one o’clock pick up so okay so
we’re cleaning up he’s helping me clean
up we had a lot to clean up it takes
hours so we’re cleaning up he’s helping
his parents still hadn’t come and he
says to me Lauren when when is camp next
year and I told him the dates for
camping next year he’s not quiet
we’re still cleaning up it’s three it’s
3:30
and I said hey Peter wouldn’t your
parents coming he said oh they’re not
really coming until 5:00 I told him to
come at five we’ll pick up time as at
once and why aren’t they coming till
five
he said Lauren I just don’t want it to
end and he came over to me and he put
his hands on my shoulders and he said
Lauren thank you so much for starting
camp abilities I love everything about
it
I love the sports I love the music I
love my friends I feel like I fit in
here
and he said Lauren only 360 days till we
can come
can meant a lot to Peter and so let me
tell you about Martha so Martha is from
Allegheny New York little town and she
came to camp first when she was 13 and
just like any other kid she made friends
she did all the sports and she learned
advocacy and she had a great time so she
went back to her school and then her
freshman year in high school she joined
her high school swim team and she did
pretty well with her psychic tears on
her swim team and the next year when she
came back to camp
she’s very athletic again she’s doing
all the sports but our swim director
noticed mark that was extremely fast at
swimming and so we recorded her times
and when we looked up her times with
against the same kids her age gender and
her level of visual impairment right
then she would have become an eighth in
the world right then so when her parents
came to pick her up we were telling her
parents all about the Paralympics and
about the United States Association for
blind athletes and how cool would it be
if she could swim against other girls
with the same level of visual impairment
what would that be like and so that next
year at camp abilities Martha wasn’t
there she was out competing on the
junior circuits and winning and her
senior year she was recruited to get a
scholarship to go to college for
swimming but from college she was
recruited from the US Paralympic swim
team
to train in Colorado Springs for two
years this past Paralympics in Rio
Martha came in eighth in the world
representing the United States and now
she’s training for Tokyo
so camp truly made a difference for
Martha I could go on and on about all
these athletes I could tell you story
after story but I want to share this is
Maddie she’s one of our athletes and
after her fourth year at Camp her
parents wrote me a letter and this is
what a part of the letter said she is
strong independent outgoing and mature
she believes in herself she believes she
does not have a disability she has a
different ability and I’d like to close
with a message from any
Hey
[Music]
[Music]
thank you
[Applause]
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