As rehabilitation teachers of older blind and vision impaired people, our most often requested assistance is for personal readers. This is not a service we provide. Most service agencies, both public and private, do not provide such services, either.
Many of our clients cannot afford to pay regular readers. They rely on volunteers. No agency wants to take on the liability issues around referring volunteer readers. When, as often is the case, no close family members are available, people turn to their church or to senior centers or other organizations that they may be connected to. But we have encountered several tragic situations where a trusted church member has stripped an elderly blind person of nearly every cent they had put away for their retirement.
Other folks tell us about missing valuables after inviting a volunteer into their home. Even those agencies providing paid workers, despite careful screening, have had similar experiences.
Being blind and getting old is not a walk in the park. No Tra La La La, safe haven for these folks. I wish we could take all of you along on our visits and introduce you to some of the people and some of the conditions they find themselves in.
Despite all our best laid plans, Life can turn on anyone. Think of out living all your close family. "I never thought I'd be this old", a 100 year old lady told us. "I was born one block from this very house, grew up, married and raised my three children here. They are all dead and between them they had only two children, both gone now. I'm a stranger in my own town. I don't know anyone." This lady, nearly totally blind and with a severe hearing loss, lived alone because she had no place to turn. A fellow had just promised to repair her rotten window frames and had taken $3,000 of her savings. She's never seen him again.
There's not room enough to recount all the sad tales on this list, but I really wish you could just tag along for a few days.
Curious Carl
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