Barbara's Story — 11 Sep 2009

Barbara is a middle aged deafblind woman who relies on her residual hearing and vision.  Barbara seldom goes out alone and has great difficulty accessing written text. 

Barbara was interested in becoming more involved in her local community but was unsure of how she could contribute and what skills she would need.  Barbara met with one of Deafblind Scotland's specialist tutors, who assessed her and helped her to identify her learning strengths and needs.  Barbara had good conversation skills but needed to improve her written skills.  She worked individually with her tutor to develop a learning plan to help her achieve her goals and improve her confidence. 

The learning involved understanding the structure and format of meetings and the purpose of minutes and agendas.  Barbara also learned developed computer skills to enable her to access information independently.  Using a speech recognition software package (JAWS), Barbara learned how to access the email and internet and is now being supported to attend a local meeting. 

Reflecting on her learning Barbara is very proud of her progress, acknowledging this is an enormous achievement.  Barbara now approaches her learning more positively and is more confident dealing with other issues in her life.  She is more independent and is attending meetings in her community.

*Name has been changed to ensure confidentiality.