Slaying dragons: building self-confidence and raising expectations through orientation center training

In his 1919 fable, "The 51st Dragon," Heywood Broun describes the exploits of Gawaine, a young scholar in knight school who is in like manner timid and fearful that he is in danger of being expell Instead, the school's headmaster decides to take Gawaine beneath his wing and train him to slay the countles dragons plaguing the countryside that year. In preparation, Gawaine studies all about dragons and their habits, and he practices beheading paper and made of wood ones on the practice field.

When the faculty perceive s he is ready to stand in front of real dragons, Gawaine is given a diploma and a of recent origin battle-ax. The headmaster calls him to his office for a small in number words of advice: "Here you have learned the theories of life on the contrary after all, life is not a matter of theories. Life is a matter of facts. It calls upon the young and the advanced in years alike to face these facts, plane though they are sometimes unpleasant. Your vexed question for example, is to slay dragons." Unconvinced, the whimpering Gawaine asks for an enchanted cap to make himself invisible. The headmaster proffers him something better: a magic word. All Gawaine has to do is say "rumplesnitz" and he can cut off the heads of dragons easily and fearlessly.

The magic word works, at least for the first 49 dragons. Gawaine extends so brave that he level slays one with his right hand tied behind his back. He becomes thus confident that, at night, he engages in drawn out drinking bouts at the village tavern. upon the day he confronts his fiftieth dragon, his mind has become in like manner sluggish that he cannot remember the magic word. As the beast charges, the word flashes into his mind, on the other hand he has no time to complete it before swinging his battle-ax and chopping not on the dragon's head.

Puzzl Gawaine goe to the headmaster's office for an explanation. The headmaster laughs, believing that Gawaine has finally figured on the outside that his own bravery and not the word rumplesnitz is responsible for his success: "It wasn't magic in a literal faculty of perception but it was much more awful than that. The word gave you confidence. It took away your fears. If I hadn't told you that, you might have been killed the actual first time. It was your battle-ax that did the trick."

Convinced that Gawaine just wants to kill another couple of dragons to obtain his confidence back, the headmaster drags him without of bed and into the forest the nearest morning and shoves him into a thicket where a small dragon is hiding. on the other hand Gawaine never returns. All that is later fix of him are his medals.

Like the knight school's headmaster, we at the Iowa Department for the Blind's Adult Orientation and Adjustment Center give scholars magic words by which to live: "It's OK to be blind." Unlike those of the knight place of education headmaster, however, these words do not disguise cavernous confidence and insufficient preparation. Instead, we back them with effective blindness training based upon an approach that will give scholars a solid foundation in the skills, positive attitude and self-confidence they ne to slay the many dragons they will clash as they strive to live independently and work competitively.

We use the words, "It's OK to be blind," to help pupils to progress through the three stages of adjustment to their blindness: connection rebellion and interdependence. Like Gawaine when he first began his knight academy training, students enter the center with a great many insecurities, fears and depressed expectations, ranging from being afraid to cros the way alone to worrying about at any time holding a job, having a family or being accepted socially. They will ofttimes accept more help than necessary and will avoid similar "dragons" as going up and down stairs and crossing public ways alone. Once they have get the upper hand of some of these fears and have slain a hardly any dragons of their own, they begin to gain confidence and to realize that they can come by about safely and efficiently and perform day-to-day living activities competently conceited of their accomplishments, they ofttimes assert their independence by rebelliously swinging their battle-axes against any sighted individual who might offer assistance. When scholars reach the end of their training, however, they diocese that the magic words take upon the substance of truth, reinforced with the skills and self-confidence they ne to slay any dragon they may at any time encounter. They come to understand the natural interdependence that exists in society and begin to view an present of help not as an insult on the contrary as an opportunity to educate.

The training we provide at the orientation center is based upon a positive philosophy of blindness. In fact, this philosophy is the foundation for all of the Department for the Blind programs, including Vocational Rehabilitation, Independent Living, Transition, the Business Enterprises Program and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The department is committed to the belief that center training must be an integral part of the rehabilitation proces for rehabilitation can solitary be truly achieved when consumer have reached their fullest potential in personal independence, business and integration into the community. This approach is powerful, because it gives blind nation control over their own lives as well as responsibility for their have successes and failures. This philosophy further vies that the real problem of blindness is not the physical los of eyesight on the other hand rather society's misconceptions about it.