Tri-County Association for the Blind
Agency Overview
History
The Tri County Association for the Blind opened in 1921 as a non-profit organization designed "to improve the quality of life for people who are blind and visually impaired by helping them achieve their full potential and maiximum independence."
Mission
The mission statement for Tri County is written as, "The Tri-County Association for the Blind works to improve the quality of life for people who are visually impaired in the Tri-County region of Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry Counties. By helping each person achieve his or her full potential and maximum independence, our consumers flourish within and enrich our communities. In addition, the Association provides prevention of blindness services to the public."
Services Offered
Tri County offers many services, the first of which is Access Technology. Access Technology includes any machine or program that helps those who are blind or visually impaired work easier with a computer, for example a speech synthesizer or braille displays on a computer. Another service provided is the Production Facility which includes;packaging, assembly operations, mail preparation, pen production, chair mat production etc. Other services include mail processing, in which there are many different jobs and a braille department in which employees transcribe different documents into braille. There is also a recodring studio where audio tapes are recorded. The carpet installation services are wide ranging and also includes other types of flooring installation. The radio reading service broadcasts the news and other information that those who are blind may not have access to otherwise. The necessities store contains many items that are meant to help make life for the blind or visually impaired people easier. There are also social services offered, such as in home shopping and home maintenance. The final service offered by Tri County is their attempt at prevent blindness by providing preschool vision screenings.
Community Issues
-Clients and Members-
Cultural Assumptions
Society as a whole seems to find it easy to judge people who have disabilities, even those who are afflicted with something as superficial as poor eyesight. Although generally it is easier for someone who is blind to lead a relatively "normal" life as opposed to someeone with a more debilitating disabilty, there is still ubiquitous evidence that people with blindness are still not treated as equals in many cases. They are not given jobs which many are fully qualified for and are given positions for which some are, in fact, over-qualified.
People who are blind are confined to a world where they are forced to rely heavily upon all of their other senses. Much of society assumes that since people who are blind do not have their sight, that there are other relavent functions that are absent as well. Many people who are blind had their sight at one point and were able to lead the normative existence which society believes the blind lacks. The majority of people who are blind are completely self-sufficient, despite their condition. However, because blindess is considered to be a disabilty, they are at times treated as though their mental capacity is negatively affected as well.
How We Can Solve These Problems
Society can solve the problem of rashly judging people based upon their physical appearance by simply understanding that disabilities are not synonymous with being helpless. This assumption is the result of countless years of naivite and cannot easily be erradicated, regarless of its simplicity. People who do not have an understanding of the nature of blindness would benefit from merely speaking to someone who is blind or taking some sort of proactive measures to learn more about the condition. One will find that many of the cases of blindess are comprised of those who are legally blind, but still have some sight.
People who are blind can, for the most part, do the same jobs as those with sight can. The blind hold positions such as teachers, writers, and doctors(http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/04/02/seeing.no.limits.ap/index.html). It is the actual act of understanding that being disabled does not equal incapability that is difficult for some people to reach. Being immersed into a sub-culture of people with disabilities (regardless of how major or minor the disabilities may be) is an important step to understanding more about the nature of disability itself and the people who have disabilities.
-The Agency-
Problems the Agency Faces
Potential Ways To Overcome the Problems
