Wednesday June 21st

Skey makes a point- Opportunity for Improvement!!!


Si Amick with our speaker, Libby Anne Inabinet. Ms Inabinet spoke to us about "Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic". Full meeting report to follow.



Libby Anne Inabinet with Patty Cavanaugh



Last Meeting
June 21, 2006
Reporter – Kevin Adams
After a week’s worth of R&R and with a twinkle of glee in his eyes knowing he only has one more week to serve, President Carey Hite called the meeting to order. John Adair brought the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Lyman Whitehead then dispensed the weekly prescription of Health and Happiness. James Blake was a guest of Si Amick.
We should have doubled up on this week’s dose of Happiness because Skey Caskey got the wet noodle out and whipped us for our lack of participation in the fishing tournament. It’s a good thing the noodle had fallen in Lake Murray before he used it on us. Fortunately Barry Johns, Blount Shepard, Judy Johnston and Beetle Bailey each pitched in to help. Shakespere and Ellet Brothers contributed prizes for the tournament.
Ginny Barr reminded us of the upcoming golf tournament on July 24, 2006. So far, Indian River Golf Club has donated some rounds of golf and youth from DJJ’s Apprenticeship Program are donating chairs they have made. More prizes are needed and your help is sought in this regard. Ginny strongly suggests you help so she doesn’t have to use any donated golf clubs on us in lieu of Skey’s wet noodle.
Next, Joel Collins introduced Harold Crawford who would be filling the vacancy in our Membership Chair. Harold will be targeting classifications in order to help us build our ranks.
Today’s guest speaker was introduced by Si Amick. Libby Ann Inabinet is the SC State Director of RFB&D - Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. A Columbia native and former teacher, she now has a passion for advancing the cause of RFB&D.
To illustrate how difficult it is for those with visual handicaps, she posed the following questions: How well would you be able to eat your breakfast without a fork? If you wear glasses or contacts, how well could you drive your car without them? How well could you brush your teeth if you didn’t have a toothbrush? The fork, glasses/contacts and the toothbrush are tools to complete a task. Some students simply need the tool of recorded text books to overcome the challenge of learning. In South Carolina, there are about 55K blind and dyslexic students who need the assistance of RFB&D. More are expected because it is forecast that 49% of the current eighth graders in SC will not complete high school in 4 years.
RFB&D was organized by Ann McDonald in 1948 after she saw GI’s returning from World War II both uneducated and unable to read due to their war injuries. She saw the need and started recording textbooks for the veterans. Today it is felt that students in the classrooms have multi-sensory needs: sight, touch and audio. RFB&D is not a redundant service in this state.
Libby Ann recalled a Dillon student, Jessica Smith, who at 14 was diagnosed with MS. Subsequently she went blind. Even though she had learned Braille, she needed the assistance of recorded textbooks. With that assistance from RFB&D, she was able to graduate from college with summa cum laude honors.
Johns Hopkins has completed a study 60 effected students at Alcorn Middle School. They estimated that 38% of those students improved their scores, disciplinary problems dropped and attendance increased as a result the use of RFB&D.
To further illustrate the point, a short video presentation featuring a young man who went blind in college was able to complete his studies and become a high school teacher thanks to RFB&D. A young lady was also featured who, having been labeled as LD and told in high school she would never be able to attend college, discussed pursuing her dream of becoming a psychologist with the help of RFB&D. Then, a young boy with CP and who was blind proudly proclaimed he was able to keep up with his peers thanks to his recorded books.
Lastly, Libby Ann referred us to a 4-page pamphlet at our table. The pamphlet provided a visualization of what it was like to read with a visual disability.
President Carey concluded his next to last meeting with Happy Dollars from Ervin Ott, George Staples, Patty Cavanaugh, Si Amick, Bob Berry and Skey Caskey.