Summer 2003

Message from the President

My message to you in this issue of Horizons is one of thanks, celebration and reflection.

First, I’d like to thank everyone who has made the last twenty-four Seattle Lighthouse Deaf-Blind retreats so successful. This includes dozens of employees who have worked together over the years planning, scheduling, raising funds and hosting retreats. It is important to point out that Deaf-Blind people have always taken on leadership roles in designing these retreats to meet the true needs of the community. We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the hundreds of volunteer sign language interpreters who have given their time and paid their own way to support Deaf-Blind people at these events. It wouldn’t have happened without you. Just as important, we also say thank you to the financial supporters -- both large and small -- that make the retreat possible each year.

And now for the celebrating! We will hold our Twenty-fifth Annual Deaf-Blind Retreat at the Seabeck Conference Center during the last week in August. We are expecting 83 Deaf-Blind people to attend, along with over 100 volunteer sign language interpreters. Reaching this milestone, a quarter-century of incredible service to the Deaf-Blind community, most certainly deserves celebrating.

As we celebrate, we also reminisce and take a look back at some of the highlights of the past twenty-five years. I’m sure some of you reading these words will share these memories, and for others it will provide some glimpses of how unique and important these retreats really are.

Early retreats, including the very first in 1978, were held at the Red Barn in Auburn. Twelve Deaf-Blind people attended, while seventeen volunteers provided support. These were exciting days in the early years of the Deaf-Blind community here in Seattle. Deaf-Blind people had not had much opportunity to get together, share ideas and have fun as a group. Not many people knew how to do sign language interpreting for Deaf-Blind people either. Everything having to do with the first retreats was new and challenging. People attending or volunteering in those early days at the Red Barn will remember horseback riding, picking strawberries for shortcake and a tour of the Space Needle.

The event moved to Pilgrim Firs in Port Orchard in 1982. At this time the first “rope trail” system was set up so Deaf-Blind people could travel independently throughout the camp any time they wanted, without needing a volunteer guide. The retreat has used a similar system, stringing ropes along pathways and trails ever since.

In 1986, Deaf-Blind leaders decided to move the event to the Seabeck Conference Center. Over the subsequent years at Seabeck, we have added more informational workshops, technology demonstrations, support groups and panel discussions to the recreational activities. This means we needed more skilled interpreters, and fortunately, we have had continued luck in attracting fantastic volunteers.

We have also continuously improved accessibility while at Seabeck. We use extra lighting and dark backgrounds to allow Deaf-Blind people with some remaining vision to more easily see interpreters. Camp information is posted in large print and braille. Cell phones, computers and pagers help staff to run things more smoothly.

Workshops have included last year’s terrific session on rock climbing, complete with climbing wall, as well as AIDS/HIV, innovative eye surgery techniques in Cuba, jam-making, bread-making and cultural diversity. The introduction of jet skis to the range of recreational activities has been a huge hit, and is back this year by popular demand. And of course, the-end-of-the-week salmon bake and dance, known as THE DANCE, still caps everything off.

There are a few Deaf-Blind people in the Seattle community who were among those dozen attending that first retreat at the Red Barn in 1978. Ken Sting and Lillian Meske work here at the Lighthouse, and Bill Dimick regularly attends our Deaf-Blind community classes. So, thank you to Ken, Lillian and Bill for blazing the trail, and thanks to everyone who has made the Seattle Lighthouse Deaf-Blind Retreat the incredible event that it is. Congratulations on hitting the “big 25”, and let’s all look forward to the retreats that will follow in the years to come.

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