Winter 2006

Beth Jurco, orientation and mobility instructor, trains John Simms, production worker.

“My work is assisting individuals to achieve independence, which is what most people want -- to be self-sufficient and independent,” says Beth Jurco, orientation and mobility (O & M) instructor. “That’s my goal, to empower people to do what they want to do with their lives.”

Beth started work at the Lighthouse just one week before local bus tunnel closures left many blind employees in urgent need of rerouting training. Thirty-eight individuals requested and received fifty hours of training specifically for the tunnel closure. “There was an immediate need for rerouting and learning new routes, whether it was an individual on their own or an individual using a guide dog,” Beth says. “I basically went around and asked people ‘do you need assistance rerouting? Is this going to affect you?’ It’s been full steam ahead since I got here.”

“Beth has a great attitude,” says Paula Hoffman, director of employee community services and government relations. “She came right in the door and the tunnel closed a week later. She jumped right in while she was still learning Seattle.”

The Lighthouse added Beth’s position to meet a growing demand for services. “In the last couple of years, we have hired a lot of new people,” Paula explains. “With the increase in hiring, increasing requests for Deaf-Blind services, and people who used to have more vision needing retraining -- with new equipment, new routes, and bus tunnel closures, we were feeling the crunch.”

Lighthouse staff began an intensive three-month search process to find a second O & M instructor to address the needs of blind individuals working at the Lighthouse. Beth’s diverse skills, which include low vision experience, fluency in American Sign Language, and a master’s degree in O & M training, made her an ideal addition to the Lighthouse O & M department.

“We are lucky to have hired someone with low vision training,” says Paula. “We have a lot of people here with progressive vision loss like retinitis pigmentosa who want to maximize the use of their residual vision for travel. There’s so much you can do when training someone with low vision with glare remediation, monoculars, electronic travel aides. The low vision background is also useful in making job accommodations at the work station, changing lighting, and reducing glare.” She adds, “Some O & M instructors have an approach that is ‘all blind all the time,’ as if the person has no residual vision. Many of our employees are not interested at this point in that teaching approach. That’s why we wanted someone with low vision training.”

Currently, Beth is concentrating on working with both low vision and totally blind employees while O & M instructor David Miller works with Deaf-Blind individuals. “It was my understanding that [my position] was added because there is huge need for blind, hearing individuals to have services. With my sign language background, I hope to work with Deaf-Blind people as well; but for now my focus is hearing blind.”

“We have an opportunity with Beth here. In the longer term, people will have a choice of instructors,” says Paula. “One thing we’re hoping to do is catch up with all the new employees and make sure they know the whole Lighthouse campus. We plan to start introducing people to new equipment -- having an event every three months where people will learn about new technology. We’re also planning on offering sighted guide training for staff. It’s a part of working here, everyone should know how to guide and give directions.”

After successfully meeting the need for tunnel closure training, Beth is now working on requests for ongoing training. “That can be anything from someone’s grocery store closed so they need a new route to the grocery store to someone wanting to learn the train system to get to work rather than the bus. There’s just a huge variety depending on what the individual’s needs are.”

She adds, “I love that it’s very individualized here. I don’t believe you can stereotype how an individual travels. You can have two people with the same eye disorder and they travel completely differently and how they learn is completely different. It’s fun for me to go out and research routes. I’m presenting options to people, then they make up their mind, they make the choice.”

“The culture at the Lighthouse is awesome. I’ve never been in an environment like this before and I absolutely love it,” Beth smiles. “I don’t ever see this job being monotonous at all. You’re always learning something new. It’s exciting!”

“As the Lighthouse expands, Beth’s role will expand with it,” says Paula. “I am so happy we have this department. Two people will exponentially impact more and more people in need of services.”

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