(10/13/05) In the first installment of our Disability Matters series we heard the story of Amber Triese. She was moving into a group home in Potsdam. Amber is 22 years old. She graduated from high school last year. She's cognitively impaired and legally blind. In high school she interned with Building Blocks, a pre-school program in Potsdam. A few months ago, they hired her to work part-time as a teacher's aide. She recorded this on-the-job audio diary for us.
AMBER TRIESE: "Half the time people don't realize that I'm legally
blind even though you don't see it and i don't act like it, I am blind.
But I'm not totally blind. I have tunnel vision that's kind of like a
box. If anyone wants to know how I see, try to put their hands top to
bottom, corner to corner and that's how I see.
"I went to work and I helped some kids, two kids that I worked with
wanted to have the same book, but I said to them "Give it to Miss
Amber" and I went and I put it back in the book area and they totally
forgot all about it. I can not be alone with children in one classroom.
I have to have another staff because I can't see that if a child puts
something in their mouth. So that's why I have an extra staff."
"In my future, I want to be a better teacher and help the kids that I
work with to become more independent and know their colors and
know their numbers and shapes and maybe, maybe adding, maybe
adding is probably a difficult thing but they're trying."
"Someday, I'd like to get married someday. But that doesn't come until
whenever I'm ready cause I'm not. I would like everybody to know, no
matter what special needs that you have, express them to other people.
Even thought other people don't understand, keep trying."
St. Lawrence University, Canton,
New York 13617 • phone: 1-877-388-6277 • email
radio@ncpr.org
National Public Radio • 
American Public Media • 
Public Radio International
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