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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1978-09-06, Page 5Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, September 6, 1978—Page 6 Blind strive to be a part of community For many people, the courageous story of Helen Keller, left deaf and blind at. an early age, is awe-inspir- ing, but it does not touch the reality of their lives. In Ontario today, there are over 200 people who, like Miss Keller, are deaf and blind, and who are striving with the help of CNIB and others to become part of your com- munity. For 41 multi -handicapped youngsters between the ages of 4 and 17, this summer has helped bring them closer to their home communities and has given those with whom they come into contact a new awareness of the very special needs and capabilities of the sight and hearing impaired child. Through the auspices of the Ontario Government's Ministry of Culture and Recreation, ' Experience '78 Program and The Canadian National Institute , for the Blind, these children from areas throughout the prov- ince are . provided with a trained Community Counsel- lor or Intervenor whose prime responsibility is to stimulate the youngster's desire to learn and explore. To do this, the Counsellor, with the help of family members, first utilizes the resources available within the child's own home envir- onment, such as games, toys,' objects with new shap- es, textures and smells. The child's learning experience expands to include any appropriate facilities in the general community, such as children's day camps, parks, swimming pools, amusement parks, community centres and others. This almost constant stimulation through recreation is vital to the child's progress into adult- hood. During the fall and winter months, the children grow and develop through their special education programs in various facilities, the largest of which is the Deaf -Blind Unit at the W. Ross MacDonald School for blind students in Brantford, Ontario. Once the child is deprived of this environment during the summer months, and unless he is encouraged to experience as much as possible, he maybe content to exist within the confines of his own being and forget what had been learned previously. John Simmons, Supervisor of Recreation, CNIB, is pleased with the achieve- ments of the program to date. "The concept of the Com- munity Counsellor Summer Program for Multi -Sensory. Deprived Children was born in 1974, when 8 children participated in individually designed programs. The pro- ject was expanded to include 25 children in 1977". Mr. Simmons noted that there were still many more children in Ontario who could benefit from the summer experience. `J- igh operating costs are our main concern," he said. "Because of the' complex nature of multiple disability and the necessity for the counsellor to be trained in specialized communications methods with the child, it costs approximately $1,600 per child to produce a viable program". When I look back and recall the men who have inspired me with their courage and leadership, I see the faces of Churchill, Patton and Diefenbaker. There have been other men too, unrecognised but stalwart characters, each contributing in his own way, to the democratic society we now take for granted. "If a country's worth livin' in, it's worth fightin' fer," Angus used to say, with his head held proud and high. He was not the mean character he would have people believe. Beneath the rough hard shell, was a charitable soul, compassionate and understanding. When I recall the ' best in mankind, I remember Angus. As we worked together, I watched him tax his old. rheumatic body to the limit; "Take it easy" was a phrase he never understood.. So I watched him with apprehension. I needed Angus; needed that spirit of the pioneers which surrounded him like an aura. He was an essential part of my life! One day, Angus was mowing hay in the southwest meadow which bordered on the bush and 1 was repairing the fence line. ,As I busied myself, stretching the barbed wire and hammering home the staples, the squeaky sounds of the horse drawn machine were carried on the warm summer wind. 1 paused often to wipe the sweat from my face and take a drink from a bottle of tepid water. "Don't need water when yer workin' in the -sun," Angus had told me. "Only makes yer more thirsty, an' yer'll sweat Hke a pig!" As the afternoon wore on, the team and mower disappeared into a dip in the rolling land, but 1 could still hear the squeaks and clatter as Angus pressed on with his task. Where did he find the energy to continue for so long? As I worked, I pondered on the foolishness which caused me to cling to the Hungry Hundred. The fence should . have been completely rewired and several posts needed replacement but it was a case of mend and make do -- we could hardly afford the barbed wire to do a patching job! By what strange sense of pride do men struggle in poverty in order to remain independent? It.would have been easier, and far more profitable, to have been even a floor sweeper,, in that government supported factory at Pantown'! Wrapped up in my thoughts, I had forgotton about Angus. Suddenly I became aware that I could no longer hear the noise of the old mowing machine. I looked across the land whilst I still pulled on the fence stretcher. On the rising ground close to the trees, the team of horses stood motionless'`and there was a figure Tying on the ground nearby. Instantly, I was panic stricken! I let go of the fence stretcher and the barbed wire snaked back along the fence, zinging like a broken violin string. Disre- garding everything except the safety of my old friend, took off like a frightened jack rabbit across the. hayfield. If I ever .had any doubts about how much Angus meant to me, they had disappeared. never ran so fast in my life. My heart pounded and my head was filled with a million fears. In my careless haste to reach Angus, my foot caught in a hay covered ground hog hole and I sprawled headlong and windless on the field. . When I struggled to my ,feet, there was blood streaming from m.y nose and a dull pain at my ankle. Breathlessly, I hobbled onward, crying out when I was within earshot of the still form lying beneath the trees. "Angus!, Angus!, my God, what have you done!" To my amazement the figure stirred and came back to life. With some difficulty he assumed a sitting position. He shielded his eyes against the sun and looked up at me as I finished the last few yards in a limping walk. "Can't a°feller take a breather without you rantin' an' ravin'!" When his eyes became accustomed to the glare, he saw my limp and the blood upon my face. "Don't worry about me -- you worry about yourself. Looks like yer been in a slaughter 'ouse, so it does." When he had simmered down a little, his voice took on a gentler tone. "You O.K.," he asked. "Want me ter go back to the 'ouse with yer?" I shook my head without speaking and slowly limped away -- the numbness was leaving my ankle and the pain was increasing. . Yet the physical discomfort was of little concern, nor the fact that I had appeared to act like a perfect ass. Angus was -alright, and that was all that really mattered to me! There was a lot of wisdom in what Angus said -- a philosophy which cannot be learned anywhere extept from men who have known extreme hardship, yet never acknowledged defeat. Such men do not take human -relationships lightly. "In all yer time on this earth, yer'll be lucky if yer can count yer friends on the fingers of one 'and.", Angus would jerk his head and look upwards as if' talking to the sky. "I still got a couple 'o fingers left to count on!" Twenty years later, 1 reminisce on that strange, sincere friendship between a tough, rugged Canadian farmer and the Limey snob he cut down to size. I farm richer earth now than the hungry soil which Angus and I worked during our brief encounter. Yet to me there is something missing; a sense of purpose which grows out of the lean years, watered by sweat and harvested by sheer guts and determination. "Never look back", It is said, but where are those tried and proven principles which my old friend taught me? Have they been swallowed by the "affluent society?" I stand on the threshold of winter, never to feel again the warmth I shared with Angus in the summer of my life! 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