Clinton News-Record, 1972-04-20, Page 11Clinton News-Record
The former Air Marshall Hugh Campbell School at Adastral Park
on the old Canadian Forces Base south of town has taken in new
occupants this month. The building still is used for education but
now the students are a little bigger, They are college students
attending Conestoga College's Huron Centre.
PatJones is in charge of the business courses at Huron Centre. Centtre's operation. More are expected as the college settles in to
Mr. Jones has nine students in his classes in the first month of the its new quarters.
Ross Milton director of Huron Centre goes over some work with
his secretary Debbie Rau of Seaforth. The two are the oldtimers
of Huron Centre having been with the Centre since it opened its
first office in Seaforth two years ago.
Faye Fear of Clinton wilt be in charge of the information centre
at Huron Centre. Faye was well known to many in Huron County
when she was secretary for the Huron Federation of Agriculture
for six years.
Bernard B /son is in charge Of the science department at Huron Centre. Mr, Billson shows a skeleton
of a calf which he found and reconstructed.
Conestoga College's Huron
Centre finds a home at last
After a year of wondering,
Conestoga College's Huron
Centre has at last found a home,
The Centre moved into the
former Air Marshall Hugh
Campbell school at Adastral
Park, the residential area of the
former Canadian Forces Base
Clinton on April 1. For Ross
Milton head of the Centre and his
staff, the last couple of weeks
have been hectic what with getting
used to quarters, working amid
work crews busy transforming
the former elementary school to
an adult education centre and
conducting classes, But they are
happy to have someplace to
conduct classes on a steady basis,
not just borrowed quarters.
Classes for 26 students are
taking place in the sparcely-
furnished building. Included
among these are six commercial
clerical students, two
stenographic clerical students
and one student on commercial
refresher course.
There are also 12 students in
the certified visiting homemaker
training course.
In addition to the 26 students at
the school, there are 16 students
taking a pre-apprentice carpentry
course at Central Huron
Secondary School, 20 taking an
electronics for journeymen
course at the Ontario Hydro
Building and four part-time
students,
There are also 20 secretaries
at the courthouse in Goderich
taking part-time courses and 20
employees at Boise Cascade in
Hensall learning electrical
wiring of recreation vehicles
under the Training in Business
and Industry courses,
Besides Mr. Milton there are
seven teachers and two office
staff members at the school and
two teachers who are conducting
classes away from the Centre.
Already courses are being
planned for the start of the
Centre's first full academic year
in September, Two courses' which
Mr. Milton hopes to be able to
offer are connected with the
mobile home industry, The first
is a Trailer Sales and Technology
Management course for persons
wishing to become managers of
trailer sales outlets and trailer
parks.
If someone already knows the
technical end of the business, they
may be eligible to take a
shortened one-year course in
business, If they know the
business part, they may take a
one-year technology course,
Those who have no experience,
will take two years to complete
the course.
The second course is also two
years in length and will be for
straight trailer technicians. Both
courses are still subject to
approval by the College,
More courses are also planned
for the Homemakers and a special
classroom with mock hospital
ward in one end and kitchenettes
in the other is planned.
Varna man battles
blindness in a big city
The following story appeared
recently in the Toronto Star. The
story tells of Stu Hayter,
formerly of Varna and his trials
as a blind person in a large city, It
is written by Sydney Katz. The
story was brought to our attention
by Mrs. Cecil Dowson, his aunt.
If an omnipotent wizard could
restore Stu Hayter's vision for a
single hour these are the things he
would like to behold:
His eight-month-old son, whom
he has never seen; the face and
body of his 28-year-old wife,
Sharon whom he last saw when he
went blind in 1967; his bungalow
home in North York; the sloping
verdant farmlands near Varna
where he was born and raised.
"The worst thing of being
blind," he said, "is not being able
to see the things you love most.
"But almost as painful is being
treated like a moron, a non-
person."
This often happens when he
goes into a restaurant with a
sighted friend. The waitress Will
ask his friend what he wants and
discuss the menu with him, Then,
acting as if Hayter were not
present, the waitress Will ask the
friend, "And what does he want?"
Healso feels like a non-person
when people address him in a loud
Voice, using simple phraseology,
as though they were trying to
Make themselves understood by a
somewhat dimwitted four-year-
old. "If you are blind, many,
people also assume that you're'
alSo deaf and stupid as well,"
Stu Hayter also feels
dehumanized when Sighted people
regard him not as an individual
with a distinctive intelligence and
personality, but simply as a blind
person like all other blind
persons.
"We're stereotyped like
members of any minority group,"
he says, "like blacks. We're
supposed to act in a certain way,"
For example, when Hayter
attended lectures at the Glendon
campus of York University or
Bayview Ave., people en route
assumed he was one of the blind
people travelling northward on
Bayview Ave, to the Canadian
Institute for the Blind, a few
blocks south of the university.
Hayter had difficulty reaching his
destination without an incident,
"I used to get stubborn
arguments from cab drivers," he
says. "And once a woman
practically wrestled me off the
bus in front of the blind
headquarters. Despite my
protests, she insisted that, since I
was blind, that's where I was
going,"
Born with severe eye
cataracts, Hayter had 10 per cent
of his vision until Christmas,
1967, thanks to medication and
surgery. At that time, he had been
Ma.rriedto Sharon for six months
and e -omising honours
stuo...„ Aitical science at
York University, "I got around
very nicely," he says. "It's
surprising how much you can See
with 10 per cent,"
Then the curtain of blackness
abruptly descended on him, and
Baylor reacted with depression
and despair,
While spending the Christmas
holidays with his wife at his
parents' home, he contemplated
suicide, What kind of future did he
have? Blindness had deprived him
of his independence and the sight
of all the things he cherished,
It was Sharon who rekindled his
desire to live. She reminded him
that he had always been a fighter
and a winner.
"Before the end of the holidays,
I had decided that it was better to
be alive than dead, And that if
blindness was to be my lot in life,
I'd make the most of it, I'd be as
good as the next person. Loss of
sight needn't demean a person as
a human beihg."
With the help of a half dozen
students at York University, he
finished out his year and earned
his degree, He took the
"blindness adjustment" course
at the Canadian Institute for the
Blind (CNIB), which taught him
how to move about the sighted
world with the aid of a white cane,
Later he went to work for the
CNIB, and today he's the director
of its educational programs.
"You never completely become
reconciled to being blind,"
Hayter says. "Inevitably, there
are times when you're swept by
the anger and pain of frustration,
HoW much better things might
have been for you! but still . .
most of the time, it's damned good
being alive."
Ste Hayter soon learned that the
senses of smell, sound and touch
replace much of the veal left by
the loss of sight,
Walking along a familiar
stretch of Yonge St., he knows
exactly where he is by what he's
passing. The distinctive sound of
a certain air conditioner that's
the smoke shop. The sound and
smell of an exhaust fan--that's
the restaurant. The smell of
oranges and apples—that's the
fruit store, The pungent fumes of
gasoline and the exhaust of idling
cars—that's the service station,
Hayter taps the sidewalk with
the tip of his white cane,
searching for two certain cracks
in the pavement, warning him that
he's only a few yards away from
the intersection with the traffic
light.
WAITS FOR LULL
He waits and listens. When the
traffic in front of him has stopped
moving, lie interprets this as a
green light and cautiously taps his
way across the street, feeling for
the curb. Sometimes, he
misinterprets a lull in traffic as a
green light, and walks against a
red. "You take your chances,"
says Hayter, "All life's a
gamble."
Winter is the blind person's
least favorite season, A blanket of
snow and ice settles on the
ground, deadening both smell and
sound,
"You can't feel or hear the
changing texture of the pavement
and stone as you go along,"
Hayter explains, "Your nose
becomes less useful because
shops and stores have closed
their doors."
In travelling the city alone,
Hayter claims that he's helped by
a kind of a sensitive radar that has
developed on the skin surface of
his face and ears. "When I
approach a post or a low-hanging
sign or awning, my face and ears
tingle a warning."
HELPING HANDS
In the subway system a host of
special markers, known only to
the blind, enable Hayter to
navigate, He can tell when he's
dangerously close to the edge of
the subway platform by probing
the ground with his cane; the
material bordering the platform
is different than the rest of the
floor and is easily detectable by
touch and sound.
Stu Hayter says he can write an
entire book about his experiences
with strangers he's encountered
in his solo trips throughout
Metro,
Most sighted people feel they
should help a blind person they
spot, groping his way through a
crowded street, But at the same
time they shy away from him,
"Perhaps," speculates
Hayter, "they're repulsed by my
handicap and don't want to identify
with it, Or maybe they feel if they
offer a little help, they're going to
be stuck with the helpless
creature, The thin edge of the
wedge sort of thing."
"IT'S SHATTERING"
On the other hand, nearly every
blind person can recount
terrifying experiences that
occurred as the result of being
Please turn to Page 7 A