CUMBERLAND — Gerald Chambers was born with a deformed left arm and atypical retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that has left him in total blindness since age 26. Neither disability, however, keeps Chambers from operating his own business.
Through the Office for Blindness and Vision Services, part of the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services that celebrated National Disability Employment Awareness Month throughout October, Chambers was recently supplied with technology enabling him to perform his job more efficiently.
“It will make me completely independent again,” said Chambers, who operates Buena Vista Mental Health Counseling Service out of his Cumberland home.
The 77-year-old Chambers is a licensed clinical professional counselor, group psychotherapist and cognitive-behaviorial therapist, providing individual, group, family and marriage counseling.
After suffering a stroke in 2004, Chambers lost much of the ability to feel Braille with his fingers and typing became too strenuous on his arm, making the documentation of information difficult. With the confidential nature of the material preventing access to anyone other than Chambers, he contacted DORS for help.
A technical specialist with DORS recommended Chambers use technology that employs Morse code.
“I find it amazing that with all of the technology moving forward, they actually had to think outside of the box and kind of move back in time to find a way for Mr. Chambers to do his work more efficiently,” said Scott Liller, vocational rehabilitation counselor at the Office for Blindness and Vision Services.
Chambers will use multiple tools that will allow him to enter information into his computer, print it out and read it, including the Darci USB for data input via Morse code, JAWS screen reader for text-to-speech output, and the Duxbury Braille Translator to convert text to braille for Chambers to print and emboss, allowing him to read and maintain physical copies of the information.
“The system of Morse code, when he starts using it, will work well because of his good memory,” said Liller.
Chambers’ prior knowledge of Morse code will now come in handy.
“I’m glad I learned it when I was 13 in a Scout troop,” said Chambers. “It’s all starting to come back to me.”
The technical specialist gave Chambers a tutorial on the program, which includes a Morse code alphabet that Chambers saved and plays back on his digital talking book.
While Chambers is a counselor to many, Liller acts as Chambers’ counselor. Liller, who has been a vocational counselor at the Office of Blindness and Vision Services since 2005, assists people who are blind or visually impaired in gaining or maintaining employment.
“Mr. Liller just keeps me going on and on and on,” said Chambers of the assistance Liller provides.
Liller is one of three DORS workers who is assisting Chambers with his new technology.
“We take a team approach,” said Liller, refering to the counselor, technical specialist and assistive technology specialist that are aiding Chambers.
“This new technology has got me excited about my work,” said Chambers. “With hope and faith and perseverance, we’ll achieve our goals.”
National Disability Employment Awareness Month has been observed nationwide every year in October since its 1988 designation by Congress.
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GERALD CHAMBERS
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