BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Each month, “WBZ Cares” highlights a worthy non-profit organization and tells the story of what that organization does for the community. This month WBZ is profiling The Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, empowering those who are blind and visually impaired to achieve independence and lead a fulfilling life.
Tim Vernon is a client of The Carroll Center and thanks to a computer program called Job Access with Speech, better known as JAWS, he's able to work at a large utility company's call center.
“This program converts information on the computer screen into the spoken word. I’m able to navigate the internet, read and respond to emails, access the database at the company where I work, and also write and prepare reports and also prepare letters that need to be sent out to customers,” Vernon said.
Vernon says the staff at The Carroll Center also taught him how to use public transportation so he can get to his job.
“As part of their mobility program I was able to learn to utilize public transportation. Each day I take the commuter rail along with two buses to get from my house to the office and this type of independence wouldn’t have been possible without their tremendous staff,” Vernon commented.
Chief Program Officer Dina Rosenbaum says The Carroll Center has several unique programs. One of them is sailing for the blind.
“People who are sailors tell you sailing is not about what you see it’s about what you feel, and feeling the wind, and feeling the currents of the water and navigating that, so we offer a recreation program during the summer in Charlestown out of ‘Courageous Sailing’ where people can go on a Saturday sailing with their family members and volunteers that we match with them. So we’re always looking at unique programming to support people and engage them,” Rosenbaum concluded.
WBZ NewsRadio1030's Doug Cope Reports