VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 4
With the help of interveners at the two week long Summer Transition
Program (STP), I learned more independent living skills, such as cooking, cleaning
and laundry skills as well as riding public transportation to work experience
sites. This was led by the Minnesota DeafBlind Project the summer after my junior
year in high school.
Thanks to all of those interveners and support from my parents, as well as
skills I learned from the STP, I am able to live on my own in an apartment and
hold down a full-time job as mail clerk with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
regional office!
Regarding my career, my dad helped me understand the process of applying
for a job. I started as a part-time employee at the U.S. Corps of Engineers when I
attended the Vector Transition program while taking some college
classes. Eventually, I became a full-time employee, and I put my college studies on
hold. Years later, my dad told me that in order to advance in my career, I needed a
bachelor's degree. So I decided to enroll as a part-time student, and after 18 years
of being a part time college student, I finally earned my BA degree in 2018!
As valuable as interveners are, it is also important to educate the Individualized
Education Program (IEP) team about interveners. In high school, some of my
teachers didn't understand the role of the intervener and we had some bad
experiences. For example, one of my teachers was signing to a student across the
