00:00
Making The Most Of What's Available To You. The following video features individuals seated in an office conference room speaking to the camera about their experiences with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind or MCB. They are each talking about the subject of “Making The Most Of What's Available To You” as an MCB Vocational Rehabilitation or VR client. Speakers include, in order:
Brittany Taylor (MCB VR Counselor)
Brandon Rollins (MCB Client)
James Leahy (MCB Client)
Kara Sittig (MCB VR Counselor)
Mayanne MacDonald Briggs (MCB VR Counselor)
Sara Regan (Parent of two MCB Clients)
Tanja Milojevic (MCB Client)
00:51
Brittany Taylor: Services might look different for somebody who's in high school, right? So we can provide camperships, we can provide learning opportunities, work related opportunities, helping them to grow as an individual and develop their own career choices. And then somebody who has worked their whole entire life, we're helping them with job retention, or what does it look like now to work with a visual impairment? Everything is very individualized here at MCB.
01:15
Brandon Rollins: You know, we all sort of live in our own…our own bubbles and our own little…our own little worlds, and we are always aware of the…just the opportunities or the resources that are out there. And it's not until you have a way to have them brought to you and kind of shown to you that you really kind of recognize them.
01:30
James Leahy: My first VR Counselor was sitting next to my bed in rehab; he made it clear from the beginning that there wasn't anything I couldn't do. He told me that a career and jobs were something that was not off the table, and that the Mass Commission would help me do everything from build a resume to find a job.
01:49
Kara Sittig: So any student who's visually impaired and has gone through college knows the importance of that self-advocacy, because that's how you're going to be able to get everything you need and not fall behind.
01:59
Brittany Taylor: They are going to be their biggest advocates for themselves, whether it's at work, in life, transportation. They need to know how they can get what they need.
02:09
Mayanne MacDonald-Briggs: The number one thing I can do for families is to be an advocate. So that's going to be my major role. Also teach the parents how to become advocates. So it's more, you know, talking about what the future needs will be and making sure that the school system is providing the right kinds of services and the appropriate amount of services, and just reminding students all the time that, like, your voice is the most important voice.
02:35
Sara Regan: There was a sense that I had that during the high school years, we wanted to make sure that we took advantage of everything so that that would set them up with as many services and skills to be able to enter that next phase.
02:47
Mayanne MacDonald-Briggs: I have an idea of what might work. Teachers of the visually impaired have ideas about what might work. But if we don't hear from you what really works best for you, you're gonna resent the stuff that we do and force on you. But teaching them to become the advocates for themselves.
03:02
Tanja Milojevic: I worked with a couple of the members of my team at the time to develop agenda goals and really have a say in how I wanted to be involved and the different aspects of my instruction. So what goals I wanted to work on and so on.
03:24
Brandon Rollins: I met Brittany Taylor right after I got back from the Career Center. I had kind of reached that point of I'm throwing myself into this completely; I want access to every possible resource, every possible avenue that's available to me. Here's how we're going to do it, here's what I'm interested in. Let's…let's kind of go after this wholeheartedly.
03:44
Brittany Taylor: It's good that you would come to me as your resource and say, “I'm having difficulty with this, who can help me with this? Is it you? Is it somebody else?”
03:53
Tanja Milojevic: You can be assured that MCB will be consistently in your life and help you no matter what stage you're at. They're always happy to give resources out or connect you to the right place, and they really care. So you feel like you have that extremely good friend that's never going to disappear on you.
04:13
Brandon Rollins: MCB is a phone call away and they can re-bring my case up and kind of go through things again. It's…it's like a toolbox. You use what you need, when you need it. You go at your own pace, and they're there to utilize when you’re ready…when you're ready and you want to.
04:27
To learn more about and contact the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, find them online at mass.gov. Or call 800-392-6450.