The Jackson Sun from Jackson, Tennessee • 12

12AThe Jackson Sun, Jackson, Sunday, March 10, 1996 ADVERTISING Providing access to technology for iiving, working and learning. irhe jr CENTER STAR CeoterFymdraieir Retyras Why Give to the STAR Center $4 For Every $1 Raied locally A individual needs, not only give people improved self-esteem, they help us all by offering hope to those who want to take charge of their lives. "For so many people, there would be no hope for a better life, in fact no hope at all, if it were not for the STAR Center and its mission to use technology to assist people with disabilities," Hailey says. "That's why it is important everyone in West Tennessee know about the STAR Center and do everything they can to support this not-for-profit organization. It's important, to all of us." That will result in a payoff of $1,296,000 in matching funds, Doumitt says.

All money raised in the campaign will be used for personnel who work with clients at the STAR Center, a not-for-profit organization that uses computers and high-tech tools to allow people with disabilities to live their lives the way they want. "Whatever we raise goes directly to improving our programs," Doumitt says. The campaign officially begins Monday morning as teams of volunteers call people in West Tennessee to enlist their support for A fundraising campaign that will bring A in $4 matching federal and state grants for every $1 raised locally is off and running this week. "We're excited about the prospects for the STAR Center. If the people of West Tennessee are willing to help us -and we believe they are then we should be able to meet all our goals," says Margaret Doumitt, executive director of the STAR Center.

The goal for the campaign is to gather pledges for $108,000 a year for the next three years, making a total of $324,000 raised in West Tennessee. the Center. The campaign ends March 15, says Ray Tanner, who volunteered to head the effort. "People should appreciate this isn't a long, drawn-out campaign, and STAR only asks for help like this once every three years," Tanner says. "We want a quick campaign that raises the money the Center needs to continue its important work in West Tennessee," Doumitt says.

People should help the Center with its fundraiser because STAR "is important to West Tennessee and the people who live here because it is the link between providers of modem technology and persons of all ages with a wide range of disabilities or special needs," says Louie Hailey, chairman of the STAR Center board of directors. "So far, STAR has helped thousands of people over the past decade in many ways." Hailey says STAR can make an important difference. "In West Tennessee there are many people who are challenged physically, emotionally and developmentally. Many are capable of going to school or getting training and jobs instead of being dependent on public assistance," Hailey says. "The numerous programs at the STAR Center, each one adapted for The STAR Center is raising money to improve the programs it offers.

And that leads to the obvious question, "Why give to the STAR Center?" I'd like to tell you. The reasons are as diverse as the wide variety of innovative programs STAR offers, as numerous as the many people of West Tennessee who come to our Jackson office or our mobile computer lab, the Access Express. Projections show 10,337 people will have made use of the Center's services by the end of our current fiscal year, June 30. We anticipate helping another 12,415 by the end of the next fiscal year. Access Express Takes STAR Center Tools, Philosophy on the Road His name is Octavious and all his concentration is Mary Lou says as she points to the screen.

Margaret Donmitt "We've got all the time in the world for you Caleb." When the staff completes the evaluations at the Head Start, the Access Express rolls on to its afternoon appointment, also in Humboldt. Referred by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Mary Lou and Chuck work with a man who is experiencing vision loss. As his vision deteriorates, he tells the staffers on board the bus, he needs a new way to "see." Using the technology and assistive devices on board, Mary Lou and Chuck begin working with the man, helping him find solutions. "That's the whole idea behind the Access Express," says Margaret Doumitt, executive director of STAR. "We found a way to reach people throughout West Tennessee who needed bur assistance but for one reason or another couldn't come to Jackson." Since it arrived in March of 1995 the Access Express has been to almost every county in West Tennessee.

"We'll go everywhere we can to help people and to teach community leaders how technology can help people with disabilities take control of their lives," Doumitt says. "It's an exciting concept and one that's readily available right now. Like the STAR Center, the Access Express is all about solutions." Providing solutions for people has kept the bus on the road an average of four days a week during the past year. One day the Access Express might be in Selmer, the next in Dyersburg, the following day in Lexington. "We go where there's a need," Mary Lou says.

Funding for the $465,000 project was provided, in part, by the Tennessee Department of Human Services' Division of Rehabilitation Services, the City of Jackson, Madison County, the United Parcel Services Foundation and concerned citizens of West Tennessee. The lab-on-wheels is the first of its kind not only in Tennessee, but the nation. "It's a customized computer center designed for evaluating and training adults and children with disabilities of all kinds, as well as assisting professionals in education, rehabilitation and the health-care services," Doumitt says. "The Access Express can roll up to a factory or business and show potential employers how computers and assistive technology give everyone the ability to work." centered on the computer screen in front of his chair. He is 5 and he is busy, working with Mary Lou Lane as they draw a caterpillar on the screen.

"How many legs do you think we should put on that bug? How about 10 legs? Can you find the number 10, Octavius?" Mary Lou asks. Using a computer mouse.Octavious guides an on-screen arrow to the correct answer, ignoring several others. He clicks the mouse and 10 legs appear on the caterpillar. "Excellent, that's wonderful Octavious," Mary Lou exclaims. "Now, how about putting some ears on your bug?" As Octavius and Mary Lou work, Chuck Doumitt sits nearby and keeps notes of Octavius' progress for an assistive technology report for his teachers at the Humboldt Head Start program.

The idea behind the evaluation Is to make suggestions on which areas of learning Octavius' teachers should concentrate in working with the boy. Mary Lou and Chuck are STAR Center employees who work on the Access Express, a 42-foot-long computer lab on wheels. The Access Express is the answer to the question: How do you take a good idea like the STAR Center and make it even more accessible to the people of West Tennessee? "We've put the STAR Center on wheels and we are taking it to everyone in West Tennessee," Mary Lou says. On this morning, the Access Express is parked outside the Humboldt Head Start building for a series of evaluations with several of the children. "We're really excited about this opportunity to help the children," says Blondell Coleman of the Head Start program.

Taking four or five children to the STAR Center at Jackson for evaluations is not possible, but because the Access Express can take the STAR Center's equipment and technology to the children, the chances of helping the youngsters achieve their fullest potential is realized. Outside the Head Start building, Mary Lou and Chuck are showing another little boy, Caleb, the Access Express. They work at a computer with the child, who has Down syndrome. "Now we'll just take our time figuring out this puzzle," On Board the Access Express Chuck Doumitt, a training engineer for the STAR Center, works with a boy at a computer key pad recently at the Humboldt Head Start. The 42-foot-long bus can take STAR Center technologies and trained staffers anywhere in West Tennessee to continue the Center's mission of using computer technology to help open the door for anyone who wants assistance.

Why give to the STAR Center? Because the Center is about helping people, and not just strangers, but people you know. STAR exists to serve men and women, adults and children of all races, creeds and religions anyone with a disability, their families and the professionals in rehabilitation health services and education who work so hard to help them. Why give to STAR? Because STAR can make a difference, right here at home. STAR offers assistive technology to children and adults with a full range of special needs across West Tennessee. STAR is committed to the very basic, yet profound, principle that every person with a disability should have access to technology that can make a difference in their life, regardless of ability level, age, income or national origin.

Why give to STAR? Because right now, STAR can get $4 in matching state and federal monies for every $1 given by the people of West Tennessee. That's an impressive return on your investment in any environment, and especially meaningful to a not-for-profit organization like the 'STAR Center. The funds will be used for personnel who work with clients. No money will be used for administrative purposes; all will go directly to improving STAR'S programs. Why give to STAR? Because you not only are helping a worthy cause, you not only are helping your family and friends, you are helping yourself.

In a perfect world, everyone with a disability would have access to the assistive technology toots and training that would allow him or her to reach such personal goals as effective learning, competitive employment and independent living. Why give to STAR? Because It's the right thing to do. Blindness Opens New World of Possibilities for Woman jillilllll Carolyn Jackson pushes her chair back from the computer workstation of her home In Brownsville, spinning around on the wheeled base. She wears a wide grin. "Whoeee, let me tell you, since I got my computer and this closed-circuit TV that lets me read my books again, I'm as happy as a pig in the sunshine," she says.

"And let me tell you this, too, that's really happy." Then she pauses. "Of course, you know, I wasn't always this happy." In fact, there were two or three years when she wondered If she would ever be happy again. That was when she began to go blind. It began quickly enough starting In 1991, soon after she retired as a supervisor in the Jackson office of the state Department of Human Services. Carolyn had looked foward to retirement, too.

"I was going to spend more time with Raymond, my husband, and our daughter's family and keeping up with my other Interests," she says. Those Interests included studying the Bible and teaching a Sunday school class at Allen Baptist Church in Brownsville and painting and decorative sewing. "I was all set," she says. "I had the world on a string." Then she began losing her sight. She tried to fight it, not let It affect her life.

"I kept up with my painting and sewing. I have a box over here that my husband made me that I painted. It was the last one I did before the depression took over." Despair over her falling eyesight drove her to her couch, "and that's pretty much where I stayed for a long time, wallowing around on it and feeling sorry for myself. I cried day in and out. I wanted to die.

I was even envious of people with terminal cancer," she says. Her strong faith In God was tested, and so were her relationships with family and friends. "I kept asking God why this had to happen to me. I Just couldn't understand It. And I wouldn't listen to my "She's a hard worker," King says, "so we always knew that Carolyn would do well.

She was able to use technology to take control of her life again." "That was what I wanted to do, take control," Carolyn agrees. She pauses, then adds, "Well, actually, what I wanted to take control of first was my own checkbook again. Since then I've been taking care of everything else." That Includes returning to her Bible studies. "I'm teaching Sunday school again. We have a great class of young adults, people who range from 25 to 35.

We're averaging about 20 to 25 people in class each Sunday," she says. To prepare for class, Carolyn listens to her computer program as it reads passages from the Bible. For further study she uses the closed-circuit monitor to compare those writings to translations from Greek and Hebrew writings. "You just have to be patient when you're doing It because you're only going to get It a word at a time," she explains. "I'm keeping my promise to God.

When I retired, before I began losing my sight, I promised Him four hours of service a day," Carolyn says. "And the Lord has shown me that If you really want to see there's always going to be a way." Carolyn turns her head. Sometimes, she says, she can still see shapes and shadows dancing on the periphery of her blindness. "On a sunny day I can get on our riding mower and cut the grass. I can just make out the shadows where It needs cutting, but don't ask me how straight the rows are," she says, laughing as she talks.

"I'm too busy to ever feel sorry for myself again," she says. "One of the first things I did after I began going to the STAR Center was to give away my crying couch. I figure I had wallowed around on It enough. Let me tell you, there are possibilities and opportunities ahead and I'm going to be there and I'm going to explore them. The STAR Center has helped me get ready to do that." Taking Charge of Her Life Again Carolyn Jackson sits In the computer room of her Brownsville home, explaining how technology training at the STAR Center made a difference in her life.

A visual impairment left her depressed until staffers at the STAR Center showed her how she could regain control of her life again with the aid of a taking computer. "The STAR Center gave me a new lease on life," she says. The STAR Center News Published at a community service by Tbo Jackaoo San Articles and design by Robert Nlckell Associate Photography by: Rom Donmitt STAR la a aicnbar of: Tennenee Technology Accen Project Alliance lor Technology Accesa Coalition for Tenneneant with Disabilities United Way of Wot TennenM Addreas Mall tot The STAR Center 60 Lynoak Cove Jackson, TN 38305 Telephone beret (901) 668-3888 1 (800) 464-5619 (901) 668-9664 for TTVTDD only husband or friends who tried to cheer me up," she says. "I thought my life was over." Carolyn gives credit to her vocational rehabilitation counselor for getting her off the couch. "She told me, and convinced me, 'You do have a life after blindness.

You can still do many things, you just have to do them In a different she says. Then her counselor told her about the STAR Center. STAR personnel talked with her to learn her wants and needs, evaluated her skills with computer equipment and began training her to use the high-tech tools that would allow her to take control of her life again. 'To be frank, the STAR Center gave me a new lease on life," Carolyn says. "I can't say enough good things about It." Training Included working with STAR'S orientation and mobility Instructors who specialize in teaching people with visual Impairments to live as Independently as possible.

Gary King, who is senior rehabilitation engineer at STAR and who Is visually Impaired, taught her how to use a computer with a software program that allows the machine to speak to Its operator. Another device the closed-circuit television enlarges printed material to screen-filling letters. Carolyn uses It to read, one word at a time..