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Stories of Touching Lives

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  Ron Cheek

  Ron Cheek, a retired sanitation worker for the City of Richmond, lost sight in his one good eye at age 60, a delayed result of complications from his premature birth 65 years ago. For five years, he's been learning to make a sightless life a very full one ― and the Independent Living Center has helped him in countless ways. Thanks to the Center's cane training and Braille classes, he's enjoying an active retirement. He's deeply involved with his church and its choir – and he's even able to continue to care for his 88-year-old mother.

  Whether it's the Center's hands-on training, the monthly support group meetings, connections to events and services such as the Indiana Vision Expo or the Indiana Reading and Information Services (IRIS) ― even access to useful tools such as his talking calculator and Braille watch ― Ron says the Center has made a huge difference in his life.

  “When it comes right down to it, though, it's really about the relationships with the people at the Center,” he says. “I have a ball with those folks down there. They're just fun.”

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  Josh Williams

  Josh Williams, 30, suffers from cerebral palsy. But as anyone who frequents the Center is well aware, the word “suffer” doesn’t apply to Josh at all. Josh ― who uses his computer skills and Internet savvy to accomplish a variety of tasks in his part-time job at the Center ― is friendly, active and upbeat. He’s also blessed with an impish sense of humor. (For instance, he’s been known to solicit cell phone calls to escape “boring meetings.”)

  Still, Josh has a serious side. A lifelong Richmond resident, he was recently named by the mayor to serve on the Richmond Human Rights Commission. In the volunteer position, Josh and six other commissioners hear and rule on discrimination claims in the city. It’s a role he relishes ― and one he would have difficulty playing without help from the Center’s staff, who often drive him to and from the meetings.

  “Without them, I wouldn’t have gotten my start in city government,” Josh says. “They have been a blessing, especially Tom Glen.”

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  Jackie Speicher

  Jackie Speicher, 62, knows all about friends. First of all, as a part-time service coordinator and grant administrator at the Independent Living Center, she’s a friend to many of the Center’s blind and low-vision clients, helping them find the tools and services that simplify and enrich their lives. Second, Jackie is a professional Friend of sorts; though her home is in Richmond, she serves the Xenia (Ohio) Friends Church as its pastor.

  Clearly, Jackie understands the giving nature of friendship – and she learned that lesson by being on the receiving end. During her third semester in seminary, Jackie suffered severe and sudden vision loss. It was a frightening setback that left her legally blind, imperiled her academic career and threatened the future she was trying to build for herself and her youngest daughter.

  That’s when the Center stepped in.

  “A staff person from the Center really came to my aid,” Jackie recalls. “She rallied Vocational Rehabilitation and college staff to quickly get all the vision aids and personal help that I needed to keep going with my classes. After graduation, she helped me again to get the bi-optic vision system that allowed me to drive once again. … Today I drive thousands of miles a year for my work, and I enjoy helping other persons with vision loss get their lives back – just as the Center helped me.”

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  Diane Stanley

  For Diane Stanley, 45, the Independent Living Center isn’t merely source of information, support and services. It is, quite literally, a lifesaver.

  Diane has struggled with severe hearing loss her entire life. She’s worn hearing aids since her youth and, before she turned 20, had undergone surgery to implant manmade eardrums and vibrating bones in both ears. In 2001, Diane had another operation to remove a large polyp from her right ear – surgery that required a total reconstruction of her ear canal so it could accommodate her hearing aid. Even now her hearing is severely impaired – in fact, all but nonexistent without her hearing aids.

  Nearly 10 years ago, the smoke alarm in Diane’s apartment went off in the middle of the night. She didn’t hear it. “They had to drag me down the steps to get me out,” she recalls. “That was scary.” These days, however, Diane no longer lives in fear – thanks to the advocacy efforts of the Center. “They fought for a year,” she says, “but they were successful in getting me a special smoke alarm” for her new apartment in Richmond. The new device “flashes brilliant red,” she says, and it’s also wired to immediately alert firefighters to go straight to her apartment.

  “Thank God for their help in getting this for me,” Diane says. “In all honesty, it has saved my life.”

Partially funded by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Division of Disability and Rehabilitation Services and by a Grant from the Wayne County Foundation, Richmond, Indiana

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