by Susan Glass
The next time you find yourself visiting or passing through the town of Eureka California, you might want to take a stroll along the marina boardwalk.
On the dock nearest the water, you'll find a garden that will invite you to walk slowly, touch gently, and breathe deeply. It's the Sensory Garden planted
and cared for by the Humboldt Council of the Blind. Rooted in the ground and also in pots, you'll find such herbs as rosemary, oregano, lavender, thyme,
chocolate mint, and peppermint. You can touch the delicate Lambs Ear and Fairy Wand plants, and also the Sweet Peas, whose drying pods, once the fragrant
blooms are spent, whisper in the breeze. Let your fingers read the sturdiness of Shasta Daisies, and the mystery of the garden's newest resident, the Lilly
of the Nile. Each plant has a braille label near it that identifies it, and a sign posted at the garden's entrance displays a copy of the braille alphabet.
Blind and visually impaired people are not the only residents of Humboldt County to benefit from the garden. It is constantly visited by classes of sighted
pre-school children, walkers and hikers of all ages, and members of the local garden club. Everyone who visits the marina can enjoy this contribution to
community life made by the Humboldt Council.
According to Doug Rose, who has been a council member for 20 years, the Humboldt chapter of CCB has always been "organic," in that it has always addressed
the needs of blind and visually impaired people as those needs have arisen, and also found a way to address those needs so as to benefit the greater community
beyond the Council. He cites the procurement of an Audible Traffic Signal in the town of McKinleyville, and the installation of audio description at a
local movie theater, as projects that benefited the general public and raised community awareness of issues faced by blind and visually impaired citizens.
Currently the Humboldt Council has 12 members, most of whom are blind and visually impaired with the exception of the treasurer, who is fully sighted.
The majority are seniors; some younger members have just acquired full time jobs. The chapter meets in the office of the local water district during all
but the summer months, when members go on vacation. As the November elections approach, they are working to put measures on the ballot that will regulate
rent control in local mobile home parks. Because they are a small chapter, they can use an email list as their newsletter. All members seem to be active
and productive. Bernice Kistler, who created the Sensory Garden, also works at the local American Cancer Society. Member ryan Estevo attended college in
Southern California, worked for 11 years at Capital Records, and is now back in Humboldt earning his Masters Degree in Social Work. Juliannah Harris earned
her CSUN Assistive Technology Degree, and is now employed by Tri-County Independent Living (TCIL). And member Gavin Smiley works as a stand-up comic, home
brews beer, and campaigns for accessible bus-stops throughout the community. He says that he would like to address drivers who attend traffic school, and
high school students, on things they need to know in order to drive safely around blind people.
"I especially want to reach out to people who are losing their sight, and who feel isolated by that experience," said Doug Rose, who has been blind since
age 5 due to retinal blastoma, or cancer of the retina. Doug attended the Nebraska School for the Blind, and then the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
He moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s, where he attended Long Beach State. After graduating, he worked first at the Braille Institute teaching adaptive
technology, and then worked at Packard Bell Computers providing customer support to cell phone users. Now retired, he volunteers his mornings providing
technical support for the Reading Service of the Redwoods. Working through the local Senior Center Without Walls, Doug also runs a telephone support group
for seniors who have lost their vision, and now feel isolated from family and community. But his great passion these days is water gardening, and BC readers
may recall his article about this hobby that appeared in a recent Braille Forum.
There's a tenacity to Humboldt chapter members that's delightfully infectious.
"I don't give up easily," said 69 year old Bernice Kistler, who has glaucoma and a narrow field of vision. "I started visiting the Senior Center at the
Light House when I was 64. I learned to ride the bus by myself, and to cook without cutting my fingers. I also learned to lobby the city council, our town
mayor, and the local parks to get our garden started. One guy had the nerve to tell me we couldn't put our garden on the dock because he didn't think it
was safe for a bunch of blind people to walk out there. I said he could go right on saying that, and that his comment revealed more about his ignorance
than about blind people."
"I think that our chapter brings together people who want to create positive change for all stakeholders in the community," says Ryan Estevo, "and Doug
Rose especially, is responsible for nurturing projects that advocate for people with all kinds of disabilities." In addition to his full-time studies at
Cal State Humboldt, Ryan is interning at the Department of Rehabilitation, where, in concert with the employment coordinator, he helps clients cultivate
such crucial skills as resumé writing, interviewing for work, and researching job possibilities. At 38 years of age, Ryan is no stranger to enormous life
changes. He lost the majority of his vision at the height of his career as a business analyst for Capital Records. He moved back to Humboldt, to his roots
of family and friends, and started the process of rebuilding his life. He spent time at the Orientation Center in Albany learning mobility, technology
and life skills that he now passes along to his clients. He displays an articulate compassion for others, and a ready smile that one hears even in a telephone
interview. When Ryan speaks of "breaking the cycle of ambivalence," the phrase is no abstraction. He volunteers at a local food bank, and is aware of his
community's diverse needs.
"We have a significant indigenous population," he says, "and costs of living, that, as in other parts of California, can be difficult to manage. And we're
a rural community, working for better public transportation, for bus service that extends to evening hours and on weekends."
Good public transportation is often a key component of independence for those of us who are blind and visually impaired. It enables us to attend city council
meetings that often occur in the evenings. It allows us to enjoy local theater and other forms of entertainment. And for the Humboldt Council of the blind,
it even plays a role in a current priority of increasing members' connection with nature. Creation of a new community forest in Eureka is in the works,
with 20 miles of trail running along the bay. There are also 1000 acres of public land behind the fair grounds. A priority for the Humboldt Council is
to make these public spaces accessible to blind and visually impaired people. Good public transportation, says Ryan, must be a part of that accessibility.
The council wants to make sure that bus routes have stops near the trail heads. "You have to be able to get to a place before you can start appreciating
it," he says. Once one arrives in the open space preserves, trail signage needs to be accessible, and trails need ropes or wooden bumpers that can guide
walkers.
The Humboldt Council of the Blind is a small, resourceful, multi-talented group of people who participate fully in their larger community, and enhance
that community's quality of life in myriad ways. Together they embody the credo that many hands accomplish great work, or, to borrow from a Polish folk
tune, "Many stones can form an arch."
