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'It's a real confidence builder' [The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson](Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 23--Somewhere in space, satellites that spin among the stars have made darkness less depressing for Marine Corps veteran Dan Standage. Legally blind due to a medical mishap related to his military service, he's now able to get around with Global Positioning System assistance, a high-tech navigation skill he learned at Tucson's veterans hospital. On bus trips to the mall or to his job, Standage consults his GPS-enabled iPhone for precise directions about where he is and where he's headed. The setup has given him a sense of mastery that wasn't possible until recently, when such systems became widely available for personal use. "It's a real confidence builder," said Standage, 35, who can't see with his left eye and has limited use of his right. His vision loss was linked to a vaccine he received for Japanese encephalitis while stationed in Okinawa, he said. Depression over his predicament kept him homebound for the first few years, he said. "I sat at home for about two years doing a whole lot of sleeping and drinking." Today the Rita Ranch resident is a happily married father of three, and works as the coordinator of a University of Arizona program that aims to make the campus veteran-friendly. "Now I'm independent. I can take the bus across town and find my way," Standage said. "Three or four years ago, I wouldn't have even considered getting out there on my own." Standage is one of about 65 veterans who have taken GPS training at the Southwestern Blind Rehabilitation Center, part of the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System. Since it opened in 1994, the center has served more than 4,000 blind or partially blind veterans from several Western states. It offers an array of help -- anything from food-preparation classes to training in how to use a white cane. The GPS navigation program was added in 2006. The GPS units, which cost $900 to $1,700 each, are provided to veterans free. Some, like Standage, have switched to iPhones as applications have become more user-friendly. Some of the center's blind clients, wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan, are members of a generation that grew up with high-tech gadgetry. Most, though, served in earlier conflicts and have lost their sight due to age-related causes. For them, learning to use the satellite-based devices can be intimidating. "Us old-timers are kind of out of the loop," David Noreika, 77, an Air Force veteran from the Korean War era, said as he practiced GPS training near Fourth Avenue recently. A robotlike voice alerted him to upcoming intersections as he swept the sidewalks in front of him with a white cane. "It's difficult. There's a lot to remember. But it's something I have to learn," said Noreika, who has glaucoma and can see only shapes and shadows. "This is going to give me the freedom to go places without being petrified that I won't be able to find my way." Sidney Shoemaker, 72, a Korean War Air Force veteran with optic nerve damage, relishes the thought of increased independence. "It's going to take some getting used to," he said as his GPS unit called out directions in a raspy frog voice. "But it's going to be worth it." To learn more For more information about the Southwestern Blind Rehabilitation Center and its services for veterans, call David Clarke at 792-1450, ext. 5608 Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at [email protected] or at 573-4138. To see more of The Arizona Daily Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.azstarnet.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |