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Show Summary:
(Full Transcript Below)
Fly along with Blind Abilities as we transport you “audibly” to the Enchanted Hills Camp in Napa California, and the WW4B woodworking workshop hosted by the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind. There, way up on Veeder Mountain, Jeff Thompson caught up with one of his woodworking students, Bob Geyer. bob is blind and had a passion for woodworking before he lost his vision. Jeff and Bob chat about Bob’s experience with the tools and projects he worked on during the class and shares his experiences in transitioning into blindness. He opens up about his decision to take charge of his blindness and learning cane travel; his views on the rapidly changing technology, and even throws a shameless “shout out” to his instructors, George, Brian and Jeff, and the Blind Abilities podcast team!
Jump right into this brief, but entertaining and informative interview with Jeff and his guest, Bob Geyer!
If you are interested in learning more about WW4B, check them out on the web at www.ww4b.organd sign up for their email forum. A lot of experience and a lot of tips are shared.
If you are interested in Woodworking, contact your State Agency and find out what opportunities are available.
Thanks for Listening!
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Full Transcript:
Meet Bob Geyer at Woodworking for the Blind, WW4B, and the Enchanted Hills Camp in Napa, California
Pete Lane:
Hi folks Pete Lane here, welcome to Blind Abilities. Let’s go out west where Jeff Thompson spent a couple of weeks this summer.
Pete Lane:
Fly with me out to the Enchanted Hills Camp in Napa Valley, California, sponsored by the San Francisco Lighthouse for the blind. There way, way up on Veeder Mountain is where Jeff Thompson connected with is old friend George Wurtzel to teach a group of blind students the art of woodworking. One of those students is our guest today. Meet Bob Guyer.
Bob Guyer:
I’ve always been interested in woodworking when I had my full vision. I first found out about WW4B when I was looking for audio versions of woodworking magazines. I think the biggest thing is it improved my confidence in safety, in how to make sure that I am able to use my table saw again without cutting off a finger or anything. I think the most important thing I learned was not to wait to start using a cane.
Pete Lane:
Not only did Bob chat about his woodworking journey to Enchanted Hills, but he opened his life and his transition to blindness.
Bob Guyer:
What happened was I was walking down the sidewalk and a family was coming out of the library and I saw them, but I didn’t see their little toddler because he was in my blind area. That night I went home and I talked to my wife and I said, “I need help, I need to figure how to use a cane.”
Pete Lane:
His decision to take charge of his life.
Bob Guyer:
The thing that was nice about that is that I learned the mobility training in the environment that I was living in and working in every day, and that was a real, real big help.
Pete Lane:
His views on blindness.
Bob Guyer:
There’s just so many things out there to help us from talking tools for woodworkers, to navigation aides to help folks get around these days. I think we’re living in a great time with all the technology coming out for us.
Pete Lane:
And a bit more about his instructors.
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I’m Jeff Thompson.
Bob Guyer:
I told my wife, I said, “That’s Jeff Thompson, that’s Jeff Thompson.” And then I also heard George, the instructor here.
Jeff Thompson:
How are doing George?
George Wurtzel:
I’m doing pretty good. I’m here with the make-up people, and trying to get my hair right for this. And they want me to change shirts, they don’t like the shirt I’m wearing this morning. Just a minute here let me get my … Okay, yeah, okay. No I don’t like the hairspray.
Bob Guyer:
I had heard his voice from the interviews that you had done with him on Blind Abilities.
Pete Lane:
Oh yes, yes.
Bob Guyer:
So I knew the voices and I said, “I’m home, I’m with the folks that I’m here to work with.”
Pete Lane:
And yes, maybe even a shameless plug.
Bob Guyer:
I think you have like 429 episodes or something like that, that’s why I just binge listen. A lot of people binge watch television programs, so I binge listen to Blind Abilities.
Pete Lane:
We’ve got two listeners now. So kick back with me on Veeder Mountain as we join Jeff and his guest Bob Guyer.
Jeff Thompson:
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I’m Jeff Thomson. We’re at Enchanted Hills Camp at the WW4B, that’s ww4b.org on the website, Woodworkers for the Blind having their seventh annual up here on Veeder Mountain in San Francisco, part of the San Francisco Lighthouse for the blind and visually impaired. I’m with a fellow woodworker here Bob Guyer, how you doing?
Bob Guyer:
Hey Jeff, fine how are you?
Jeff Thompson:
I’m doing good thanks. So what brought you up here, other than the transport?
Bob Guyer:
Well, I first found out about WW4B when I was looking for audio versions of woodworking magazines, because I used to be able to read the magazines years ago. So I started searching around and I ran across WW4B, and then on their website they talked about their workshops that you all put together. You listed the summer workshop coming up at Veeder Mountain up here with Enchanted Hills, and so I had to sign up.
Jeff Thompson:
There you go. What got you interested in woodworking?
Bob Guyer:
Well, I’ve always been interested in woodworking. Mostly more carpentry type of woodworking, but I have made other small projects, furniture and that sort of thing, when I had my full vision. Since I lost my vision, I haven’t been able to enjoy it like I once did. And I’m retired now, and so I wanted to be able and do a lot of woodworking projects, and so I figured I needed to learn how to do everything with no vision.
Jeff Thompson:
So now that you’ve got to experience your first WW4B, what do you think you gathered out of it the most?
Bob Guyer:
Well, first of all, just the comradery with everybody. It’s a great group of folks up here, everybody was so helpful, and sharing ideas, and tips, and tricks, and how to do things better. I think the biggest thing is it improved my confidence in safety, and how to make sure that I’m able to use my table saw again without cutting off a finger or anything. So learning all the proper safety techniques.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah, meeting people that are doing the same things, and they’re doing the things a little differently, or they’re learning, or they all got hobbies. It’s a neat group of people that seem to always show up here.
Bob Guyer:
Yeah. It was fun because some folks … some of the woodworkers brought different tools, or other project ideas, or things from home, so we were able to see some different tools. Like one of the woodworkers is a piano tuner, and so he works on repairing pianos. It was interesting learning from him how he made different jigs and things to assist him in working on the pianos.
Jeff Thompson:
So we worked on making the candy dispensers, and got around to some of the tools, but you decided to make another project too. Can you describe that?
Bob Guyer:
Right. Well, it was basically a simple box. It’s a box to put over the top of a kleenex box, so you kind of hide the kleenex box. And fortunately George had a beautiful piece of walnut that he gave me to plane down and cut up to size and make the box out of. So it turned our really, really nice. So I was very, very pleased with both. The little candy machine, that project was fun. I enjoyed the production line aspects of everybody pitching in and doing different aspects of it, and then we finally each settled in on a particular machine that we sort of claimed as ours, and put it together. And we either rounded it or routed the corners different ways, and stained it, and polished it, and made it our own.
Bob Guyer:
Oh, one of the things I really, really learned and I never had the opportunity before, was to use a lathe. In the candy machine there’s a wheel on the bottom, kind of like a turning tray if you will that brings the candy out of the jar. So those were all hand turned on the lathe, and that was my very first experience at ever using a lathe. The instructors were great at showing you how to use the lathe, and I was just floored at the little wheel as we call them, that I was able to produce. I was very excited about that.
Jeff Thompson:
You also when you went into making your kleenex box, you started out with a very thick piece of wood, and you planed it down, then you joined it … then you ripped it to square it off, then you brought it to size.
Bob Guyer:
Yes.
Jeff Thompson:
So you went to the whole entire … the gauntlet.
Bob Guyer:
Yes. That was fun to take a particular project that I wanted to make. Not that I didn’t want to make the candy machine, but a personal project, and taking that from the raw wood all the way down to the finished product, and using all of the machines. The planer is just a fabulous, fabulous planer that they have here in the workshop, and then the large belt sander to run the wood through. And I learned different tricks on using the click rule to–
Jeff Thompson:
The quarter inch?
Bob Guyer:
Yeah, the little quarter inch. Taking into account the little foot on the bottom of the click rule, and being able to put that up against a jig say and extending it so that you can measure more easily, instead of trying to just feel with your finger and trying to line it up on the edge of the board. Just being able to hook it over the edge of the board. And didn’t think about adding that extra quarter of an inch to the board to make it work.
Speaker 5:
Yeah, California baby Bill.
Jeff Thompson:
We just got power back on the dinner hall. We’re sitting outside the dinner hall right by the lake here.
Jeff Thompson:
So what other hobbies do you have Bob?
Bob Guyer:
Well, I like to do an awful lot of hiking. So my wife and I every day, we’re out on a hike and we probably do about 30, 35 miles a week. So that, and then we also work with the dog rescue organization. So we do an awful lot of work with fostering dogs and rescuing senior dogs, so that takes a lot of our time, but we really–
Jeff Thompson:
Keeps you busy?
Bob Guyer:
Keeps us busy, yeah.
Jeff Thompson:
So Bob what recommendations would you have for someone who is walking in your own shoes with RP, as you’ve progressed from knowing you had it to the point where you are today?
Bob Guyer:
I think the most important thing I learned was not to wait to start using a cane. I waited way too long to begin using a cane, just out of male stubbornness, or embarrassment or something from using a cane. But once I came to the realization that I needed to use the cane, then went and got the mobility training, oh, my life has been so much easier being able to get around and feel safe that I’m not going to walk into anything, or into anybody.
Jeff Thompson:
So when you start to accept it?
Bob Guyer:
Yes.
Jeff Thompson:
Yeah.
Bob Guyer:
Yeah. And not be embarrassed about it. One of the things I did is, I was still working when I came to the realization that I needed to use a cane. What happened was I was walking down the sidewalk and going around the corner of our public library, and a family was coming out of the library. And I saw them, but I didn’t see their little toddler because he was in my blind area of my peripheral vision. And I walked right over the top of the little boy, he went down and his head hit the concrete, and he was crying and I started to cry, because I was so worried about him. Fortunately he was fine, nothing serious happened to him. But that night I went home and talked to my wife and I said, “I need help, I need to figure out how to use a cane.” So that was the start of it.
Bob Guyer:
And I was still working at that time, and I sent an E-mail out to everybody in our entire organization, like 300 plus people. And told them about my eye disease and that they were going to see me with a trainer walking around the city, and in city facilities learning how to use a cane. And that I wasn’t embarrassed about using the cane, and I felt comfortable if they wanted to come up and ask me a question, please come up and ask a question. I mentioned to them, “Don’t be embarrassed for me”. I just wanted everybody to know what had happened to me, or why the change. Because I know they would see me and just wonder, and so I just wanted to put everybody to ease right from the beginning. And I think that was a big help too.
Jeff Thompson:
Another thing that you’re talking about when you mention that don’t be afraid to use a cane. Start using it before you absolutely have to, so you get acclimated to it.
Bob Guyer:
Right.
Jeff Thompson:
You also mentioned that you’re start thinking about voice screen readers and stuff.
Bob Guyer:
Yes. Well, since I’ve retired my RP has progressed even further. I’ve used zoom text for quite a while, but I keep upping the magnification all the time, and I’m getting to the point where there’s just a few letters on the screen that I can read. And so I decided to start to learn Jaws, and so I put Jaws on my computer so I could learn that before I could no longer read with zoom text.
Jeff Thompson:
That’s one of the things I find mostly, is people put it off, put it off, put it off, put it off, and then it’s a crashing blow to them when they can’t do either.
Jeff Thompson:
So you went to mobility training?
Bob Guyer:
Yes.
Jeff Thompson:
And did you get that through your state?
Bob Guyer:
I got that through the Vista Center for the Blind in Santa Cruz, California.
Jeff Thompson:
What was that like?
Bob Guyer:
Well, it was really nice because the instructor came to my house and met with my wife and I, and explained to both of us what was going to happen, and explained to her about being a sighted guide to help me when I needed it. But then we started right from there and started walking around my neighborhood, and through intersections, and learning how to navigate busy intersections with a cane. He also helped me ride the bus, since I wasn’t able to drive I was riding the bus to work. So he rode on the bus with me, and had to get on and off the bus. He went to my place of work and walked all around the office. Spent the day with me and saw everything I did. I had to walk to a lot of different locations as part of my job, and so we walked to all of those locations with my cane. And he pointed out all the different little tips and tricks.
Bob Guyer:
So the thing that was nice about that, is that I learned the mobility training in the environment that I was living in and working in every day, and that was a real, real big help. We also went to a local shopping mall, so I was in a real crowded situation and learned how to get on and off escalators, and that sort of thing.
Jeff Thompson:
So it was a good experience getting some training?
Bob Guyer:
Yes, absolutely. It certainly boosts your confidence that you can do things, and you don’t have to be isolated and stay home. And now a days with the technology, it’s advancing so rapidly, there’s just so many things out there to help us from talking tools for woodworkers, to navigation aids to help folks get around these days. We’re living in a great time with all the technology coming out for us.
Jeff Thompson:
Not to toot my own horn, or Blind Abilities horn, but when we first met and you came in here and went down to the dining hall, you said something like, “I listen to 50 of your podcasts.” And your wife says, “Yes, he has.”
Bob Guyer:
Yeah. I had been listening to Blind Abilities once I found you, and then I found your website and found how I could download a whole bunch of your episodes. Well, no what I did was, I was able to sync my Victor Reader. That was the big thing is that I used Victor Reader. And I think you had mentioned on one of your shows about putting that into your podcast player, and so I put that into Victor Reader and bam it popped right up. I went through … I think you have like 429 episodes or something like that, and I listened to the title of everyone of those, and some of them I would click and listen to the extra description on it. And then I started saying, “Okay, set that one for download, set that one for download, set that one for download.” And before I knew it I had 54 of them downloaded.
Bob Guyer:
And so I just binge listening. A lot of people binge watch television programs, so I binge listened to 54 episodes of Blind Abilities. You guys do a fabulous job at Blind Abilities with all the podcasts that you put out.
Jeff Thompson:
We’ve got two listeners now?
Bob Guyer:
Well, we’re dedicated listeners.
Jeff Thompson:
It is really fun to be up here. The group that was before you, the music group, and I was sitting next to someone and he said, “I know your voice.” And I said, “I’m Jeff Thomson.” And he goes, “You’re blind abilities.” It’s a small world, and he worked up in Victoria, Canada, and they suggest it to their students. So it was just one of those things that you’re up on a mountain, out in the middle of nowhere and these people … It’s a small world, but on this mountain there’s a lot of great people.
Bob Guyer:
Right. Well was it–
Jeff Thompson:
Always this fun.
Bob Guyer:
— the same situation when we all first got together in the dining hall, the first day of woodworking. A little bit of orientation about the facility and what we were going to be doing and that sort of thing. But, while we were milling around, I heard your voice off in the distance and I told my wife, I said, “That’s Jeff Thompson, that’s Jeff Thompson.” And then I also heard George, the main instructor here. I had heard his voice from the interviews that you had done with him on Blind Abilities.
Jeff Thompson:
Oh, yes, yes.
Bob Guyer:
And also from the television commercial that George starred in, so I knew the voices and I said, “I’m home. I’m with the folks that I’m here to work with.”
Jeff Thompson:
You binged and you’re still hearing our voices.
Bob Guyer:
Yep, yep. I’ve enjoyed it all, it’s been great.
Jeff Thompson:
Well, Bob Guyer thank you so much for coming on the Blind Abilities. I’m keeping you from dinner so that’s not a good thing. Thanks a lot Bob.
Bob Guyer:
Well, thank you Jeff, and thank you to everybody with Blind Abilities. You all do a great job, your correspondence out at the conventions, and just all of you. Very, very thankful that you have the program for us. So thanks.
Jeff Thompson:
Alright.
Pete Lane:
This concludes our visit with Bob Guyer. We’d like to thank Bob for taking time out of his day to chat with Jeff. And for all of you out there, thanks so much for listening, and have a great day.
Pete Lane:
For more podcasts with a Blindness Perspective check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com. We’re on Twitter, we’re on Facebook, and be sure to check out our free app in the Apple app store, and the Google Play store.