Latest / Podcasts By Donna Jodhan / Remarkable World Commentary Episode #58: Interview with Dan Thompson, Founder, Fresh Start of Jacksonville, Illinois

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Remarkable World Commentary Episode #58: Interview with Dan Thompson, Founder, Fresh Start of Jacksonville, Illinois · Podcasts By Donna Jodhan

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Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Donna J Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA invites you to listen to
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her biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary.
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Here, donna shares some of her innermost thoughts,
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insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners.
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Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids,
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especially kids with disabilities.
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Donna is a blind advocate, author, site loss coach,
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dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur,
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law graduate, and podcast commentator.
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She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge,
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skills, and expertise in access technology and information as someone who has been
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internationally recognized for her work and roles,
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she just wants to make things better than possible.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary.
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I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly
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through sound, touch and stubborn optimism.
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I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant,
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author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind.
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You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010,
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I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites
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accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones.
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In July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen
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disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently,
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on June 3rd, 2022. I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for
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tireless commitment to removing barriers.
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When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or in a pottery studio,
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you will find me coaching kids with vision loss,
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producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies make their gadgets
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talk back in plain language.
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Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into
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everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where
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policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas.
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Now, before we jump into today's conversation,
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let me shine a spotlight on today's Guest changemaker,
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whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build.
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I am pleased to welcome my dear friend Dan Thompson to my remarkable world commentary.
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Welcome to you, Dan.
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Dan Thompson: Well, thank you very much for the honor.
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I'm looking forward to it.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And we've known each other for so many years,
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and we started out many years ago when you came into my life,
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you were my technology expert on a daily basis.
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And then now, for the past many years, you are my daily devotion specialist.
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And I welcome you to my show.
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Dan Thompson: Thank you.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: So, Dan, let's get started.
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All right.
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Dan Thompson: All right.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Then. You've spoken about facing serious adversity.
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Adversity at a young age.
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How did those early experiences shape the educator,
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technologist and community builder that you have become?
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Dan Thompson: Well, it gave me great determination to try to become more than my immediate family
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thought I could and achieve things they thought were not possible.
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It helped me endure a lot of negativity as I grew up and wanted to do things,
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and many people said, you can't do that, can't do that.
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But it made me grow in willpower and determination.
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Because I was constantly reminded I was retarded and I would end up on public aid and
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kept in the basement most of my young youth life.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, dear.
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Dan Thompson: I had some rather severe punishments that would be.
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Make your skin cringe.
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Cringe if I told you I didn't behave quite right.
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And some of the punishments were quite extreme.
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So I made it my goal when I got out of school.
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Never to make anyone else go through that kind of thing and not feel sorry for myself.
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Even though when I was a youth I thought I got mad because everybody else can go outside
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and you know, when they're home.
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But I went home for summer, Easter, Christmas,
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Thanksgiving and summers were hell.
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Sorry for the word, but they I wasn't allowed to have any friends,
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and it was very isolated.
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So when I finally became high school, graduated,
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I actually left home. I walked across the stage with nothing,
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and my parents very very prejudiced.
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And I had too many friends that were of not the right color that they thought I should be
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with. So you can't live with us with these feelings,
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with these opinions. Be gone.
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So I had was going to do.
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When I graduated, I just walked off the stage and lived in the streets for a few weeks.
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I did things you wouldn't want to do.
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I ate out of garbage dumps behind gas stations.
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But and I basked in the basked in the gas station,
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I think. But I finally got hold of a friend that let me move in with him for a couple
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months. And then I went to Chicago.
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To the Illinois. What did they call it back then?
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It was where you got college prep.
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But they called it i3 wood.
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Now. That's right. But it had another name back then.
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And so I got ready to go to college and but still,
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when I got out of there I was right back in where I started because I didn't have a job,
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had no money. So I would go to public and they got $200 a month.
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The rent was 160. So there were some times when I went without food for a couple of
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weeks. So I went through the hard, hard knocks.
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But my faith helped me get through a lot of it.
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And a lot of the people in the apartment building where I was helped me out quite a
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bit. And then finally I got got married on March 10th,
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1972. And this for years now, and one of my saving graces and
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helped me get out of stuff. And so I, I started out working at workshops,
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work and even back then when I would, I would work 12 hours a day also selling
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newspapers sometimes. And when I would walk home,
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which Yes, that's a good deal.
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I'm going to take a bus to that.
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Homeless people approached me and ask me for money.
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And even though I didn't have much, I could not say no to them.
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So I always knew. I remembered when I was there.
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I was lucky that was. I don't know how far you want me to go with this,
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but then I, I finished working in the vending stand program and in Illinois,
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and there is where I started on a flagpole for for 17 days and 14 hours,
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I completed let's see, 460 mile walks.
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And I did a lot of fundraising for different organizations.
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And then I got finally when I wanted to go to college before the rehabilitation person that
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had me said I wasn't good enough for college,
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even though I was a top in my class.
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But he didn't like me.
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So then a friend of mine who graduated, who got who was in the same school as me,
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she got that job and sent me to school, and I graduated on the Dean's list and got
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put on my diploma. And so I that at that point it was,
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you know, teaching at a couple different schools and finally ended up at Illinois
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School for the Visually Impaired. And there I walked across the state of Illinois for the
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disaster relief fund in New York with A911 and that we raised about 15,000,
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I think. So and then I had the I think you mentioned somewhere in your questions
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about fresh start and that kind of thing.
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Do you want me to wait till you ask me about that? Yeah.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Let's just wait. Let's just take each question.
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Dan Thompson: I'll try to watch my mouth.
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Yeah.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, so let me ask you the next question.
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Then. You spent decades teaching assistive technology at the Illinois School for the
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Visually Impaired. From your vantage point, what did success look like for your students
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and how did you design instruction to get them there?
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Dan Thompson: Well, my idea was success is to be independent and be willing to try new things
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and then use that knowledge in their everyday life to be more independent.
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Now, some people, some of my students would be what you call a slow learner,
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and people give up on them.
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But I did not. I found something that they could do that I would usually ask them what
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their interests are and what they like to do,
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and I would try to find something that would help stimulate that.
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Here's a few examples.
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One guy wanted to be an FBI agent.
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He still, even now I got in trouble for my principal for telling them they can't do
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that. You can't say you can't do that.
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That is. That's ridiculous.
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Because if you're blind total, you're not going to be an FBI agent and go
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best people in such. So we worked on keyboarding and stuff where he could be at
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the desk in a place like that or completing reports for other people and doing that kind
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of thing. And so he finally did get that kind of a thing.
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And another person. Was really low, partial,
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and he wanted to fly airplanes, and he wanted to work on an airplane in an
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airport. Once again, I told him he can't do that,
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but the principal said.
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He can't do it. So really, how are we going to fly an airplane?
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Well, you say maybe one day he can.
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I say, forget that. But we got it to where he could be in an airport.
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And what he really wanted to do was look out the window at the airplanes.
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And so he was a janitor.
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So he felt happy about that?
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He felt like he was flying the plane, but he wasn't.
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So on the brighter end of the scale I would convince the kids how important
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the computer was an assistive technology was for their success.
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And somebody tells them they can't do something.
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Say yes, I can. Give me a chance because I had it happen to my own self.
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When I went, when I first started applying for jobs,
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before I had a college education, the minute you walk in,
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you're blind. You're out.
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They only give you a chance.
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And I would try to convince them to let me show you.
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I can run that machine, or I can do that task.
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No, that's too dangerous to have you around.
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So I would try to build a confidence.
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A confidence in the kids that believe in their self.
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And don't let people tell you you're not able to do that.
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But gently convince them, like, do a test, I think.
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How would you do that? And then use the knowledge you have with computers like
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making. I tell them how to make podcasts.
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And I got one guy who really wanted to be on the radio,
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but he didn't really have the voice for it to be on continuously.
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So we talked to the local radio station and made commercial podcasts,
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and several of them got published up there, and I also told them how to take apart their
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own computer and put it back together again so they wouldn't pay high expenses for repair
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people to come in with simple things like putting a new hard drive in or putting a new
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memory in. It's a little bit different nowadays,
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but we got we got 150 computers from Dell to play with.
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Belongs to us. And so we gave about 125 of those away eventually through my project
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called all. Bye bye. Bye.
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How would we do that? Achieving success by providing individuals with recycled equipment
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that later on to start, because I couldn't get a lawyer that would
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help me be a non-for-profit.
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They wanted to charge a 10 to 15, $20,000.
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Finally, a friend of mine only charged me 1000.
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And so I got a fresh start started in 2017.
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So we can do fundraising, but we still do the same thing.
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We fix computers for people free, and then anybody who wants to learn how to do
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it themselves, we're still going to show them how to connect everything up.
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And and I do the same thing with their iPhones.
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How to do simple stuff.
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And then you don't have to pay all the costs become expensive to come over there,
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and they feel a whole lot more confident About themselves and that they can.
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I can't tell you how many times a sighted person has wondered,
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like, what are you doing inside that computer and doing that?
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Take that stuff apart.
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And it works when you get it back together?
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Well, I taught most of that, I taught myself.
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So I don't know if that covered all your wonders there,
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but if you want more, I'll tell you more.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, when you led the opening doors sessions to families,
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which stools, stools or strategies can consistently made the biggest difference?
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Dan Thompson: And why did you want to make a correction?
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I didn't actually lead open doors. I was one of the teachers in Open Doors.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right.
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Dan Thompson: Led that thing. But and we dealt with well, let's say birth to six.
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But I never saw any of those little ones.
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Mine was usually 4 to 6.
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And I would find out what games they liked because they were really into games and toys.
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And so I would find games that they could play on the computer that had speech.
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And we would play math games and little history games.
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And then I also told them at that young age how to take the keyboard off the computer and
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put it back on again, how the monitor up and,
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you know, take it off how to hook speakers up.
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I never had them open up the computer because I would get a little bit too much for them.
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So we would do, you know, word games and stuff and have a contest.
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And some of the parents, after they got home,
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said their children just loved those games.
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And you want to know where we got them. And so we did provide some laptops.
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Talked to people that we got free, and I still do that and I can't remember.
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There was a guy I worked with in Nf-b, Robert or Bobby.
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I can't remember his last name.
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We had a deal going where he would send me names of who needed the computer,
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and so I send it to him and he would give it to them.
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But it got to where too many of them were out of state,
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and I didn't know people, so I didn't like that.
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I just quit doing that program.
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And I like to keep my activities in Illinois and not all over the US,
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because there's a lot of people in Illinois that need the need,
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the need, the different stuff.
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And so if you get what their interest is and start focusing on it and make it fun
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and they don't realize they're learning.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And.
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Dan Thompson: They get in class, first grade or kindergarten.
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And they can do math, basic math pretty good.
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And because they play with these games with their moms and dads and we did some other
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little building projects with Legos and blocks and stuff.
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And so basically I tried to bring it all down to their level,
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and I would make sure I found out what are their hobbies or what really makes them
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interested in stuff. And we would also go out and feed the birds and measure how much they
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ate every day. And that and in the classroom I had two chinchillas
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two hedgehogs, two guinea pigs, a rabbit and a squirrel and two parakeets.
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And then once a year we had 50 chickens.
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Sometimes patients would have it in their hand.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh.
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Dan Thompson: Yeah, and you could hear that chickens pecking through the shell if you put it up by
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your ear. That was a lot of fun.
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And they got to where they weren't afraid to touch the animal to pick them up.
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And that was sort of cool, too.
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123. I had a hedgehog once and it was cold, and I took her out to clean the cage,
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and I laid her up in a windowsill and I forgot her overnight,
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so she froze solid. Sounds not funny, but I looked on Google and it said if you put
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it on a heat lamp, she comes out of it.
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And she did. Just as happy as nothing happened.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow.
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Dan Thompson: Yes, the bunny rabbit was trained to come in and out of his cage when he needed to take
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care of stuff. We didn't let her wander around because we had that.
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Because a mother got Another got killed.
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And so we had squirrel.
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And then one time we had two opossums in the classroom because a mom got killed with
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seven. So we got them in bottles with them.
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And then we found out that you had to enlist your teacher.
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You can't have them. And after two years old,
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because they have dormant rabies in it.
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So when they were a year and a half and put them in the woods and gave them a £50 bag of
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dog food and like, they wouldn't let go of my fingers because I was their mom or dad or
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whatever. But the kids thought was cool to put them out there.
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We had about five kids in class then.
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We always would take a field trip once a week.
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So that's sort of what I did there.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, you served as the first blind disability adjudicator for the state of Illinois.
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What did that role teach you about systems, fairness,
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and the realities people encounter when they seek support?
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Dan Thompson: Well when I got there, they thought they had everything set up for
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me, but they didn't.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh.
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Dan Thompson: Advocate for myself. Really a lot.
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And so one of the big things was you were supposed to finish or complete 25 folders or
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people documents a week, and you had to have a reader.
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I did, because I'm blind.
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And so first, they weren't providing the readers any parking space.
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So it cost them $100 a month to be there.
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So of course they didn't really want to be there. And I had to go to the top of that
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security Given the administration manager and say,
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hey, you're going to have me there.
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You're going to be you got to provide equal ability for these people to help me.
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So they did that. But then they wanted her or it was him sometimes to do all the typing up
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the notes on the computer instead of giving me at that time it was window wise.
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And then they finally got to be jaws.
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So that took another fight, and it took a lot of courage to go against
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the administration or the system, as we call it.
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Because they come up with all kinds of reasons why you you got this.
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You got a girl, a person that can help it all up.
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Just let her do that. Well, what am I doing just sitting on my fat butt,
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flopping the folder over to her, and I'm doing nothing.
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So I, I've hired to do a job.
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So let me do my job. And so we got past that.
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Well, then the there's a person that took care of all the files for floor,
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and they would bring you files in that you were supposed to deal with that day.
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But everything that files in our right is just slap them on top of the filing cabinet
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and not tell me they were there.
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So get them down. And I have my reader tell me who their names were,
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and I write the names, the sticky stuff, and put the name on the on
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the file folder. Oh, you thought I committed a mortal sin because my supervisor came in
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and said, you you marred up the file of a of a person's information.
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I said, how would I do that?
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Look right there that those dots.
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I said, that's my way of reading, and that's how I can get that file out
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independently and take it over to the reader and have a read me some stuff so I can make
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determinations. So it was overcoming a lot of that.
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And then and then the next thing was trying to get a scanner so I could scan some of the
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stuff that was not good.
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Reading, poor reading, so we could fix it.
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So of course we had to jump through hurdles for that. So I only worked there for two
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years. And then I finally got on at ISB in 1992.
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But and I, and I reminded students of this, remember,
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your past goes with you and some people.
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Don't forget it. As a kid, I was a little troublemaker.
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And Because that's what brats are when they're little.
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And I was everywhere I was supposed to be.
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I used to go through the tunnels underneath the campus.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, boy.
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Dan Thompson: On top of all the buildings, and one time I climbed up the side of a four
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story building and sat on the roof, and there the principal to come and get me.
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But I came down. But anyway, when I applied for a job there that was sort
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of remembered, and I had 50 interviewed, 50 referrals from other superintendents and
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people in my career field that taught me and stuff.
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And I finally had to go to my senator and talk to them.
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Laura Kent Donahue and told her, look, here's what I got.
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I have scholar on my diploma and almost straight A's through all my stuff.
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I have changed, I'm not that boy anymore.
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So they were forced to be called, and they forced them to hire me.
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And they were not very nice to me the first year,
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but then the principal came to me and she says,
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I want to apologize, you excellent teacher, and I am thankful that we hired you.
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You're patient and you're good with kids and you and see,
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back then my kids were low functioning and they would tell me they can't do math.
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They can't remember they can't do this and that.
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So I got the idea of doing math in rhyme.
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And I would, I would make these tapes.
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I would record them on a they called it.
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Well, you can record them and hear the music do a lot about the name of them anyway.
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And some of the kids, even still today that are in their 30s,
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remember some of those rhymes I did like 50 plus.
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That's like five plus five is ten.
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Get yourself a hen hand or something.
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It's really dumb stuff.
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And they remember that.
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And then I did the same thing with history facts.
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And a couple kids were told or their parents told me they had no long term memory.
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So we would do poems every Christmas and Thanksgiving program and Easter.
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And those kids remembered that stuff, and I got them on tape with music in the
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background. And they were so proud of themselves for doing that.
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Now of course the higher functions have a lot more. I had them do a lot more challenging
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things. We had math battles and history quest and and they got awards for that.
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But I also had them keep track of the birds outside as far as how much we fed them every
29:08
day and which birds. I'm like birds.
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I'm a birder, I guess you call it.
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And we would take field trips to places in town,
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like the fluid plant to Coca-Cola and Pepsi plant and places where they might wonder how
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how those things are made or what all happened.
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And we had a great mobility teacher administrator.
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We would go out in fields and show them how they cut the corn and pull the beans off the
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stalk and all that kind of stuff.
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And I also encouraged them when we walk downtown when they're old enough to do that.
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Always listen ahead of yourself, because you never know what's going to pull
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in front of you on, on the sidewalk.
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And a friend of mine he didn't listen quite well.
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He was he was my age, and he was a switchboard operator.
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He doesn't listen, but he walked behind a truck and backed over him and broke his legs.
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Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Ouch.
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Dan Thompson: Yeah, but he. So now he has a little trouble in his legs.
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He's all right now. He's as old as I am.
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But I share that with him.
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I said you gotta. And so sometimes we just stand still.
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I said, what do you hear?
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First they will say cars.
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I said, what else? Then they will start saying the names of birds.
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Or I heard somebody yell to somebody down the sidewalk.
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You always have to be open.
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If you're going to be a blind person or low vision.
30:38
Low vision don't always see everything either partially sighted. So you got to keep all
30:42
your environmental awareness going all the time.
30:49
So I wanted to have them increase their confidence in independent travel and just
30:54
independence all around.
30:56
So I guess I learned a lot about that.
31:02
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Help listeners to understand your pedagogy when a student or an adult comes to you with
31:11
a goal school, work or independent living?
31:17
How do you assess needs and build a practical training path?
31:24
Path. Sorry.
31:25
Dan Thompson: Well, here's what I do. I start with the very lowest people I used to work with.
31:30
Low functioning that they could.
31:33
They talk really well, but they were terrible at math,
31:36
and they would not really get much higher than eighth grade in school.
31:40
But I would show them things like how to make coffee,
31:48
put toast in the toaster and do that, and how to fry an egg without being burned or
31:53
hurt with them. You know that you can do that ways.
31:59
And the microwave is a good idea.
32:01
And we even mopped the plaster and floor, but we did it on our hands and knees because
32:10
as a person, that's what you'd rather do.
32:12
If you want to make sure you get everything clean, totally blind. Unless you have a
32:18
really good layout of your surroundings.
32:21
But I usually do it on my hands and knees and and then we would see what kind of foods they
32:27
like and where they were hoping to live when they got to school.
32:33
And they said, well, with mom and Dad, I said,
32:38
have you heard of an independent living center? Have you ever heard of.
32:41
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes.
32:42
Dan Thompson: Like that. And then they said they would tell their parents about that,
32:45
and I would invite the parents in to let them see their child is not going to catch on fire
32:52
if he goes by a stove.
32:55
You can put your hand over the burner to feel the flame.
32:58
You know, if you have a pan on it, you can get an idea where it is.
33:03
And judge where you are there.
33:07
And there's all kinds of ways to cook and not get hurt.
33:12
And we showed them how to make coffee because a lot of them love coffee.
33:20
And then we made simple meals like macaroni and cheese and hot dogs and stuff.
33:26
And if we ever had a where we had to use a recipe book that had a recipe with more than
33:32
one thing in it, we would just take it one at a time.
33:36
And those who couldn't read Braille.
33:38
And then I had back then, cassettes.
33:42
But once we got the Victor streams use those.
33:44
I had a lot of cookbooks, simple recipes that they could listen to.
33:51
Do that step, stop the picture screen and start it and do that step.
33:58
And then there's a few really good nowadays.
34:00
Really good people online.
34:03
This one called cooking in the dark.
34:05
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, yes, yes.
34:07
Dan Thompson: And there's a couple others a lonely blind chap with Desiree.
34:12
Renee is another one. And then double tap is another really good one.
34:19
Anyway, so those weren't available back then.
34:22
So I would make podcasts and recordings on the Victor String for them to go step by
34:28
step, and we'd have them prepare lunch and it might.
34:33
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Be.
34:34
Dan Thompson: Sandwiches being very jolly.
34:37
Or if we had hamburgers we would just put hamburger in the pan.
34:43
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And.
34:44
Dan Thompson: No one, none of it. If you just touch the top of hamburger and press on it,
34:48
you can tell if it's getting done without having to worry about burning your finger.
34:53
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right.
34:54
Dan Thompson: So it's all kinds of those things I've learned through life that I teach them mostly
35:01
not to be afraid.
35:03
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Aid.
35:03
Dan Thompson: Of stove or hot water or coffee pots.
35:10
And another thing is not to be afraid about plugging stuff in.
35:15
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right.
35:17
Dan Thompson: Getting the prongs right.
35:18
I said it's not going to shock you.
35:22
Put it right in there.
35:24
And some of the parents couldn't believe their students could plug a plug a radio in
35:30
or a pod in or whatever.
35:31
They were afraid of them getting burnt.
35:34
And the biggest hurdle to overcome is like, if you have something you put in the oven to
35:39
bake and how the get the baked potato out of there.
35:45
So you just put a glove on and reach in there and,
35:48
and you can squeeze it to tell if it's done.
35:50
Actually that's an example.
35:53
But so as far as how to make them be independent,
35:57
I just wouldn't do things like they wanted to do,
36:00
and I did them with them to show it can be done.
36:03
And I also made sure I involve the parents so they can see their child is not going to
36:09
break and fall down and fall apart and suddenly really change their viewpoint since
36:15
that. There you go. I start with the smallest and work up the more difficult stuff.
36:23
That's what you really should do.
36:25
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Now you founded an organization called aspire which involved evolved
36:35
into the fresh start of Jacksonville.
36:38
Okay. To devices and to provide one on one training.
36:46
What problems were you trying to solve?
36:49
And how does your model actually work from intake to following up.
36:57
Dan Thompson: Here's what we do. Way back then.
37:00
Yeah. First time I thought about doing this is when my superintendent said,
37:05
hey, the department of what was it?
37:09
Bureau of Blind Services, I think back then,
37:11
has a whole bunch of equipment they're getting rid of that they bought through
37:17
insurance money. And so we have the freedom to go over there and get some of that.
37:22
So I think. Yeah. So I got some inboxes and various other stuff and brought it back to
37:27
school. But in the meantime, I found out about the state warehouse.
37:32
And the state warehouse has all kinds of technology and computers,
37:37
and I mean, just anything, the various institutions that are not being
37:41
used. And I said, how can I get those computers and stuff that a blind person could
37:48
use? Well, you got to be an administrator.
37:51
Well, I wasn't, so I couldn't do that.
37:53
So I thought, well, what if I put an ad in the paper saying,
37:59
I would like to have gently used computers and equipment refurbished to provide
38:07
individuals with recycled equipment. That's where I got providing individuals with
38:11
Freecycle, providing individuals with recycled equipment to improve their
38:18
independence. I can't remember.
38:22
Not all fit into that whole aspire word.
38:27
And so once I bought me a truckload of old computers and a large amount of it couldn't
38:36
be used, but I got out of about 30, I got five.
38:42
That's all right. The rest I put through recycling.
38:45
And then Boeing heard about me, and so they gave the school.
38:51
They had to give it to a facility to get the tax credit.
38:54
They gave the school 150 Dell computers took those and put them in the basement of one of
39:01
the dorms. And we would use them in the classroom to show the kids.
39:08
I said they had to and this is usually seventh grade and up in order to make it in
39:15
this little computer class that just got started,
39:18
you have to be able to take everything out of this computer and put it back in and make it
39:21
run. And that was a goal.
39:24
And they did. But see, then the the memory sticks came out nicely
39:31
and it was easy to find ports on the motherboard to connect stuff,
39:36
whereas now it's a little bit more sophisticated.
39:40
I can still hook up a motherboard, but sometimes it's hard to hook those cables
39:44
in the right places. Because they have they're not marked differently and they're
39:49
not. And then the memory is a lot different.
39:53
I still do it, but it takes me a little while,
39:55
but then some of my kids still remember.
39:58
Yeah. He told us you're not leaving unless you can put one of these together.
40:03
So we provided about 500 people over the years.
40:08
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow.
40:09
Dan Thompson: Computers and laptops.
40:12
And then we had to put a new CD burner.
40:18
And that's now, unfortunately, with any program,
40:24
non-for-profit or something like that, you have lots of what I want to use users
40:32
that take advantage of the program.
40:34
I always told them you can't sell the equipment,
40:37
but you can bring it back and I'll fix it for free.
40:40
But we had about, I'd say ten people sell the equipment after we fixed it for them.
40:48
And I found out about it in most cases through the grapevine.
40:52
And they didn't. We didn't help them anymore.
40:56
And but most of them were about 10 or 15 people made it through college by our,
41:04
through our computers because the state wouldn't buy them the equipment.
41:10
They hadn't proved themselves, they said.
41:12
And then some of them, if you don't have an ID,
41:17
which is a plan for career and all that kind of stuff and state they won't buy you
41:23
equipment. So in those cases we bought well, had to buy we repaired computers for people
41:31
so they could be they could do at home typing work at home jobs.
41:38
And so some of them got that, and then some of them got hired like in the
41:44
state because they were able to learn and practice on their computer equipment at home.
41:51
And could prove themselves when they want to do whatever efficiency tests they had to take
41:57
to get the job. And one of those girls still worked in Springfield in the mailing
42:03
department, I think, for a Social Security disability.
42:08
And there's a couple others like that. And another two of my other students worked for
42:13
the military in Rockford.
42:17
And they fill out contracts for the military,
42:22
and, and those jobs are only reserved for blind people.
42:26
Isn't that cool? Yeah, that's just for them.
42:30
So we have four, three of them there.
42:34
So getting this stuff in their hands in their homes so they can practice when they need to.
42:42
That's good. Now, when it got to where we had Victor streams and stuff,
42:47
I had to raise money to buy that.
42:51
Some of those things because doors within the Department of Rehabilitation Services.
42:56
I think they changed their name again. So we would buy them and told them they can't sell
43:02
them if they need them, bring them back to me,
43:05
and some of them are still using them ten years later.
43:09
And we just got done buying three of the new Victor stream threes.
43:16
And then I still work with people on the new iPhone 16 and stuff.
43:22
They try to do too much at once.
43:25
I'm working with right now who's lost a lot of her vision,
43:30
and she can't learn the iPhone, but she's making it way too hard.
43:34
And and the people who are teaching her are teaching her really complicated stuff,
43:39
which is not necessary, because you can do almost everything with
43:43
that one button on the side or by talking to it.
43:46
Yeah. So anyway I go on to do go into tangents.
43:50
Sorry. So there's that.
43:56
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, technology has really come a very long way from the days of the pocket guide
44:01
and the stylus. Now we have iPhones and everything.
44:05
You know, I clock is starting to run down, but I wanted to ask your opinion on this.
44:12
What would what words of wisdom would you give to today's generation?
44:21
Should they be trying harder?
44:23
Should they? What should they be doing?
44:26
Should they be looking for workarounds?
44:28
Should they? What? Tell me, in your opinion,
44:33
what words of wisdom would you want to leave with them?
44:37
Dan Thompson: Well, I think they should try to look for workarounds and don't give up and have
44:40
everybody do things for them.
44:44
But also, I like to think that God put us here not just to see each other,
44:50
but to see each other. At least to try to help others when we can help and share our
44:59
knowledge. And if if we can help somebody financially do it.
45:07
And not to be afraid of trying new things just because they look scary.
45:13
One, two simple things I was just thinking about one thing people don't think about is
45:19
writing hotkeys for your computer.
45:22
So you only have to press 1 or 2 keys to get a big function going.
45:26
That's very, very simple.
45:28
And another one that people always ask me I'll look only lets you send a 20 megapixel
45:34
20 Meg file. How do I send something bigger?
45:37
Well, I told them and is it my handout?
45:41
I sent you how to take a big file and put it in Dropbox and take that link,
45:48
paste it into an email.
45:50
Boom, it's gone. So you can you can still email big stuff even though outlook says no.
45:56
So I tell people, if it sounds scary, that's all right.
46:00
Just try it out and see.
46:02
You might find out it's not as scary as you think.
46:04
And some people. Here's a good example.
46:07
I have one girl I know who teaches the iPhone or iDevices,
46:12
but she's totally blind.
46:15
But she makes it very difficult and has them do all kinds of tapping.
46:20
They're doing this and that.
46:22
But with the iPhone's new one, I don't even go through all that.
46:26
I show them how you can do all of it.
46:29
If you're blind with voiceover, with barely even touching your phone,
46:33
you can just press one button and do it.
46:35
And I'm dealing with that with a 70 year old girl right now that was going to give up on
46:42
iPhones, but now she's not.
46:44
So I guess my last would be patience with each other.
46:49
Be willing to listen and hear their side of it,
46:53
and then try to find some halfway mark halfway idea that can make them feel much
47:02
more independent. And I always give my students lots of compliments about how they
47:07
are. They're really doing great and everything,
47:10
and that really builds their confidence and beliefs that they can do it as well.
47:16
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You have been an inspiration to me personally.
47:19
And, you know, I've heard your your personal story over and over.
47:24
And each time I hear your story, it really it really tugs at my heartstrings.
47:28
And I think, you know, you are an inspiration to anybody who says,
47:34
well, I can't do it. I'm going to give up.
47:37
You did not give up. And you are here today to show us the path.
47:43
That I want to thank you for that.
47:45
Dan Thompson: Autobiography, that little biography I sent you or or my written questions,
47:52
answers to the other thing with anybody you want.
47:55
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. So, you know, I don't know what else to say.
47:59
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
48:01
And, you know, if ever you wanted to come back and talk to me about more of your
48:06
inspirational stories, please let me know.
48:09
Dan Thompson: And I'd like to also mention I have a devotion called devotion.
48:15
Yes you can. Anybody can subscribe to.
48:18
Yeah. And is it all right if I check my email?
48:21
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Go ahead.
48:23
Dan Thompson: My email is D Thompson.
48:26
Wait a minute. I remember my email first.
48:30
Dmc DMC 031073 at gmail.com DMC.
48:38
Is that my initials? And then the the daisies when we got married.
48:45
031073 at gmail.com. And then just say you want to subscribe to Fresh Start devotional.
48:52
I send one out every day except Saturday, and I have a prayer list that I send out
48:57
every Friday.
48:59
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I see that. Yep.
49:01
Dan Thompson: Names only. Yeah.
49:04
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, then it was a pleasure.
49:07
And I want to thank you again.
49:09
And hey, if ever you wanted to come back, let me know,
49:13
okay?
49:14
Dan Thompson: Yeah. Thank you for all your friendship and knowing you all these years. Talk to you
49:17
later.
49:18
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You take care now. Bye bye.
49:21
Bye bye.
49:24
Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at Donna at gmail.com.
49:30
Until next time.