Sheila Marque has worked as a vocational rehabilitation coordinator for the state of Kansas for the past 30 years. The past 11 years she has dealt primarily with the visual and hearing impaired.
She also is an educator who has taught in Chanute, Humboldt and at Labette Community College, and knows first-hand the limitations of and misconceptions about people who are visually impaired.
Marque depends on her seeing eye dog to navigate through her day.
“When my students would first see me and my dog they wondered how I could be a teacher, but it didn’t take them long to get used to my visual disability and my dog and they treated me like they would any teacher,” she said. Marque addressed a Resource Center for Independent Living Lunch and Learn program Monday in the Community Building in Riverside Park.
Marque has helped organize support groups for the visually impaired in Iola, Yates Center, Independence, Pittsburg and Fort Scott. People come to the support groups out of curiosity. Some come who are in denial that they have a vision problem.
“We provide people at the support group with fellowship. Sometimes people just need to hear that someone else is facing the same visual challenges as they are.”
Marque encourages people who are visually im-paired to contact RCIL to get connected to the Kansas Audio-Reader Network. For the past 14 years, Audio-Reader has had volunteers reading local newspapers, magazines and books to those who are print disabled. The service is offered free.
“I tell volunteers who read the newspapers to be sure and read the obits and if there aren’t any in that day’s paper, to announce that first. People want to know who died,” she said.
Marque lives in Pittsburg and works out of the city’s Social and Rehabilitation Services office.
Fourteen years ago, Tiffany Nickel earned her teaching credentials from Emporia State University and began her first teaching position in El Dorado. The oppressive August heat cut classes to half days. Eight days into her teaching career Nickel decided to go for a swim after class dismissed. She dove into the shallow end of a swimming pool, hit the bottom, broke her neck and damaged her spinal cord.
With limited use of her arms and paralyzed legs she had two choices — sit and feel sorry for herself, or pursue her career as a teacher. She chose the latter.
“I want people to see my abilities, not my disability,” Nickel told those attending a Resource Center for Independent Living Lunch and Learn program Monday in the Community Building in Riverside Park.
Nickel teaches special education classes in the Wichita school system.
“I tell my students anything is possible with the support of family and friends and a charged wheelchair battery,” she said.
It is true that people in wheelchairs aren’t qualified for a number of jobs, but on the other hand, there are many jobs that require a person to be seated, Nickel said. “I want employers to see that a person in a wheelchair is capable of giving a day’s work.”
Nickel plans to use her title of Ms. Wheelchair Kansas to advocate and educate people on the abilities of a person who relies on a wheelchair for mobility.
“I deserve to have unconditional access to buildings and acceptance in today’s society. I want people to see me, not my wheelchair,” Nickel said.
SHEILA MARQUE has worked as a vocational rehabilitation coordinator for the state of Kansas for the past 30 years. The past 11 years she has worked primarily with the visual and hearing impaired.
She is also an educator who has taught in Chanute, Humboldt and at Labette Community College, and knows first-hand the limitations of and misconceptions about people who are visually impaired.
Marque depends on her seeing eye dog to navigate through her day.
“When my students would first see me and my dog they wondered how I could be a teacher, but it didn’t take them long to get used to my visual disability and my dog and they treated me like they would any teacher,” she said.
Marque has helped organize support groups for the visually impaired in Iola, Yates Center, Independence, Pittsburg and Fort Scott. People come to the support groups out of curiosity. Some come who are in denial that they have a vision problem.
“We provide people at the support group with fellowship. Sometimes people just need to hear that someone else is facing the same visual challenges as they are.”
Marque encourages people who are visually impaired to contact RCIL to get connected to the Kansas Audio-Reader Network. For the past 14 years, Audio-Reader has had volunteers reading local newspapers, magazines and books to those who are print disabled. The service is offered free.
“I tell volunteers who read the newspapers to be sure and read the obits and if there aren’t any in that day’s paper, to announce that first. People want to know who died,” she said.
Marque lives in Pittsburg and works out of the city’s Social and Rehabilitation Services office.
RESOURCE CENTER for Independent Living is a non-profit organization that works with individuals, families and communities to promote independent living and individual choice for persons with disabilities.
RCIL’s services include information and referral, independent living skills training, individual and system advocacy, peer counseling, durable medical equipment loans and building ramps for those with mobility issues.
