Disabled Find a Pathway Beyond Their Blindness

Joann Seaman, 41, received her fine arts degree in 1972. A few months ago, she mastered the task of folding a sheet at the Center for Living Independence for the Multi-Handicapped Blind (CLIMB) in Sierra Madre.

“I did well in school, but I couldn’t do anything or go anywhere on my own,” said Seaman, who is blind, with slight brain damage that has not impaired her academic aptitude but has left her unable to perform household tasks. “If I hadn’t come here (to CLIMB), I would have still needed someone to take care of me all the time.”

Nestled among quaint small-town shops on Sierra Madre Boulevard, CLIMB is believed to be the only facility in the San Gabriel Valley where basic living, communication and vocational skills are taught to adult blind people with developmental disabilities. Only one other program in the county, Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind in Reseda, offers similar residential care, said Judy Poindexter, director of the San Gabriel/Pomona Regional Center, which coordinates services for the developmentally disabled.

The two programs serve about 140 adults in Los Angeles County, which, according to state figures, has 1,378 adults who are blind and developmentally disabled.

“These are just the people who are registered with us; heaven knows how many others are out there that we don’t know about,” said Roberta Marlowe of the state Department of Developmental Services.

Many of CLIMB’s students, like Seaman, were premature babies born in the late 1940s and early ‘50s who were placed in incubators and given too much oxygen. They later developed retrolental fibroplasia, which causes blindness and brain damage. The program’s 94 residents vary in degree of disability.

Poindexter said there are schools for the blind and programs for the developmentally disabled, but little residential care for those with both problems. In addition, most programs are geared to those under the age of 21.

CLIMB, which opened in July, 1977, with 18 students, is filled and has a waiting list of 80.

CLIMB executive director and founder Bill Young came up with the idea for the facility while working at the Foundation for the Junior Blind in Los Angeles. He noticed that foundation students sent home after age 21 “would regress. They would just sit around and do nothing.”

“This is a big problem,” said David Ekin, program director at the Foundation for the Junior Blind. “When our students become adults, there is no place for them to go. Many go back home, and the parents don’t know what to do.”