Student-Focused Planning
(Narrator) Student-focused planning means that students participate in [high-ed] pre-development and other planning processes. Transition plans should always be set on their interests and goals. In the following series of video clips, young adults, their parents and service providers who attend a deaf-blind transition institute discuss the importance of student-centered planning and students' hopes and dreams for their future education, careers, independence and relationships.
(Melissa / Interpreter) One of my future goals is to go to the Helen Keller National Center. There I can learn different skills to help me become independent, like using a cane and reading Braille. I'd like to encourage the teens here to be open to taking advantage of these opportunities. I really regret that in the past I've limited myself. Now I get it, I realize and I'm ready to be open to every opportunity. I can be open to using an SSP or technology and I am ready to do more, now I want to encourage others to do the same, keeping in mind that it is key for parents and teachers to be involved in the process. Through these relationships we can find support from those who are open to the process.
(Elizabeth / Interpreter) I would suggest that they figure out what type of support they need depending on their own level of deaf-blindness. Also they shouldn't be afraid to ask others for help. 
(Melissa) My dream is to go to college at a... in Benderville and then I want to work with handicapped children because I know a lot about disability so I want to do that, like aid or at a school or something like that.
(Divya / Interpreter) I have many different visions and goals for myself. One such vision is to hopefully get a job at some point in the future by obtaining the highest and best education available to me. Another goal is to be involved in an internationally coordinated effort to work with disabled individuals who are indigent. Sometimes people who have disabled children don't have the money to provide them with a quality life. I plan to help with building better schools, and hiring teachers which will improve their quality of life. I'd also like to be staff on a project similar to what we're doing here. I'd like to have a variety of employment experiences so that I can determine which role fits me best. In addition I'm considering a role in politics, like running for office and being involved in government. This is something I'm still thinking about because I've only had a taste of it so far. I may want to do something with the United Nations. I have various options or paths I can pursue. I'd like to try them all, until I can find something that... encompasses these goals, and becomes one clear path to follow. 
(Jeremy / Interpreter) I want to continue to work, and... I want to live long. I want to get married in the future. And of course I want some money. 
(Jana) Martha, can you give me some insights to what let up to your family making the decision to come to the Institute? 
(Martha) We were contacted by our family specialist in North Carolina about the Institute and at first I said, "we can't do it because we have other plans this week" and then the more I thought about it I started thinking, gosh, our daughter is sixteen now, she will be hopefully going off to college in a couple of years and I realized, you know, she, we really needed to do more to help her prepare for that, I felt like maybe we have not done as much as we should have in the past. I think we've tried to protect her, do more for her, and it really made me start thinking we really needed to do something. So I called them back and said, "You know what? I think we've changed our minds, we really do want to come," so... Great. And so now you're here. And... Yes. Last night was the first night. Tell me how you felt. I was very excited that we had come and made the decision to come, as it looked last night and one of the activities they had when the students were all working together and having to collaborate on the little project they were doing, I realized, "this is great that she's here because she really needed that." It also made me start thinking about some of the things that we needed to do to help encourage her to do more. I mean, I think there have been things that we have done to help, but I also think there have been things that we do for her more, and now that she's sixteen I realize, you know, we reallyÑspecially when we were sitting in one of the parent-meetings just recently and they were talking about transitions and ways to help and it made me realize how much more we really do need to do, and that I'm really glad she's here and she's getting to meet some mentors and other people with deaf-blindness that she realizes that she really can do anything that she wants to do. 
(Colleen) I want him to go to college and I want him to, you know, independently live and hopefully have a family. Yeah. 
(Jose) Yeah. We want-- I know it's a clichŽ, you know, but normal life but, you know, as much as he can get out of this life, and to do it on his own, to be independent, you know, to have a family. 
(Debra) The best thing about having a transition program is that you start early. Transition is so important, because of everything that needs to be done, it's a process like anything else, you have to start at a certain time and do certain things in order to get a finished product. So we start at fourteen doing different things, at sixteen you do different thing, at eighteen we do different things, at twenty-one things should be in place. And so the kids can go into another program or whatever. 
(Diane) When I look at transition, I look at transition as life-changing. It's not about getting a job or going to school. It's about, how do I change my perception of myself? How do I grow in terms of my self-perception and how others perceive me? You see, I'm a very big-picture person, I want to help people realize their dreams, but for so many of these young people, they don't know how to dream, they're not sure what to dream because their experiences have been so limited. I think my job is to help them see their potential, to help them to dream in the first place, and then help them realize these dreams. Because it's about transitioning for a lifetime.