Blind Glenwood woman aims to become special-ed teacher
BY DARREN ZANCAN Correspondent January 8, 2012 7:28PM
Bridget Evans-Ratliff, of Glenwood, and her seeing-eye dog, Graham. | Darren Zancan~For Sun-Times Media
Seeing-eye dog tips
Guidelines to follow when you encounter a seeing-eye dog team:
Remember that distracting a seeing-eye dog can make its owner vulnerable to harm.
Don’t let your pet near a guide dog, even if your dog is leashed.
Always let a blind person know you are nearby and tell them if you have a dog with you.
Do not call the dog’s name, make eye contact or talk to the dog. It’s always best to treat the dog as if it is not there.
Do not shout directions, take the person by the arm or interrupt them when they are crossing the street. If you are concerned for their safety, first ask them whether they need help.
Source: The Seeing Eye Inc., Morristown, N.J.
Article Extras
Updated: February 10, 2012 8:05AM
Bridget Evans-Ratliff and her seeing-eye dog, Graham, don’t have to walk very far when she gets a call to fill in as a substitute teacher.
Certainly not as far as she has come psychologically in dealing with her blindness.
A victim of battered child syndrome, the 46-year-old Glenwood woman has been completely blind in her left eye and has had limited vision in her right eye since age 2. But she wasn’t considered legally blind until age 25, when her intraocular pressure — pressure within the eye — rose to the point that it made her vision drastically worse.
“It was depressing. I didn’t know anyone blind, and I cried a lot,” Evans-Ratliff said. “I looked at it as blind people don’t have a life.”
Her life now? She has been married to her husband, Allen, for 17 years, has a new best friend in Graham, and she works as a substitute teacher in Glenwood-based Brookwood School District 167 as she pursues her master’s degree so she came become a full-time special-education teacher.
It’s all about what she can do, as opposed to what she can’t do, and she said that has given her a motto she will stick to the rest of her life.
“I want to be the voice of disabled people,” she said. “We can do whatever we put our minds to.”
A class act
Evans-Ratliff lives just blocks from Brookwood Junior High School and adjacent Brookwood Middle School in Glenwood and teaches wherever she’s needed.
Graham goes with her everywhere, including to school. The students call him the “unofficial, official school mascot,” she said.
As a substitute, she doesn’t have to design a lesson plan.
“A script is left for us to carry out,” she said.
And thanks to technology, she doesn’t have to see the chalkboard, either. Using a combination of whiteboards and an Apple iPad, anything a teacher used to draw at the board can now be done at the teacher’s desk or even as she walks around the classroom with Graham.
“Modern technology has made it a little easier for a person who is visually impaired,” she said.
Because her undergraduate degree from Colorado Technical University was in business, she is pursuing her master’s to become a special education teacher. She takes online courses through Liberty University.
“I decided to start teaching because of the things I overcame as a special-needs student,” she said. “I try to teach students to be compassionate.”
Woman’s best friend
Evans-Ratliff, who grew up in Harvey and went to Thornton High School, said coming to the realization that her sight wasn’t coming back led to the decision that it was time to stop being depressed and live her life.
“When something is taken away from you, God gives you something else to compensate,” she said. “I’m thankful to be alive.”
She’s also thankful for Graham, a 2-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever who was bred, raised and trained at The Seeing Eye Inc. in Morristown, N.J.
It is her third dog from The Seeing Eye, with whom she has worked since 1995, but she said the bond between her and Graham is special.
“He’s a dog, but he really takes everything to the next level,” she said. “Graham really is my best friend.”
Without him, she wouldn’t have the freedom to travel independently and pursue some of her dreams. He also is a partner in her safety.
“I thought having a dog would be a good thing,” she said. “When you are without a dog, you have to be very alert. You have to pay more attention to the sounds around you.”
Evans-Ratliff spent three weeks in Morristown late last year working with Graham and bonding.
She said the experience resembled dog boot camp.
“He was really put through everything,” she said. “We were up at 5:30 a.m. It was eat, sleep, dog training.”
Now Graham goes with her to a different classroom, where Evans-Ratliff teaches with a sense of purpose.
“They love him,” Evans-Ratliff said.
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