NFB stuff and Notes

Joe Ruffalo interviews friend and colleague Jerry Whittle: April 2014

Notes:

-Retired
grew up in SC
attended Clemson University (1979) and received a bachelor's degree from University of TN in English

met Mr. Donald Capps at SC Camp for the Blind and University of South Carolina at Aiken

He has been married for 30 years.
he got his first job in 1975 in Louisiana where he worked for 28 years
playwright
teacher
went blind discovered RP at about age 6 or 7 yrs. old
; he was not diagnosed as blind until he was 15 years old; since 29 years ago
playing baseball
American legion Team-coached kids (at about 15-19 years old)
during night games he could not see the ball
white cane/Braille was not used at 15 yrs. old
rural mountain area in SC
freshman- started working at a local bookstore in SC as stock/labor money
worked one year at Clemson bookstore
dropped out of college with 1.86 GPA
he read numerous books with his own vision
wrote literature
he wrote Dr. Kenneth jernigan a letter after seeing him on television
Donald Capps introduced him to NFB of SC where he served as pres. there
1979 - 3.45 GPA
he won scholarships:
he did not use Braille until graduate school
He learned Braille while sitting at a kitchen table
he started teaching English
he was a Braille teacher at Louisiana Center for the Blind
He learned Braille at age 33 years old.
He had improved his Braille reading speed to around 60-120 dots or about 60-100 words a minute

75 readers read over 300 words per minute

at age 88 years old he is still learning Braille

Who influenced you?
Marshall Tucker
Joanne Wilson (canes)
Pam Allen teaching her students Braille at Louisiana Center for the Blind
he won an NFB scholarship at the Louisiana Center for the Blind
while interning in OH; he came back and was learning Braille at 35 words per minute
he gave a speech at his first convention with Dr. Kenneth Jernigan


playwright, counselor/writer
What role has diversity played in your life?
working with students all over the U.S. and the world; I think in a positive way about blindness
He has taught Native American students and people on all different levels

Why do you write?
to educate, to motivate, to inspire, and to aggregate; to believe in yourself; not too much encouragement
He started out with a journal and wrote music. He was shy and didn't talk alot
He won Short Story of the Year

1985 he came to work at LCB where "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams was being performed in mountains; developed teamwork; sent to Pam Allen and came to Joanne Wilsonhe wrote one and performed one a play at convention

He has written 21 plays in total; his plays are about Dr. Jernigan and Dr. Jacob Bolotin, "the world's first Blind Doctor" (Saran/Bass; Charlotte, NC 1992)
He has written four books including Slingshot which can be found on Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook.
He writes about blindness and blind characters; even a book about Blind Veterans at LCB with a realistic approach.