University of Arkansas at Little Rock

The Foundations 1 class (SOWK 7301) and their instructor, Dr. Rosalie Otters, recently visited two different community sites as part of learning about generalist social work and the “fit” between the person and the environment.  On September 22 we visited the downtown Clinton School for Public Service program, the Quest to End Hunger.  While hunger continues to be a worldwide problem, some things we are doing right here in Arkansas can be duplicated to alleviate hunger beyond our borders.  On September 29 we toured the Lions World Services for the Blind, located at Fair Park and 28th St, across the street from our campus.  Here we visited a training program for those with mostly limited vision and learned that they have a lot to teach us, especially using the interactive computer program, JAWS (Job Access with Speech). JAWS reads aloud both what is on the computer screen and what is added to it. We discovered that those with vision impairment can often process information much faster than the rest of us, as JAWS can be adjusted to talk faster and faster. The “fit” between the person and the environment is one of interdependence as well as resource adequacy.