Since the first week of September 2000, Virginia (Ginger) Martz has filled the position of Interim Blindness\\Visual Impairment and Chronic Health\\Mobility Specialist at MSU's Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD). According to the official job description, her professional responsibilities include the facilitation of full campus adaptation for persons with disabilities through referrals, services, presentations and consultation with students, university faculty and staff. Unofficially, Ginger says that it is a task requiring a knowledge of braille, familiarity with adaptive technology, fearlessness in the face of paperwork and, above all, innovation in problem-solving situations and the ability to relate to all sorts of people. A daunting list, but when asked if she enjoys her work, she immediately replies, "I love this job...I love a job that presents a challenge."
Ginger's first exposure to hearing loss and vision impairment came, not from within a collegiate setting, but from within her own family. Indeed, she first learned braille by exchanging letters with her visually impaired Great Aunt Mary. "She never corrected my errors in braille!" she laughed.
Though Ginger fondly recalls anecdotes such as attempting to write Braille notes to her aunt on construction and notebook paper, she does not ascribe her eventual decision to specialize as an advisor for the blind and interpreter for the deaf to such early experiences. Rather, she traces her interest to the foreign language requirement at Lansing Community College (LCC), which she fulfilled by taking sign language classes while obtaining her Associate's Degree. During the course of her interpreter training, she came into contact with representatives of the Deaf-Blind community and subsequently gained both state and national experience as an interpreter while working with the American Association of the Deaf/Blind (AADB). Finally, the pursuit of her Master's Degree led her to MSU and the RCPD, where she worked as a sign language interpreter before assuming the interim position last fall.
When asked what aspects of her current job she enjoys most, she speaks with unmistakable pride and enthusiasm about the accomplishments of students, adding, "I like interacting with people on a day to day basis, and brainstorming." Going on to explain that she prefers to assist students in discovering and implementing the solutions to their academic and mobility problems, rather than doing it for them, she comments that such initiative will serve as an important talent in the workplace where, "You have to be the expert on your own needs."
Ginger's new duties are not without personal benefit, she is quick to point out that while trouble-shooting with students, she is often given the opportunity to hone her own braille and adaptive technology skills. In addition, she holds important goals both for herself and the university, including improvements in the accessibility of classes and materials as well as the attainment of personal expertise in teamwork.
Even so, Ginger's ultimate goal is not a career as a visual impairment specialist, but one as a service provider for the Deaf-Blind. When asked where and in what capacity she hopes to exercise her Professional skills, she remarks that although Michigan has separate certification processes for visual and hearing impairment specialists, it draws no distinction between these fields and that of a Deaf-Blind specialist. Nonetheless, she believes that Michigan will be her home for yet awhile longer, where she plans to become either a service provider involved in assisting the Deaf-Blind through the transition between school and the workplace, or a specialist committed to working with young Deaf-Blind children. Whichever she chooses, there is every reason to believe that she will bring the same drive and innovation to her future career that she has given to the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at MSU.