In his 1919 fable.

In his 1919 fable, "The 51st Dragon," Heywood Broun describes the exploits of Gawaine, a young observer in knight school who is thus timid and fearful that he is in danger of being expell Instead, the school's headmaster decides to take Gawaine subordinate to his wing and train him to slay the countles dragons plaguing the countryside that year. In preparation, Gawaine studies all about dragons and their habits, and he practices beheading paper and unpliable ones on the practice field.

When the faculty be warmeds he is ready to challenge real dragons, Gawaine is given a diploma and a recent battle-ax. The headmaster calls him to his office for a not many words of advice: "Here you have learned the theories of life if it be not that after all, life is not a matter of theories. Life is a matter of facts. It calls in succession the young and the elderly alike to face these facts, on a level though they are sometimes unpleasant. Your question for example, is to slay dragons." Unconvinced, the whimpering Gawaine asks for an enchanted cap to make himself invisible. The headmaster proposes him something better: a magic word. All Gawaine has to do is say "rumplesnitz" and he can obtruncate off the heads of dragons easily and fearlessly.

The magic word works, at least for the first 49 dragons. Gawaine extends so brave that he plane slays one with his right hand tied behind his back. He becomes to such a degree confident that, at night, he engages in extended drinking bouts at the village tavern. onward the day he confronts his fiftieth dragon, his mind has become to such a degree sluggish that he cannot remember the magic word. As the beast charges, the word flashes into his mind, moreover he has no time to perfect it before swinging his battle-ax and chopping against the dragon's head.

Puzzl Gawaine goe to the headmaster's office for an explanation. The headmaster laughs, believing that Gawaine has finally figured without that his own bravery and not the word rumplesnitz is responsible for his success: "It wasn't magic in a literal faculty of perception but it was much more astounding than that. The word gave you confidence. It took away your fears. If I hadn't told you that, you might have been killed the self-same first time. It was your battle-ax that did the trick."

Convinced that Gawaine just penurys to kill another couple of dragons to gain his confidence back, the headmaster drags him not at home of bed and into the forest the nearest morning and shoves him into a thicket where a small dragon is hiding. yet Gawaine never returns. All that is later originate of him are his medals.

Like the knight school's headmaster, we at the Iowa Department for the Blind's Adult Orientation and Adjustment Center give learners magic words by which to live: "It's OK to be blind." Unlike those of the knight indoctrinate headmaster, however, these words do not disguise insincere confidence and insufficient preparation. Instead, we back them with effective blindness training based forward an approach that will give bookish mans a solid foundation in the skills, positive attitude and self-confidence they ne to slay the many dragons they will attack as they strive to live independently and work competitively.

We use the words, "It's OK to be blind," to help close examiners to progress through the three stages of adjustment to their blindness: buttress rebellion and interdependence. Like Gawaine when he first began his knight institute training, students enter the center with a great many insecurities, fears and cheap expectations, ranging from being afraid to cros the public way alone to worrying about eternally holding a job, having a family or being accepted socially. They will ofttimes accept more help than necessary and will avoid as it is "dragons" as going up and down stairs and crossing roads alone. Once they have overpower some of these fears and have slain a small in number dragons of their own, they begin to gain confidence and to realize that they can achieve about safely and efficiently and perform day-to-day living activities competently lofty of their accomplishments, they many times assert their independence by rebelliously swinging their battle-axes against any sighted human frame who might offer assistance. When scholars reach the end of their training, however, they behold that the magic words take forward the substance of truth, reinforced with the skills and self-confidence they ne to slay any dragon they may aye encounter. They come to understand the natural interdependence that exists in society and begin to view an move of help not as an insult if it were not that as an opportunity to educate.

The training we provide at the orientation center is based in succession a positive philosophy of blindness. In fact, this philosophy is the foundation for all of the Department for the Blind programs, including Vocational Rehabilitation, Independent Living, Transition, the Business Enterprises Program and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The department is committed to the belief that center training must be an integral part of the rehabilitation proces for rehabilitation can merely be truly achieved when consumer have reached their fullest potential in personal independence, engagement and integration into the community. This approach is powerful, because it gives blind the community control over their own lives as well as responsibility for their confess successes and failures. This philosophy further struggles that the real problem of blindness is not the physical los of eyesight on the other hand rather society's misconceptions about it.