THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610080179
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 70 lines
A Noah's arkful of animal pairs are poised in mid-march along the edge of Jean Kramer's dining room table.
Notably missing are the long-necked giraffes.
``A little boy wanted them,'' laughs the menagerie's creator, her hands searching a hutch top for the coat rack she's been working on.
Jean Kramer is legally blind, but she's determined to use her lifelong love of making things to earn a living.
In her quest for independence, Jean has the help of the latest equipment - a monitor that enlarges patterns for her to memorize, magnifying lenses that allow her a limited view of work surfaces and a computer that helps her correctly log business data.
Every room in Jean's Halprin Drive home is crammed with handmade items. On the big, canopied bed reclines a floppy-eared pair of bunnies.
In the bathroom, a tall, skirted teddy hides extra rolls of toilet tissue. An upright creature of the imaginative genetic origin collects brooms and dustpans and other cleaning paraphernalia in the kitchen.
Jean, 42, lost her sight four years ago after her optic nerves were damaged beyond repair in an auto accident.
The car she was driving careened into the side of one piloted by a drunk driver who had run a stop sign at the intersection of two lonely Oklahoma roads.
When she first came to Norfolk about two years ago with her Navy husband, Petty Officer Harold Kramer, Jean encountered difficulty getting services that could help her acquire self-sufficiency.
She started advocating for herself and called on Congressman Owen Pickett and folks connected with Rights of Virginians with Disabilities. She pleaded her case with officials in Richmond and Washington.
Then, working with Norfolk's Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind, Endependence Center and The Center for Independent Living Services of South Hampton Roads, Jean finally received the training and equipment she needed.
The success she's had selling her handiwork - mostly by word of mouth - has given Jean the confidence she lacked to move ahead in other challenging areas, too. Recently, she began doing all of her own cleaning, something she used to need help with.
``I figure if I can do the crafts, I can do that, too,'' she said.
The new-found sureness in her own capabilities comes also from the stabilization and training her eyes get as she works on the fine details of sewing, painting and woodwork, said Jean.
It was only a year after her accident that Jean met her husband. A helicopter crewman, Harold Kramer helps his wife with some of the tasks that are still hard for her to complete - power-sawing the wood, for example.
The couple may eventually be called upon to earn their entire living from the craft business. Harold Kramer, 30, must leave the Navy because of injuries sustained in a fall, and he may not qualify for benefits, even though he's been in the Navy for 12 years.
The youngest of Jean's two children from a previous marriage, a 16-year-old boy, lived with the couple until about a year ago. He returned to the small Oklahoma town of his childhood to reside with Jean's parents, where he is now in school, because he grew to fear attending classes at Norfolk's Lake Taylor High School. Students there demanded that her son pay them $5 a day to avoid being beaten, said Jean.
The couple may return to Oklahoma and enlist the help of Jean's children and other relatives in getting a crafts business up and running there. She is thankful that she has acquired the skills necessary to become self-sufficient.
Jean Kramer says she hopes that others in her situation are aware of the multitude of services and aids that are available to them. MEMO: Jean Kramer may be reached at 587-1747. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Jean Kramer of Norfolk uses several devices, including a light and
magnifying glass, to help with her crafts. by CNB