PRC-Saltillo Ambassador

Hi, my name is Charlie Fleisch, I am an active member in society.  I graduated from Nassau Community College with an Associate's degree.   My major was journalism.  At Nassau, I am in the award winning life options program as a volunteering teachers assistant and a participant.  I help teach computers, current events, art classes, and most importantly, the video training program, and I developed the curriculum and the lesson plans for baseball history and other courses.

I am the vice president of the self-advocacy group at the center. I am also on several committees to help the fight with Albany and the budget cuts. Lastly I am on the CPN’s sports team, the Thunderbolts, I play Boccia.  Boccia is the Italian version of bowling.  I traveled nationally and internationally for competitions and won numerous medals. Boccia is a fascinating sport, it takes a lot of skills and strategy to win.  

 The phrase, to speak to you, is a commonly used saying, but to me I never thought I would be able to speak to anyone. I was the second person to try out a new communication device in 1975, called the TIC. My first words after Let’s Go Mets were, I love you mom. No mother should have to wait 7 and a half years to hear her child to say, I love you.

 However, I became too fast for it and went back to using a language board so I could get my thoughts out faster. For over 20 years I had no voice. Just imagine you having no voice and having to write down everything you wanted another person to know.

 When I was voiceless, I used a language board, but I couldn’t express my thoughts fully. With a voice I can express myself, tell jokes, give speech presentations, express my frustrations and celebrate my accomplishments, talk to legislatures and serve on several committees.

I can play Blackjack in the casinos and tell the dealer to hit or stand clearly and basically be a member of the society.  I can have conversations.  

I use my Accent 1400 as my cell phone. Also, it has environmental controls which allows me to use the television and control the lights.  I connect my device to my home PC  with a USB cable which allows my device to act as a keyboard and mouse.