Don - just what I wanted to add to my first post you have written so well about your handicap and the way to master it.
I consider it a crime to discourage a child from what it wants so hard to do, and often there is a way to fulfil its wishes with the right support, as you did with the help of your wonderful trainer.
In my scout troop we had a boy slightly disabled: he could walk tiptoes only. We had to walk a little bit slower as usual, but he qualified with all other drills a scout has to undergo. I told him that in camp we needed a cook, so he could stay and prepare the meals while we others were out in the woods. He asked his mother for some recipes and started cooking. While the other troops ate their usual grub and stew they looked enviously at our meals with 2 or 3 plates, all prepared in 1 big pot, its lid used as a pan. He improved his skills and after some years he was a praised hobby cook. Besides he had a wonderful voice.
When my scouts grew older, I started a new troop from the local school for the blind. I never saw a troop so eager to do what everyone thought they could not do; some of them had a little bit of their eye sight left. At first I was timid to let them chop their fire wood, but they managed it, and no one hurt himself. Erecting a tent with a fireplace in it? No problem - we others were drilled to do it in dark night, so it was no problem for them. An older one was incorporated in my old troop, and when he jumped short over a creek he was the first to laugh loudest when standing in the water. Oh those happy days!

Wilfried