[blindkid] When your child realizes she's different....

[melissa R. Green]

I always knew that I was different.  But I didn't quite know how different I
was.
Until at summer camp.  I was playing hide and seek.  This little boy found me
and called me a little dark chocolate girl.
I realized what that meant.  But I was angry at this little boy because of the
way he said it.
I also remember being punished in my first-grade classroom because I went home
and asked my mom about my blindness.
Some kids had been teasing me because of my blindness.  They said that I was
blind because my mom wor too thick of a bifocal while she was pregnant with me.
So, I went home and asked my mom.
The teacher had called my mom that night and she told her that I questioned her.
The next morning the teacher was mad.
She said that the kids said that they were sorry and that I shouldn't have asked
my mom.  I tried to explain, and she told me to shut up.  But I was taught to
finish my thought.
She proceeded to call me to the front of the room and spank me.  She said during
this that I needed to learn how to shut up.
There was another teacher in the room and all she said was that I was no
different than anyone else I had to get it just like everyone else.

This teacher turned out to be my second grade teacher the next year, and made a
point to show me that I wasn't different.  The ways in which she made these
points weren't good at all.  They made the opposite point.
Even then I did wonder if I could see if that would have happened to me.
Yes, it would be nice to see.  But then I think about all of the things that I
would have to learn, if I could see.
It would be nice to be able to pick what I wanted to see.
Best regards,
Sincerely,
Melissa R. Green
Hold on to your dream and it shall be well with you.


-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Pat Chadwick
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 1:58 PM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)'
Subject: Re: [blindkid] When your child realizes she's different....

This is true. My 16-year-old says that she would like to be able to see but
her blindness isn't something that she is depressed or sad about and she
isn't obsessed with being able to see. She just thinks it would be easier
plus she would be less different (she also has the difference of being a
transracial adoptee).

Pat

...

Also we have to be careful with totally blind kids to separate out true just
plain curiosity in trying to understand and figure out what sight even is
and is capable of verses true sadness at or doubts about blindness. It is
important not to mix those things up-they are two totally different things.

 
 
Carrie Gilmer, President


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