[blindkid] kids away from home

Carrie Gilmer carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
Fri Nov 21 13:35:44 UTC 2008


Susan,
I had to laugh; I am so glad you pointed out the low expectations that can
come with a blindness group (other than ours-smile)--we have had the same
experiences and I know of several others. Sometimes they are the worst!

Since I have had the privilege of knowing Jason from coming here for Buddy
Camp, I think I can say that his confidence, ability to articulate his true
needs, and his travel abilities are a direct result of his experiences at
the camp as well as your attitudes and opportunities at home and his ongoing
relationship with local NFB--that is THE winning 3 combination. It is always
so enjoyable to see the growth in the Buddy campers as they come back a year
and two or three later.

We always did a quick "in-service" too, good idea and a good way to get a
feel for the host's level of nervousness. 

 Jason is growing up to be a fine guy-it really has been a pleasure, and I
am glad for, to get to know him a bit. I am excited to see him bloom over
the next few years. You can be one proud momma.

 
 
Carrie Gilmer, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
A Division of the National Federation of the Blind
NFB National Center: 410-659-9314
Home Phone: 763-784-8590
carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
www.nfb.org/nopbc
-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of SUSAN POLANSKY
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 11:32 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] kids away from home

I have always been more comfortable sending mine off to camps with blindness
professionals and/or blind chaperone's than sending him off with a group of
sighted individuals. That being said we have still sent him off on youth
conventions with the Church, he leaves on one again tomorrow for his third
year in a row. The first year they were a little nervous even though they
had known Jason his entire 10 yrs of live. We did a quick in-service,
explained how he did things, what help he should have and what help he
should not have,demonstrated sighted guide, etc. As he gets older he is more
able to advocate for himself. This year when at diner and all the other kids
receive their drinks in regular glasses and he is handed a child cup with a
lid I am sure he will politely tell the wait staff that he should have the
same type of cup as his peers. 
Jason is planning to go on our Churches youth work camps when he is old
enough, they are already fretting over how to manage that but we will come
up with a way and I am sure they will supportive of it. 
Also sending him off with professionals in blindness has not always worked
out either, it depends on the attitude of the blindness professional. This
year Jason went to Space Camp, most of the chaperone's were from our state
School for the Blind. They would not let him walk independently [using his
NFB cane of course] through the airports and some other places, They
expected him to go sight guide with a student who was low vision and did not
use a cane. Jason later found out this kid has really very little vision and
himself should have had a cane. He was most confident he could have done
better job of it alone. He also had some very interesting cane type
conversations with the O&M's that went along although has not yet made a
convert out of any of them - he does keep trying especially with his O&M who
learned in preK that we choose the cane and the height and there was to be
no discussion about it [it helped that we provided the canes and not the
school
 system]. A few times I was called to the princibles office to sit down and
be told by the O&M that all changes in type and or size of cane needed to go
through him. I agreed only to let him know in advance when we had obtained a
longer cane. He was not Jason's teacher from 2nd thru 5th grade but was back
again last year. Jason made it clear that as a big Middle Schooler he would
decide on his cane height and he was not expetected to be questioned on it.
They have now established a rapport where they can joke about their
differences instead of it being an argument.  Jason is now negotiating city
streets [needing to be taken there once a week for lessons after out growing
our small town] with supervision only and doing mini-drop offs with great
success. Three weeks ago I went on a lesson, we went downtown to the nearest
city, he had not been in that part of the city since last July yet was able
to follow an 8 to 10 step instruction from the O&M guiding
 us through town to a coffee shop for a hot drink then back to the car. I
was lost, good thing I had my blind 12 year old along to tell me where we
were and where we where we were going. 

Susan 



________________________________
From: Andy & Sally Thomas <andysally at comcast.net>
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 8:14:53 PM
Subject: [blindkid] kids away from home

At what age did you let your kids attend overnight activities that were not
run by blindness or disability centered groups without you?  I'm sure it
depends on the maturity of the child as well as the type of group.  I must
say that I worry about my son either being babied or left behind somewhere. 
I'm not sure if the "age appropriate behavior" idea applies or not since I
would have to rely on others--not just my son's abilities.  He's pretty
independent but sometimes I think he may be too independent to ask for
appropriate help.  And it seems to me that most people are pretty clueless
about blindness.  I know I could talk with them about it but I'm still a bit
nervous.

He's attended several away from home activities at the school for the blind
and the Louisiana Buddy Program but I'm not as comfortable sending him to
church retreats.  Am I being too cautious?

Sally Thomas
_______________________________________________
blindkid mailing list
blindkid at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindkid:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/sepolansky%40veriz
on.net
_______________________________________________
blindkid mailing list
blindkid at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindkid:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/carrie.gilmer%40gm
ail.com





More information about the BlindKid mailing list