[blindkid] RFB&D fundraising

[Michele Chauvin]

Wow!  I'm almost ashamed to share this.  Not because of the content, but the irony.  Cooper happens to live in my state.  He is a very well-spoken teenager with wonderful Braille skills, who is a very competent, capable young man.  He joined a group of 6 other adults, who traveled to Austin and spoke before our State Board for Educators Certification.  In Texas, certified teachers can take an exam in almost any area of education and get an additional certification.  The blindness community in our state has rallied to strongly encourage our legislators to change this regarding CTVIs.  We do not believe it's OK for just any teacher to take a couple of courses and an exam, then teach our kids, without ever completing the rest of the coursework or internship, which provides a period of much needed mentoring from an experience CTVI.  Cooper brought some type of Braille note taking device with him to the podium that day, and he read his
 entire written testimony.  All the board members stopped in their tracks to listen to this eloquent and clearly well-educated young man read his moving speech.  I had to follow him, which was not easy.  So I opened with that, "Hard act to follow," as I choked back tears of pride.  And, Cooper is not even my son.  I could only imagine how proud his mom would have been.  She was unable to attend with him, though his CTVI traveled with him and also spoke that morning.

Anyway, you might want to think before you respond, both in actions and in words, regarding others in the blindness community.  If we only tear each other down, how will we help our children and families progress together towards a common good.  In all honesty, I am disappointed with these clearly uninformed (and that is putting it nicely) responses, especially Carol.  I thought you, along with several others I know, were voices of reason with an open-minded, open heart attitude.  I hope I was not wrong.

 
Michele
 
From: "Carol Castellano" <blindchildren at verizon.net>
To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>; <nopbc-board at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 12:15 AM
Subject: [blindkid] RFB&D fundraising


Hi All,

I recently received the RFB&D "Family News" in the mail.  In their appeal for "a generous gift," they give a few real life stories.  Here's a quote from the story on the front page:

"Then came school.  Cooper was aware of the sighted kids, running and playing and doing their schoolwork independently.  He sometimes felt isolated.  But he was always able to keep up--until the third grade.  Cooper tried his hardest to read his books in Braille.  But it was very difficult, and it took him a long time.  But the end of the year, he had to miss a special class field trip because he had not met his reading requirements."

OY!  Stuff like that makes me so aggravated!

Carol


----Inline Message Follows-----

Hello Carol and listers,

    And the good RFB&D supplied him with his textbooks in an audio format. 
Cooper lived happily ever after because he never truly learned to read; 
something he would have done had he continued to receive his textbooks in 
Braille. Dribble like this comes out of guide dog schools and certain other 
agencies for the blind in their fundraising campaigns and other 
publications. They fill their coffers while doing serious harm to the blind.

Peter Donahue


----Inline Message Follows-----

All the more importance for the National Federation of the Blind--you just never know where such attitudes continue to linger!

Mark F.

Mark Feliz

HAPPY DOTS BRAILLE SERVICES

First Vice-PRESIDENT, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND OF ARIZONA
EAST VALLEY CHAPTER

1038 WEST HILLVIEW STREET
MESA, ARIZONA  85201

VOICE: 480-890-8943
FAX: 480-835-3036