[blindkid] Schools for the Blind vs. Education in Public SchoolSystems
trising
trising at sbcglobal.net
Wed Jun 17 01:36:04 UTC 2009
My name is Terri Griffon. I will be attending my first convention in ten
days. I was educated in a public school system, but I wanted to go to a
school for the blind as a teenager. I got academics at the public school,
but I was the only blind student, and I was a target for a lot of nastiness
by other students. They might say hi, but they would not talk to me if their
friends were around. One girl ate part of my food and placed it back on my
tray. When I inadvertently ate it, the whole table laughed.Other things
happened, and by my sophomore year of high school I was considering suicide.
I was very strong academically, so my parents and the district did not want
to send me away to the school for the blind. This was in the mid to late
eighties. Since the emphasis was on academics I did not get the mobility and
daily living skills I would have gotten at the school for the blind. These
would have been far more useful than some of the advanced academics. This is
just one woman's opinion and experience. I know many will disagree with me.
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