[blindkid] Level of Harm

[Carrie Gilmer]

A quick P.S. before my overnight company arrives.

 

I think I dragged out the niceness and stayed in the "discuss concerns"
stage too long in great part because I VASTLY underestimated the harm it was
doing to my son.

 

At that time I did not fully realize myself what his true full need for
Braille would be and early on how every day that ticked by it would make it
that much harder for him to become proficient. This was in addition to
underestimating their "not getting it" either. If I knew in first grade what
I knew when he was in eighth grade I would have done things very
differently. I did address concerns then, and there was small movement
(which I also naively thought was rather large movement for awhile) but I
underestimated the URGENCY and that the movement was not near enough and
there WERE things I could do. That was about the year the Braille law came
out. I did not even know about it.

 

Nearly a full school year of opportunity will have gone by for Hank now
Holly. In my mind things are very urgent indeed. It is easy to get fooled
with kids who seem to have high levels of vision to function with daily in
the early elementary years. The wall has not hit yet. Don't wait for the
wall to hit. It is devastating to hit it without armour and preparation.
Getting by is not good enough and will not last. Make it so when that wall
comes, he can leap right over it or have the strength to crash through
unharmed. 

 

 

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