[blindkid] was Signs NOW Different

Steve Jacobson steve.jacobson at visi.com
Wed Feb 27 03:59:37 UTC 2013


What you say is true, but what is sometimes being said is that being different is being inferior.  ASince we can't see cars, we are clearly less safe and less 
able to detect them in a timely manner.  Some of the techniques we use may well be inferior to what vision offers, but in some cases it doesn't matter and 
in other cases they are not inferior.  I don't think the issue here is making all kids the same.  Rather it is not assuming that every difference matters, or as 
you said, makes us inferior.  It is frustrating when some of the same observations result in opposing opinions.  <smile>

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:36:22 +0000, empwrn at bellsouth.net wrote:

>Hello everyone, 

>I would like to thank everyone who has commented for sharing your thoughts on the subject. I appreciate the different viewpoints expressed here.

>One thing has stuck out for me in the discussion. It seems that there is a very big push for sameness, as in children who are blind are the same as 
children who are not. I most respectfully declare that they are not. Children who are blind are blind. They are different than children who are sighted. 
Different is just different. Different is not better. Different is not inferior. Different is just different. Individual children (whether sighted or blind) are different 
from one another. Some left handed children need left handed scissors. Some left handed children do just fine with right handed scissors. It is more 
important to me that the individual needs of my individual child are met rather than trying to fit him into a box of sameness with everyone else. 

>I believe that providing support that a child needs bolsters confidence and self-esteem much more than an attempt to insist that all children are the same. 

>Marie (mother of Jack who is very different from other children in many ways other than his visual impairment and is very aware of it and still very 
confident and happy with himself)
>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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