[Blindtlk] Blindness Misperceptions from kids

[Robert A. Hansen]

I will try and think of some situations and post them here.

On 4/27/2011 9:20 AM, nikki Wunderlich wrote:
> Hello,
>
> My name is Nikki and I encounteredsome of the same stuff you're talking
> about, so when I was younger, I used to do blindness presentations at the
> public school that I used to attend. And even as an adult I've done one or
> two blindness presentations to help kids learn about blindness and some of
> the different things we use in our daily life such as the white cane,
> computers with speech software, electronic note takers such as the Braille
> lite, ect. Then after I do my presentation I let them ask questions, and I
> answer them to the best of my ability. When I am in public and some one asks
> me about my cane, I simply tell them that my eyes do not work as well as
> theirs, and that my cane helps me see. I hope this helps you out.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of humberto
> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 10:11 PM
> To: blindTlk at nfbNet.org
> Subject: [Blindtlk] Blindness Misperceptions from kids
>
> Hi dear listers:
>
> Some time ago, somebody in here posted a really really
> interesting message with an interesting question that caused
> threads that hit the list with high fever and great discussions.
> Today I'm here to ask you another question and to share my
> opinions. My concerns deal with the statement written in the
> subject line, blindness misperceptions coming out of children.
> First of all, I have found an essay that was really interesting
> that someone posted on the National Students Division (Nabs)
> mailing list, that explains that adults have these outdated
> negative views about blindness, and kids have better views about
> it than adults, especially when they were raised or growing
> around blind people.
> This person explained that her nephews had a more positive
> attitude around her and that they thought she was cool and could
> do everything by herself. They even think that it's not such a
> big deal being blind.
> In my personal experience, this is not true. Often kids, when I'm
> walking by, think I am weird and ask me a whole bunch of
> questions that I don't know even how to respond to. Some kids
> think I can not walk, and some even say my disability (blindness)
> is an illness, which makes me upset and wanting to advocate them
> and their parents. One day when I was living in California, I
> went to a social gathering with my family and one of their
> friends had two kids. I was sitting down and I had my wonderful
> trusty white cane folded with me at the side, and one girl asked
> "Why is he carrying those four sticks, and why are there for?" Of
> course she asked her mom but we quickly told her what it was and
> what it was used for. At the time I didn't know anything about
> NFB philosophies and my blindness philosophy was not the one that
> it is now, so my Mom had to explain everything.
> But now, when I'm walking down the street or even doing something
> that other people would do regularly, kids still ask me "Why the
> heck you have a stick in your hand?" Some other kids will just
> stare at me like non-sense and run away. Some others will talk,
> but yes according to myself, they would talk to themselves
> because I don't know if they are talking to me until I tell them
> "Are you talking to me?" And yet, when I was little, one day one
> kid even tried to hit me with a small rock, because of no reason,
> or maybe just because of a sign of disrespect toward people with
> disabilities, and even more, blind people. (or that is what I
> think now.)
> The problem with kids, I suppose, from my personal experiences,
> is that their parents inherit those misperceptions of blindness
> into them and / or the kids get them from other people, or
> they've never been around blind people before or something. I can
> understand how they have never been around people who are blind
> before, but the parents issue is what gets me straight the most.
> Yet I don't even have the right time to advocate these kids in a
> diplomatic way patience being one of the factors. But the times I
> try to educate them about my blindness and being just a regular
> person, I don't know how to start engaging them, and they keep
> asking dumb questions.
> Any opinions on how to say to them about positive attitudes of
> blindness, or how to diplomatically explain them? Have you had
> any similar experiences? Any stories you want to share? Any more
> concerns or issues? Any help is appreciated please.
>
> Cheers, Humberto
>
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