[blparent] sighted children at convention?

[cheryl echevarria]

Wonderful!

Cheryl Echevarria
Independent Travel Consultant
http://Echevarriatravel.com
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Deborah Kent Stein" <dkent5817 at att.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 11:41 AM
Subject: Re: [blparent] sighted children at convention?


>
>
> Dear Julie,
>
> I started bringing my sighted daughter to conventions when she was ten or
> eleven.  She had never seemed to be troubled about having a blind mom, and
> like your son, had known blind people all her life.  I was really struck,
> then, by the bonding she did at convention with other children of blind
> parents.  There wasn't any sort of formal gathering, but they found each
> other and connected.  I'm not sure how much they talked about their
> experience of having blind parents either, not in any prolonged way, but
> there really seemed to be a sense of sharing.
>
> I vividly remember an incident my daughter described to me one year at
> convention when she was fourteen.  She and a sighted friend, Crystal, got
> into an elevator with their towels and bathing suits, heading up to the
> pool.  A sighted man, not with the convention, got in and immediately
> started talking to the girls.  He said, "I can't wait to check out of here
> and get away from all these people with their dogs and their sticks!" 
> Janna
> told me proudly that Crystal gave him a hard look and said, "Those are our
> parents."  If she had been alone, it might have been a far more painful
> experience, but because the girls shared it and supported one another, she
> felt empowered.
>
> Debbie
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Julie J" <julielj at windstream.net>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 8:13 AM
> Subject: [blparent] sighted children at convention?
>
>
> > Hello all!
> >
> > It's been a while since I've been on this list. It's good to be back.
> >
> > My Kiddo is 13 now.  Time flies when you're having fun...or something 
> > like
> > that.  *smile*  I know a lot of you have younger children, but I'm 
> > hoping
> > there will be someone with some ideas for me.
> >
> > We had an incident in a store yesterday which really bothered my son.
> > There were some children in line behind us who were rude on a variety of
> > counts.  The rudeness that really bothered my son was when the kids
> > decided that me being blind was funny and worthy of making fun of me for
> > it.   I ignored them for a couple of reasons.  I really had no clue what
> > to say.  but the mother was standing right there and I have difficulty
> > parenting other people's kids in front of their parents.
> >
> > I know I probably should have said something, but it is too late for 
> > this
> > episode.  I'll come up with something for next time.  What I'm most
> > concerned with is my son.   He was really upset about these kids.
> >
> > My son is sighted.  He has been around blind people all of his life and
> > sees it as normal.  I am the only blind person in my town or at least 
> > the
> > only blind person out and about anyway.    He will be coming with me to
> > the NFB national convention again this summer.  I think it's important 
> > for
> > him as much as it is for me, especially now that we aren't around many
> > blind people on a regular basis.
> >
> > I know he gets lots of questions about what it is like to have a blind
> > mom.  I talk to him about it and try to help the best that I can.  but
> > what I really think he needs is to talk to other sighted children with
> > blind parents who have struggled with similar issues.
> >
> > Is there any sort of opportunity like this at convention?  If not, are
> > there parents here that would be interested in getting a group together?
> >
> > thanks!
> > Julie
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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