[blparent] First Questions About Blindness

Tue Oct 19 17:25:46 UTC 2010

Hi Sahron.  It is a very helpful list and I am sure that Lupe and I will use 
it amny times in the upcomings months or so.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "sharon howerton" <shrnhow at att.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 3:33 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] First Questions About Blindness

> Kathy, this is Sharon from Hadley. I'm glad you found this list.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <ldavis5000 at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 2:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [blparent] First Questions About Blindness
>
>
>> Thank you for your explanation on your daughter's questions.  I am a 
>> mentor to a young woamn who is blind with a sighted 18 month old boy. 
>> This info will come in handy.  I have printed your email to share with my 
>> friend.
>>
>> Kathy
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Jo Elizabeth Pinto" <jopinto at pcdesk.net>
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 10:38 PM
>> Subject: [blparent] First Questions About Blindness
>>
>>
>>> Hi.  I was wondering if some of you parents who have older children 
>>> could recall and share how the issue of your blindness came up with your 
>>> kids, and how you explained your disability to them simply enough so 
>>> they could understand.
>>>
>>> A few weeks ago, something came up that I can't really remember, but for 
>>> some reason I told Sarah, who is now two and a half, that my eyes didn't 
>>> work.  I said they were broken, which is a concept she usually 
>>> understands.  She said to me very seriously, "Mommy, they're not open." 
>>> So I told her my eyes didn't work even when they were open.  She said in 
>>> a very matter-of-fact way, "Just open them."
>>>
>>> Toddlers move on pretty easily, so the subject was quickly dropped.  I 
>>> started noticing that Sarah would say, "By your left, by your left" when 
>>> I was searching for something, although she didn't know what "left" 
>>> meant. She'd just heard other people saying it.  Sometimes she would 
>>> stay "step" when we came to a curb, and although I wouldn't rely on her 
>>> directions as consistent or trustworthy, I've thanked her for telling me 
>>> just because it seems to me like a considerate thing to do.
>>>
>>> One day last week, we were going to a restaurant, and she asked me if I 
>>> would be taking my eyes with me.  I said yes, and she asked if she could 
>>> take her eyes, too.  I said yes, she could, and she promptly poked 
>>> herself in the eye, seeming like she was trying to get her eyeball in 
>>> her hand. So I told her that we all have eyes which are part of our 
>>> bodies, and that they didn't come off.
>>>
>>> The thing that has started getting me kind of concerned is that Sarah 
>>> and I will be playing with a toy or doing something, and she'll start 
>>> saying, "Mommy, open your eyes.  Don't close your eyes."  I have no 
>>> voluntary control over whether my eyes are open or closed.  Or she'll 
>>> say, "I have to close my eyes like Mommy."  Then tonight, I was sitting 
>>> on the floor and she stood in front of me, pinched one of my cheeks with 
>>> each of her hands, and said, "Mommy, don't do that with your face." 
>>> Something was obviously bothering her because she continued to say the 
>>> same thing.  I asked her what she meant, and she said, "The pancake 
>>> face.  I don't wanna see the pancake."  (God knows where she got that.)
>>>
>>> Anyway, I didn't know what to say.  One of the concerns my sister 
>>> brought up when I first got pregnant was that my facial expressions 
>>> don't always fit naturally with the situation that is going on, and that 
>>> my baby would pick up on that.  My sister tends to be kind of 
>>> superficial and focused on appearance, and it surely isn't that big of a 
>>> deal, but I'm wondering what you all told your kids, or how the issues 
>>> resolved themselves. Please forgive the long post, but I felt I should 
>>> explain the progression of things.
>>>
>>> Jo Elizabeth
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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>
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