[blparent] First Questions About Blindness

Tue Oct 19 17:39:20 UTC 2010

Good idea. As with any list, book or anything else, you take the ideas that 
you find most helpful and appropriate to your situation.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ldavis5000 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] First Questions About Blindness


> 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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