[blparent] Introduction

Judy Jones sonshines59 at gmail.com
Mon Jun 12 16:30:34 UTC 2017 

Welcom welcome, and thank you for introducing yourself.  It is good to see
yet another blind person making a difference in their community.

Judy


-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
candice.attrill via BlParent
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 8:07 AM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Cc: candice.attrill
Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction

well, I already know Heather, but I never did an introduction when I joined
the list.
my name is candice, and I am a white king user. My husband and I are both
totally blind. we also live in Rochester, and I am the treasurer of our
little Rochester chapter.
I have two children Apryl is 6 and Kian is 2.
Both  of my kids have bilatteral colobomas. They are high partials. Apryl is
spirited and sassy, but also can be really sweet. Kian has a few delays, but
he is working with a great team. He is always making every one laugh. I am a
stay at home mother, I also am recently voted in as recording secritary for
my daughter's school PTA. I also have been vuleniering at our local YMCA  in
the child watch room. I look forward to connecting with some of you at
convention this year Candice!


> On Jun 11, 2017, at 9:14 PM, Melissa R Green via BlParent
<blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Welcome heather.  Your family certainly keeps you busy.  Look forward to
hearing more from you on the list.
> 
> 
> 
> Best,
> Melissa R. Green And Pj
> -----Original Message----- From: Heather Bird via BlParent
> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 1:57 PM
> To: blparent at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Heather Bird
> Subject: [blparent] Introduction
> 
> Hello. My name is Heather and I am the middle generation of a three 
> generation blind family. My mother is blind and my father sighted. My 
> husband is sighted and my two sons, ages 3 and 8 are also blind. The 
> four of us have LCA, a rare autosomel dominant form, as LCA is 
> typically recessive.
> 
> 
> My older son Jeremy is about to turn 9 in August, and he is my extreme 
> child. He is on the autism spectrum and he never acts his age. He 
> either acts far more considerate and mature than his peers, like a 12 
> year old, or he acts incredibly immature and difficult like a 2 year 
> old. So, Its like having my 3 year old son Caleb, and two other 
> children, a 2 year old and a 12 year old with some weird custody 
> arrangement where the 2 year old and the 12 year old are never in my home
at the same time.
> *smile* Jeremy is extremely bright, but has poor planning skills and 
> is often seriously lacking in basic common sense. His reading 
> comprehension is two to four grade levels above, but his actual 
> reading is about one grade level behind his peers. He can do mental 
> math one or two grade levels ahead of his class mates, but getting him 
> to sit down and write out his work on the Braille writer for math is 
> like wrestling a rabid, really pissed off squirrel. His primary 
> interests are space flight/NASA history, Mine craft, collecting figit 
> spinners, amusement park rides, science and watching other people play 
> various games on YouTube. Like his father, Jeremy cannot carry a tune 
> in a bucket, has an aptitude for math and technology and a fondness 
> for Bruce Coville books and doing Lego models. Jeremy is also my child 
> of contradictions. He wasn't fully potty trained until around age 4, 
> we are talking about "sit on the plastic froggy potty and I'll give 
> you an M and M and a penny to put in your toilet piggy bank that you 
> flush to get the coin to go down into the base, and please for God's 
> sake can we get you out of cloth training pants by the start of 
> Kindergarten?" But, at age 3 he could take the old empty toilet paper 
> cardboard tube off of the holder and install a new role for me. He can 
> read children's books on difficult topics like the holocaust or the 
> underground railroad, and have meaningful conversations about their 
> content, but if he drops half of a cheep, crappy 20 cent freeze pop, 
> it is the same bursting into tiers and carrying on like a wounded 
> animal that you would expect to accompany something serious like his cat
dying.
> 
> 
> My younger son Caleb is 3. He is my easy going sweet. He is quite 
> smart, but rarely brilliant. He has tantrums on occasion, but he 
> rarely misbehaves. He's very dependable, for a 3 year old, and a very 
> amusing, lovable kiddo. If he is on the spectrum, it is much less 
> significant than with Jeremy, as he is pretty typical in most ways. He 
> loves music, car rides, shapes, visiting his nana and his grammie, and 
> scented products. The only sensory things we have really seen with him 
> is that he screams his head off as if we've poured sulfuric acid on 
> him whenever Ilsa licks him, and he is not thrilled about having messy 
> things on his hands or face, although he is able to cope if I give him 
> a cloth napkin to use whenever he gets something on his fingers or 
> face. He has done everything either on time with or slightly behind 
> his peers, whereas Jeremy did just about everything way ahead of or 
> way behind his peers. I see more of myself in Jeremy, but I have an 
> easier time with Caleb. I love them both dearly, but, honestly? I like 
> Caleb better. On a day-to-day basis, I far prefer spending time with 
> Caleb. Jeremy pushes my buttons constantly, although on the rare 
> occasions when Jeremy can focus and control his behavior, he is 
> responsible for the majority of the extraordinary, epic or memorable 
> moments in our household. Caleb keeps me sane and Jeremy helps me grow 
> as a person, and both are very valuable aspects of my life. We want to 
> have one more child, and we are hoping for a girl, but we are stopping 
> at three even if the next one is a boy. Although, with three little 
> boys, my husband, with his male service dog and Jeremy's male cat, I 
> might have to go and spend some time with the little girls of friends 
> to keep from being overwhelmed with testosterone. At least Ilsa is on 
> the girl team with me. *smile*
> 
> 
> My husband is sighted and he is one of the few sighted people that I 
> feel really "gets it" about the blindness thing. He is an Iraq War 
> veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He just graduated with an 
> under graduate degree in computer science and is looking for a job. He 
> has moderate to severe PTSD and is a service dog handler. His service 
> dog is a smoothe coat collie named Dante, who we owner trained.
> 
> 
> We also have a grey and black Maine Coon cat named Houston, who is 
> Jeremy's pet. One of my catch phrases regarding the cat, as I fish him 
> out from under something, extricate him from a tight spot or shoe him 
> away from something he's stolen is "Houston, you are a problem."
> 
> 
> I have a black and tan German Shepherd Seeing Eye dog named Ilsa. She 
> is still quite young as I got her in September of 2016 and she wasn't 
> yet two at that time. I have previously had a yellow lab from GEB, two 
> GSDs from Fidelco and one GSD from TSE prior to Ilsa.
> 
> 
> I am the chapter president of our local Rochester chapter of the 
> National Federation of the Blind of New York. My husband, Jim is a 
> board member, and my mother, Bernice, who is also blind is our 
> secretary. I am also the vice president of the New York Associations of
Guide Dog Users.
> Jim and I are members of IAADP and Jim is a member of the VFW, the 
> DAV, and also of NOPBC. He might be joining the blind veterans 
> division as well. I am an attachment parent, in most respects and a 
> green parent whenever I can be. Our chapter is very new and very 
> small, but is growing rapidly. Wee were chartered with 7 members in 
> October of 2016 and we now have 15 members, and of those 15, 5 of them 
> are blind parents, my mom, my self, a single blind mom and a blind couple.
> 
> 
> It will be great to get to know all of you here on list.
> 
> Have a great Sunday,
> 
> Heather and family,
> 
> 
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