[blparent] (no subject)
Sharon Howerton
shrnhow at gmail.com
Mon May 15 23:39:29 UTC 2017
Alomi, Hadley has a three course parenting series for blind and visually
impaired parents to be, parents, grandparents or interested visually
impaired people concerned about or interesting in parenting as a visually
impaired person. The courses are Preparation (13 chapters/assignments),
Infancy (10 chapters/assignments) and Early Years (11 chapters/assignments).
Students are provided with the books needed for their respective course, and
they do not need to take them in sequence nor do most people have to take
all three courses. I have been teaching these courses for perhaps ten years.
I am a totally blind parent with two adult sighted sons who are married;
their dad, my ex-husband, is visually impaired. Like any school, students
are expected to complete their assignments upon enrollment in a given
course. The text is North American based--primarily US and Canada--we
realize other countries may proceed in different ways, and I have had
students from India and Africa as well as, of course, the US and Canada.
The American Printing House for the Blind
Aph.org
Has a more recent informational book called Parenting with a Visual
Impairment. I do not know its cost or whether it is available online. I
would highly recommend checking into it.
Sharon Howerton
-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alomi
Parikh via BlParent
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2017 2:06 PM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Cc: Alomi Parikh
Subject: Re: [blparent] (no subject)
Hi Sharon,
Yes, I came across your course on your website and am extremely interested
in knowing what and how you teach in this course. I completely understand if
you cannot disclose details but a brief explanation would be a great start!
I will definitely try and work on the perspective aspect that you mentioned.
Thank you so much for replying and getting back to me!
Regards,
Alomi Parikh
On Mon, May 15, 2017 at 10:55 PM, Sharon Howerton via BlParent <
blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Alomi, thank you for your questions. I work for the Hadley Institute
> for the Blind and Visually Impaired and teach a three course parenting
> series. We have students from all over the world, and I have had one
> or two students from India who have taken the parenting courses with
> me. I think the lifestyle in India may be different from what we
> experience in the US where Indian parents may live with extended
> family, for example, and some blind people in India may live
> differently than we do as well. I would encourage you to get a lot
> more information about blind parenting from both the American and
> Indian perspective, for example, but first you might want to learn
> about perceptions of blind individuals as this may be impacted by the
> culture of one's country.
> Good luck.
> Sharon Howerton
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alomi
> Parikh via BlParent
> Sent: Monday, May 15, 2017 11:06 AM
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
> Cc: Alomi Parikh
> Subject: Re: [blparent] (no subject)
>
> Hi Judy,
>
> First of all, I'd like to heartily thank you for contacting me.
> Secondly, I am extremely sorry if my assumptions hurt you in any way,
> it was not my intention.
>
> I am also sorry I didn't make this clear, but no, I am not blind. I
> have contacted the list to get a better insight and first hand reports
> that would help me in my project. And yes, I am not a parent.
>
> I spoke to a couple of Blind Parents from India and they indicated
> that they often had the help of their sighted friends and neighbors
> and I made the mistake of generalizing this.
>
> Thank you for the rest of your answers, they were really helpful. But
> I wanted to clarify a few things.
>
> The same set of questions were sent out to both Blind and Sighted parents.
>
> For example, my intention was not to imply that there is a problem
> providing safety but to inquire if you faced any safety issues
> personally.
> They are multiple safety hazards to infants in general and my aim was
> to find out if there is any major difference between the way Blind
> Parents and Sighted Parents take care of their infants.
>
> As for the question about the most worrisome part of raising an
> infant, I was just aiming at the psychology of the parent and not
> attacking a problem in any way. For example, several sighted parents
> replied with various answers such as Communication Gap, Making sure
> they are healthy, Facing the unknown, Night shifts etc. Hence, it was
> just a question to see how you as a parent (irrespective of being
> Blind or not) felt while raising your kids.
> I am sure you had some anxieties as well and that is what I was hoping
> to understand.
>
> Nonetheless, I am sorry if I hurt your sentiments in anyway by making
> any assumptions. But I am so glad that you replied as now I have a
> more clear picture of my topic. Thank you so much for taking out the
> time to read this long email and patiently reply to all my queries.
>
> I am eagerly waiting for more responses.
>
> To the other readers,
>
> I would like to reiterate to the others that personally I strongly
> believe that Blind Parents are 100% capable to raise their infants. I
> am just reaching out to understand if there are any problems or not
> and want to clear out any assumptions.
>
> The following questions were sent out to both Blind and Sighted
> Parents and in no way are singling out Blind Parents by assuming that
> they will definitely have problems. These questions are to understand
> more about your Psychology as a parent more than anything else.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *3. What are some of the other problems regarding safety that you
> facedwhile raising your infant?4. What are some unconventional methods
> you use to keep your infant safe?5. What is/was the most worrisome
> part of raising an infant?6. What are some solutions you would
> suggest?7. Would you like to say anything apart from the questions?*
>
> Thank you once again for your valuable time.
>
> Alomi Parikh
>
> On Mon, May 15, 2017 at 9:09 PM, Judy Jones via BlParent <
> blparent at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > Thank you for contacting this list.
> >
> > First of all, are you blind? I also take it that at your age, you
> > are not yet a parent possibly?
> >
> > You are making assumptions too many times that others make, that the
> > blind parents do need some sighted assistance. Not so.
> >
> > My blind husband and I raised two happy and healthy girls, who are
> > now successful adults, and we had no outside sighted assistance. I
> > will qualify that by saying that we have lots of sighted friends.
> > We are very social, and our girls have been also. As a natural part
> > of friendships, we would do things for each other. I would bake
> > cookies, or watch other sighted friends' kids, for instance. The
> > sighted parents might take my kids somewhere, because they could
> > drive. But we also took our kids places on the bus. We did not
> > have sighted help based on our blindness. We would do things for
> > each other as a natural result of being friends and filling a need.
> >
> > We only used a baby sitter, believe it or not, once. Most of the
> > time we hung with other parents who had kids, and we all would
> > congregate in kid-friendly places, because we wanted to. We were
> > very independent with our kids, using either cabs or buses to get
> > them where they needed to go, and we took other sighted parents'
> > kids with us, if their parents did not have the time or ability to drive
them.
> >
> > To address your issues. Child safety is always of concern to
> > parents, not just to blind parents. Providing that safety is not
> > visual, but common sense. Again, you are making some underlying
> > assumptions that are not necessarily true. Blind or sighted, you
> > need to be aware of your environment, your child's environment, and
> > be in tune with your child. We were aware of safety precautions we
> > would need to take, and took them. A child who is choking is not
> > going to just sit there and choke. He will be moving and showing
> > other signs of distress, making some noises, breathing changes.
> > Granted, blind parents cannot see skin pallor, but there are so many
> > other symptoms that go along with what
> is going on with the child.
> > I'm
> > speaking from experience.
> >
> > The answer to your second question is obvious. I would resolve the
> > first-aid situation with steps that need to be taken at the time of
> > the incident. It is good advice for parents to know CPR and take
> > that and first aid classes that are offered in communities.
> >
> > The only unconventional things we did, but I got this idea from
> > seeing a sighted parent do this, is we put bells on our toddlers'
> > shoes so we could hear where they are. Another thing we did, if we
> > called for the child and they did not respond, we would take it on
> > ourselves to go find them. When we did, we would be very
> > matter-of-fact and say something like, Oh, there you are, and not make a
big deal out of it.
> > We took control by finding the child ourselves, and not giving child
> > the control to come to us when they felt like it. A great behavior
> > to practice. By the way, I learned that one at guide dog school
> > years before we had children. (smiles)
> >
> > Your next question, again, assumes there have to be problems in
> > providing safety. There are not. The answer is prevention. There
> > are priorities of providing safety. As a blindparent of a toddler,
> > you cannot just sit in a chair, and tell toddler to come to you.
> > You need to be on your feet with that toddler when he is exploring,
> > when not by your side. That alone will eliminate a lot of safety
issues.
> > Your child is your responsibility, not someone else's.
> >
> > Any successful blind person becomes a problem-solver, and this is
> > true of blind parents as well as sighted parents. We all do what we
> > can to make any hazards nonissues by taking preventative steps in
> > the first place and thinking ahead.
> >
> > Your next question, again you are assuming wrongly, in our case,
> > that it was worrisome raising kids. It was not. It was delightful,
> > lots of hard work, but we enjoyed it.
> >
> > Parenting skills have more to do with parenting, and not the fact
> > that the parents are blind. I can tell you also from my experience
> > of grown sighted kids that they will tell you the same thing.
> >
> > Judy
> >
> >
> >
> > From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
> > Alomi Parikh via BlParent
> > Sent: Monday, May 15, 2017 7:56 AM
> > To: blparent at nfbnet.org
> > Cc: Alomi Parikh
> > Subject: [blparent] (no subject)
> >
> > Hello
> >
> > Respected Sir/Madam,
> >
> > I am Alomi Parikh, a 19-year old Design Student from MIT University
> > in Pune, India.
> >
> > I have chosen to work with Parenting without SIght for a college
project.
> >
> > While I strongly believe that Blind Parents are completely and
> > wholly capable of raising their own children, society may think
otherwise.
> > However, I have researched and observed that while they are fully
> > capable, they do rely on their sighted friends or family for certain
> > reasons which curbs their independence slightly. I have also come to
> > realise that raising an infant is the most difficult part and there
> > are
> multiple safety hazards.
> >
> > After extensive research, I have narrowed down the topic I want to
> > work with as the following:
> >
> > Choking hazards are one of the most common safety hazards to infants
> > (0-12 months). The symptoms of suffocation and choking are mainly
> > visual symptoms.
> > A totally blind parent, left alone with their child may find it
> > difficult to diagnose this problem or may require the help of
> > sighted friends and family.
> > I want to work towards making them feel independent enough to
> > realize what is wrong with their child and be able to take the
> > necessary actions, by themselves or just like any other sighted parent.
> >
> > I would like to ask you a couple of questions regarding this and
> > sincerely hope you can help and guide me through this.
> >
> > 1. Do you think this is a genuine problem? Is there anything you
> > would like to add about this topic?
> >
> > 2. How would you tackle a situation where your infant is choking or
> > suffocating but you cannot see the symptoms?
> >
> > 3. Would you like to be completely independent in taking care of
> > such a situation? If you already are, I would love to know what kind
> > of solutions or tactics you use.
> >
> > 3. What are some of the other problems regarding safety that you
> > faced while raising your infant?
> >
> > 4. What are some unconventional methods you use to keep your infant
safe?
> >
> > 5. What is/was the most worrisome part of raising an infant?
> >
> > 6. What are some solutions you would suggest?
> >
> > 7. Would you like to say anything apart from the questions?
> >
> > I am looking forward to a constructive and positive interaction.
> >
> > Thank you for your valuable time and help.
> >
> > Alomi Parikh
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
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