[Fopbc] Braille Literacy; Friend and Mentors, A Florida Story

[FOPBC at aol.com]

Hello Everyone -

Donna pulled the article to fix a couple of typos.  The link will not be 
available until the article gets re-approved. However, she  was
able to send me a word doc which I have copied and pasted for you. So  
sorry for the confusion! Enjoy the article!

Lenora J. Marten, President
FOPBC/NFBF-Parents  Division
NFB-Jacksonville Chapter Secretary
_fopbc at aol.com_ (mailto:fopbc at aol.com)   
904-777-5976 /  904-229-9554
_www.nfbflorida.org/parents_ (http://www.nfbflorida.org/parents)  



Ad: If it was up to you to teach legally blind  children, would you insist 
that they use their remaining vision as much as  possible, even if it meant 
that they were functionally illiterate and one day  they would walk in front 
of a truck with their young child? Or, would you want  to give them the 
tools and awareness to become successful adults who could  function 
independently and safely? The answer may seem obvious, but thousands of America's blind 
kids are being forced to settle  for a substandard education, leading to 
lives of dependence with little chance  for employment and unnecessary danger. 
Jody Ianuzzi is a Major in the Civil  Air Patrol and a martial arts 
instructor. Along with her friend Debbby Bracket,  who holds a master's in early 
childhood education, she is changing what it means  to be blind.
 
Braille Literacy: Friends and Mentors, a Florida  Story
By Donna W. Hill
Word count: 4448
 
When Jody Ianuzzi (56,  Jensen Beach Florida), graduated from high school, 
she was reading at a third  grade level. Setting aside for the moment the 
obvious question of how any  American school could graduate someone with such 
substandard literacy skills,  let's fast forward to what she's achieved 
since. If you get to know Jody even  just a little, you will quickly learn that 
she values the advice of twentieth  century world leader Mahatma Gandhi. Her 
e-mails end with, "WE MUST BE THE  CHANGE WE WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD" 
 
A Major in the Air force Auxiliary/Civil Air Patrol, Jody  is a Mission 
Qualified Radio Operator. She is also a judo instructor and has a  third degree 
black belt in judo as well as a second degree black belt in  ju-jitsu. A 
mother of two with one grandchild, Jody also helps her husband Tom  with his 
computer security business and has completed several years of college. 
 
With a lot of hard work and under less than ideal  circumstances, Jody had 
to make up the deficit that her school was unwilling to  address. As a 
mentor, she is providing to others the support, encouragement and  role model 
that she was expected to do without. 
 
The problem was that what Jody needed was something that  her parents and 
teachers didn't want to give her, because it would have  committed an 
unforgivable act – it would have made her "look blind." In fact,  Jody is blind. 
She has been legally blind since birth due to Retinopathy of  Prematurity 
(ROP), having no vision in her left eye and only seeing hand motion  with the 
right. As a child, she had enough vision to painstakingly and slowly  read 
print. So, despite her medical diagnosis, the school didn't teach her  Braille. 
Not understanding how limited her sight really was, they expected her  to 
function as a sighted person. She had to teach herself Braille and other  
non-visual skills as an adult.
 
"We all know how much easier it is,"=2 0says Debby  Bracket who holds a 
masters degree in early childhood education," to learn  things when we are 
young!"
 
Debby (52, Stuart, Florida,) met Jody on an e-mail list  for ROP, when she 
and her husband Bob were trying to determine if they could  successfully 
adopt and parent a blind child. Winona, now thirteen, came into all  of their 
lives when she was three and a half. She and her family have benefited  from 
Jody's experience. 
 
"After several years of chatting on line," says Debby,  currently the 
office manager for her husband's landscaping company and a  substitute teacher in 
Florida's Martin County, "we met in person, and have been  fast friends 
since. First and foremost, she is a dear friend. Secondly, she is a  mentor for 
Winona. It has been invaluable to have someone I could turn to at any  time 
with questions, especially when20I didn't think the school was  correct."
 
"When  we moved to Florida," recalls Jody who was living in New Hampshire 
when the two  met on the ROP list, "Debby was still in Miami. They moved here 
to my area about  7 years ago. Our husbands both have their own businesses 
and we share so much in  common. I hope I am a good example to Winona to 
show her that she can grow up  and have a family and do the same things 
everyone else does in life."



**************A bad credit score is 600 & below. Checking won't affect your 
score. See now! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221823322x1201398723/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgI
D=62&bcd=JulyBadfooterNO62)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/fopbc_nfbnet.org/attachments/20090728/e9305ea1/attachment.html>