[Fopbc] Fwd: [Nfbf-l] Blindfolding Sighted People: Beware of Simulation

Thu Sep 10 12:27:30 UTC 2009

____________________________________

-----Original Message-----
From: Marion & Martin  <swampfox1833 at verizon.net>
To: NFBF List  <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thu, Sep 10, 2009 4:43 am
Subject:  [Nfbf-l] Blindfolding Sighted People: Beware of Simulation

Dear All, 
     I thought it would be instructive for everyone to read the entire text 
of 
 Carol Castellano's article concerning simulation exercises. Members may 
remember 
 that Carol was the guest of the Florida Parents of Blind Children seminar 
in 
 2007 and is the author of "To Touch the Stars", a book that brings 
astronomy to 
 blind children. 

 Fraternally yours,

 Marion Gwizdala

 Beware of Simulation

 by Carol Castellano

 _http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr21/fr06ws09.htm_ 
(http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr21/fr06ws09.htm) 

 Teachers are often tempted to use simulation exercises to raise awareness 
and 
 "to show students what it is like to be blind." In these exercises, sighted

 students don a blindfold and then attempt to perform various tasks or walk 
 around the school building being guided by a classmate to "build trust."

 What are the goals of such exercises? Sighted students will probably have 
 trouble performing tasks under blindfold that they are accustomed to doing 
with

 their eyesight. Is the goal to show them how hard it is to be blind? 
Sighted 
 students will probably be nervous giving over their safety to a guide who

 is walking them around. Is the goal to show that blind people are helpless 
and 
 dependent and must put their trust in good-hearted sighted people in order

 to get anywhere or to keep from falling down a flight of stairs?

 Before you embark on such an activity, think about what you want the 
students to 
 learn. Wearing a blindfold for a little while might show what it would

 be like to suddenly lose vision, but it certainly does not show what it is 
like 
 to be blind. Real blind/VI people learn a series of skills that enable

 them to perform tasks without or with very little eyesight. Likewise, real 
 blind/VI people learn mobility skills so that they can trust themselves and

 get where they need to go.

 If children are blindfolded but are not taught any of the skills that real 
 blind/VI people use, they are likely to emerge from a simulation 
experience 
 feeling

 that blindness/visual impairment is scary, sad, and difficult. Is this 
what you 
 want them to think blindness/visual impairment is like? Instead of 
fostering

 acceptance, understanding, and respect, these exercises engender sadness, 
fear, 
 and pity. Instead of thinking of their blind/VI classmate as a potential

 friend, students can end up feeling more distant from their blind/VI 
classmate 
 and feeling sorry for him or her.     

 _http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm04/bm0411/bm041108.htm_ 
(http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm04/bm0411/bm041108.htm)      

 November 2004

 Half a Cup

 by Dave Hyde

 Dave Hyde

 Dave Hyge

 >From the Editor: Dave Hyde currently serves as secretary of the Rock 
County 
 chapter of the NFB of Wisconsin, is the affiliate's director of 
governmental

 affairs, coordinates the Imagination Fund for Wisconsin, and is the newly 
 elected secretary of the affiliate. At work he develops and schedules 
 professional

 development activities for vision teachers and O and M specialists all 
over the 
 state. In his spare time he coaches goal ball.

 In the following little article Dave grapples with a frustration faced by 
many 
 competent blind people. His conclusion sheds some light, even if it does

 not solve the problem. This is what he says:

 Until she died, my mother never poured me more than half a cup of coffee. 
I'm 
 sure this was something she learned from some book or class about how blind

 people did things. Somehow, some way, she learned that handling more than 
half a 
 cup of hot liquid would be hazardous and must be avoided.

 She and I discussed her half-cup habit over the years and agreed that I 
should 
 have a full cup like everyone else and that I didn't spill a full cup any

 more frequently than she did. But every time she poured it, the cup was 
half 
 full. As I grew up, I realized that there was a difference between what she

 knew from experience about blindness and what she had learned from sighted 
 professionals about it. She had taken some parent training when I was very 
 young,

 part of which involved eating under blindfold. She told me that it was 
very 
 hard, that she was afraid of spilling, and that after the experience she 
 understood

 how hard it was for blind people to eat.

 Strangely enough, I have never had any problem transporting food from the 
plate 
 to my mouth, drinking from a full cup, or locating things on a table. I

 have done it every day because I have only two choices: eat or starve. I 
have 
 always preferred the former. Looking back, I can now see the difference 
between

 what my mother was taught and what she learned. Mom was taught that she 
couldn't 
 do things as well under a blindfold as she could when she could see, but

 the lesson she drew from this fact was that my experience would always be 
just 
 like her lesson under the blindfold.

 The first of these statements is true. It is hard for a sighted person to 
do 
 things under a blindfold. The blindfold simulates total blindness and 
requires

 the participant to do things in a way which is new, uncomfortable, and 
fearful. 
 I have often likened learning of the skills of blindness to learning to

 drive a car. You can't or shouldn't assume that, just because a person 
owns a 
 car, he or she can drive it. Driving requires instruction and practice. 
 Eventually,

 however, driving becomes easier and ultimately a matter of habit. The 
difficulty 
 with my mother's simulated blindness was that she didn't stick with it

 long enough to develop skill. Incorrect though it was, she learned her 
lesson 
 well. Even after being around successful blind people at conventions; 
seeing

 me married, employed, and successful; and knowing that many of the things 
she 
 couldn't do under blindfold my friends and I do all the time, she still 
 remembered

 how hard it had been for her and behaved accordingly.
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