[humanser] Question about Process of Disclosure of Blindness with minors

[Kaiti Shelton]

 Hi, Sarah,

My situation is slightly different, but in the past I have brought up
blindness as a practical matter with adults and others in the room in
the first few sessions.  I would say things like, "You'll have to tell
me what you're pointing at because I can't see it," etc so that the
client knew what they would need to do to communicate with me.  This
was also helpful because then if they forgot the adults could remind
them and fill in the gap.  E.G, the special educator I am working with
now could say, "E, remember to say you have a comment when you have
your hand up."

Other aspects of blindness I let come organically.  The other day one
of my students saw my cane propped in the corner and wanted to know if
it was a metal detector.  I explained how it works, passed it around
so they could all see it up close, and then put it back and continued
with the session.  Reinforcing it is sometimes necessary for me
because with Autism and other cognitive disabilities the clients don't
always understand it right away, such as this student who after seeing
it said he wanted to find money with it.  I just responded that I did
too.  My student last semester, who has Down Syndrome, would sometimes
joke with me to test how much I could see.  This wasn't in a mean or
rude way, but my supervisor thinks he was trying to figure out how
much vision I actually had.  He had quite a hilarious time discovering
what the cane was as well.  >
> Carmella Broome EdS LPC LMFT
>
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