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

[Ericka]

I like your stories Carmela. I work with seniors and kids and your way works very well. Afterwhile they kind of forget and just treat you like a human being. For some reason kids and senior citizens understand and employers/other adults seem to have a harder time getting it. Haven't quite figured out why! I volunteer at a nearby school and I remember when I first started. I gave the talk about blindness and my cane. The next week I had a different cane with me and one of the school kids said to another "I wonder why she has a different cane today? ". Mind you these were kindergartners! It was so funny that they cared that much. 

Ericka Short
"What is right is not always popular; what is popular is not always right."

 from my iPhone

> On Mar 2, 2016, at 9:50 AM, Kaiti Shelton via humanser <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
>  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
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> humanser mailing list
>> humanser at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/humanser_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for humanser:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/humanser_nfbnet.org/crazy4clarinet104%40gmail.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> humanser mailing list
> humanser at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/humanser_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for humanser:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/humanser_nfbnet.org/dotwriter1%40gmail.com