[nabs-l] Charlie Wilks- blind football player.(asfeatured onESPN360)

Thu Nov 12 14:32:39 UTC 2009

I would say Jordan still bounds up the stairs LOL sorry Jordan couldn't resist.  Anyways I do agree that the writer and story was on the I'M AMAZING level but do agree that it gave great acknowledgment of what a blind person could do, it did say that they let him play.  If they didn't wouldn't we (NFB) be all over that?  I also hate the AMAZING praises given by people but at least it got out there and showed at least someone what a blind person can do, it could have been worse.  Maybe it touched that parent who thought my kid can't do anything.  IDK just my thoughts.
Sarah

> From: carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:35:26 -0600
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Charlie Wilks- blind football	player.(asfeatured	onESPN360)
> 
> Greetings,
> Usually I try very hard, since I am a parent and also sighted, not to
> interject my perspective here...mostly by far I am here to learn from you to
> help other parents and young children. You do what you do here beautifully.
> I pretty much never feel my 2 cents is needed, but this is one of those rare
> cases where I cannot control my urge to respond and am rationalizing my
> sighted and parent perspective may have some benefit or value, smile.
> 
> I must admit when I first saw the headliner I braced myself and was prepared
> to cringe. I thought of the times when my son was in elementary gym class
> and they said he did "great" and was "like all the normal kids" and
> participated, when their definition of independent participation was to
> totally stop the ball game and hand him the ball. There were also frequent
> gym classes where the teacher feared he may be injured and he was sent to
> sit out the class on the floor by the wall at the edge of the gym. I am also
> reminded of a newspaper article that featured Jordan and the reporter felt
> it compelling and newsworthy to write that he "bounded" up and down the
> stairs on his way to class. Oh for the day when a blind person taking the
> stairs or crossing the street is not news, so I sympathize with this feeling
> and hope.
> 
> On the other hand, the sighted person's reaction to that bit of news on
> Jordan surprised me. It indeed broke a stereotype. Unfortunately it WAS news
> to many, as well as other regular things he was doing in school. This did
> not hurt and in fact helped to dispel false ideas. The reporter did not say
> that he was amazing for doing it, he merely mentioned that he did and did it
> not only just as a fact but he did it "bounding". People were glad to hear
> it. Now we know some people thought that was amazing, but many just got new
> ideas and realized the ideas they had previously about blindness must be
> off. This is a good thing.
> 
> Recently I have had the grandparents of a six month old totally blind baby
> contact me. Their son is the father of this baby. The grandparents are
> soaking up all our resources and philosophies like sponges; the father wants
> nothing to do with "those damn blind people". The father it seems is a
> machismo, woodworking, sports, hunt, stereotypical male things guy's guy and
> is devastated and can not think of his blind boy baby becoming a real man. 
> 
> What do we really have here? A 14 year old guy playing football, yes really
> playing it appears. So he benefits from some direction and cues...don't many
> things a blind person does benefit from sometimes cues and direction? I am
> recalling a blind tractor pull competitor in Illinois, he had a radio on the
> tractor and someone gave him directions, but he operated the tractor himself
> and he competed regularly. And this teen is competing. If he starts to truly
> make his team lose from his mistakes I am sure he will be on the bench and
> then cut just like any other player. It is likely that will happen as it is
> for many/most of his teammates. Statistically it is likely none of them will
> make it to the pros. I thought he did well himself to downplay any notion
> that he is SUPER-POWERED with the example of the rain on his helmet. 
> 
> He is someone who is not only blind but the survivor of a BRAIN TUMOR~the
> fact that his family and his mates are not worried at all about him being
> "fragile" makes my heart sing. Oh how many times are blind kids refused
> participation in all kinds of things and friendly knocking around because of
> the perception of them being fragile?
> 
> Maybe somewhere a little blind boy or girl, or a parent heard of this and
> thought "Me too". We are rare, this participation is rare, unfortunately
> that is a fact. It is good news to me, and I thought the article gave a
> presentation of a kid to be admired and not merely just because he is blind.
>  
>  
> Carrie Gilmer, President
> Minnesota Organization of Parents of Blind Children
> A Division of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of David Dunphy
> Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 1:27 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Charlie Wilks- blind football player.(asfeatured
> onESPN360)
> 
> I guess I'm just put off by this whole perception of how amazing we are in 
> the eyes of others when it comes out that we can do something. A guy who can
> 
> see finds out a blind person plays football, and that person is a super hero
> 
> who should have a hole story done on him. To me, he is just an everyday 
> person that found a way to play football that I don't think he'll get far 
> with based on what I heard in the article. Sighted people find ways and 
> solutions to problems of how they're going to accomplish something all the 
> time, and a second thought is not even given to it. We do it, and we're 
> amazing. And the fact that he made such a big deal out of something like 
> this, by this I mean mingling with his peers, whether it was by playing a 
> sport or what ever, suggests that the writer thought that was incredible 
> that a blind person can do that. As Harry put it, that to me shows a bias 
> there on the part of the writer or a misconception about us. People mingle 
> with their peers and find ways to have fun everyday. I personally thought 
> the whole thing was corny.
> >From David 
> 
> 
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