[nabs-l] Device Helps Blind See with Tongue

Arielle Silverman arielle71 at gmail.com
Fri May 25 03:36:33 UTC 2012


Hi all,
Students training to be regular ed teachers (i.e. elementary ed
majors) usually have to take a class called Introduction to Special
Education. When I was at ASU I happened to run into the Intro to
Special Ed instructor on the street and he invited me to come talk to
his class, so I did it for three or four semesters. It's a great way
to educate future teachers--not only special ed teachers but also the
teachers who might get one blind child every few years in their
mainstream class. During my last semester at ASU a friend of mine was
taking Intro to Special Ed and she invited me to come talk to her
class. Afterward she was telling me that they had just finished the
"blindness/visual impairment" chapter in their textbook and that it
was really boring and depressing. I think it can be really valuable
for us to talk to these classes and show them that blindness can be
much more "normal" than the way it is portrayed in the textbooks.
If you are a current student, you could search your school's course
catalog for a special ed course being offered and then email the
instructor and offer to give a presentation.
Some folks have compiled "courtesy rules" or suggestions of ways to
interact or not interact with blind people. While these rules can be
helpful, I don't like giving people the impression that they need to
worry about acting a certain way with me. When I present I usually
tell people that they should just keep two things in mind when with a
blind person: (1) treat them like you would anybody else, and (2) if
you aren't sure how to help someone or whether they need help, then
just ask them and respect their preference. This should be simple
enough.
It's good to talk about how we do things like reading Braille and
getting around with a cane, but I also tried to emphasize the typical
college things I did (I recall one student asking me what my favorite
alcoholic drink was!) With education students, I also emphasized the
importance of teaching blindness skills early and holding blind
students to high expectations.
Best,
Arielle

On 5/24/12, Brandon Keith Biggs <brandonkeithbiggs at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> I may, even though I'm going to be a new transfer student. BTW what do you
> mean by "courtesy rules?"
> I could also push the high demand there is for TVIs.
>
> BTW, I just wanted to share something, while we are on the subject of STEM
> and technology, here's an amazing website for someone who wants to learn
> programming, but can't understand all the jargon used by the websites and
> textbooks.
> http://www.qwitter-client.net/lpthw/index.html
> Python can be used in creating PDAs, see the Braille + from APH and Level
> star, games in cluding Muds and text games as well as serving as an
> introduction to the heavier languages like Java and C++.
> Just use Notepad for your text editor and join the program-l list if you
> have any questions!
>
> Sorry, just had to push something for those of you who haven't decided on a
>
> major or hobby yet!
> Thanks,
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joshua Lester
> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:38 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Device Helps Blind See with Tongue
>
> Brandon:
> Ask your college, to allow you to do, what I'm doing, this October,
> (Lord willing.)
> Since October is Meet the Blind Month, I'm going to do a seminar on
> blindness related stuff, at my college, showing what I do, and how I
> do things.
> I'd even show them the courtesy rules, that are mentioned.
> Blessings, Joshua
>
> On 5/24/12, Sophie Trist <sweetpeareader at gmail.com> wrote:
>> If more colleges had TVI programs available, we could get more good TVIs
>> that we need.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On May 23, 2012, at 3:53 PM, "Brandon Keith Biggs"
>> <brandonboy13 at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>> True, the sighted people in engineering often want to develop things for
>>> blind people to use, but very few of them know blind people to ask, or
>>> know of any professionals on blind people that could answer their
>>> questions. I think the root of the problem is that there aren’t enough
>>> of
>>> us to go around and the professionals or people informed about blindness
>>> are even more rare than we are.
>>> I have often brought up to my college that they should start a TVI
>>> program
>>> and they kind of chuckle and ask me where I'll find the teachers... But
>>> there are so many students who are going in to special Ed that have
>>> heard
>>> of being a teacher of the blind, but they know nothing about it. There
>>> is
>>> one or two places in the special Ed program that talk about blindness
>>> related subjects in passing, but that is often very small and obscure.
>>> I wonder if there could be a project/class system  or something that
>>> could
>>> be developed that a blind student could take to their college that
>>> teaches
>>> people a little about what it's like working with blind people. That way
>>> colleges may start taking notice of this important field and make it a
>>> part of the class catalogue. The information just needs to get out there
>>> to the public.
>>> The best way for myths about blindness to be dispelled is for a TV show
>>> with a blind person as the lead, acting as a blind person, to go on the
>>> air. But idk of very many directors who would be able to find someone
>>> who
>>> could write a good pilot script or direct the movie to show a blind
>>> person
>>> as they really are.
>>> Blindness is like Opera, people truly just don't know about it! (Les Miz
>>> and Phantom are NOT OPERA and Dare devil and all those other blind movie
>>> characters aren’t blind!
>>> Thank you,
>>>
>>> Brandon Keith Biggs
>>> -----Original Message----- From: Justin Salisbury
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 12:41 PM
>>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Device Helps Blind See with Tongue
>>>
>>> I think some of you are focusing on the technology and its possible
>>> uses.
>>> What made me want to post this article were the philosophies on
>>> blindness
>>> expressed in the article and news story.
>>>
>>> In no connection to the previous discussion of cancer on this thread, I
>>> feel like the researchers think their discovery is analogous to finding
>>> a
>>> cure for cancer when they come up with this technology.  They appear to
>>> me
>>> to be trying to tackle tasks that any graduate of an NFB training center
>>> can already handle.  If I don't know what is on the counter in front of
>>> me, I reach out and touch it.  Let them research whatever they want to
>>> research, but I think these people are marked by a profound
>>> misunderstanding of blindness.
>>>
>>> I don't try to fix the fact that I'm blind (as if it's something wrong
>>> with me); I try to fix the misunderstandings about blindness.
>>>
>>> Justin
>>>
>>> Justin M. Salisbury
>>> Class of 2012
>>> B.A. in Mathematics
>>> East Carolina University
>>> president at alumni.ecu.edu
>>>
>>> “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
>>> change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever
>>> .”    —MARGARET
>>> MEAD
>>>
>>>
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>>
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