[nabs-l] Training centers not the real world

[Valerie Gibson]

That is an awesomee point.  Meeint people who are like you does fill a void that sighted people don’t have to overcome. I remember being about seven or eight.  One morning when my mom came to wake me, I remember telling her that I felt like an endangered species because no one was like me.  Those were my words. Looking back on it, I can’t imagine how my mom must have felt after hearing those seemingly innocent words.

On Nov 10, 2013, at 8:23 PM, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Valerie,
> Excellent points!
> I thought of the learning point you made after sending my email.
> Sighted kids learn so much by observation. They take it in and do not realize they have learned.
> But blind kids need to be shown or told how to do things. So, we need more training.
> I think your reason for schools for the blind makes a lot of sense.
> 
> Another reason for training centers is opportunity to meet other blind people.
> At centers you learn together, have parties together, and share stories together.
> This social bonding with peers helps one adjust to blindness or adjust to independence if you were blind your whole life.
> The social aspect of meeting people who have gone through what you are going through is
> very powerful. You actually have friends there who identify with your feelings for once.
> Too often, blind people feel lonely or feel like no one understands them. I know students in school who know few other blind people and none their age.
> Sure we can have sighted friends, but having blind friends does help in talking about common problems.
> So centers fill a social void. All this socialization will hopefully help one's self esteem.
> 
> Ashley
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: Valerie Gibson
> Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2013 10:05 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Training centers not the real world
> 
> Greetings,
> 
> This could get ugly. haha.
> 
> I think the reason being that people who can see are taught mostly through modeling as children.  They watch how their parents act and react to situations and they follow suit.  As blind children, we don’t get such visual feedback and our sighted peers either don’t know how, or don’t think to tell us how, things are done.  They see the world visually, and unless they can think non visually, they find it difficult to express such ways of doing things like crossing a street.  To us, things such as crossing streets or cooking seem like a “Duh” moment, but in order for to seem like that, we must have had someone tell us how to do things non visually.
> 
> I don’t usually buy it when people, who have been blind their entire lives, say, “Oh i taught myself this or that”.  Sometimes it may be true, but more often than not, scaffolding has ucurred.  Sorry, i’m working on a psych paper. it shows. :D
> 
> For people who have been sighted and who have gone blind, hhow difficult it must be for them to have to see the world differently…no pun intended.
> 
> You mentioned autistic children…most autistic  children are treated differently than their sighted peers or peers who are not autistic, unless their autism is mild enough where they can get away with “normalcy”.  I could be wrong here. I only know a handful of autistic people.
> 
> In the case of blind schools, I believe this starts with the parents thinking that surely a blind school will be able to teach my child what i cannot, and for some kids this may be true. Better send the child off to a school where teachers specialize in disabled children than risk making a mistake. I’m sure this last sentence is what parents must think.  It’s a valid concern, I think.
> 
> Another reason may be that schools for the blind offer the child with a more rounded life as far as extra coriculars.  It did for me, and I only went my last two years of high school.  Sports are adapted so that blind people can participate, unlike your typical PE class.  This isn’t to say that PE classes at public schools can’t modify their curriculum, but many aren’t going to do it just for one student, or that’s how it was when i was in high school, but I’m sure things have changed in the past six years.
> 
> Back to the training programs, many people have heard, “you can’t do this. you’re blind” their entire lives. Training centers, such as the ones sponsored by the NFB, do provide confidence building skills for the train. This, i think, is the most important skill one can gain at a center.  For those who have condifence, they may not need the center as much as others, but who can say.
> 
> I hope this helps, and if I am speaking that which is incorrect in anything that I have said, please feel free to correct me. :)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Nov 10, 2013, at 7:48 PM, RJ Sandefur <joltingjacksandefur at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Why do we send blind people to training centers? Why do we send blind people to "schools for the blind" We as blind people live in the real world,Why do we do it? You don't see mom sending Johnny who has autism to aschool for autistic kids!
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