[nabs-l] Training centers not the real world

[Ashley Bramlett]

Bridgit,
You were lucky your parents taught you just as they taught your sisters.
That is how it should be. But my experience was the opposite. I had  a two 
parent middle class household. My older brothers learned a little bit by 
observation. We never did have to do chores because my parents would rather 
do that. But when my brothers were teens, I recall that they did do chores 
ocasionally. When holidays came or when we had an ocasional party or guests 
come such as that time my aunt and cousins came, my brothers did help in 
chores.
However, my parents taught me little about housework and personal care.
Did they teach me about manners and behavior? Yes.
Did they teach me basic play skills? Yes. I remember my dad describing what 
a tricycle was and how to ride it and then telling me to ride my bike with 
training wheels once I got that.
They also told me about dinner etiquette such as placing a napkin in your 
lap and chew with mouth  closed.
In this regard, I learned about behavior with my brothers. In fact, I've met 
blind youth who lack this knowledge and its sad to know their parents did 
not expect this of them.

But when it comes to home management skills and personal skills, my parents 
did not do anything. Only thing is my mom did say black and blue did not go 
together. Personal skills were taught by my vision teacher.
Okay, mom did help me learn to dress myself and very basic stuff but other 
more advanced dressing skills were taught by my vision teacher.
She taught me how to zip a coat and how to button clothes.

Many parents just do for their blind kids because its faster and less 
stressful.
So you were quite fortunate your parents taught you.

Ashley



-----Original Message----- 
From: Bridget Walker
Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2013 11:57 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Training centers not the real world

Here is my take and I warn you it is strong. You talk about Jonny who has 
autism. Did anyone catch on to the difference in the label. The thread 
emphasizes this "we as blind people" thing and I know we have had this talk 
are we really going to put a disability first? This is just me I was born 
with sight  but lost it very early on in life. I actually don't remember 
much from when I had bits of vision and I'm not totally blind but pretty 
close.
So how do I know what I do? My parents taught me just as they taught my 
sisters who are sighted and I understood everything. Did it take me longer? 
Sometimes yes but, for me I did not have to do anything different.
That's not to say I did not go to a training center or a school for the 
blind.
I went to a center for two five week programs when my vision was getting 
worse in my youth. I needed to gain ONM and tech skills. I also needed to 
learn to cook. As a college student I still fail lol.
Finally I went to a school for the blind for two years of high school. That 
had nothing to do with my inability to reach expectations  but my public 
school gave up. I was classified as having a visual processing learning 
disability rather then being blind.
That bit about schools for the blind being for multiple disabled students is 
not true. I was in a setting where students were working to state standards. 
I spent two years there and was able to do work back at my public school and 
graduate with the mainstream students. Lets face it I never really really 
left.

Sent from my iPad

On Nov 10, 2013, at 9:48 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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