[nabs-l] developmental delay and blindness

Tue Dec 30 18:26:36 UTC 2014

Hi Andrew and all,

Arielle and Michael spell out what they've said very well.  From the
perspective of someone who is going into a profession where people
with disabilities are viewed as being "served," I can say that that
abelist view tends to creep into professions like this more than it
probably should.  I've attended national and regional conferences and
sometimes heard blind clients described in ways like, "His lack of
spatial awareness causes significant balance issues."  Sometimes there
is another underlying cause of these difficulties, such as Cerebral
Palsy which accounts for the balance instead of the loss of vision,
and that condition is mentioned almost as an afterthought.  In many
cases, I think these professionals who work with the blind and the
blind with other disabilities don't know what they really don't know,
and use blindness as the catch-all.  Of course, this is something that
is really concerning.

I am also not a doctor, but I do think it is important to take the
specific developmental delay this person is claiming you have into
consideration.  Also, if they are not a medical doctor and are not one
of your physicians, I wouldn't take their diagnosis too seriously.  If
they have the distinction of doctor because they have a PH.D in their
field, that still doesn't give them the knowledge or freedom to
diagnose you, not to mention they don't know your entire case like a
physician who regularly sees you would.

The term "Developmentally delayed" is often handed out pretty
liberally, I think, but as Arielle said it really doesn't have to mean
much in the long run.  I was considered developmentally delayed for a
while when I was really little.  I had just had a bunch of eye
surgeries, and my parents were worried I'd bump into something and
hurt myself so they didn't put me down on the floor much to let me
crawl.  In that case, my blindness or another syndrome wasn't even the
issue; it was human interference.  Likewise, my sighted sister was
thought to have something wrong with her brain because though her hips
were fine, she just decided she would crawl and drag one leg behind
her.  In both cases, neither of us grew up with lasting effects of the
"developmental delay."  Einstein is another example, and I'm sure
there are plenty of others.  It has been speculated that Mozart even
had some developmental problems, and like Einstein he was really
successful.

I really wouldn't worry too much about it.  Unless your M.D doctor
mentions a concern I don't think you have to worry.  If you are
though, you could mention the claim at your next check up and see what
your doctor says.

On 12/29/14, Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Andrew and all,
> Great question. First let's define developmental delay. Typically this
> term means that a  young child achieves certain milestones like
> crawling, walking, talking or socializing later in life than the
> "average" child. Obviously there is a  huge range as far as how old
> children are when they achieve milestones, but it is possible to
> calculate average ages and label a child as developmentally delayed if
> they deviate far from the average. Having a developmental delay as a
> child does not necessarily mean one is less successful as an adult.
> For example, I have heard that Albert Einstein did not speak until he
> was 4, while most children start speaking between about 9 and 18
> months. Einstein was developmentally delayed, but obviously
> successful.
> It is fair to say that many blind children show developmental delays.
> However, the cause is hard to identify because most blind children
> have neurological impairments in addition to blindness, and
> neurological impairments also cause delays. Oftentimes blindness is
> caused by premature birth or a syndrome that also causes other
> disabilities, and these other disabilities may not be diagnosed right
> away. Some researchers have argued that even kids who are blind with
> no known disabilities tend to be delayed in crawling and walking. This
> issue does not affect every blind child however. Sighted babies move
> about in response to things they see and vision has a lot of nice
> properties. For example, a sighted baby can stare at a toy for a long
> time and then decide to reach for it. A blind baby might hear a sound,
> but if that sound comes and goes, the baby may not realize the sound
> is coming from an actual object. Blind babies who are exposed to a
> lot of items that make noise or that they can touch are less likely to
> have developmental delays. It concerns me when people automatically
> assume a delay is "normal" for a blind child because they may then not
> encourage the child to explore their world or make as much effort to
> expose them to new experiences. Such an assumption might also lead
> parents or doctors to not look for other medical conditions that could
> be causing the delay. As Michael said, this assumption is ablest. In
> short, I would posit that if blind kids are at risk for delays, this
> is not because of blindness but because the environment they are in
> doesn't offer enough accessible experiences (like with  objects they
> can touch or that make continuous sounds) to aid their development.
> Arielle
>
> On 12/29/14, Andrew via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi Michael thank you for your note   it is a great topic by the way  I
>> will be looking forward to hearing the other's views on this.
>>
>> On 12/29/14, Michael D Ausbun <mausbun at unr.edu> wrote:
>>> Hello:
>>> 	First, a couple of disclaimers.
>>> 1)	No question is ever dumb.
>>> 2)	I'm not a doctor, medical or otherwise, nor is Nero cognition my area
>>> of
>>> expertise.
>>> With that said, I would like to propose two different theories. First,
>>> I'd
>>> argue that developmental delays ought to be normal for most blind
>>> individuals. A large part of human adaptation comes from visual
>>> analysis;
>>> if
>>> we lack that capability, then adaptation is slower and thus, development
>>> is
>>> slowed. Now, with that said, I know there have been studies (at my
>>> University and probably others), in the neuroscience field, which show
>>> that
>>> other senses (smell, sound, etc.)  Produce responses within the visual
>>> cortex of blind individual's brains (there is a gentleman from
>>> California,
>>> by the name of Brian something, who was on the discovery channel who
>>> referred to this as a form of echo location). This would expedite the
>>> development somewhat I'd think, but not to the same degree.
>>> 	My second theory is that people are more inclined to label visually
>>> challenged individuals as developmentally delayed, in order to explain
>>> the
>>> inability to grasp certain things (personally, I'd argue this is ablest
>>> in
>>> nature). What I mean is, if a blind person does not receive tactile
>>> representations of inherently visual things, but a person expects them
>>> to
>>> know what it is (I.E. a round-Square), they might decide that person is
>>> merely developmentally delayed.
>>> 	I don't know if either theory is accurate, perhaps Arielle or someone
>>> with
>>> a little more relevant expertise might be able to give you a better
>>> answer.
>>> Respectfully,
>>> Michael Ausbun
>>>
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: nabs-l [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Andrew via nabs-l
>>> [nabs-l at nfbnet.org]
>>> Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 11:46 AM
>>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] developmental delay and blindness
>>>
>>> Hi all
>>> have a rather dumb question.   Is developmental delay quite common
>>> amung blind people or is it not that common the person who  works with
>>> just disability people over all said i have a slight developmental
>>> delay  that is why i am asking.  like they re fer to her as a doctor
>>> so and so but not really medical doctor though. but anyway is this a
>>> common thing?
>>>
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>>
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-- 
Kaiti