[Nfbf-l] Updatae on district/from Doreen's "snippets" from Sat.

Sat Jun 5 01:30:59 UTC 2010

Dear Doreen and all,

All I can say is "wow!!!"
I am angry too.  I don't blame you for being mad.  You certainly nailed it 
with the message that they are send ing to your daughter.
I was in some much denial for years that I resisted doing the very things I 
needed to do to be functional and successful.  I know that I was sent the 
same messages and made to feel I needed to hide the fact that I had a vision 
problem too.
I learned to hide it so well that I even fooled myself.

It is amazing that I did all of the stuff I did without really dealing with 
my blindness.
All I can say is that if I can be of help to you and Torrie, please contact 
me.

I live in West Boca Raton and my e-mail is drevans at bellsouth.net  .

David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.
Past Palm Beach County Chapter President and NFBF State Board Member.
Retired Nuclear/Aerospace Materials Engineer
Builder of the Lunar Rovers and the F-117 Stealth Fighter
Member of the U.S. 1968 Olympic Team.
1969 N.C.A.A. National Championship Track team.
Blind since 1963 at age 16 from RP.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doreen Franklin" <theconelady at yahoo.com>
To: "NFB/List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 2:06 PM
Subject: [Nfbf-l] Updatae on district/from Doreen's "snippets" from Sat.

>
> Hi to all,
>
> I wanted to share a letter that has been hand-delivered to the school 
> superintendent about Torrie's pre-k graduation ceremony. It was 
> bittersweet as you will be able to tell from the letter. Obviously, we 
> have a lot further to go than I thought! But I know I am in the right 
> place with FOPBC and NFBF! I will be interested to see if we get any kind 
> of response from superintendent or ESE director.
> Doreen Franklin
>
>
>
>
> I am writing about my daughter who is visually impaired and in the pre-K 
> program at Eagles Nest. Her graduation ceremony was today and I am writing 
> to tell you how upset my family was with the treatment of our daughter, 
> Victorria.
>
> The ceremony started with Victorria being led by Mrs Rowe using sighted 
> guide (I can’t say it was correct, but that is not the point). Torrie was 
> set down on the floor to watch the photo review of the year with the rest 
> of her class. Torrie has low vision and she was not able to see or 
> "recognize" the pictures of herself and her friends. I sat and I cried, 
> not because of joy, but because she could not see the pictures. All of the 
> other children were shouting out "that's me" and they even shouted 
> "Torrie," but because Torrie could not see, Torrie could not participate 
> in the festivity that her other friends were enjoying. It was heart 
> breaking as I sat there and continued to watch Torrie not be able to 
> participate like her sighted peers. It made me even sadder, and I 
> continued to cry. I wanted to bring her over to me and go through the 
> pictures verbally with her, but I knew she needed to stay where she is. (I 
> have asked Mrs Rowe for a copy of the CD so
> that Torrie can watch the show at home).
>
> As the ceremony continued, the children were moved to the stage. Again, 
> Torrie was led by Mrs Rowe to her seat. I looked at Torrie and her cane 
> was no where to be found. I was in shock! In our eyes, it said to us that 
> she "couldn't be herself." During the program, Torrie was then led to a 
> place on the stage to hold a sign while all of the other children were 
> able to walk toward the audience in different parts of the program. We sat 
> there and were so disappointed that our daughter's disability was not 
> recognized, that she was made to "look like all of the other children" yet 
> she was not doing the same activity (walking toward the audience) like her 
> sighted peers. I was livid at this point because Torrie could not be 
> herself, but had to “look like the other sighted children”. My family was 
> upset and disappointed that Torrie had to be made to be like one of the 
> other kids in the program. Her disability and her cane seemed to be 
> something to be ashamed
> of. That is not what we are instilling in Torrie. She is to be proud of 
> who she is!
>
> This past weekend, I was at a state convention for people who are blind 
> and visually impaired and everyone used their cane or guide dog. No one 
> was ashamed of having a visual disability. These adults had to navigate a 
> new environment to all of them – they had to find their way from the hotel 
> check-in, to their rooms, to the restaurant, to the main seminar room and 
> other seminar rooms. Several of these people were also speakers who had to 
> navigate to the front of the room for their speeches. None of these adults 
> were embarrassed by their canes or guide dogs; instead they navigated 
> around the hotel with confidence and independence. Why isn’t this outlook 
> of independence being supported by the school? I don’t even have the words 
> to describe my feelings about the independence and assurance these people 
> had last weekend, and how my daughter was not allowed to use her cane 
> which makes her independent and safe! What a stark contrast! There are no 
> words
> for this!
>
> The diplomas were then given out by Mr Lynch and the children were to 
> shake hands with Mrs Rowe, Mr Lynch and Mrs Serynak. Torrie did not have 
> her cane and she walked across the stage, without her cane. When I saw 
> that, I gasped for my daughter's safety as well as the fact that she did 
> not have her cane to use, which is a vital part of her. Torrie's cane is 
> as much a part of her as her glasses are, just like our glasses are a part 
> of us (we all wear glasses). After the ceremony, Torrie was led off the 
> stage by Mrs Rowe. All of the other children were able to go to their 
> parents and had pictures taken with family and on stage. Torrie looked 
> toward us, but Torrie had Mrs Rowe’s hand. When she looked toward us, I 
> was not sure what to do - get her or let her go to her class as were the 
> directions. Instead, all the parents got their children and took pictures, 
> and Torrie had Mrs Rowe's hand and was being led out of the auditorium. My 
> family and I were very
> disappointed, especially after seeing other families taking pictures. I 
> have no pictures of Torrie alone on stage with her diploma. I have Torrie 
> and her class instead of individual pictures of our graduate. Instead of 
> this being a very happy day, it was heart breaking, depressing and very 
> disconcerting.
>
> Torrie is finally getting orientation and mobility instruction for use in 
> cane. In our last IEP meeting, it was decided that she would not use the 
> cane in her class but she would use it any other time outside of her 
> class. Torrie should have used her cane while in the auditorium instead of 
> the fact that it was being covered up. I don't think it would have 
> mattered to the other parents if Torrie had used her cane (they all know 
> she uses a cane) and it was set on the floor by her. She could have used 
> her cane to move around, just like her sighted peers. Instead, her 
> disability was concealed. Do you know the message being sent to Torrie? 
> That message is that you cannot be you - you need to "hide" your 
> disability and hide your cane. What a sad commentary for our pre-K 
> children! How are we to build her self-esteem with the use of her cane at 
> this point?
>
> I have been trying to be upbeat about the whole ceremony with my daughter, 
> but it has been quite hard to hide my feelings. Torrie told me that "she 
> didn't need her cane on the stage" which is not a 5-yr old's decision. The 
> use of a cane is a decision made by her parents, and it was then 
> reaffirmed by the IEP Team after an IEE on orientation & mobility clearly 
> showed the reasons for the use of the cane. How can we instill that the 
> cane is necessary with her visual disability when the school isn't even 
> on-board for the use of her cane?
>
>
> Doreen and David Franklin
>
>
>
>
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