[Nfbf-l] State School
craig kiser
sckiser55 at earthlink.net
Mon Apr 4 02:49:10 UTC 2011
I think there is some confusion here. The rehab centers are for
adults and consist of residential rehabilitation programs lasting
anywhere from 3 months to a year for residential rehabilitation
and adjustment to blindness. Schools for the blind such as the
one in St. Augustine are a public school for grades 1 through
12. As far as I know, there are no NFB schools for the blind.
There are 3 so called NFB centers-in Louisiana, Colorado and
Minnesota. In addition, there are some centers run by state
agencies for the blind which use the NFB approach to
rehabilitation, often referred to as structured discovery. While
I was Director of Blind Services here in Florida I implemented
changes at the center in Daytona to use the structured discovery
approach. I contracted with the Jernigan Institute, part of the
Nfb, to have Joanne Wilson, Fred Schroeder and others train the
staff and draft policies and procedures. Before implementing the
changes, I got the approval of both the NFBF and the Florida
Council of the Blind, as well as the Florida Rehabilitation
Council. The current Director, Joyce Hildreth has undone those
changes. In addition, the current Director has closed or is in
the process of closing the Division of Blind Services' offices in
St. Petersburg, Gainesville, St. Augustine and Cocoa Beach.
She has eliminated numerous counselor positions while creating
layers of new management, such as the new public information
position at $60,000. I am not aware of any of the new management
level staff being blind. I don't know if R J's resolution is
what's needed right now, but something needs to be done before
Blind Services becomes nothing more than a paper shuffling
burocracy for the lighthouses. I have nothing against the
lighthouses, but they do not represent nor speak for the blind.
Dan Hicks spoke of Carolyn Lapp's center. She does good work,
but her's is not a residential rehabilitation center. She offers
excellent day student services similar to the services provided
by the lighthouses, but with an emphasis on NFB philosophy. And,
yes Dan, I am a member in good standing with the NFBF.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joanne" <jdking09 at earthlink.net
To: "NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sun, 3 Apr 2011 21:50:31 -0400
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] State School
I am very glad to hear that about the Louisiana school
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Tardif" <markspark at bellsouth.net
To: "NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2011 8:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] State School
I'm not sure we can stereotype people who attended schools for
the blind and
type cast them like that. I attended a school for the blind and
I lived
with a friend who was mainstreamed. Guess what, I think she was
much less
likely to want to join the real world, at times I got the sense
she wanted
to live in a "blind ghetto." Public schooling can be brutal on a
lot of
kids, and if you are at all different, forget it. I also had a
boss once
who was also blind and we worked together in the early eighties.
He thought
that mainstreaming sounded good on paper, but he had had a chance
to observe
and talk to some of these people who were mainstreamed, and was
disappointed. He said they came across as cynical. apathetic,
etc. So,
just one man's opinion, it appears to be different for different
children.
Also, I would say that the NFB influence, as shown by centers
like Louisiana
and Colorado, seems to try to emphasize that we cannot expect the
world to
provide us extra privileges that we need to adapt to it. So I
don't know
what happened at Daytona, and anyone may enlighten me, but I
doubt it was
the influence of the NFB that caused it to go downhill.
Mark Tardif
Welcome to my planet
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kirk" <kvharmon54 at gmail.com
To: "NFB of Florida Internet Mailing List" <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2011 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] State School
Joann, I so agree with you on this topic! I, too, have seen many
blind
individuals that act so childlike compared to others and have
wondered
why.
Why some are always figitting, and others are not. I was told
it was due
to
their parents allowing them to do what they wished without
letting them
know it is not polite to rock or figit all the time in their
seets,etc. I
was also told it was because they were placed in their playpens
for hours
to
keep them safe and they would get extremely bored so they
developed habits
that were very distracting to others in a room and such. These
behaviors
are
what the majority of our population (sighted) see and assume we
are not
prepared to be on an even keel with them and until we try and
feel
comfortable about talking about these foibles with some of
usletting them
know this behavior is not acceptable and quite rude as well, we
will have
diminished and negative attention brought our way. Just one
man's opinion
is
all! Kirk
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joanne" <jdking09 at earthlink.net
To: <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
Sent: Sunday, April 03, 2011 12:21 PM
Subject: [Nfbf-l] State School
I know first hand what a shambles the Daytona School became
after it was
influenced by NFB's theory of teaching independents to the
blind. If I
were
in charge I would first have every student believe in their
dignity.
Then
I
would teach them to believe that they can achieve anything if
they really
want
to. and the other important thing is to join society without
thinking
that
they
need special treatment. You can't burn the candle at both
ends. And
that
is
what they had done at the center. That's why the school is not
on track.
The people that I have known before NFB's influence had a better
chance of
learning all this. After that forget it.
I personally grew up in public and private schools and learned
my own
independents because I wanted to. I agree that one can always
pick out a
blind
student who was educated at a school for the blind including one
like
Daytona.
They act like a child..
So whether it is NFB or ACB or anything else. A blind person
can be so
called
Normal if treated like they are normal.
We are a very small percentage of society. Therefore, it is us,
who needs
to
comply with the majority.
Please pass this on to the NFB and the ACB and any other
Organizations who
feel
that special privileges is the only way to go. I guess what I
am trying
to
say
is stop degrading us.
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