[Nfbk] Rope Incident
Jennifer Hall
jenny26 at tds.net
Sun Jun 30 06:12:54 UTC 2013
Hello guys! Way to go to Maria and Melanie, as mothers and strong NFB
women! Also big thanks to Kevin for posting the other responses. I
have been trying to wrap my head around this and a few thoughts come to
mind. Actually, it was 20 years ago this month that I was a KSB Summer
Program student. It was one of the happiest times of my life-up until
that point. It finally gave me the opportunity to see that I did not
have to go through sight loss alone and that I was not some freak of
nature or a burden. I never remember using a rope to be led around for
mobility's sake. We helped each other-sometimes making a caravan by
putting our hand on the person in front of us. We only did this though
when traveling an hour and a half away from KSB and visiting a large
park and walking on natural trails; our canes never left our other hand
though. I completely understand about the severity of having
multi-disabled students; however, if I were a parent, depending on the
seriousness of their conditions, I would not think a rope qualified to
monitor and take care of my loved one. I would like to believe that my
child was taken care of and monitored by those individuals who have
rather expensive, time consuming degrees.
Being from a very, small town where we roll the sidewalks up at 5PM, it
was of the utmost importance to use every waking minute my first Summer
program to teach me any and all mobility skills we could fit into the
schedule; hence the reason Mr. Pemrod put a cane in my hand the very
first day. My school said that VI instruction was not feasible, so I
did not receive additional O&M until the next Summer program 3 years
later. I try to look at both sides, but, there is no way I could
conceive of a rope protecting me more than my cane or a trained personnel.
One thing that really bothered me about the rope is that they said the
students were led from the bus to the building/pool on it? My question
is, " how much does KSB allot each year for rope vs. canes in their
fiscal report? Also, do they have a rope designed for each and every
new trip so that it will reach from the bus to their desired location?
Please forgive my dry sense of humor, but...REALLY? Sorry, it is late
and I have only had about 3 hours sleep in 48 hours. One last
thought...for thousands of years, mothers and fathers have raised
bountifully large families, both sighted and blind (parents & children),
and not one child was lost or clung to a rope while on a family
vacation. This was all done while nurturing the children with the love,
knowledge, and dignity that children need to grow and mature. Again, if
I were blessed enough to be a parent, I would expect nothing less than
these same be bestowed on my child by the staff I have intrusted them to.
I really hope this gets resolved quickly and professionally. We still
have a long race to run, but, I have no doubt that our village known as
NFBK will rise to the occasion! My prayers are with each of you that
you have a safe and fun-filled Independence week!
Blessings,
Jennifer Hall
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