[nfbmi-talk] Fw: news article about Calli Bowman-Tomlinson

[Mauricio Almeida]

Simply amazing,

It is people like that we must show our community. She has
limitations, isn't perfect, obviously, and is not shown as unable
either.
I love how the writer showed us just like we are. normal with some
different ways of doing something or another.

Mauricio

On 10/24/12, Jason Meddaugh <jj at bestmidi.com> wrote:
> A well-written article that goes beyond the amazing blind stereotype, IMHO.
>
>
> Sterling Heights
> October 24, 2012
> 'Being blind does not mean you stop living'
> Sterling Heights girl meets challenge of visual impairment head on
> By Cortney Casey
> C & G Staff Writer
>       » click to enlarge «
>
>       Photo by Deb Jacques
>       Calli Bowman-Tomlinson stands outside her Sterling Heights home with
> her black Lab, Q. The Browning Elementary sixth-grader doesn't let her
> visual impairment interfere with her athletic, academic and artistic
> endeavors.
>
> In person and on paper, there is little to suggest that Calli
> Bowman-Tomlinson is anything other than a typical sixth-grader, albeit of
> the ultra-conscientious variety.
>
> She's an A/B honor roll student with a slew of artistic, academic and
> athletic extracurricular activities: piano, choir, cheerleading and
> Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
>
> The blue-jeans clad 12-year-old bounds out the front door of her Sterling
> Heights home with classic youthful exuberance, colorful braces on her teeth
> and hair cut in a pixie style.
>
> It's only when she issues stern commands - in French - to the harnessed
> black Labrador by her side or cheerfully whips out a Perkins Braillewriter
> to demonstrate her typing skills that her visual impairment becomes
> apparent.
>
> But "being blind is not a big deal," she said, laughing. "I mean, yes,
> you're blind, you can't see . but you don't have to freak out about it!"
>
> 'I'll prove it to them'
> The National Federation of the Blind has declared October Meet the Blind
> Month, and if there's anyone who exemplifies the capabilities of the
> visually impaired, Heather Bowman-Tomlinson believes her daughter is it.
>
> A narrow tunnel of poor left peripheral vision allows Calli only to discern
> high-contrast shapes, yet she moves with the ease of a sighted person. She
> spends most of the day in a traditional classroom at Browning Elementary and
> has a jam-packed after-school schedule.
>
> People often assume that blindness precludes her from everyday activities,
> like swinging on the monkey bars - "Of course, I'll prove it to them; yes, I
> can" - but the pendulum also swings the other way, she said.
>
> "I've also had people doing a little too much for me, like open a door," she
> said. "I can do that."
>
> These days, Calli gets around with the assistance of a black Labrador.
> According to Heather, Calli is among the first 12 in the country to receive
> a dog through North Carolina-based Mira Foundation USA, which provides guide
> dogs specifically to 11- to 16-year-olds.
>
> It's a population the foundation says was previously overlooked.
> Historically that was because blind children and teens were often
> institutionalized, making dog ownership impractical, and currently, it's
> because beliefs persist that they're too immature to handle the
> responsibility.
>
> To apply, Calli sent in a video and a mobility teacher's verification of her
> cane skills, which are required to be better-than-average to qualify. She
> went through dog handling training in Quebec, Canada, this summer, and
> trainers also came to Sterling Heights to acclimate the canine to her home
> and route to school.
>
> Out in public, quips her mother, the Lab has a "James Bond name," Q, in lieu
> of the formal moniker Calli uses to address him. Paired with the French
> commands, it prevents him from taking direction from anyone other than
> Calli.
>
> When harnessed, Q is working, and interaction with others is discouraged.
> It's critical Q consider Calli the "top dog" - especially as the two weigh
> nearly the same, said Heather.
>
> Heather said Q has given her already independently minded daughter a whole
> new level of freedom. Calli can now walk the few blocks to Browning - her
> brisk pace could rival a jogger's - and to friends' homes.
>
> Another small victory: Thanks to Q, she can haul her school supplies in a
> wheeled bag. Her oversized Braille books are too bulky to fit in a regular
> backpack, but the "crate of doom," as her mother calls it, was too large for
> the school bus's narrow aisles.
>
> At Browning, Q naps beneath Calli's enlarged, L-shaped desk, which
> accommodates the adaptive technology that Principal Tricia Hassell said
> helps Calli receive the same lessons as her classmates in a conventional
> classroom setting.
>
> Calli's printed materials are converted into Braille, and she uses a talking
> calculator for math, a voice recorder to record assignments, a Braille
> embosser as a sort of Braille "printer," an electronic note-taker for
> precise notes and a computer with a screen reader that verbalizes onscreen
> text for research, said Hassell.
>
> "Her talents amaze us at Browning, and we know that she has a bright future
> ahead of her," said Hassell, who called Calli "a hard-working and bright
> student."
>
> On her cheerleading team, Heather said, Calli is a "flyer" who stands atop
> the hands of other kids and will soon progress to aerial stunts. At
> jiu-jitsu, there's pint-sized Calli in a pink gi, "and then there are these
> men," laughed her mother.
>
> Calli also plays on the State Girls Goalball team, a Paralympic sport in
> which blindfolded players lob 3-pound balls toward nets on either end of a
> court. In November, she'll head to Florida to be considered for the U.S.
> National Youth Goalball team.
>
> 'Life's just like that'
> Heather is accustomed to the public's surprise over Calli's capabilities and
> believes her daughter's drive and independence can be an inspiration to
> others, a reminder that any obstacle can be overcome.
>
> "For sighted people, going blind is often the scariest thing out there," she
> said.
>
> Blindness is just a fact of life in her household, which also includes son
> Acer, 7, who has no vision at all. Acer and Calli were both born in China
> and lived in orphanages and foster homes there, prior to their adoption five
> years and three years ago, respectively.
>
> When Heather and her husband, Bill Bowman, began the adoption process, they
> were open to, but not specifically seeking, special-needs children. They
> came across Acer's picture, ultimately asked to see his file, and the rest
> was history.
>
> Acer wasn't the first visually impaired person Heather knew. She also has
> visually impaired twin friends who graduated from Harvard, one with a law
> degree, the other with a master's of business administration.
>
> "To me, their blindness has seemed more like an idiosyncrasy more than a
> disability," she said. "I can't do certain things, they can't do certain
> other things. Life's just like that."
>
> When Heather and Bill decided to adopt again six months later, they came
> across photos of "an active, energetic and fearless child" - Calli - who was
> seeking a home and seemed a good match for Acer.
>
> "Really, there are relatively few differences between a sighted child and a
> blind child, if everything else is the same," said Heather. "We use a lot
> more descriptive words, we've learned Braille, we've learned to use stickers
> to adapt appliances for the kids to be able to use. The kids learn to do
> chores, ride bikes, jump rope, even cook. I tell them the only reason they
> can't do something is because I haven't figured out how to teach them how to
> do it.
>
> "Being blind is not the end of the world," she added. "For Acer and Calli
> both, it's more of an inconvenience. Being blind does not mean you stop
> living."
>
> For more information on Meet the Blind Month, visit www.nfb.org.
>
> You can reach C & G Staff Writer Cortney Casey at ccasey at candgnews.com or at
> (586)498-1046.