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

Thu Oct 25 11:48:28 UTC 2012

Hi Laura:

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Thanks

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-----Original Message----- 
From: Laura White
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 8:52 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Fw: news article about Calli Bowman-Tomlinson

Very well written article.  I had the pleasure of working with Calli
at Sports Camp a few years ago.

On 10/24/12, Mauricio Almeida <mauriciopmalmeida at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
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