[NFBMO] Fwd: [NFBMI-Talk] Washington post article

Wed Oct 30 09:33:49 UTC 2024

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Sanho Steele-Louchart via NFBMI-Talk <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Date: October 29, 2024 at 11:31:59 PM CDT
> To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <NFBMI-Talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Sanho Steele-Louchart <sanho817 at gmail.com>, NFB of Michigan Wayne County Chapter List <nfbmi-wayne-county at nfbnet.org>, Donna Posont <dposont at umich.edu>
> Subject: Re: [NFBMI-Talk] Washington post article
> Reply-To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> 
> Donna:
> 
> Just wanted to say thanks for sharing. I look forward to Birding By Ear from afar.
> 
> Warmth,
> Sanho
> 
>> On Oct 29, 2024, at 11:08 PM, Donna Posont via NFBMI-Talk <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Inspired Life
>> 
>> Blind birders in tune with bird sounds, call themselves 'bird brains'
>> 
>> "The world is designed for sighted people, but nature is a place where it's
>> okay to be blind," said Donna Posont, founder of Birding by Ear and Beyond.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> By Cathy Free
>> 
>> October 27, 2024 at 8:10 a.m. EDT
>> 
>> Jerusalem Crawley grew up in Detroit, where he didn't have much contact with
>> nature.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "I was a typical city kid and birds were the last thing on my mind," said
>> Crawley, now 22, who is visually impaired. "I didn't know one bird from
>> another. I thought they were all the same."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Then when Crawley was 8, his mom sent him to Camp Tuhsmeheta (short for
>> touch, smell, hear and taste) where he met Donna Posont, who was leading a
>> class about birding.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Posont, who is blind, introduced him and other blind and visually impaired
>> summer campers to the sounds of American robins, blue jays, cardinals, birds
>> of prey and woodpeckers.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "I was immediately fascinated and wanted to learn more," said Crawley,
>> adding that he was surprised to learn there are more than 11,000 bird
>> species.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Studies have shown that listening to birdsong is beneficial to mental
>> health.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Fourteen years later, Crawley is still an avid birder with Posont's Birding
>> by Ear and Beyond program at the University of Michigan at Dearborn. It
>> allows people with low vision to study birds in a 120-acre natural area
>> surrounding the university.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Posont, who was born with a genetic eye condition called retinitis
>> pigmentosa and is blind (she does not like to use the term visually
>> impaired), started her monthly birding outings in 2009, with the goal of
>> teaching blind people to explore nature independently.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Blindness doesn't need to limit anyone - you can learn about nature and
>> identify trees and plants and birds using the other senses," said Posont,
>> 67, who lives in Dearborn.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> For example, participants in her outings might learn that red maple leaves
>> have rough edges, while silver maple leaves have a soft undercoating.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Blind people usually have heightened senses of hearing, smell and touch,
>> adding to the experience of the excursions. She and her group explore the
>> trails of the university's nature reserve with their white canes, pausing to
>> listen to the birds swooping overhead or nesting in the trees.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Donna Posont, the founder of Birding by Ear and Beyond, said her nature
>> outings help blind people to develop confidence in life. (Judy Armstrong )
>> 
>> She has learned to identify individual bird songs and calls, she said,
>> explaining that she plays audio recordings in a classroom before taking her
>> group into the woods. Posont's efforts were recently featured by Audubon.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> One month, her class might learn about red-winged blackbirds, she said,
>> while another month, they might stand in the forest and listen for the
>> chatter of American crows. A red-winged blackbird's song starts with an
>> abrupt note that turns into a musical trill, while an American crow's call
>> is a more common "caw, caw, caw."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "We call ourselves 'bird brains,'" she joked.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> She said when she was growing up in the small town of West Liberty, West
>> Virginia, she never imagined that one day she'd teach others about the avian
>> world she hadn't seen since she lost her sight in the second grade.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Posont dreamed of studying biology in college, but said she couldn't find a
>> school with the proper equipment to teach a blind person.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "In 1974, you had to use a microscope to study things," she said. "That's
>> the only way they knew how to teach biology then. So instead, I earned a
>> [bachelor's] degree in social work."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> She and her former husband moved to Michigan, she said, where they raised
>> five children and spent time outdoors whenever possible. In 2008, Posont
>> decided to return to college and study the subjects she'd missed out on in
>> her younger years when computers and high-tech audible devices in the lab
>> didn't exist.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> During summer breaks at the University of Michigan at Dearborn, she started
>> passing along what she'd learned about birds and plants through touch, sound
>> and smell to children at Camp Tuhsmeheta.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "You miss out on a lot in a sighted world if you have to depend on what
>> someone else sees when you're learning," said Posont, who graduated from the
>> University of Michigan at Dearborn in 2015 with a degree in environmental
>> studies and a minor in biology.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Donna Posont, on a trail at the University of Michigan at Dearborn's
>> Environmental Interpretive Center last month, said she always wanted to
>> learn about nature and biology as a child. (Judy Armstrong)
>> 
>> After the university hired her as a part-time naturalist, Posont expanded
>> the Birding by Ear program. Sighted people are welcome, she said, though
>> they generally accompany friends who are blind.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Fred Wurtzel, 73, has retinitis pigmentosa and completely lost his vision
>> when he was in his 50s. While he's always loved birds, he'd never studied
>> them or thought of making a birding a hobby until he met Posont, he said.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "Her approach to teaching is very creative, and she makes everyone want to
>> learn more," Wurtzel said, explaining that Posont's focus is specifically
>> geared toward touch and sound.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "My favorite birds are probably chickadees, and I also love house finches
>> because they're beautiful singers," he said.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> He said he also enjoys listening to blue jays, even though they're "raucous
>> little guys."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Posont with Jenny Wing-Proctor, right, at an outing in Dearborn, Michigan,
>> this year to learn about blue jays. (Michael Solomon)
>> 
>> Jenny Wing-Proctor, who lives in Lansing, said she was born blind and
>> enjoyed listening to birds on tape when she was a girl, but she always
>> wondered about their lives and where they lived.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "When I heard about Birding by Ear, I knew it would be a good thing for me
>> to be involved in," she said. "I've always liked being out in nature,
>> surrounded by bird sounds. My favorites are probably the robin or the
>> cardinal because of their pretty songs."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> With bird populations declining at an alarming rate due to habitat loss,
>> pollution and climate change, Posont said it's more crucial than ever to
>> hand down what she's learned.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> "The world is designed for sighted people, but nature is a place where it's
>> okay to be blind," she said. "You can use your other senses to learn why
>> birds and nature are important and how it all works together. To me, that's
>> the beauty of it."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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> 
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