[NFBWATlk] Looking for some Input on Teaching Braille to a Low Vision Student

[Becky Frankeberger]

The video of the person playing Pokemon walking in a mall and falling in a
fountain. Now this is a fully sighted person, but distracted and not seeing
the low wall of the fountain. If that can happen to someone fully sighted? I
would say using a long white cane would be way less embarrassing.

Becky  

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Humberto Avila via
NFBWATlk
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2024 1:32 PM
To: Corey Grandstaff via NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Humberto Avila <humberto_avila.it104 at outlook.com>; Mike Jolls via
NFB-Braille-Discussion <nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [NFBWATlk] Looking for some Input on Teaching Braille to a Low
Vision Student


    Hello All,


I hope all is well for you. Happy Thursday.


I am reaching out to see if anyone can offer some input and assistance.


I am recently teaching a student in my local school where I work at. She is
learning uncontradicted Braille. In fact, she has mastered the whole
uncontradicted Braille and we're moving on to contracted. She has low vision
and is very new to blindness and vision loss.

She does enjoy learning about the Braille code, however, more recently, she
has been becoming more and more resistant to learning. I work closely with
another TVI and we've determined that this resistance may be stemming from
her struggles with losing her vision, which is quite apparent when she says
things like not wanting to learn to navigate with a cane or other blindness
skills because she thinks she will not use them ever. I knew she was
struggling, but I also know she really likes her class period where she is
with me learning Braille. She in particularly likes Braille art, and I have
tried to incorporate this type of art / concept as much as possible in my
lessons. She also likes watching motivational videos about successful blind
people.

It is more recently that she has begun doubting the skills that we have bee
teaching her, and going out of her way to boldly and unapologetically say
so. We have tried referring her to a counselor or therapy, but the student's
belief system does not encourage her to go that rout. I, as a successful
Blind person myself, have tried countless and numerous times to model the
high expectation for her, with my use of my Braille display, and embossing
the Braille lesson to read along with her, as well as traveling through the
school proudly with my white cane. 
I even labeled the classroom number(s) and stuck the labels on classroom
doors, because the school I currently work at was built pre-ADA and sadly,
has no Braille.

It is her recent struggles with mounting resisting to learn the alternative
skills of blindness and the Braille that perplexes me and I am new to this,
perhaps due to the lack of relativity with me being legally blind since
birth and never experiencing sightedness, and her being fully sighted for
the 14 bright years of her life and losing her vision. And, while she does
enjoy inspiration videos of all sorts, I can not simply just flash out and
shove NFB philosophy and blind culture in general without overwhelming her
even more.


I am therefore looking for suggestions. In what ways can I ground her
interests and create expectations without making her say she utterly
dislikes Braille? What other strategies have proved useful to you,
specifically for those who are either totally blind or legally blind since
birth, and encountering this situation? How can I further relate to and
understand her perspective of this person losing their vision and struggling
in this way, while I have not had such an experience as a blind person? I'm
not sure if i"m making sense here. But, anyways, your input is valuable and
immeasurably appreciated. I think my student has a lot going for her and a
lot she still has to live through. And I need to be able to supplant her
with the seeds she needs to be a blind person because even though it sounds
kind of hard and sad, this will now be her new life. So any way that I can
say these things without really saying them in a realist, tough, or in a
more positive and optimistic fashion will be appreciated as well.


Thank you! Have a blessed day!

- Humberto

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