[stylist] Sending this again: Article showing whatparentsofblind kids are facing

[Donna Hill]

This is an interesting one. I had heard that of the ones who do work, 80%
read Braille, making Braille a marker for success. I hadn't heard before
where they actually looked at it in terms of amount of vision. I think
totally blind kids are more likely to get Braille and mobility, whereas
legally blind and visually impaired kids are often pushed toward acting
sighted to their detrament.
Donna 

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of justin
williams
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 6:21 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article showing
whatparentsofblind kids are facing

I heard a stat once that despite 70 percent of the blind being unemployed,
only 44 percent of those who operate as totals, or cloes to total are
unemployed.  In other words, those who can read braille are less likely to
be unemployed.  I think that is because they are comfortable in using the
blindness skills.

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Donna Hill
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 6:14 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article showing what
parentsofblind kids are facing

Lynda
You raise some interesting points. I too have often wondered what percentage
of the 30% of blind people of working age who are working are employed in
blindness-related jobs. I haven't been able to find anything official on
this. I think (and maybe this shows me to be more of an optimist than I
usually care to admit) that it is less now than years ago. 

There are many blind people who have broken barriers in professions like
engineering, chemistry and the law, and of course many blind lawyers. I only
know of two living blind people (both men) who completed medical school as
blind students. 

Celest Lopes is the head of the Racketeering Department at the NYC District
Attorney's Office, and there are many blind women in teaching and social
work. Temple U. had a blind summa cum laude a few years ago (Harriet Go),
who is now one of several blind teachers in the Philadelphia School
District. I think our NFB Scholarship Committee head, Patty Chang, is an ADA
in Chicago, and Elizabeth Campbell has worked as a reporter for a newspaper
in Fort Worth for over 20 years.

In terms of the sighted TVIs and rehab counsellors being given preference
over the blind ones, I think there's a lot of truth in that. Nevertheless,
my brother, who teaches Braille at Lions World Services in Little Rock, has
survived many lay-offs and was recently given a promotion to a management
position.

I always get the impression though that when the average sighted person
hears about any of these accomplishments, they either think they're being
fed a line of bull or that the specific individual is some sort of sevant --
that the accomplishment is not something that a normally intelligent blind
person could achieve.

When I was heading off for college and indeed throughout my college and post
college years, I felt pressured by my advisers to go into a field like
teaching blind children or rehab counselling. I fought fiercely against this
for several reasons. First, it was my opinion that I really didn't have
anything to contribute to blind kids, since I was having such a hard time
myself and didn't have Braille or mobility skills. Second, I couldn't help
wondering how it could work to funnel all the blind folks into
blindness-related jobs. It felt unsustainable. Third, it felt like I was
being pushed aside into that separate but "not" equal world out of which
black people were trying so desperately to escape.

As far as the trained professionals being stumbling blocks ... I think that
is far too often the case. When I was doing the Braille literacy series, I
had occasion to monitor the online forum for TVIs. They were discussing this
business about Braille literacy that the NFB had been promoting. I don't
know if you recall, but the NFB got Congress to authorize the minting of a
Braille silver dollar as one of the two commemorative coins for 2009, which
was the 200th anniversary of Louis Braille's birth. The one post that stood
out for me came from a TVI who admitted that she wept openly when she
learned that she had to teach Braille. If the teachers of sighted children
were as poorly equipped to teach print reading as the TVIs are to teach
Braille, there would be rioting in the streets.

Carlton Ann Cook Walker, the current president of the National Organization
of Parents of Blind Children, had a lot to say about this issue. When I get
the chance, I'll try to find the article I did about her for my Braille
Literacy series. Her story, which I subtitled, "Lessons from a Right-Handed
World," was the article that got picked up the most by other sites.

I must say though, that there are many wonderful TVIs who are fierce
advocates for their students. Sister Meg at the St. Lucy's Day School for
Blind Children run by the Philadelphia Arch Dioces comes to mind, as do a
couple of the TVIs I corresponded with concerning the winners of our Youth
Braille Writing Contest.  
Donna
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 1:51 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article showing what
parentsofblind kids are facing

Donna, what a powerful story! It is really well done, and I love the way you
end it with information for others who may be looking for help.
It seems to me as though the people who are "trained professionals" in this
field are often more of a stumbling block than the helpers that they are
supposed to be.
This is very enlightening to me, as I think it would be to anyone who had no
prior knowledge about blindness.
One person told me when I lost my sight, that she had never known of a blind
person who had a job in any other field than something that is
blind-related. This young man will have many obstacles in his  path as he
pursues his dreams for a profssion in law, I am sure.
I often wonder, out of the percent of blind people who are employed, how
many do you suppose are working in non-blind related fields?
Have you ever done research on this?
One thing that perplexes me, or should I say it dissapoints me, is when
sighted people are working at jobs in the blind related industry that could
or should be done by blind people. And, I wonder if they are given
preference over blind people for those jobs.  As in any field, job placement
is a political animal first and foremost, I know! But, when I was at the
rehab school I saw that some blind people had been let go, and sighted
persons retained and it bothered me so much. I cannot tell you how important
it was to me the day I had called there, and the person on the phone with me
told me she was blind. It immediately gave me hope - and then, while I was
there, that same person was let go, along with some others, due to cutback,
we were told. Hmmm?

Lynda

Lynda


----- Original Message -----
From: "justin williams" <justin.williams2 at gmail.com>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 12:56 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article showing what parents
ofblind kids are facing


> that is a fantastic story.  I would have been calling for a law suit a 
> log time ago.  I would have taken the legal stick and beat them about 
> the had and shoulders into submission.  She has a lot of patients.  I 
> would have stepd on their throats.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Donna 
> Hill
> Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 12:26 PM
> To: Stylist
> Subject: [stylist] Sending this again: Article showing what parents of 
> blind kids are facing
>
> I don't know if this ever made the list with the problems we recently had.
> Since a week's gone by with no comment, I thought perhaps not.
>
> Donna
>
> Hi all,
>
> With the lively discusion we've been having, I thought I'd like to 
> share this article I wrote for American Chronicle in 2009. Don't think 
> this sort of thing isn't happening today.
>
> Donna
>
>
>
> Braille Literacy: For the Love of Reading
>
> A Mother's Struggle with America's Special Education System
>
> By Donna W. Hill
>
> (Word count: 4981)
>
>
>
> Ad: If you were a modern American educator would you expect a legally 
> blind child to rely upon his remaining vision to use power tools or go 
> snow tubing? How slow would a child have to read print for you to 
> consider teaching him Braille?  How bent over would he have to be, 
> before it occurred to you that he might benefit from a white cane?
> Now that Carrie Gilmer's son is headed off to college, she can talk 
> about their ten-year ordeal.
> As
> President of the Minnesota chapter of the National Organization of 
> Parents of Blind Children, she knows that her experiences are 
> unfortunately all too common.  From her initial reactions to learning 
> that her son was legally blind to the mistakes she hopes other parents 
> won't make, she is candid about the fight she has just been through.
> Carrie's story is a must read for anyone with a friend or loved one 
> dealing with poor vision.
>
>
>
>
>
> Jordan Richardson (18, Minneapolis) is a Blaine High School senior 
> with a
> 3.7 grade point average.  He is a trombonist in the school's jazz 
> band, a reporter for the school newspaper and in Spanish club.  As a 
> freshman, he was on Student Council.  As a sophomore and junior, he 
> was in Science Olympiad.  In his junior year he was in the National 
> Honor Society and received a community service award.  His volunteer 
> projects include tutoring students learning English as a second 
> language and mentoring blind children at a summer camp.  He reads the 
> Constitution for fun and plans to become a judge.
>
>
>
> When we hear stories about young men like Jordan, we are all proud and 
> perhaps a bit relieved that the future is in such intelligent, gifted 
> and generous hands.  The fact that Jordan has done all of this as a 
> blind person is not the amazing or miraculous part of the story.  In 
> fact, if you get too caught up in that, you'll miss the point that he 
> and his mother, Carrie Gilmer, want to get across: blind people can 
> compete with their sighted peers, when given the tools and 
> encouragement to do so.
>
>
>
> There is, however, something which is extraordinary about Jordan's story.
> It involves what his mother had to go through to get him an education 
> in the first place.  Carrie, who has been president of the Minnesota 
> chapter of the non-profit National Organization of Parents of Blind 
> Children (NOPBC):
>
> <http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Parents_and_Teachers.asp>
> http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Parents_and_Teachers.asp</a>
>
> since 2004, is working to stop what happened to her and Jordan from 
> happening to other families.
>
>
>
> Unfortunately, her story is all too common. The result is lower 
> achievement, dependence and the need for tax-payer support of 
> unemployable blind adults.
>
>
>
>
> Braille literacy is declining.  Only ten percent of America's blind 
> children are being taught to read and write Braille - down from fifty 
> percent in the '60s.  Braille's significance can be glimpsed in two 
> statistics.  Only thirty percent of working-age blind Americans are 
> employed, and over eighty percent of them read Braille.
>
>
>
> There are three major areas in which a person with low vision may need 
> to make adjustments: literacy (reading and writing), orientation and 
> mobility (getting around) and manual activities (everything from 
> cooking and sewing to doing the laundry and woodworking.
>
>
>
> Does the thought of a blind person cooking bacon or using a power saw 
> make you cringe a little?  There are blind cooks and carpenters who do 
> these things every day.  What is truly scary is when low vision 
> students are expected to do them without learning the non-visual 
> skills which make the safe accomplishment of these tasks possible.
>
>
>
> Sight is a powerful sense.  People are naturally inclined to "look" 
> even when their vision is unreliable. One of the biggest challenges of 
> educating low vision and legally blind children is knowing when to 
> stop encouraging them to use their remaining eyesight.  Should you 
> teach them Braille when they are reading large print half as fast as 
> their fully sighted peers?
> Maybe at a third the speed?  What about at a quarter of the speed, or 
> when they're getting headaches and not having time for friends and 
> hobbies?  If the child's vision is well beyond the limits for legal 
> blindness and the child has a degenerative condition, do you teach 
> Braille early, taking advantage of the increased tactile sensitivity 
> in children which makes learning Braille easier in childhood?
>
>
>
> The Special Education system in the US is so biased toward using 
> faulty eyesight that children are made disabled not from their eye 
> condition, but from the choices that force them to settle for 
> substandard achievement rather than learn non-visual skills.  Year 
> after year from the time Jordan was in kindergarten, Carrie struggled 
> with a rat's nest of scenarios which threatened to hold her son back, 
> limit his potential and rob him of his childhood. From not knowing how 
> to evaluate a child's usable vision and
>
> refusing to provide adaptive equipment,   to judging his potential against
> what they thought was possible for blind kids - i.e. not much -- and 
> sabotaging her efforts, the Special Education system has given her an 
> uphill battle.
>
>
>
> Jordan is legally blind. He has a degenerative condition called 
> retinal cone and rod dystrophy, which will probably take the little 
> sight he has eventually.  Carrie didn't know there was anything wrong 
> at first.
>
>
>
> "He liked to get close to things," she says, "but many kids do."
>
>
>
> Jordan was also driving his tricycle into the curb.  When she 
> expressed concern to his pediatrician, Carrie's suspicions were 
> brushed aside as a mother's worry.  Not until he was about to attend 
> kindergarten did she learn the truth.
>
>
>
> "It was the daycare center at the Y where I was working out," she 
> says, "They mentioned it and I insisted that the pediatrician send him 
> to an eye doctor."
>
>
>
> Carrie remembers the eye doctor frowning and saying, "He has an awful 
> lot of vision loss for his age."  Jordan was sent home with glasses 
> for his astigmatism, which didn't help.
>
>
>
> When a specialist finally diagnosed Jordan's condition, his vision was 
> 20/400 - worse than legal blindness which is 20/200.  The doctor said 
> there was nothing they could do and that he would call the state 
> services for the blind to inform them.
>
>
>
> "I cried for twenty-one days," says Carrie, "I couldn't understand.  
> How could he be blind without me knowing?  How could he be blind and 
> still see the McDonald's sign?"
>
>
>
> Like most of us, Carrie had little personal experience with blind 
> people, and her impressions were not favorable.
>
>
>
> "When I was three years old, my grandparents took me to visit a couple 
> they knew.  The husband had lost his sight," she remembers, "He was 
> really grumpy and barking orders at his wife."
>
>
>
> Other than that, she knew of Helen Keller, Ray Charles, the Sidney 
> Poitier movie "A Patch of Blue" and that some blind people could 
> string
beads.
> She
> believed that blind people had little chance of living independent, 
> productive and happy lives.
>
>
>
> "I realized that my image of blindness was a horrible one and it hurt 
> to think that people would think that way about Jordan," she says.
>
>
>
> A Gift From Beyond the Grave
>
>
>
> In her pain, Carrie began to notice that something didn't add up.  It 
> was the difference between her impression of what blindness meant and 
> the bright little boy she knew.
>
>
>
> She had just moved and was unpacking a box of literature left by her 
> late grandmother.  On top was something from the NFB.  Her grandmother 
> had a secret.  She had lost enough vision to be legally blind, and she 
> had made donations to the NFB.
>
>
>
> "The word 'blind' just leapt off the page at me," says Carrie, "I read 
> the NFB books "Making Hay" and "What Color is the Sun."  They made me 
> stop crying and gave me hope.  Then, I made my first big mistake."
>
>
>
> Her mistake was that she assumed the professionals at Jordan's school 
> would also have a positive attitude about blindness and would get 
> Jordan the tools and instruction he needed to reach his true 
> potential.
>
>
>
> "I should have called the NFB right then and there," she says.
>
>
>
> In kindergarten, it seemed as though Jordan was on the right track.  
> He had a Braille instructor with forty years' experience. She worked 
> with Jordan for half an hour after school four times a week.  She said 
> he was picking it up quickly and was tactually gifted.  The school 
> said he was doing well.
>
>
>
> Carrie didn't realize that they meant doing well "for a blind person." 
> Only
> much later did she understand that to say that   Jordan was tactually
> gifted, represented a sighted bias, and that even that first teacher 
> had mythical ideas about blindness and the sense of touch.
>
>
>
> "It's people's ability to use other senses not the strength of those 
> senses," she says, "People don't realize how much they are actually using
> their other senses.   They don't spend time analyzing what they do.  I
> touched the kitchen counter one day after wiping it off and I realized 
> that I could feel that it wasn't as clean as it looked.  Also, they 
> don't realize how often they are wrong about what they see - a person 
> 'looked' nice, the ice 'looked' safe."
>
>
>
> Sighted bias notwithstanding, Jordan's first Braille teacher wanted 
> Jordan to learn Braille and wait at least until forth grade to decide 
> if he would be able to read well enough using print.  She told Carrie 
> they would be gradually adding Braille into his school day.  As she 
> retired, she gave Carrie a prophetic warning.
>
>
>
> "She told us to make sure that we held the next teacher accountable, 
> because there were 'different philosophies.'"
>
>
>
> The Fight Begins
>
>
>
> In first grade, Jordan's new TBS (Teacher of Blind Students) wanted to 
> teach
> him to use an abacus for math and work on orientation and mobility (OM).
> Suddenly, the thirty-minute sessions were no longer solid Braille
> instruction. In addition, the quality of the instruction changed.
>
>
>
> "She wanted to make Braille fun, implying that it wasn't fun," Carrie
> remembers, "They just played Yahtzee and other games that were not even
> Braille-based. She didn't think Jordan needed to use Braille during the 
> day
> and wouldn't really need it for a long time."
>
>
>
> Jordan, who didn't understand why he needed Braille, began to subtly fall
> behind.  Carrie's other two children had been fluent readers by then, but
> Jordan was a very slow reader and didn't enjoy it.  In first grade, his
> print reading speed was twenty-five words per minute   and ten in Braille.
> She thought he needed more Braille instruction, but the teachers didn't.
>
>
>
> Carrie was worried, however.  It seemed to her that Jordan would be better
> at Braille if he had some Braille books and was being encouraged to read
> them.  She complained at the end of that year to the Director of Special
> Education.  For five weeks, they gave him some Braille instruction twice a
> week but no books.
>
>
>
> "They didn't even mention that NLS has Braille books," Carrie says, "I
> assumed I had to get them from the school."
>
>
>
> People with print handicaps, including sight loss, dyslexia and other
> physical and learning disabilities, can borrow Braille and recorded books
> from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically 
> Handicapped:
>
> <http://www.loc.gov/nls/> http://www.loc.gov/nls/
>
>
>
> In second grade Jordan was having more problems getting around. He was
> hesitant about the ground in front of him.  In gym, he was told to sit by
> the wall so he wouldn't get hurt.
>
>
>
> "He still wanted to hold my hand at seven!" Carrie remembers.
>
>
>
> Jordan had also stopped interacting with his classmates.  Carrie began to
> question the decisions the school was making. She wanted Jordan to have
> Braille in the classroom.
>
>
>
> In a decision based on convenience and the cost of bussing him home, the
> school announced that they were going to remove him from science and
> geography classes for special instruction instead of teaching him after
> school.  Carrie asked how this could be a good thing educationally, when 
> he
> loved those subjects. She was afraid that would make him dislike Braille.
>
>
>
> "He liked the pictures in print books, and I didn't want him to get a bad
> attitude."
>
>
>
> They then said they could teach him Braille during reading class, but 
> Carrie
> believed that Jordan would still be missing something.  She wanted after
> school Braille instruction plus some during school.  In school, Jordan
> received only 5 minutes of Braille spelling lessons a week and no Braille
> books.
>
>
>
> Jordan was alone at lunch and not mingling.  The Vision Department kept
> saying that Jordan could see up close and was doing just fine.  They
> recommended against adaptive physical education because "it's for totally
> blind kids and they don't do that much anyway."  Carrie's relationship 
> with
> the Special Ed staff broke down when they suggested that Jordan join a
> support group for behavior problems.
>
>
>
> A New Way of Looking at Jordan's Progress
>
>
>
> Carrie learned that the school secretary had raised two blind children.
> Like Carrie, she had experienced problems with the Special Ed department.
> She gave Carrie a copy of the NFB's "Future Reflections" magazine.  The
> article "Is Your Child Age Appropriate" by professional educator of blind
> children ruby Ryles
>
> made Carrie understand that she was the expert about whether her son was 
> on
> track based on his own potential.
>
> http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/Publications/fr/fr11/Issue5/f110502.html
>
>
>
> Carrie realized that the answer to the article's question was "no," if her
> expectations for Jordan were the same as they would be, if he were 
> sighted.
> She finally made the call she should have made years before.  Judy 
> sanders,
> at the NFB of Minnesota told her how to get Braille books and stressed the
> importance of expecting Jordan to keep up with his class. Carrie entered
> Jordan in the "Braille readers are leaders" contest:
>
> <http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Braille_Initiative.asp>
> http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Braille_Initiative.asp
>
>
>
> "The Vision Department at Jordan's school treated me like I did not know
> what I was talking about.  They considered his vision to be good and 
> wanted
> him to use it every second," says Carrie, "They acted like my husband and 
> I
> were trying to make Jordan blind."
>
>
>
> Jordan was still not interacting with his classmates.  The school 
> suggested
> having the class cover their eyes with wax paper to experience what Jordan
> could see.  Carrie, however, knew that this didn't represent Jordan's
> vision.  Judy, who is also blind, offered to come to school that spring to
> give Jordan his Braille certificate and talk to the class about blindness.
>
>
>
> When Carrie picked Judy up at the bus station, it was her first experience
> with a competent blind person. It was Judy's white cane that drew her
> attention.
>
>
>
> "She got out of the car by herself and just walked along with me like
> anyone," Carrie says.
>
>
>
> Everyone loved Judy, including Jordan.  Carrie wanted more time to talk
> about the NFB's philosophy and offered to drive Judy home.  Judy 
> encouraged
> her to go to the NFB's annual convention, saying they would learn more in 
> a
> week than she could tell her in years.
>
>
>
> For financial reasons, Carrie was reluctant to attend the convention.  She
> was a stay-at-home Mom and her husband was a teacher.  But, the NFB of MN
> sent them, and it changed their lives.  Carrie learned about the slate and
> stylus - the traditional method for writing Braille, which Jordan had not
> been taught.  Also, Jordan had been walking all bent over and the school 
> had
> never even mentioned using a cane.
>
>
>
> For third grade, Carrie wanted Jordan to learn to use a white cane and to
> write Braille. She again asked that he have Braille books in class.  The 
> TBS
> didn't want to teach the slate and stylus until forth grade.  Carrie was
> overwhelmed.
>
>
>
> "There were so many issues and so much opposition from the school," she
> sighs, "You have to ask yourself, 'Which battle do we fight?'"
>
>
>
> That year, the only time Jordan read Braille was for thirty minutes at 
> night
> when his mother insisted.  He was still falling behind.  Forth grade was 
> no
> different.  When Jordan was ready for fifth grade, Carrie demanded that 
> all
> of his textbooks be in Braille.
>
>
>
> "The TBS banged her fist on the table and said, 'Whatever.  He's never 
> going
> to be a Braille reader.'" Carrie says,   "She had been telling Jordan, 
> 'Your
> parents are the ones who want Braille,'"
>
>
>
> Jordan's print reading was still faster than Braille.  Braille was harder
> for him, and Jordan didn't understand that that was because he didn't use
> it.
>
>
>
> With his face down on the page, Jordan could read thirty-five words a
> minute.  His classmates read eighty-five to ninety or more.  Jordan didn't
> think of reading as a physical struggle, but he didn't like to read. That
> troubled Carrie.  Her family loved reading.  Jordan was never a kid to 
> talk
> back, argue or have tantrums, but he never read for fun, not even comics.
>
>
>
> Ironically, the school obtained Braille texts for Jordan in fifth grade, 
> but
> the teacher didn't use textbooks, preferring work sheets. They didn't have
> work sheets in Braille, so Jordan still wasn't reading Braille during the
> day except for his weekly spelling list. If the class was reading a novel,
> it wasn't until they were on the last chapter that Jordan received the
> Braille version.
>
>
>
> By that time, Carrie was panicking and convinced that Jordan needed 
> daylong
> Braille instruction, and asked for all Braille for sixth grade.  The TBS
> said that would ruin him and that he would get all d's and wouldn't be 
> able
> to keep up.
>
>
>
> She was told, "You're dooming him.  You're going to traumatize him by 
> going
> to all Braille and failure will be the result."
>
>
>
> Gym class was still a disaster.  Rather than using audible game balls, 
> which
> emit a continuous sound enabling blind kids to catch or hit them, the 
> class
> was forced to stop the game to give Jordan the ball. He was still sitting 
> in
> the corner most of the time.
>
>
>
> In sixth grade, the TBS wanted to pull Jordan from reading class for 
> Braille
> instruction, to learn to use jaws (a screen reader program that works with
> Windows) and the Nemeth Braille Code for mathematics and science notation.
> Carrie didn't want him to miss reading because he would miss out on class
> discussions on novels.  She allowed the TBS to pull him from gym class,
> reasoning that it was better for Jordan to miss gym than to miss reading
> class.  She enrolled him in the YMCA swim teem, which was four nights a 
> week
> plus Saturday meets, as well as bowling league and ski club.
>
>
>
> "At the Y he was really participating."
>
>
>
> That was the first year Jordan had Braille textbooks.   An amazing thing
> happened.  At the beginning of the year, Jordan's Braille speed was twenty
> words a minute, and his print thirty-five.   In two months, his Braille
> speed was up to forty-five with print still at thirty-five. Jordan 
> suddenly
> began to prefer reading Braille.
>
>
>
> The victory was short-lived.  Jordan's Braille reading speed plateaued at
> forty-five. In 7th grade, Carrie asked for them to work on his fluency. 
> She
> was told that Braille readers don't read more than sixty words a minute.
> This is only true, Carrie realized later, when they get haphazard
> instruction.  Instead of working on fluency, they were surfing the 
> internet
> and using a digital Braille note taker called Braille note, both of which
> the teacher was teaching herself at the same time.
>
>
>
> Also, Jordan was reading Braille with only one hand and he was a terrible
> "scrubber" going back and forth over words he had just read before
> proceeding to the next word.  Carrie wasn't sure if this was due to poor
> instruction or a reading problem.  She begged for a reading specialist, 
> but
> was told that Jordan didn't need one.
>
>
>
>
> Most of Jordan's reading was done on the Braille note, a digital device 
> with
> an eighteen cell "refreshable Braille" pad.  It's the Braille equivalent 
> of
> reading one line at a time; each cell is one letter or symbol. This meant 
> he
> wasn't reading long sentences.  Even with that, Jordan had no leisure
> reading time because he needed more time for school work.  Even with a
> sighted reader, there was little time for leisure reading.
>
>
>
> Again she was faced with a dilemma.  Do you drop expectations for homework
> to give him leisure reading? They cut Jordan's homework, so he didn't get
> the curriculum he was capable of, but had some time for leisure reading.
> Carrie was still worried about the quality of his Braille instruction. He
> worked with the TBS one hour every other day, but the TBS focused mainly 
> on
> the computer.
>
>
>
> The Hard Lessons of Middle School
>
>
>
> In the summer before Jordan entered seventh grade, Carrie took a job at 
> the
> NFB training center, Blind Inc., in Minneapolis, and enrolled Jordan in
> Buddy camp.
>
> http://www.blindinc.org/
>
>
>
> She learned about non-visual techniques for doing all sorts of everyday
> activities.   She talked to Jordan's seventh grade teachers about 
> non-visual
> techniques for science, suggesting that the teachers speak with the people
> at Blind Inc.   Her suggestions were rebuffed.
>
>
>
> That year, he would have Home Economics and Industrial Arts.  Sewing was
> first.  Their solution was for Jordan to get fabric and thread in highly
> contrasting colors. Carrie, however, knew blind sewers didn't use that. 
> The
> TBS finally agreed to talk to Blind Inc and then said the school would buy
> the adapted sewing equipment, which included a sturdy needle threader and 
> a
> magnetic strip for keeping seams straight while using a sewing machine.
>
>
>
> Though they hadn't addressed adaptations for Industrial Arts, Carrie was
> confident that they were finally on the same page.  She listened with
> delight to Jordan's stories about how well he was doing with his sewing
> project, a pair of shorts.  Jordan received an A.  His Mom was impressed.
>
>
>
> "I got a D," she remembers.
>
>
>
> When Jordan brought the shorts home, however, the truth of what had really
> been going on came out.  Upon inspection, Carrie noticed seam marker lines
> and realized they had made him do the project visually. Jordan never
> received the magnetic guide that the school promised they would buy or the
> sturdy needle threader.  He began to cry and explained that they had tried
> using duct tape, but he couldn't feel it.  So, the teacher had drawn lines
> with a magic marker.  In order to see it, Jordan had to tilt his head and
> press his forehead against the sewing machine.  He had threaded a needle 
> one
> time using the commercially available foil needle threader, but it took so
> long that the teacher ended up doing it.
>
>
>
> "I was in complete shock because he had been saying that it was going
> great," she recalls.
>
>
>
> Carrie was too angry with the TBS to call.  But, things were getting more
> dangerous.   No accommodations had yet been made for Jordan's upcoming
> Industrial Arts class, and he would be expected to use power tools 
> including
> a ban saw and radial arm saw.
>
>
>
> Then, there was the snow tubing trip.  Despite medical evidence to the
> contrary, the TBS had convinced the classroom teacher that Jordan wasn't
> really blind, so it hadn't even entered their minds that they had a blind
> student. In addition, Jordan's OM teacher had been encouraging him to 
> trust
> his vision. He came home with two black eyes.
>
>
>
> Carrie asked Jordan what he thought his vision was good enough for, and he
> said crossing the street.  They soon had an experience that showed Carrie
> that, even though he didn't realize it, Jordan was relying on his hearing 
> to
> cross streets not his vision.  They were returning from the zoo and 
> crossing
> at a congested corner.  Carrie thought it was safe and started crossing
> between two parked cars.  Jordan yelled to stop.  She realized that he had
> been crossing by sound and did some experiments to prove it to him.
>
>
>
> When Carrie called the Industrial Arts teacher, he was actually glad to 
> hear
> from her.  He was concerned about how Jordan would handle dangerous
> equipment.  He said that all the TBS had said was to get the course work 
> to
> her so she could Braille it.  Carrie invited him to visit Blind Inc.  He
> spent hours with   their wood working teacher and got excited about the
> possibilities.
>
>
>
> NFB training centers use "sleep shades" so that students are able to 
> resist
> using their faulty vision and develop reliable non-visual skills.  The 
> Blind
> Inc. instructor suggested painting the shop glasses black so Jordan 
> wouldn't
> be tempted to lean into the machines to see.  But when the IA teacher in 
> his
> enthusiasm mentioned it to the TBS, she called Carrie, saying that using
> sleep shades would endanger the other students.  Although she had no
> personal industrial arts skills, the TBS wanted to assess Jordan's vision 
> on
> each piece of equipment.
>
>
>
> "Jordan likes to use his vision," she told Carrie, who finally 
> comprehended
> the depth of sighted bias that this whole team had had.  Every decision 
> was
> based on it.  It was so ingrained in their thinking that they were more
> comfortable allowing a legally blind kid to try to see what he was doing
> with a power saw than to permit him to use techniques that are designed to
> allow a person to safely use power tools without sight.  They even 
> believed
> that the other students in the class would be safer.
>
>
>
> The TBS insisted that using sleep shades was too dangerous and was an
> insurance issue.   Carrie countered by pointing out the danger that the
> district had put Jordan in with the snow tubing trip and his sewing
> experience.  She told them she would pull him from class if they didn't go
> along with the non-visual techniques.
>
>
>
> They realized that Carrie had grounds for a law suit   and had many
> meetings.  Jordan is half African American so they through a diversity
> specialist onto the team.  They agreed to conduct an experiment.  The team
> would tour Blind Inc. as well as another training facility that didn't
> insist upon using sleep shades.
>
>
>
> This took weeks and class was going on, so they agreed that Jordan would
> participate except for using power tools.  The Blind Inc. woodworking
> instructor volunteered to do the project with Jordan.
>
>
>
> At the end of seventh grade, the team agreed that Blind Inc. had the
> superior and safer technique using sleep shades and Jordan would use them 
> at
> the higher level IA course the following year.
>
>
>
> Finally, Some Competent Braille Instruction
>
>
>
> Between seventh and eighth grade, Jordan attended "Circle of Life," a
> science camp held at the Jernigan Institute at the NFB's national
> headquarters in Baltimore. The NFB of Minnesota was having its convention 
> in
> the fall, and they asked him to speak about it.  Jordan wrote a speech and
> read it at the convention.
>
>
>
> "It was painfully slow," Carrie remembers, "Everyone was shocked at his 
> poor
> reading skill."
>
>
>
> She had been asking for help from others but they didn't know how bad it 
> was
> until then.  Carrie brainstormed with people in the NFB.  She learned 
> about
> the two-handed method of reading Braille, in which the left hand reads the
> first half of the line and then jumps to the next line while the right 
> hand
> finishes.  Carrie realized that Jordan had never known what fluency felt
> like. She remembered that her older kids had followed along reading print
> while listening to tape and tried that with Jordan and Braille.
>
>
>
> Jordan was getting into advanced classes but his mother believed he needed
> intense Braille over the summer between 8th and 9th grade.
>
>
>
> "He doesn't need it," the TBS told Carrie, "He's getting straight A's."
>
>
>
> Carrie pointed out that it was taking Jordan 4 hours to do what others do 
> in
> an hour.
>
>
>
> "Things got nasty," she recalls, "The Director of Special Ed said my
> concerns were 'insulting to the staff.'"
>
>
>
> She started writing everyone including the school board and 
> superintendent.
> Only one board member called acknowledging that she had been treated
> horribly, but insisted that they couldn't provide intense Braille 
> training.
> Minnesota State Services for the Blind, however, sent Jordan to the adult
> training program at Blind Inc.
>
>
>
> When he started, Jordan's Braille speed was forty-five to fifty words a
> minute.  For the next six weeks, the staff taught him the two-handed
> technique and told him he could read more than 60 words a minute.  Jordan
> was motivated.  He was doing two hours of leisure reading daily; his speed
> was up to seventy-five.
>
>
>
> For ninth grade, Carrie told the new TBS that they only wanted materials
> from the school; any instruction would be at Blind Inc.  Between ninth and
> tenth grade, Jordan went to the Louisiana Center for the Blind, another 
> NFB
> facility:
>
> http://www.lcb-ruston.com/
>
>
>
> "He really needed to get away from his parents and gain more 
> independence,"
> she explains.
>
>
>
> Jordan started reading everywhere. In tenth grade, his speed was in the
> eighties for leisure reading. For his honors courses it was in the 
> sixties.
>
>
>
> Carrie says that Jordan's high school principal and teachers have been
> wonderful.   They have high expectations, and the new Special Ed Director
> understands where they've come from.  Carrie wanted a cheerleader and 
> coach,
> someone to motivate Jordan and encourage him and work on fundamentals.
> Every year since second grade, she had been asking for a reading 
> specialist.
> She asked again in eleventh grade, and the Special Ed Director agreed.
>
>
>
> Carrie requested that the reading specialist sit with her back to Jordan 
> and
> listen to him read, not knowing if he was reading print or Braille.  The
> reading specialist determined that Jordan's print reading was full of 
> errors
> and hesitancy and his Braille was much better with no deficit.  She said 
> it
> was about practice and encouragement.  She gave them ideas she used for
> print readers.
>
>
>
> "By that time," Carrie says with a laugh, "Nobody wanted to work with me,
> though they all loved Jordan."
>
>
>
> But, the new Braille teacher did want to work with Carrie.  Carrie didn't
> know why she should trust this new teacher. The new teacher agreed to tell
> Carrie exactly what they would be working on.
>
>
>
> "She's been teaching him three times a week for two years.  If books came 
> in
> plastic, he'd be reading in the shower!"
>
>
>
> Now, as a senior, Jordan reads Braille at More than one hundred words a
> minute. For leisure reading, he's up to 125.
>
>
>
> Jordan will attend the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus next
> fall.  He is interested in constitution law, human rights and political
> science.  He says that, if he makes it to the Supreme Court, he's going to
> re institute wigs.
>
>
>
> "He'll be OK," his mother says with tears of relief in her voice, "125 is
> OK.  He can still increase it and he can survive in college and he enjoys
> reading and chooses to do it.  If he had gotten Braille all along, maybe
> he'd be at 200 words a minute.  Every time he reads, I thank god I hung 
> onto
> that.  His print reading speed never improved.  He wouldn't have made it
> without Braille."
>
>
> Read Donna's articles on
> Suite 101:
>
> http://suite101.com/donna-w-hill
>
> Connect with Donna on
> Twitter:
> www.twitter.com/dewhill
> LinkedIn:
> www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99
> FaceBook:
> www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill
>
> Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
> cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
>
> Apple I-Tunes
> phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
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