[stylist] Sending this again: Article showingwhatparentsofblind kids are facing

[Lynda Lambert]

and, I am guessing that the 90 percent of the 30 percent, work in blind 
related fields from what I am hearing.
It would be interesting to know.

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 9:15 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article showingwhatparentsofblind 
kids are facing


>I only heard reference to that once.  I wonder if we can find the stat.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Barbara
> Hammel
> Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2013 9:12 PM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article showing
> whatparentsofblind kids are facing
>
> I think the stat that goes around is that of the 30 percent who are
> employed, 90 percent of them use Braille.
> Barbara
>
>
>
>
> Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. -- Carl Sandburg
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: justin williams
> Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 5:20 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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