[stylist] Sending this again: Article showingwhatparentsofblindkids are facing

[Lynda Lambert]

Do you know your acuity number? That determines where you are on the sight 
loss scale.
Legally blind is an acuity of  20/200 with correction.
There is a 1-10 scale based on the acuity level of a person, with the 10 
being completely blind.

Lynda




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anita Ogletree" <yrstrli at gmail.com>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 8:21 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article 
showingwhatparentsofblindkids are facing


> There are three separate categories for which individuls without sight are 
> identified: totally blind, legally blind and visually impaired.  Totally 
> blind--if I understand correctly--are those who have no light perception.
> Visually impaired are those persons who are able to use magnifying devices 
> to enlarge printed documents, etc.  What exactly does the term "legally 
> blind" mean?
> I was told all of my life that I am totally blind but I have light 
> perception.  I see objects but no shapes.  Every now and then I can guess 
> a particular color depending on how the lighting in a room is.  I am able 
> to tell when people are walking by me when they are only a couple feet in 
> front of me and I can do that if I am sitting in a parked car or some 
> other place.  I can see the shadows of trees, poles, buildings and so on 
> when I look out of the window of a car.
> My question is this: what category would I fit into? My optic nerve is 
> damaged so the medical terminology is optic atrophyddI ask this because 
> the so-called "experts" have not been able to give me an answer.
>
> Anita
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net
>>To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org
>>Date sent: Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:02:20 -0500
>>Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article
> showingwhatparentsofblind kids are facing
>
>>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=2
> 59244374
>
>
>>> _______________________________________________
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