[stylist] Sending this again:Articleshowingwhatparentsofblindkids are facing
Ashley Bramlett
bookwormahb at earthlink.net
Tue Feb 19 03:00:48 UTC 2013
yes it would be cool to have the stats on non blind versus blind fields.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lynda Lambert
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 9:43 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this
again:Articleshowingwhatparentsofblindkids are facing
Yes, It would be interesting to really have the statistics on it, wouldn't
it.
Lynda
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 10:28 PM
Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again:
Articleshowingwhatparentsofblindkids are facing
> Lynda,
> I beg to differ. Have you been to a nfb convention?
> There are people employed in all walks of life and most scholarship
> winners have a career aspiration in a non blindness field; they include
> future teachers, therapists, researchers, counselors, and doctors.
> Most blind people I know work either in the IT field as computer
> programmers or in the government, far from the blindness
> fields! Read the braille monitor and you will see the wide variety of
> fields too!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lynda Lambert
> Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 8:29 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Sending this again: Article
> showingwhatparentsofblindkids are facing
>
> 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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