[blindkid] Identify yourself please

Fri Nov 21 19:15:43 UTC 2008

I think what my son does is not polite, but I haven't focused too much on it yet...

If I'm speaking to someone and he happens to be standing next to me, mid-conversation, he will interrupt me and say aloud, "Who's that?"  My typical response is, "Matthew, you're being rude and disrespectful.  When I'm finished talking, I'll speak with, but I prefer that you not interupt me."

Matthew also has the bad habit of not saying hi to kids in the hallway.  When someone is walking by and they say hi to him, he simply ignores them.  I've tried to explain in a scenario like that, it's perfectly acceptable to say hi without necessarily knowing who it is.  Obviously the child knows him, so most likely, Matthew knows them too.

If I'm in a store with Matthew and I happen to see one of his friends, I'll tell Matthew that "Jake" is "straight ahead", so Matthew knows in advance who it is, and then it helps him to not feel as awkward.

It sounds like all the kids go through similar experiences...

Mindy Lipsey
Mediaedge:cia
410-530-5555
9207 Harvest Rush Road
Owings Mills, MD  21117

--- On Fri, 11/21/08, Carol Castellano <blindchildren at verizon.net> wrote:

From: Carol Castellano <blindchildren at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Identify yourself please
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Date: Friday, November 21, 2008, 2:07 PM

I would say Serena was around Jordan's age when she finally decided 
to find out who she was talking to!  She now automatically smiles and 
says pleasantly, "Who's that?"  People get that that mean they
should 
identify themselves.
Carol

At 09:45 AM 11/21/2008, you wrote:
>Hi All, Especially to our blind colleagues and friends.
>
>
>
>I have one thing with Jordan that has improved but still is an
"issue". I
>think it bugs me way more than him, and likely that is why it is still an
>"issue".
>
>
>
>Jordan often does not ask people to identify themselves. It is one thing,
>and understandable to me, when he is in the very crowded school hallways
and
>some voice calls out, "hey Jordan!" in a passing greeting and he
simply
>calls back hey-but has no idea who that hey came from and to not yell out
in
>a crowd "hey who are you?",
>
>
>
>  But there are many times.
>
>At the state fair, in a store, even at a lunch room table!, where he THINKS
>he is talking to one person and discovers mid-conversation that is not who
>he is talking with (and never says anything or finds in the end who it
was),
>or we walk away from the teen working the register or who has come up in
>Best Buy and said "hello" and I ask "Who was that?" and
he says I have no
>idea.  I know that sometimes because he is one of 3,000 at school-and
>because he has the one and only thing, a lot more people know who he is
than
>vice versa and sometimes he really doesn't know who they are, but not
>uncommonly it is evident the kid who is greeting him, he should know, but
he
>doesn't ask. I know that sometimes he thinks it is rude, if the other
kid
>thinks Jordan should know who they are.the same way if I forget
someone's
>name and I should definitely know it, and I am thinking how can I ask
>without offending?...But many times he is just too "shy" about
it. I have
>seen on the student list before threads where lots of kids are somewhat
>uncomfortable with this one. Any strategies that you blind folks have come
>up with to gain the confidence or decide when to do it? Is it just a
>personality thing, because I know many blind folks who are not shy about it
>and simply say, "Who are you?"
>
>
>
>Should I just let this one go now as a mom-especially since he is now a
>senior in high school?
>
>
>
>Carrie Gilmer, President
>
>National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
>
>A Division of the National Federation of the Blind
>
>NFB National Center: 410-659-9314
>
>Home Phone: 763-784-8590
>
>carrie.gilmer at gmail.com
>
>www.nfb.org/nopbc
>
>
>
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