[blindkid] Blind Camps

Sun Jun 6 15:48:27 UTC 2010

Heather,
I think your idea of writing brief emails and giving the option to go 
elsewhere for more info is a good one and very appropriate to our list.
Thanks,
Carol

At 01:15 PM 6/5/2010, you wrote:
>Sorry, but I feared that without giving spacifics that it would just 
>sound like generalized discontent or wining.  I hate it when people, 
>in person or on lists complane about a product, service, situation, 
>etc without giving spacific examples or reasons.  If someone tells 
>me not to buy such and such brand of organic sheets, because they 
>were of low quality, I am not likely to listen to them, but if they 
>tell me that the colour bled and faded within two washings, that the 
>elastic in the fitted sheet gave out and that the company did not 
>stand behind their product I would take heed.  If someone complanes 
>about a professor, just saying, they are unfair, or they suck, I am 
>going to wonder if the professor is really that bad, or if the 
>individual was lazy in their school work or disruptive in class.  If 
>they can say, "the professor would count being even one minute late 
>as an absence, locking the door at the start of class, not giving 
>tardies, just absences, would not accept an assignment I gave them 
>because it was not stapled, and refused to excuse an absence when I 
>was in the hospital after being involved in a ten car pile up." then 
>I know why they are saying what they did.  I wish this was like a 
>Live Journal community, where you can make a cut, where you might 
>say "Such and such was amazing, I loved it."  or "I hated such and 
>such, it was terrible." with a link to "If you want more details." 
>or "For my full review of this product or service."  click 
>here.  Hmmm, I wonder if it would be helpful to you all if I wrote 
>up detailed descriptions of or explanations of things in my LJ, and 
>then just wrote short emails, with links to my posts elsewhere, so 
>that those who want to can go and read on, and those who don't want 
>to, or don't have the time can just get my most basic opinion and 
>then move on?  Would that be helpful?  Just a thought.
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Dr. S. Merchant" 
><smerchant at vetmed.lsu.edu>
>To: "'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind 
>children)'" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 11:22 AM
>Subject: Re: [blindkid] Blind Camps
>
>
>>Heather,
>>
>>I am very grateful for the many wonderful emails that you send to the list,
>>for obviously "having been there and done that" gives us a wealth of
>>information.  However, many of your emails are so negative, I can hardly get
>>through them and often do not try any more. Please try to inform and
>>enlighten without all the incredible negative details.
>>
>>Sandy Merchant Taboada
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>Behalf Of Heather
>>Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 9:04 PM
>>To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)
>>Subject: Re: [blindkid] Blind Camps
>>
>>Well, the second sounds nice, but the first you mentioned is one of the
>>horrific ones I went to, and many of my peers suffered through.  I got into
>>a screaming match with a counsilor once because I wasn't particularly good
>>at the long jump, and on my first try I jumped and landed in a heap and
>>started lauging.  I said "Ok, that sucked, let's try that again, shall we?"
>>in a good humor.  She instantly jumped on me saying "That was fine." "Erm,
>>no it wasn't, but I'll try it again."  "No, you have to stop having such a
>>negative attitude."  "Lady, it sucked, it's no big deal, I'm not upset about
>>
>>it, but it really and truly sucked.  I didn't go hardly anywhere and I
>>landed on my butt, so what can I do to make it better?"  "If you don't think
>>
>>that you can do it then you will never be able to."  "Uh, I do think I can
>>do it, eventually, but I need some pointers, what should I do differently?"
>>"Well, if you are just going to insist on putting yourself down then maybe
>>you should give the next girl a chance."  Another counsilor got angry with
>>me because they were having kids throw plates, glass plates, from the dining
>>
>>hall on the grass, because starting right off with a diskus is sort of heavy
>>
>>for small hands.  I expressed my concern that I would throw it too far and
>>break it on the parking lot, and the man assured me that I wouldn't, that if
>>
>>I did it wouldn't be a problem, and then advised me to give it a light toss.
>>
>>I did, it overshot the other campers, the grass and smashed to pieces on the
>>
>>parkinglot.  He yelled at me telling me that "You did that on purpose. You
>>can see can't you?  You are just acting like you can't see all that much.
>>You think you're funny don't you?"  When this man should have known full
>>well, that I was a medium high partial, and that I had tried to warn him
>>that I was afraid it might hit the pavement and not the grass.  My first
>>year when I was seven, a deaf blind girl who was pretty low functioning,
>>either because of mental retardation, or improper management by the
>>counsilors or improper socialization and education by the parents, came up
>>to me where I was sitting in the dining hall, grabbed my bowl of very hot
>>soup and dumped it into my lap after grabbing various things off of the
>>table and throwing them, including my silverware, my brandnew diskman and my
>>
>>plate.  It hurt like hell and my diskman shattered.  I was seven for crying
>>out loud, so I did what a lot of normal seven year olds would have done. I
>>grabbed her and started yelling at her and shuvved her.  She didn't bleed,
>>no bones were broken, she didn't hear the mean things I said, no clothing
>>was ripped or property of hers damaged.  All that she got was me grabbing
>>her and pushing her down onto her but on the floor, and I was half her size.
>>
>>They were going to kick me out for that.  My stomach and legs didn't get
>>seen for the nasty blistering oozing burns for at least a half an hour of
>>them lecturing me while I kept insisting that "It hurt" and "she burned me"
>>and "I need a bandaid or something.  Finally, a girl who was diabetic and
>>had special concintrated sugar disks that were for if her blood sugar
>>dropped was being hastled by a counsilor, who was not aware of her
>>condition, for "not sharing her candy" when one of the low functioning
>>camperrs heard her grab the bag out of her drawr and take one because she
>>had tested low and was feeling faint.  Here she was, about ready to pass
>>out, trying to politely and calmly explain to the counsilor that they were
>>medically neccessary and not candy.  I was trying to tell the counsilor that
>>
>>the candies were not ordinary candies, but she was starting to give one to
>>her camper, the MR one.  I grabbed the bag out of her hand, made sure that
>>the older girl had taken one, then went into the hall to find her counsilor
>>who knew of her condition, and only then did the first counsilor stop
>>insinuating that my friend was selfish and childish, but neither of us ever
>>got an apology.  It's not the indiviedual events, it's the attitude that I
>>had a problem with.  I will look up the second camp you mentiooned, since it
>>
>>was more of a normal summer camp experience.  Thanks.  Wasn't planning on
>>pointing individual fingers at camps, but since it came up, I thought I sort
>>
>>of had to say something.
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Jessica" <jess28 at samobile.net>
>>To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>>Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 4:55 PM
>>Subject: Re: [blindkid] Blind Camps
>>
>>
>>>SUNY Brockport I believe runs Camp Abilities. They run the camp to give
>>>students in their Adaptive Physical Education Program experience working
>>>with students with Visual Impairments and prehaps other physical
>>>disabilities.  When I was between the ages of about 6-12 or 13 I attended
>>>Easter Seals camp called Camp Hemlock in Connecticut I don't exactly
>>>remember where in Connecticut the camp is located. It was just at normal
>>>overnight summer camp.
>>>Jessica
>>>
>>>--
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>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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Carol Castellano, President
National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
973-377-0976
carol_castellano at verizon.net
www.nopbc.org  