[blindkid] blindkid Digest, Vol 123, Issue 3

[Trudy Pickrel]

I am not a articulate at many of you that have posted on here but I would share Leah's view.  I am Trudy Pickrel Pres of Maryland Parents of Blind Children.  I have 3 blind children 1 with no other disabilaity and 2 daughters with CP and also Developmental delays.  One of them is in a wheel chair and not able to attend school and one that at 8 is still in beginning Braille (maybe 5 letters) reader.  I have also set on the NOPBC Board and pushed for while on this board C, for them to always enclude our MD Children.  It may be a small thing but this year I walked into the Pizza family night and there was 3 tables at the front of the door reserved for families with wheelchairs.  This is small but Bigi to me because it is something I will claim as a legacy from my time on the board.  That said everyone of us can leave a footprint on the future of the NOPBC and the NFB but we have to make the needs known. 
At the 3 workshops I attended this year I found myself in the 3 for my daughter with MD.  And I learned much.  In all the workshops in the past that I would take for my Son Just Blind I also always walk away with ways to use IEP rights and how to's on my daughters IEP. Please continue the great discussion on here.  

Trudy L. Pickrel
President
Maryland Parents of Blind Children 
www.mdparentsofblindchildren.org
 

> Barbara,
> 
> Thank you so much for initiating this effort.? I would certainly like to participate in the conference calls.? My eight year old son was born blind and is developmentally delayed. To what extent (or if) he falls on the autistic spectrum can be debated, but that is probably true of a number of blind children as it is difficult to distinguish developmental delays related to blindness to those due to autism.? In any case, please put my name on the list and I look forward to hearing back from you.? Please include this email address (csyeager at bellsouth.net) and my primary e-mail (cmyeager12 at gmail.com).? 
> 
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Chris Yeager
> 
> 
> 
> 

> 
> I have a son with other disabilities too.
> 
> Whoever is passionate about a certain area related to blindness will be the
> person to step up and lead the way in that area. Maybe that will be Lalena.
> We all know how hard it is to think about leading things when we are just
> trying to get a kid to walk, or talk, or go potty, or fill in your own
> blank.
> 
> The NFB/NOPBC really is grassroots. Each member has the ability and
> potentially the authority to do big things. And we all need each other
> because unless you're a large corporation, many hands, minds, and resources
> are needed for each big thing.
> 
> Recently for work I was reading first-person accounts of the Montgomery bus
> boycott. I took a lot of history in college and somehow I STILL didn't know
> how much work happened on a volunteer level. Networking with community
> members. Tons of meetings. People writing flyers and creating a
> distribution network for thousands of flyers. Volunteers creating from
> scratch, an alternate transportation network with their personal cars so
> that people could get to work without using city buses. FOR A YEAR. How did
> I pass three African-American history courses and not even know the boycott
> lasted an entire year?
> 
> Anyway - those people are us, potentially. The NFB is an organization OF
> the blind, and in the cases where those blind people are not yet able (or
> ever able) to participate because they are little kids or because of other
> disabilities, then it falls to their parents, their families, their
> helpers, and their neighbors to take their place in running the
> organization and advancing the cause.
> 
> And I say this as someone who has mostly only read the publications,
> attended the conferences, called the phone numbers, and not yet offered the
> help - but I am SO GRATEFUL to every person who made those happen when I
> was running around with a little boy in a diaper in a wheelchair.
> 
> Okay, off soapbox.
> 
> Leah
> mom to John
> Austin, Texas
> 

> ****************************************