[blindlaw] Custody and Vision Loss

[Frye, Dan]

Natalie:

Please have your acquaintance contact me. If I am unable to help her, I
will be able to direct her to the appropriate person. Specifically, I
will need to know in which state she lives; laws vary from
jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction.

As part of our advocacy work on this issue (custody challenges based on
erroneous assumptions about vision loss and blindness), we have
collected quite a number of anecdotal testimonials from competent blind
parents. These alone are usually helpful to an attorney who also
understands that blindness in and of itself should not be a factor in
this determination. Of course, some blind people should not be parents,
but more often than not it is not because of their absence of vision. In
the rare instance that blindness is a legitimate factor, this can
usually be resolved with effective training. Finally, in Maryland the
state legislature has recently adopted some pretty progressive
legislation that precludes reference to disability as a cause for
determining matters of custody.

With Kind Regards,

***********************
Daniel B. Frye, J.D.
Associate Editor
The Braille Monitor
National Federation of the Blind
Office of the President
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Telephone: (410) 659-9314 Ext. 2208
Mobile: (410) 241-7006
Fax: (410) 685-5653
Email: DFrye at nfb.org
Web Address: www.nfb.org
"Voice of the Nation's Blind"
  

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Natalie Watkins
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 3:55 PM
To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindlaw] Custody and Vision Loss

Hi Listers,

I am hopeful that someone may be able to provide some resources for an
acquaintance of mine. I do not have all of the information. She has
communicated that she feels her vision was used against her in getting
custody of her children during a divorce.

I have read about Federationists addressing this, but am not sure where
to direct her.

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide,

Natalie Watkins



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