[nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille

Wed Dec 29 16:26:46 UTC 2010

Dear Holly,

You are doing the right thing for your son.  I lost my vision and became 
legally blind by the age of 16 from RP.
The doctors never told my parents the truth about the condition.
They only told them I had RP and that I would have to wear glasses the rest 
of my life.  They did not tell them that I would be blind  by the time I was 
a young adult.
As I grew up, I learned that it was not cool to be, or look blind and I 
learned to hide it and got to be very good at it.  Heck, I even fooled 
myself.
I was legally blind by the age of 16, but I learned how to cheat and get 
around the eye test by memorizing the 7 standard eye charts, and the DMV 
being a good little government agency, with standard procedures, hangs the 
same charts in the  same order it each DMV unit.
I just had to get close enough to hear others read the charts to know which 
one they were using.
I got my first driver's license at age 18 in Florida.  I later got another 
one in California when I moved there to go to college.  I got one again in 
Florida in 79 when I moved back and continued to drive until I just could 
not tell what color a light was anymore and had to stop.

I really did not learn any skills of blindness until after I joined the NFB 
in 1987 and even then I did not carry a cane until after I attended my first 
Washington Seminar in 1990 and for the first time, saw just how good blind 
people could be with skills.
I saw blind people moving around in a large hotel, traveling all over the 
city with their canes and dogs.  I saw them reading Braille the same way I 
use to read print.  I was impressed.
I had to be more like them.
I started carrying a cane, even without training.  I just asked some other 
NFB members how they should use theirs and copied them.
It was years before I went to the Florida Training Center in Daytona Beach, 
just to see if I could learn any better skills.
I insisted on being tested under sleep shades to test my skills.  They did 
not want to do this, but finally gave in.
They tested me for 4 days, under sleep shades, and I crossed 12 different 
intersections, during Bike Week in Daytona and found addresses I was given 
by my instructor.  They signed off that I was to go after just 4 days.  They 
also tested me on other skills of Independent Living and Technology and I 
also passed.
I was discouraged from taking Braille many times, but I did learn it finally 
by teaching myself with the aid of a course from the Hadley School for the 
Blind.  I taught myself the code in just 3 weeks and can read and write 
Grade One Braille using a slate and stylist.
I am now teaching myself Grade Two contracted Braille the same way.
I use it mostly for personal messages, labeling and notes.
I wish I had learned it when I was younger.  I am almost 64 now.

I learned all of this just from my fellow NFB members
For the Blind, there is no substitute for the skills of Blindness.  You will 
always be more limited without them than you will be with them.  Past a 
certain point of vision, you just can not hide your blindness from anyone 
but yourself.  Learning the skills is what will set you free and make you 
independent and knowing and using Braille will increase your ability to be 
employable.  96% of all working Blind people know and use Braille in their 
lives and on the job.  It is simple, but true.
Keep up the great work with your son and get him involved in the Student's 
Division and it's activities as he will make new friends and learn many 
things from them as they, like him, grow into being good confident Blind 
people living a normal life.

David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.
Nuclear/Aerospace Materials Engineer
Builder of the Lunar Rovers and the F-117 Stealth Fighter.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alicia Richards" <alicianfb at gmail.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 9:53 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] NY Times Article on Gov. Paterson and Braille

> Holly, yes, things can get pretty crazy around here, which is why I do not 
> post often, unless it is something which I feel strongly about, such as 
> this is.
>
> I very, very much admire the approach you are taking with your son, and 
> the strength you have to advocate and push to make sure he gets the 
> training he needs.  Yes, the beliefs of most so-called professionals are 
> astounding.
>
> One of my best friends from high school has partial vision, and was raised 
> to believe that Braille, cane, and other techniques were bad things, and 
> that she did not need them.  Doctors said her vision was stable, no danger 
> of declining. So, these beliefs that anything alternative was bad were 
> pushed by her family, who did not want her to look different, but the 
> family was educated by said professionals who felt she did not need the 
> skills of blindness. After all, she was not blind, she just simply didn't 
> see as well as others could.  Never mind that her Coke-bottle glasses got 
> her made fun of in school just as much as someone's cane might have them. 
> When she was 17, her vision took a very sharp decline. all of a sudden, 
> she needed braille, cane, and so on. These things were hard for her to 
> learn at that later age.  Had she been given the tools she needed as a 
> child, she'd have had an adjustment when her vision declined, but not 
> nearly such a hard one as she did.
>
> In contrast, another friend of mine also had partial vision growing up. 
> Like you, Holly, his parents bucked the system, ensured he was taught 
> Braille, mobility with a cane, and so on.  they met with resistance, were 
> told they were unnecessarily making him look blind, and all the things you 
> are being told. As it turns out, even though doctors thought his vision 
> was stable, this friend also lost his remaining vision in his 20's.  In 
> contrast to my best friend from high school, this guy already had the 
> tools he needed to deal with the loss.  I'm not saying there was no 
> adjustment to it, but he could still read as fast as his peers, because he 
> was proficient in Braille, and could travel with his peers, because he 
> knew cane skills.
>
> All that to say that I think your insistance on your son's behalf will pay 
> off hugely in the long-term.  That's what it seems so many parents do: 
> sacrifice long-term independence for the short-term goal of their child 
> not, "looking blind."  I hate that phrase, by the way. All that to say, 
> more power to you as a parent taking the hard road now to pay off later.
>
> Alicia
>
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