 |
|
State Convention
|
eCONNECTOR Number 3 Dear Subscriber, As we move into fall, new smells, sounds and sights abound. Our kids are entering the academic year with new teachers, classes, activities, and maybe even in different schools. With all of these changes afoot, we may experience a renewed sense of hope and find that upholding positive expectations for our kids comes easily; or, we may find that keeping a cheerful outlook is as challenging as ever! No matter, part of our job as parents of blind children is to instill positive attitudes about blindness in our kids, their teachers, peers and each other. This is no small job! In this issue, you will find announcements about upcoming events that will support us all in these endeavors. You will also encounter, and hopefully enjoy, an article pertaining to perceptions about blindness. As always, we welcome your involvement with the Colorado Parents of Blind Children and the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado. Please do contact us! Sincerely,
ANNOUNCEMENTS:Fall Seminar for Parents and Teachers: Saturday, October 6, 2007The Colorado Parents of Blind Children is pleased to announce that we will be holding our annual half-day seminar for parents and teachers as part of 53rd Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado. The theme of this year’s seminar is “Developing Positive Attitudes Toward Blindness”. The program will take place from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at the DoubleTree Hotel Denver, located at 3203 Quebec Street. There is a $10 registration fee, and free childcare will be available to the children of program participants. Please come and meet other parents, gather new ideas, hear the perspectives of blind adults, and take part in hands-on activities designed to support your development as parents and teachers. To register, contact Lucie Kiwimagi at Kiwimagi@msn.com, or 303-422-3213. 53rd Annual Convention of the NFB of Colorado October 4-7, 2007It is with great excitement that we remind you of and invite you to the 53rd Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado taking place Thursday, October 4 through Sunday, October 7 at the DoubleTree Hotel Denver, located at 3203 Quebec Street. This year's theme is Making a Difference, Changing Lives! and the Convention agenda is designed to do exactly that. Some highlights include: A Friday afternoon appearance by Coach Joe Gilliam, a nationally recognized motivational and inspirational speaker, who will encourage us think about our lives in a different way, a way calculated to bring improvement and enrichment; an update from the NFB national office presented by our national representative, Mr. Mark Riccobono, Executive Director of the Jernigan Institute; a report from our Colorado Center for the Blind; and the traditional Sunday morning panel, “My Blindness, Myself”. For convention reservations, hotel information and other details, visit the NFBCO State Convention link . Braille Reading Pals: A Pre-readers Program Nov 1-Dec 31, 2007It's that time again! During the months of November and December, the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, a division of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), is sponsoring its annual Braille Reading Pals program. This is a non-competitive Braille readiness program for blind infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and older students with reading delays. Its goal is to expose families and children to Braille and to encourage parents (or other responsible adults) to read aloud to or with their children a minimum of fifteen minutes a day during the program period. Participants will receive an a reading journal, a print-Braille children’s book, a Beanie Baby Reading Pal, instructions about how to complete the program, a Braille alphabet card, a paperback book about the importance of Braille in the lives of blind people, a booklet about reading Braille books with young blind children, and resource information about sources of children’s print-Braille books If your child is a pre-reader (that is, not yet reading independently), you are eligible to participate. You can register online at: http://www.nfb.org/nfb/NOPBC_BRL_Reading_Pals.asp or you can print out and mail in the registration form found at this site.
FEATURED ARTICLE:Alike Yet Different by Pauletta FeldmanReprinted from Future Reflections, Summer/Fall 1999, Vol 18, No. 2 Editor’s [Barbara Cheadle’s] Note: Pauletta Feldman, a mother from Louisville, Kentucky, wrote this article several years ago, and I kept hanging on to it, thinking I might someday find a spot for it. I did, and this is it. Pauletta accurately voices, I believe, the mental and emotional struggle parents experience as they try to reconcile this idea of how their blind children can be both "alike yet different." It seems to me that it is a notion worth wrestling with. Those who do not are likely to end up with children who can’t read or travel independently because they didn’t want their kids to "look blind." On the other end of the spectrum are the parents who give up on all social and daily living skill expectations because, after all, "my kid is blind." Both are, as Pauletta knows firsthand, avoidable tragedies. Here are her thoughts about coming to understand how it is that her blind son can be "alike yet different." I’ve learned a lot from my eight-year-old son, Jamie, who is blind. He’s taught me to see life from a very different perspective—a perspective that challenges me to hear better, touch better, smell better, taste better, and especially think better. My family has been fortunate in being able to be involved with professionals, first through VIPS and then through school, who have helped us learn so much about the special things we can do to make the world more meaningful to Jamie. And because of the alternative ways that Jamie has had to learn to do things, he has made the world more meaningful for us. I think if Jamie was not blind, he would not be the same child. There is a great deal about Jamie’s blindness that has made him the special little person he is, that has made parenting him more interesting, and that has made life more precious for its diversity and the accommodations that diversity demands of us all. I find myself struggling, on and off, with this notion of "alike yet different." As the parent of a handicapped child, I have to portray him as "just a kid" when I’m trying to get him into a typical program. I have to sell him this way so that others get over their fears of working with him. I have to sell others on his rights to participate fully in all aspects of life. But sometimes, I think I’ve hurt his chances for success by doing this, maybe even set him, and those willing to give him a chance, up for failure. Why do I have to stress his alikeness to gain acceptance for him? Why?—because he is different. Sometimes I feel like I lead a schizophrenic existence—on the one hand, I’m supposed to address my son’s blindness, while on the other I’m supposed to make him "normal." I want Jamie to have a life and relationships that are "normal." I want him to be seen as a child or individual first. I want him to be able to participate in the mainstream. But I cannot, nor do I think I should try to, deny that aspect of him that sets him apart and contributes so greatly to who he is and who he will ultimately become. To me, my child’s handicap is not so much a negative characteristic that limits him, as it is a characteristic that influences his unique development as a human being. As we parents try to see, and to get others to see, our handicapped children as "kids first," I think we must take care not to negate the impacts of their handicaps. For those impacts can be enhancing as well as limiting. Yes, let’s treat them and encourage others to treat them just like kids. But let’s work also to promote a respect for their handicaps that goes beyond acceptance, much as we respect differences in ethnicity, religion, culture, gender, etc. Respect for differences is the key to true integration in society. Respect for differences implies more than just allowing someone in; it implies that we have something to learn, and a benefit to gain, from others who are different from us. Respect for differences implies more than just allowing someone in; it implies that we have something to learn, and a benefit to gain, from others who are different from us. I cannot turn Jamie into a "typical" child (if there is such a creature). I don’t want him to be a poor imitation, masquerading through life as someone or something he’s not. I want him just to be able to be himself and be proud of the unique individual he is—alike yet different.
The eCONNECTOR, a newsletter from the Colorado Parents of Blind Children, is a publication sent to all who have provided an Email address. If you want to sign up, change, or remove your name from any future general Email distribution, please contact Julie Hunter at jhunter@cocenter.org. Your address will only be used within the NFBCO and its entities. We do not sell, rent, or exchange Email addresses.
eConnector ArchiveIssue 3 Fall 2007
|
|||||
