[nfbwatlk] READ AND WEEP!

[KAYE KIPP]

I'm getting madder and madder.  What kind of an image does that portray?  I 
saw an image of pitiful ineptness and a mentality of let's pretend.  Haven't 
they ever watched blind people eat?  Do they think we all use our fingers to 
wrap spaghetti  around our fork?  Good Lord.  It's sickening.

Kaye
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 3:36 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] READ AND WEEP!


>A Feast Not for the Eyes
> Turns out it's not so easy eating blind. From left, educators Heidi
> Stump, Diana Graham and Cheryl Edmonds eat their entrees blindfolded as
> part of a five-day
> intensive workshop through the Washington State School for the Blind.
> (ISOLDE RAFTERY/The Columbian)
> Sunday, July 29, 2007
> BY ISOLDE RAFTERY, Columbian staff writer
>
> Cheryl Edmonds is not, at first glance, the sort of person who would
> plunge her hands into her salad bowl. But Wednesday evening, at the
> Olive Garden in
> Vancouver, Edmonds was blindfolded and desperate to connect with her
> entree.
>
> Edmonds, of Vancouver, was among 37 people, most of them educators, who
> agreed to a blind dinner. The exercise is part of a five-day intensive
> workshop
> on blindness.
>
> By the end of the meal, Edmonds, who was seated with two other
> blindfolded women, had ditched etiquette.
>
> "I'd like to touch it all," she said, fingering a leaf. "I don't even
> know how much I ate. Oh! There's a lot left."
>
> Sitting next to her, Diana Graham, a kindergarten teacher from the North
> Mason School District, north of Olympia, used her fingers to wrap
> fettuccine noodles
> around her fork.
>
> And Heidi Stump, a paraeducator seated at their table, was taking sips
> from various glasses of soda.
>
> The three women, poised and socially aware without their blindfolds,
> behaved like giddy children learning table manners.
>
> The idea behind the blind dinner was to provide a blind experience, and
> also to help explain how specific directions ("Your iced tea is 5 inches
> in front
> of you with the straw bobbing out") are key to working with blind
> students. Educating the teachers
>
> Dee Amundsen, director of outreach at the School for the Blind, said the
> five days are a time for teachers who work with blind students to learn
> about blindness.
>
>
> In Washington, there are 80 teachers for 1,300 visually impaired
> students, Amundsen said.
>
> "Finding teachers for the visually impaired is like finding a needle in
> a haystack," she said. "A lot of kids don't get services. All these
> people who are
> teaching visually impaired kids don't know anything about blindness."
>
> At the restaurant, the educators learned they can't just "say when" to a
> waiter grinding pepper over their entrees. Someone must read the menu to
> them.
> And then there's going to the restroom - an awkward dance that involves
> dodging patrons, slinking into a stall and finding the toilet seat.
>
> For Graham, the veteran kindergarten teacher from North Mason School
> District, the five-day stint is worth it. She will have a blind student
> in her class
> come fall.
>
> "I want to figure out how best to teach a child," Graham said. "I want
> to get her reading for Braille. I want to get some academics into her."
>
> Then she paused.
>
> "Are you still there?" she asked, also attempting to land a small pile
> of fettuccine into her mouth.
>
> Yes, everyone was still there.
>
> "I feel stupid," Graham said. "I don't normally miss my face when I
> eat."
>
> Cheryl Edmonds, a consultant, agreed.
>
> "I get a sense for the independence thing," she said. "If the lights
> went out tomorrow, I don't know what that would mean for me."
>
> Did you know?
>
> There are 1,300 visually impaired or blind students in Washington.
>
> Eighty teachers are trained to teach blind students in the state.
>
> About 70 students attend Washington State School for the Blind in
> Vancouver. The school serves about 600 students per month statewide.
>
> Isolde Raftery writes about education. She can be reached at
> 360-759-8047 or isolde.raftery at columbian.com.
>
> ©2007 Columbian.com. All Rights Reserved - Use of this site constitutes
> acceptance of our
> User Agreement.
>
>


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