[nfbwatlk] Fw: READ AND WEEP!

Tue Jul 31 09:24:40 CDT 2007

This article does unbelievable damage.  I would like to think that there are people at WSB who are also offended.  We need to find out who is responsible.  

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org]On Behalf Of Mike Freeman
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 7:03 PM
To: NFB of Washington Talk
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Fw: READ AND WEEP!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Michelle Creedy
To: Elizabeth Lalonde ; list at cfb.ca
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 6:44 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] READ AND WEEP!

How stupid!!!  That's not what its like to be blind!  I don't tollorate 
my
blind students putting their hands in their food thank you very much! 
Maybe
I'm too strict but that's just gross!!!  Ew!!!  That makes me feel quite
ill!!!  Not even our school in South Africa would have done something 
like
that!  At least teach them some skills if you have to do simulations! 
Now I
see why the Federation is so against them!

Michelle Who is Rather Grossed out!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elizabeth Lalonde" <elalonde at shaw.ca>
To: <list at cfb.ca>
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 4:47 PM
Subject: FW: [nfbwatlk] READ AND WEEP!

See article below.

This is why we in the Federation are against simulations.  Because they 
do
not give people an accurate idea of what it is like to be blind. 
Blindness
is a skill and it takes some practice to learn to be a competent blind
person.  It isn't something you can learn in a half an hour.  All the
simulations do is scare people and reinforce stereotypes of the 
helpless,
fumbling blind person.

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
On
Behalf Of Mike Freeman
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 4:36 PM
To: NFB of Washington Talk
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.

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