[NFBWATlk] Looking for some Input on Teaching Braille to a Low Vision Student

Fri Feb 16 01:44:49 UTC 2024

Hey all, this is a great thread, and a topic I often see in my own work as a teacher of visually impaired. I just want to remind folks to keep identifying information at a bare minimum. The blindness community is small, so just a reminder to keep things vague if we’re talking about specific People, etc. 

Thanks,
Angie 
Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 15, 2024, at 3:27 PM, Becky Frankeberger via NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> It is on youtube. There are a lot of examples of people playing this game:
> walking out in the middle of a busy street, falling over objects. The one I
> saw was the one I mentioned about a person walking in the mall and splash in
> the fountain.
> 
> Becky
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Humberto Avila via
> NFBWATlk
> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2024 2:03 PM
> To: Becky Frankeberger via NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Humberto Avila <humberto_avila.it104 at outlook.com>
> Subject: Re: [NFBWATlk] Looking for some Input on Teaching Braille to a Low
> Vision Student
> 
> Becky,
> 
> 
> Where can I find this video you mentioned? It sounds like a great example
> that maybe me or our O&M instructor that she works with can show to her!
> 
> 
>> On 2/15/2024 1:51 PM, Becky Frankeberger via NFBWATlk wrote:
>> The video of the person playing Pokemon walking in a mall and falling
>> in a fountain. Now this is a fully sighted person, but distracted and
>> not seeing the low wall of the fountain. If that can happen to someone
>> fully sighted? I would say using a long white cane would be way less
> embarrassing.
>> 
>> Becky
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Humberto
>> Avila via NFBWATlk
>> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2024 1:32 PM
>> To: Corey Grandstaff via NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Humberto Avila <humberto_avila.it104 at outlook.com>; Mike Jolls via
>> NFB-Braille-Discussion <nfb-braille-discussion at nfbnet.org>
>> Subject: [NFBWATlk] Looking for some Input on Teaching Braille to a
>> Low Vision Student
>> 
>> 
>>     Hello All,
>> 
>> 
>> I hope all is well for you. Happy Thursday.
>> 
>> 
>> I am reaching out to see if anyone can offer some input and assistance.
>> 
>> 
>> I am recently teaching a student in my local school where I work at.
>> She is learning uncontradicted Braille. In fact, she has mastered the
>> whole uncontradicted Braille and we're moving on to contracted. She
>> has low vision and is very new to blindness and vision loss.
>> 
>> She does enjoy learning about the Braille code, however, more
>> recently, she has been becoming more and more resistant to learning. I
>> work closely with another TVI and we've determined that this
>> resistance may be stemming from her struggles with losing her vision,
>> which is quite apparent when she says things like not wanting to learn
>> to navigate with a cane or other blindness skills because she thinks
>> she will not use them ever. I knew she was struggling, but I also know
>> she really likes her class period where she is with me learning
>> Braille. She in particularly likes Braille art, and I have tried to
>> incorporate this type of art / concept as much as possible in my
>> lessons. She also likes watching motivational videos about successful
> blind people.
>> 
>> It is more recently that she has begun doubting the skills that we
>> have bee teaching her, and going out of her way to boldly and
>> unapologetically say so. We have tried referring her to a counselor or
>> therapy, but the student's belief system does not encourage her to go
>> that rout. I, as a successful Blind person myself, have tried
>> countless and numerous times to model the high expectation for her,
>> with my use of my Braille display, and embossing the Braille lesson to
>> read along with her, as well as traveling through the school proudly with
> my white cane.
>> I even labeled the classroom number(s) and stuck the labels on
>> classroom doors, because the school I currently work at was built
>> pre-ADA and sadly, has no Braille.
>> 
>> It is her recent struggles with mounting resisting to learn the
>> alternative skills of blindness and the Braille that perplexes me and
>> I am new to this, perhaps due to the lack of relativity with me being
>> legally blind since birth and never experiencing sightedness, and her
>> being fully sighted for the 14 bright years of her life and losing her
>> vision. And, while she does enjoy inspiration videos of all sorts, I
>> can not simply just flash out and shove NFB philosophy and blind
>> culture in general without overwhelming her even more.
>> 
>> 
>> I am therefore looking for suggestions. In what ways can I ground her
>> interests and create expectations without making her say she utterly
>> dislikes Braille? What other strategies have proved useful to you,
>> specifically for those who are either totally blind or legally blind
>> since birth, and encountering this situation? How can I further relate
>> to and understand her perspective of this person losing their vision
>> and struggling in this way, while I have not had such an experience as
>> a blind person? I'm not sure if i"m making sense here. But, anyways,
>> your input is valuable and immeasurably appreciated. I think my
>> student has a lot going for her and a lot she still has to live
>> through. And I need to be able to supplant her with the seeds she
>> needs to be a blind person because even though it sounds kind of hard
>> and sad, this will now be her new life. So any way that I can say
>> these things without really saying them in a realist, tough, or in a more
> positive and optimistic fashion will be appreciated as well.
>> 
>> 
>> Thank you! Have a blessed day!
>> 
>> - Humberto
>> 
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