We’ve told her, just like parents have done for eons, that she can be anything she wants when she grows up. Well, save for being a pilot. Perhaps not a Uber driver and I’m sure there are other things, but we try not to limit or point our what she can’t do, rather what she can.
There are a lot of statistics you read and hear about from people. One of them is the low percentage of children that are taught braille. I think we were one of those families that thought, when my daughter’s vision wasn’t that bad, that she wouldn’t need braille. It looked complicated and there seemed to be all sorts of things you needed to accompany braille, which spoke towards both our ignorance and prejudice against braille.
Some students, like my daughter’s VI friend in her class, aren’t focusing on Braille as much because she can read large print. It does make me wonder though when I read statistics like, “only 10% of visually impaired children in the US are now learning to read Braille, a 2009 study from the National Federation of the Blind found. According to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), 1,077 children in England were learning Braille in 2017, out of an estimated 21,900 visually impaired children in the country."
Are blind, truly blind, children who can’t read otherwise not being afforded the opportunity to learn braille? I wonder if it’s through lack of education or availability of educational expertise, or if the family prefers to try and stay the admittedly more easy course of large print instead? Large print can be useful if the point size is small enough that the child can read with reasonable speed. If, however, in order to effectively read they need a point size like:
how many words can the child read per line? Can you imagine trying to read a book at that size font? How large would a printed book have to be page-wise. If it was an electronic text, I think I’d get a headache from having to sweep back and forth across the page at a reasonable reading pace.
So I’m glad my daughter is learning braille. It gives her one of those things she can do that other people can’t. It’s her superpower.
Another statistic I read related to government job opportunities: "In the United States, blind people are given priority to own and operate the vending stands—restaurants, food stands, magazine kiosks, etc.-- in federally owned buildings.
I don’t know if this is something my daughter would want to do, what with her plans to have her own pet store, but I can imagine all the friends she’d make at her own kiosk, talking to regular customers as she made them their morning lattes.
Only time will tell, and we have time. She’s learning at an impressive rate, thanks to her teachers at school. I’ll keep you posted as she refines what she wants to do when she grows up.
The Big Boy Update: My son is over at Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Margaret’s house this afternoon. They picked him up after school and fed him his post-school meal for energy and to ameliorate his after school emotional swings. He and Uncle Jonathan are now playing video games together. Margaret sent a picture from the doorway to Uncle Jonathan’s office. It looked like my son was showing Uncle Jonathan how to play Fortnite. I am most certain he will come home late and very happy after the afternoon with the two of them.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My husband picked up my daughter today and she got mad. Mad because her braillest, Ms. B, told him my daughter had been fighting using proper cane hand grip and arm sweeping motions, even though her Orientation and Mobility teacher had been working with her on it for some time now. She was mad because “now we know” and she didn’t want us too. Coincidentally, I am scheduled to observe her with Mr. Adam next week at her orientation and mobility session to get some pointers for how we can better do sighted guide with her as the sighted person having to guide her around from time to time. We’re suppose to encourage proper cane usage at home. Now that we know what proper cane usage is, that is.
No comments:
Post a Comment