Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!130!10!Linda.Iverson From: Linda.Iverson@f10.n130.z1.fidonet.org (Linda Iverson) Newsgroups: misc.handicap Subject: Just Some Thoughts Message-ID: <15729@bunker.UUCP> Date: 19 Nov 90 03:59:52 GMT Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP Reply-To: Linda.Iverson@f10.n130.z1.fidonet.org Distribution: misc Organization: FidoNet node 1:130/10 - D D Connection, Fort Worth TX Lines: 67 Approved: wtm@bunker.UUCP Index Number: 11821 [This is from the Silent Talk Conference] Hi, Karen! Well, I'm not Ann, but I was so impressed with your message I just wanted to throw in my two cents. Your thoughts sound very much like mine. I think children with disabilities often never achieve their full potential because others make assumptions about what a child can or can't do. I don't know the solution to this; after all, you can't probably try everything I guess. Sometimes it's like the adults and parents working with these kids know they'll grow up but don't really work toward that end. My perspective is different from yours. I, too, was about three months premature, but I am totally blind and have no hearing loss; however, the general philosophy, I think, applies in either case. It's almost like people can't imagine how you could cope if you don't have a certain sense--sight, hearing, etc., but we do manage. I'm sure you've invented all kinds of ways for handling situations. I have, too. Not that I would wish a disability on anyone, but I think if you have a gooe attitude and imagination, you can be quite inventive and resourceful. I know, for a fact, I'm a lot more organized than lots of sighted people I know. I have a ten-year-old son, and one thing I'm extremely proud of is that he's been around mostly blind people, but on occasion when he's been with other disabilities he'll take it in stride. One day he was playing at a friends house who had a cousin visiting from out of town. He came home and said, "Mom, their cousin was there and boy is she bratty! She wouldn't share the toys and always wanted to decide what we played! She even was hitting us with her crutches!" I then asked if this girl was on crutches and he said yes. What impressed me was that that wasn't the first thing he said about this kid. He probably wouldn't have thought she was neat if she acted the same way and didn't have the crutch. I wish some adults could look at disability that way. I've known some blind people who went to school in Colorado, so perhaps you were lucky to have been in a good school program. I always went to public school and I am so grateful!! They taught us the special skills we needed and then left us alone. We were judged by our academic performance and not our disability. I knew blind kids in gifted programs, average, slow, etc. I see some blind kids now who are taught, I think, to depend too much on computers and devices and not on basic skills. I have often thought blind people are sometimes the most widely read, illiterate people I know. Their braille skills are attrocious because they depend on cassette recorders, talking books, etc. I love books and love to read, but I was read to a lot when growing up, so I'm a good braille user, I use cassettes and talking books and know how to use live readers. I think our children with disabilities have to learn to use all the devices and tools they can to master the tricks of the disability trade. I love to read, so I think I'll try to find the books you mentioned. Are you an avid reader? Well, before I send you a novel in this message I'll stop. Hope you didn't mind the comments. As I said the more I read messages from people with disabilities the more I see that we all go through some very similar things. Take care! Linda -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!130!10!Linda.Iverson Internet: Linda.Iverson@f10.n130.z1.fidonet.org