hi i agree with Subhash Chandra Vashishth's views. regards namita
On 12/28/10, SC Vashishth <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Kanchan, > > Thanks for sharing it. It made a good reading of the experiences of this > family in USA where carrying a bulky braille book may invite potential fear > of stigma. Also where parents insist that their children with visual > impairment are not made to do anything which other children don't do- > including learning braille just to ensure (false) non-discrimination!. > > Perhaps the society there has outgrown and mix of such reactions could also > be found in India also in varying degrees. However, to me, option of > learning braille should be exercised even if it means doing something that > other children don't do. It is not the question of hiding your vision > impairment from others but getting prepared to deal with it. This would > surely not amount to exclusion or special education. This only means you > have another tool that you may or may not exercise in future! > > Given the advancement in technology, many persons find braille redundant, > however, it is very useful for little silly things as a braille sticker > on various similarly sized containers in the kitchen or on > medicines pouches etc. You don't depend on a reader. It may be possible > that technology may eventually make braille redundant for few individuals > with means, but surely not for all the blind persons in the developing > countries. > > Hence, braille should not be equated with or treated like a special > education but as a tool that enables a blind person in absence of technology > and provides an equalising environment. Learning new thing requires efforts > which many of us may not want to put or have no interest in it because we > are happy with the status quo and do not want to go out of our comfort > zones. > regards > > > -- > Warm regards, > > Subhash Chandra Vashishth > Advocate > Mobile: +91 (11) 9811125521 > Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to. Consider > environment! > > > On 28 December 2010 12:31, Kanchan Pamnani <[email protected]> wrote: > >> David Paterson Learned Without Braille - NYTimes.com >> >> The New York Times >> >> >> December 26, 2010 >> >> For Paterson's Parents, the Choice Was Independence Over Special Education >> By >> JEREMY W. PETERS >> >> It is a quandary that parents of disabled children grapple with early and >> often: What is the right balance between teaching them self-sufficiency >> and >> making >> sure they have the special accommodations they need? >> >> As Gov. >> David A. Paterson >> has discovered, the way parents answer these questions has a tremendous >> impact on how disabled children fare in the adult world. >> >> Mr. Paterson, in recent interviews, has expressed worry about leaving the >> governor's office and learning to live on his own again, after years of >> relying >> on others for a variety of tasks, like guiding him up stairs and reading >> his mail. >> >> He never learned to read >> Braille, >> as about 50 percent of blind children did at the time he was growing up. >> Instead, he used what little sight he had in his right eye to read with >> high-powered >> glasses, attending regular classes in a public school. >> >> That decision was driven by his parents, >> Basil A. Paterson >> and Portia Paterson, who were determined to shield him from any stigma >> and >> insisted that they would not place young David in special education >> classes. >> >> >> The teaching of Braille was far more common in the early 1960s, when Mr. >> Paterson, now 56, was entering elementary school, according to the >> National >> Federation >> for the Blind. Now, with the development of technologies like software >> that >> reads material aloud at high speeds, only 10 percent of blind children >> learn >> Braille. >> >> "Sometimes the argument is 'I don't want my child to be different, so I >> don't want them to learn Braille,' " said Mark A. Riccobono, executive >> director >> of the >> Jernigan Institute, >> the research and training division of the national federation. "On one >> level there is something to that argument. But in the long term it means >> they have >> fewer tools in their toolbox." >> >> There are no easy answers, of course, about what path is the right one for >> a blind child. >> >> Sheri Wells-Jensen, an associate professor of linguistics at Bowling Green >> State University who is blind, said, "I hated it when I got pulled out of >> the >> mainstream classroom to do something the other kids didn't have to do." >> >> Ms. Wells-Jensen said she eventually came to accept Braille but fully >> understood why children and their parents would resist, because of the >> common misperception >> that blind people have extremely limited capabilities. >> >> "If you buy that cultural stereotype, you're not going to want to be seen >> hauling a big old Braille book around," Ms. Wells-Jensen said. "You aren't >> going >> to want to be pulled out of the classroom to learn Braille." >> >> Parents like Mr. Paterson's often go to great lengths to create as normal >> a >> life as possible for their blind children. The Patersons searched all >> around >> New York City and its suburbs for a school that would not segregate David >> into special education. >> >> When they finally settled on the Hempstead school district on Long Island, >> their son's school had to order large-type textbooks to accommodate him. >> David >> learned to read by putting on his glasses and pressing his face close to >> the page so he could make out the words. >> >> When he tried to learn cursive writing in the third grade, he would stand >> next to the blackboard to see. >> >> To this day, he uses a pair of high-magnification glasses to read letters >> and write personal checks. But he is able to focus on reading and writing >> for >> only a few minutes before the strain overwhelms him. During his years as >> governor, aides have read daily briefings, newspaper articles and personal >> correspondence >> into a special voice mail system for him to listen to. >> >> Mr. Paterson, who is proud of the way his parents raised him, said in an >> interview that his life would be no less difficult had he learned Braille >> because >> Braille has its limitations, too. >> >> "I don't think things would have been easier for me if I had learned >> Braille because there's a point that you get to in Braille where they >> can't >> Braille >> everything for you," he said. "You can't Braille the daily newspaper." >> >> While parents want their children to live without the stigma that special >> education classes carry, some experts say that this often plays down the >> child's >> limitations. >> >> "Parents see Braille as saying their kid is really blind," said Diana >> Brent, who is blind and has studied the developmental differences between >> blind children >> who read Braille and those who do not. >> >> "I've often thought that partially sighted people might have a harder go >> of >> it because they're trying to live in two worlds," Ms. Brent said. "I live >> in >> a sighted world, but I function as a blind person. I'm not trying to >> function as if I can see because I never have." >> >> The governor said he was much better at recognizing his limitations now >> than when he was younger. "What you learn as you get a little older," Mr. >> Paterson >> said, "is you really aren't exactly like anyone else." >> >> Mr. Paterson was just 3 months old when he lost most of his vision, as a >> result of an infection. He can see nothing out of his left eye and just >> shapes, >> shadows and colors out of his right. >> >> The governor's mother - despite her insistence that he be treated as a >> regular boy - also helped him recognize that he needed a balance between >> striving >> for independence and asking for help when he needed it. >> >> In the book "Sacred Bonds: Black Men and Their Mothers" by Keith Michael >> Brown, Mr. Paterson tells a story about a conversation he had with his >> mother after >> he had broken his wrist jumping out of his brother's bedroom window to win >> a $5 bet. >> >> His mother cautioned him that he could not take risks like other boys, but >> she also urged him to keep going to mobility classes to learn how to get >> around >> more safely. >> >> He recalled her saying to him: "You felt you had to pretend to your >> friends >> that you don't have a sight problem. I thought that going to this course >> would >> be a message to your friends that you need a little help every once and a >> while." >> To unsubscribe send a message to >> [email protected] the subject unsubscribe. >> >> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, >> please visit the list home page at >> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in >> > To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with > the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > -- regards namita To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
