Brilliant
On 9/29/13, Geetha Shamanna <[email protected]> wrote: > Avinash, > > A couple in Bangalore adopted a blind girl some years ago. The couple is > not > blind, but they made a conscious decision to adopt the girl and provided > her > everything money and parental affection could buy. This girl, Shalini > Mennon, is now 16, and has grown up into a bright and confident young lady. > She left Bangalore earlier this year to study Economics and mathematics at > Amherst, one of the top schools for mathematics in the US. > > There is another couple in the US that I know of who adopted a blind girl > from India. The Hallidays chose to adopt two blind children instead of > having children of their own. Mrs. Halliday is herself blind, and has a > Ph.d > in mathematics. > > Geetha > -----Original Message----- > From: AccessIndia [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of avinash shahi > Sent: 28 September 2013 18:44 > To: jnuvision; accessindia > Subject: [AI] Blind couple adopt blind orphans - Chicago Tribune > > Many may have read this true story in the past but who didn't, can read > now. > Do you know any couple in India like this one discussed in the piece? > Do inform, please. > http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-05-11/news/ct-met-blind-adopting-bli > nd-20110511_1_cta-bus-rupa-lessons > Love is blind inside the two-story brick house on Mulligan Avenue. And that > is why the microwave buttons are marked with Braille. The clocks in the > home > all announce the time. And at 7:15 a.m., everyone is listening carefully > for > the school bus. > > Ten-year-old Rupa is the first to hear it. "Oh, the bus is here!" she > calls. > Her mother rushes to the front window, listening for confirmation before > calling out: "That's it!" > > Rupa grabs her white cane. Six-year-old Aihua reaches down and, guided by > touch alone, pulls on a pair of rubber rain boots. Then Paula Sprecher > hustles them outside. With each step of this hectic school-day morning, the > 49-year-old mother of two helps her daughters find their way in a world > that > neither she nor they can see. > > Sprecher and her husband, Alan, have been legally blind since birth. > And though Alan had some doubts about fatherhood - would they have enough > to > offer a child? - the couple took a leap of faith in 2008 and adopted Rupa > from India. In January, they brought home Aihua from China. > > Both girls are blind, too - Rupa can detect some light, while Aihua has no > vision at all. And that is fine with the Sprechers, who describe each of > their daughters as "a gift." > > "My husband and I, we grew up without sight," Paula explains. "This is so > normal to us. We knew there were children out there who were probably given > up (because they were blind), and we wanted to provide a home for someone > like us, for someone we thought we could help." > > Helping the girls, the Sprechers know, means pushing them into the world. > And so they teach their daughters how to ride the CTA bus (listen carefully > for each stop, they say), how to identify coins by their size and weight > ("This is a dime!" says Aihua, correctly), how to sort the laundry (pin > your > socks together before you put them in the wash). > > The Sprechers have come to realize that, in the long arc of life, success > rests on a foundation of a thousand little lessons. And so, day by day, > inside the cozy house with the blue shutters, lessons about dimes and socks > become lessons about confidence and independence. Though she is still > learning English, Aihua declares with perfect pronunciation: "I can do it!" > It's a phrase that makes her parents smile. > > "They're going to be functioning in the world someday," says Paula. > "We try to teach the kids a routine and let go a little more and more." > > Canes, cues > > Letting go isn't always so easy. > > At Farnsworth Elementary School, both girls are mainstreamed in regular > classes and receive help from a classroom aide and instruction in Braille. > Sprecher is a teacher who works with the blind at the school, and so she is > never far away. > > But on a recent morning, when she popped her head into the music room to > check on Aihua, she couldn't see that that her daughter - who has only been > in school for three months and, because of the language barrier, can't > understand much of what's happening around her - was in the back of the > classroom, looking a little scared and hiding her face between her knees > > > -- > Avinash Shahi > M.Phil Research Scholar > Centre for The Study of Law and Governance Jawaharlal Nehru University New > Delhi India > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessind > ia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > 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 > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of > the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > > > Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of > mobile phones / Tabs on: > http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > Search for old postings at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > 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 > > > Disclaimer: > 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the > person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; > > 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > -- "Security is a superstition. Avoiding danger is no safer than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." "What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us." - Ms. Helen Keller Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ 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 Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
