Future Reflections Summer 2000, Vol. 19 No. 2
Reprinted from a winter issue of Advocacy in Action, The NFB of Ohio Parents Division newsletter. Pat and her family have participated in many NFB of Ohio events over the last several years. Here is what she has to say about her breakthrough moment:
My
youngest, who is seven years old and blind, announced today that she
wants to be a painter when she grows up. My first reaction was that
all-too-familiar, gut wrenching, sick feeling I get when the realization that
she really is blind hits me. I didn�t have the heart to tell her she couldn�t
be a painter because she was blind.
I wandered around the house,
more or less moping about the whole thing, when it struck me that a painter
isn�t necessarily a painter, as in still life or portrait pictures. She could
be a painter that painted in textures. She could paint her impression of the
world in textures or whatever she chooses.
Here I am, thinking I�m one of
the world�s biggest advocates for normal lives for special kids, falling into
the stereotypical trap of what people can and cannot do. Since I�ve been doing
some serious thinking about how to convince both of my children�s teachers that
they�re more normal than abnormal, the irony of what had just happened was
significant.
The ingrained and learned
prejudices don�t go away just because of one incident, or even a dozen. They
are so deeply imbedded in many of us that some of the decisions we make aren�t
necessarily based on our new awareness of the world of disabilities all of the
time. If I, a parent, can forget about the need to be creative and innovative,
how can I expect her teacher not to forget?
As parents we have to have
ongoing communications with those who teach our children and share our ideas
with them. We also have to stay on our toes and try not to fall back into the
same old traps of setting limits on what our children can do.
I am sometimes amazed at many
of the strategies my friends come up with when they are interacting with my
children. They do things and explain things differently than I would, but it
works. Sometimes I think parents can get so involved that they can�t always see
the forest for the trees. We�re so involved with our kids that we tend to
overlook some areas.
Once I realized how mistaken
I�d been about my first reaction, I mentally kicked myself soundly and went
back into the living room to tell her that, yes, she could be a painter. In
fact, she can be anything she wants to be, with a little imagination.
Later the same evening, as I
was giving her father a haircut, she said she wanted to learn to cut his hair.
I didn�t say no, but I will have to give this one some serious thought. But,
hey, it�s his hair!
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