In the Event of an Emergency

In the Event of an Emergency

Future Reflections Winter 2015 ADVOCACY
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In the Event of an Emergency
by Sandra Bishop
From the Editor: Sandra Bishop serves on the board of the Maryland Parents of Blind Children. She is learning the ins and outs of IEPs with three daughters adopted as teens from China. When she found that her daughter Amy had not been allowed to use her cane during an evacuation drill, she wrote the following letter to the school principal. Her clear, reasonable argument can serve as a model for other parents as they advocate for their blind children.
September 17, 2014
Dear Ms. X,
I am writing to bring to your attention a safety issue with my daughter Amy Bishop, a sixth grader at your middle school. As you know, Amy is blind and depends on her long white cane for orientation and mobility. I have learned of two incidents during emergency drills in which Amy was instructed to leave her cane behind.
The first incident occurred this week during an evacuation drill from the school bus. The driver told Amy she was not allowed to take her cane, stating that it was dangerous, despite her request to keep it with her. He then required her to be the last student to leave the bus. He guided her from behind toward the rear of the bus, which is an incorrect guide method. She was instructed to sit and jump out of the rear door, but had no way to determine the distance she would be dropping. She then was left standing outside the bus, in an unfamiliar space, with no assistance.
In a true emergency, this would leave my daughter vulnerable and unable to help herself move away from a potentially dangerous situation. She must have her cane with her at all times. You would not require a student who uses arm crutches for mobility to leave those behind. Neither should my daughter be told to leave behind her cane.
The second incident apparently happened during the first week of school, but I only learned of it this week. During a fire drill in the middle school, Amy was instructed by her teacher of the visually impaired (who should know better) to leave her cane in the classroom and to evacuate the building using human guide technique. In a true emergency, Amy could become separated from the well-meaning person guiding her, adult or student. She would be left vulnerable and unable to find her own way.
In a situation where the building or bus is filled with smoke and visibility is extremely limited, Amy is better equipped to find her way out than a sighted person, assuming no one has taken away her cane. I would like to point to the real life example of the ability of blind people to take care of themselves in emergency situations. Michael Hingson, a successful businessman who has been blind from infancy, evacuated from the World Trade Center on 9/11. He did so using his own orientation and mobility skills, without the need for a sighted guide. My goal is for Amy to be equally prepared and confident in her skills so that she can take care of herself in an emergency.
Please provide the necessary training and information to staff in the building and in the transportation department. Explain that a visually impaired individual requires the use of the long white cane and should never be told to leave it behind during an emergency. I am teaching my daughter to advocate for herself, and in the future she will disobey any adult who tries to make her leave without her cane in an emergency.
Sincerely yours,
Sandra Bishop
Recently Sandra shared the following update with Future Reflections.
After receiving my letter, the principal called me and said she completely agreed with my points. She said that efforts would be made to make sure that everyone understood that my daughter should never be separated from her cane. That said, despite my best efforts, I don't know if there was any discussion with the TVI about the first incident, in which she was involved. There was also no movement toward eliminating the requirement that Amy use a sighted guide for school drills.
Due to other more significant issues related to our daughter's situation (she is blind plus an English language learner plus an older adoptee plus dealing with cultural acclimation and prior education gaps), we decided to remove her from public school a few weeks later. We are currently homeschooling her to address her language development and education gaps. Unfortunately, we live in a county that refuses special education services to homeschoolers. We are using a borrowed BrailleNote, the free downloadable forty-minute version of the JAWS screen reader, free Braille classes from the Hadley School for the Blind, and tutoring at reduced cost from a TVI.
We plan for Amy to return to the same middle school next year. With what we have learned thus far, we hope we will be able to put more procedures and staff preparation in place to avoid the problems we had this year.

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