Problems and Opportunities in the Education of Blind Children

Problems and Opportunities in the Education of Blind Children

Future Reflections Fall 1988, Vol. 7 No. 3
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PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE EDUCATION OF BLIND
CHILDREN: THE CHALLENGE OF THE 90'S
by Homer Page
Editor's Note: Mr. Homer Page, who is blind,
wears many "hats". He is the Director of the Office
for Services to Disabled Students at the University
of Colorado in Boulder; the elected Deputy Mayor of Boulder; and the First Vice-President of the National
Federation of the Blind of Colorado.
There is a growing awareness among parents,
teachers, blind youth, and the adult blind community
that the education which blind children
are receiving is failing them. They are not receiving
a quality education which can prepare them
to compete in the demanding high tech economy
and society of the 21st Century. They are not
learning to use and trust the alternative techniques
which blind persons must have if they are to
be successful. They are not developing the positive
attitudes toward their blindness which are so
essential to them if they are to become mature,
responsible, productive adults.
Over the last several years the membership of the
National Federation of the Blind has been expressing
a growing concern over the deplorable
educational opportunities which are available to
blind children almost universally throughout this
nation. NFB initiated legislation has in a number
of states sought to require that Braille be
taught to all blind children. There has been
growing support and advocacy on behalf of the
parents of blind children, and those of our members
who are professional educators of the blind
have stepped up their efforts to reform the theory
and practice of education that now is
predominant.
This growing concern became focused at the
1988 National Convention in Chicago. The
mechanism for this to occur was Resolution 88101,
which was adopted by the convention.
This resolution was prepared in response to a
proposed resolution which had been brought to
the convention by Rami Rabby. Mr. Rabby's initiative
stimulated a great deal of discussion, and
while the people who drafted Resolution 88-101
felt the Rabby proposal was off the mark in some
crucial ways, we all appreciated the serious
thought and the forceful expression of the ideas
which had shaped it.
The people who drafted Resolution 88-101 were
Barbara Cheadle, Peggy Pinder, and myself. We
received assistance from Barbara Pierce, Sandy
Kelly and Marci Page.
We had five important problems which we
wanted to raise. We also sought to suggest some
concrete actions which in the real world of
American education could actually be implemented
and therefore begin to really make a difference
in the lives of blind children.
The problems which we wished to address are as
follows: (1.) While PL 94-142 has promised a
great deal, the provisions of the Act and its implementing
regulations have actually been used
in such a way as to diminish the quality of education
for blind children. Most noteworthy in this
regard has been the misuse of the concept of least
restrictive environment to prevent blind children
from receiving instruction in braille. (2.) We
wished to reaffirm the crucial role that parents
have in the education and personal development
of their children. (3.) Even though parents have
a crucial role in the education of their children,
they should not be asked to take on the job of
providing basic educational services. In many
cases parents have actually had to teach Braille
to their children when the schools refused to do
it. (4.) An additional point which we wished to
make was that in all but a few isolated classrooms
there are no examples of what a good educational
program for a blind child might be. Without
some effective programs how can we begin to
shape a strategy for the education of the blind
that really can work? (5.) Finally, we were all too
aware of the appalling failure of the teacher
training programs to adequately prepare their
students to teach blind children. Even more important
in preparing student teachers to work
with blind children than the classroom experience is the practice teaching that they get
while doing student teaching. The lack of quality
field placements for students in training is a truly
serious problem. It dooms these students to go
into the classroom and deliver the same wretched
educational services that blind children are now
receiving.
The above list of problems demands a response.
We feel that there are some excellent opportunities to improve the education of blind
children which now present themselves. A high
ranking official from the Department of Education
spoke at the Convention. He stated his willingness
to investigate with us the problems with
PL 94-142. He also stated an interest in working
with us to create model demonstration projects
that would serve the educational needs of blind
children. These projects should provide short
term and long-term educational services to blind
children, as individual needs might require.
The demonstration projects offer a locus for
changing the quality of education for blind
children. Each project would offer a residential
program. It would also provide outreach and consulting
services to the local school districts. It
would provide a teacher training site and provide
a variety of training programs for parents and
classroom teachers.
A blind student might participate in the
demonstration project for a few months or for
several years. She/he might participate in a summer
program or other specially arranged training
activities.
The demonstration project would insure that
blind children have the opportunity to become
proficient in the alternative techniques of blindness,
have the opportunity to develop positive attitudes
toward their blindness, and receive a
quality education.
The demonstration project would also have the
mission of defining the strategies and practices
which are needed to insure that blind children
can receive the quality education that they need
to compete successfully in the world in which
they will come of age.
There are exciting opportunities for us to break
into the world of education of the blind and
reshape that world. What is called for is clear
analysis and forceful action. The resolution
adopted at the 1988 Convention provides us with
a road map to a better future for blind children.
Let us work together to give blind children the
chance they need to become productive whole
adults.
RESOLUTION 88-101
WHEREAS, the education of all blind is of compelling
importance to this organization and to the
creation of a better future for all blind persons;
and
WHEREAS, P.L. 94-142 was adopted for the
purpose of insuring an adequate education for
all handicapped students but, in the case of blind
children, it has failed miserably to redeem the
promise of adequate education which is the
birthright of all Americans; and
WHEREAS, blind children need intensive, long
term training in the alternative skills of blindness;
and
WHEREAS, no single educational setting can
meet all of the needs of all blind children; and
WHEREAS, the regulatory requirement of
placement in the "least restrictive environment"
has been generally interpreted to mean that,
merely by placing a blind child in a regular public
school classroom alongside his or her sighted peers, the environment automatically becomes
less restrictive; and
WHEREAS, this irrational attachment to physical
mainstreaming as the paramount objective in
the education of blind children has led to the virtual
demise of appropriate education for blind
children; and
WHEREAS, major shortcomings in the education
of blind children include the failure of the
public schools to teach Braille, cane travel, and
positive attitudes about blindness; and
WHEREAS, residential schools have been used
as a dumping ground for blind multiply-handicapped
youngsters and for other blind children
whose local schools have refused to educate
them; and
WHEREAS, children with low vision are taught
to believe that they are not blind, and schools
(both local and residential) deliberately withhold
from them essential training in the skills of blindness, leaving them utterly unprepared to meet
the challenges of higher education and the
demands of life; and
WHEREAS, this catastrophic failure to educate
our blind children results from an irrational fear
of blindness which poisons the thought and practices
of educational professionals who work with
blind children; and
WHEREAS, this unhealthy atmosphere is so
pervasive that blind children and their parents do
not, for all practical purposes, have any educational
options, except for a few scattered but
notable pockets of quality; and
WHEREAS, the parents of blind children are
fighting a heroic battle to provide a humane environment
which affirms their blind children, and
they have often had to take over the job of the
schools by teaching Braille and other skills, and
parents are still struggling to gain from educators
the recognition that parents are a crucial link in
the overall education and personal development
of their blind children; and
WHEREAS, the training of teachers of the blind
is appallingly inadequate in its philosophy of
blindness, its lack of requirements for the
mastery of the alternative skills of blindness, and
its paucity of student teaching and internship opportunities,
especially significant because research
shows that the single most important
aspect of teacher training is the student teacher
field placement; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, by the National Federation of the
Blind in convention assembled this eighth day of
July, 1988, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, that this
organization call upon all professionals in the
field of education of the blind to reexamine their
motivations and the outcomes of their work; and
be it further
RESOLVED, that this organization call upon
the United States Congress and the U.S. Department
of Education to work with the National
Federation of the Blind to create model schools
that will offer long-term and short-term education
and training for blind children, outreach to
local school districts, support and assistance to
the parents of blind children, and student teacher
field placement sites; and be it further
RESOLVED, that this organization call upon
the U.S. Department of Education to change the
regulations implementing P.L. 94-142 so that, in
the case of blind children, the standard for determining
educational setting be the "most appropriate environment," thereby assuring a complete
range of educational options to blind
children and their parents.
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