Meet the Officers of the Parents of Blind Children Division

Meet the Officers of the Parents of Blind Children Division

Future Reflections Convention 1990, Vol. 9 No. 4
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MEET THE OFFICERS OF THE
PARENTS OF BUND CHILDREN DIVISION
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
President:
Barbara Cheadle, Maryland.
It may seem strange, but my involvement in the
National Federation of the Blind occurred some five
years before I became the parent of a blind child.
My husband, John, and I were working as rehabilitation
counselors/teachers at the state agency for the
blind in Nebraska when we were first introduced to
the National Federation of the Blind. It didn't take
much for us to decide that the Federation was the
only way to go. We had the opportunity to observe
the results of Federation philosophy-based training,
and of other approaches to blindness, and as far as
we were concerned, there was no comparison.
Because the Federation had helped us learn that
it is respectable to be blind, we felt comfortable
about choosing a blind child when we made the
decision to adopt. In 1980, when our oldest son,
John Earl, was nearly three, our blind son, Charles,
arrived from Korea. Charles has a number of eye
conditions. In addition to being monocular he has
congenital cataracts, glaucoma, and nystagmus.
Today, we have three children. John Earl, now
13; Charles, age 12; and Anna, who is eight years
old. John's aspiration is to be a writer, Charles is
active in Boy Scouting and thinks he would like to
design toys someday, and Anna will be happy as
long as she has something to organize. All three are
in gifted and talented programs in our local schools.
I have been the editor of Future Reflections since its
inception in 1981, and the president of the Parents Division for about five years. John, my husband, is
the Director of Program Facilities at the National
Center for the Blind in Baltimore, Maryland.
My husband and I believe in the "W.W."
theory--Whatever Works. In the seventies we
learned how the Federation makes a difference in
the lives of blind adults. Today, we have the joy of
seeing what it has done (and continues to do) for our
own son. My commitment as President of the
Parents of Blind Children Division is to bring this
message to all blind children and their parents in this
country--the Federation philosophy about blindness
WORKS! Get involved, and USE IT!
First Vice President:
Ruby Ryles, Washington.
Ruby Ryles lives in Washington state with her
husband, Dwain, and three children: Dan, age 16,
has been totally blind from birth; Tom, (the "good
one"--so Tom says) age 14; and Beth who is 10
years old. Dan attends the local public school, with
no support services beyond getting his materials in
Braille and on tape. He is in the high school marching
band and tackles such subjects as trigonometry.
Tom, his brother, is a hockey player on a national
championship team, and Beth aspires to teach multi
handicapped children.
Dwain owns a mobile home dealership, and
Ruby works part-time as a teacher/consultant for
blind and visually impaired children. She also serves
as a board member for the Washington State
School for the Blind and is currently working on her
doctoral degree in special education. Ruby has been
in the teaching field since 1966 and has been a
professional in the field of blindness for the last
twelve years.
This is what Ruby says of her experience with
the Federation: "I think I got involved as a professional
because I wanted to get to know blind adults.
However, it wasn't until four or five years later that
I met blind adults in the National Federation of the
Blind. I was so excited. It was immediately obvious
to me that these were the kind of people I had been
looking for--the kind of people I wanted my son
and my students to be like. The Federation changed
our family. The biggest impact, of course, has been
on Dan, but we have all been affected. It also
changed the way I taught. I use Federation materials
and role models because I now know that these
children won't really learn confidence and independence
unless they develop a good attitude about
themselves as blind people. For our family, the
Federation is not just an organization, it is a
philosophy--a way of living."
Second Vice President:
Charlotte Verduin, Illinois.
Charlotte Verduin and her daughter, Cherrane,
make their home in Illinois where Charlotte is working
to complete her master's thesis, a study on
teacher's responses to echolalia in blind children.
Cherrane, blind from ROP, was born premature ten
years ago and, despite numerous early health
problems, is doing quite well today. Charlotte, a
former Head-Start teacher, discovered the National
Federation of the Blind when Cherrane was about
four years old. She remembers how thrilled she was:
"Here were people talking positively about my
child, about all the things she could do--not about
the things she couldn't do and the ways I had to treat
her special."
Charlotte and Cherrane attended their first National
Federation of the Blind national convention
in 1985, and they have been coming ever since.
Charlotte, a juvenile diabetic who has had to face
the possibility of blindness from diabetic
retinopathy herself, is also active in the Diabetics
Division of the Federation.
Secretary:
Tom Balek, Kansas.
The Balek family--Tom, Linda, Jenny, and
Jeff--live in Kansas where Tom is employed as
Vice President/ Treasurer of Whelans, Inc.-- a
chain of home centers. Tom is active in his community
as chairman of the school board advisory
counsel, coach and referee for local basketball
leagues, and an Optimist Club member and supporter.
His wife, Linda, runs a computer accounting
business from her home, Brailles materials for Jeff
and sees that his education stays on track, and is a
state board member of the NFB in Kansas. Both are
also active members of the local chapter of the NFB.
Jenny, age 13, is a straight "A" student and a
basketball star. Jeff, age 10 and totally blind from
birth (Retinopathy of Prematurity-ROP) is
mainstreamed in his local public school. He is an
avid sports fan, an accomplished drummer, and one
of the youngest members of the local chapter of the
NFB.
Of the future for Jeff and other blind children,
Tom has this to say: "In the 1990s and beyond we
will see more and more that information is power.
Technology will allow the blind to share in that
power. The role of the NFB will be to channel the
energies of the organized blind and facilitate the
flow of information to maximize their opportunities."
Treasurer:
Debra Smith, Iowa.
Debra and husband Rocky Smith live in Iowa and
are the parents of two children: Kyle who is eight
years old and mildly visually impaired; and Kallie,
age four, who is legally blind from congenital
cataracts. Rocky is self-employed, operating a roadside
vending business through the Randolph-Sheppard
program. Debra is currently considering a
career switch--from food service manager to
aerobics instructor. Both Debra and Rocky have
strong convictions about surrounding their children
with positive attitudes about blindness and alternative
techniques such as Braille and the use of the
long white cane. These convictions are rooted in
their own experiences in growing up as partially
sighted (but really blind) children. Neither of them
had the opportunity to learn Braille as a child, nor
had any positive blind role-models. Debra says:
"We've been members of the NFB since we were
teen-agers. The Federation is the most important
thing in our lives because it really did help us believe
that is it is respectable to be blind. And that is what
we want our children to know and believe. I' we been
in other parent groups, and I always felt we were
bogged down in petty detail. In the POBCI feel that
we are working on what really counts--the future
of our blind children."
Board Member- Stephanie Martin, Washington.
A Registered Nurse employed at the Everett
Medical Hospital in Washington state, Stephanie is
a single parent with two children: Allyson, age 12;
and Benjamin who is six years old and blind from
ocular albinism.
This is what Stephanie has to say about POBC
and the National Federation of the Blind: "I initially
joined the NFB/POBC for an obvious reason. I
wanted to ensure that Ben would receive an appropriate
education, and I knew NFB shared this
concern for all blind children. We got so much
more! For myself, meeting successful blind adults
reassures me that Ben's success is dependent on his
motivation, not his blindness. POBC has been a
never-ending source of support and guidance. For
Allyson, the opportunity of being with other
families with blind members seems to help her feel
more comfortable with her own family.
For Ben, who hasn't a clue yet what NFB's
philosophy and commitment has already done for
him, the benefit has been enjoying good role models
and learning positive attitudes from our NFB/POBC
friends."
Board Member:
Martin (Marty) Greiser, Montana.
Martin, Nancy, and their two children--fouryearold
twins Cody and Jessie--live in a small
community in Montana. Martin is a lab technician
with Pfizer Company, and Nancy is a full-time
homemaker.
This is what Martin has to say about his family,
blindness, the National Federation of the Blind and
POBC: "I cannot imagine any two people being
more ignorant about blindness than my wife Nancy
and I were when our twins (our only children) were
born in 1986. Our daughter, Jessie, has no health
complications and our son, Cody, is only blind due
to Retinopathy of Prematurity, despite extensive
medical intervention. Cody has received in-home
educational assistance from an early childhood intervention
program for handicapped children since
he was 18 months old.
"Our problem is that to date no one with any
experience or training in educating the blind has
ever worked with Cody. Our ruralness and
geographic isolation makes acquiring a trained and
competent educator very difficult. We intend to
mainstream Cody in our local public school even
though he will be the first blind child to go through our school system. We have been working with the
school administration trying to put together an appropriate
long-term education program.
"Our only real source of information about
blindness has been the NFB and particularly the
Parents of Blind Children Division. This approach
to educating ourselves is, in my opinion, (combined
with the unsatisfactory assistance from our state
School for the Deaf and Blind) transferring to our
public school, which is beginning to realize the
magnitude, appropriateness, and availability of information
from the National Federation of the Blind
and our Parents Division."
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