by Charlotte Verduin
(Editor's Note: Ms. Verduin was elected to the national board of the NFB Parents of Blind Children Division at the July, 1987 annual meeting in Phoenix. She is a quiet, intelligent woman who doesn't like to call attention to herself or seek the limelight. But when it comes to her daughter, and to blindness, she is determined and unswerving. The NAB has helped her understand what her daughter's potential is, and what kind of training she needs to achieve it. She knows that it will not be easy, given the attitudes and prejudices which exist, but she knows she must persist. She also knows the value of collective action and is committed to the goals of the NFB.)
My daughter Cherranne, blind from birth (RLF or as it is now known, Retinopathy of Prematurity, ROP), has had a cane since age four.
In early spring, 1984, the annual conference of Illinois teachers of the visually impaired was held in Chicago. At that conference the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois gave a presentation which included "Kids With Canes" (a video distributed by the NFB Parents of Blind Children Division). I liked what I saw and heard, and I decided then and there that Cherranne would have a cane now. What follows is one mother's story of mobility training in a "good" state with a "good" teacher.
At the Illinois teachers of the visually impaired conference I mentioned to Cheranne's Orientation and Mobility (0 & M) teacher (Cherranne had been getting one half-hour of 0 & M training once a week since age three) that I was now going to start badgering her for Cherranne to have a cane and to get training with it. She listened and made two comments. First, she suggested we take time to discuss early (age four-six) cane travel teaching experiences with the few other Illinois teachers whom she knew had taught it. Second, she agreed to seriously consider implementing white cane training for Cherranne on an "experimental" basis.
The responses of the 0 & M teachers who had taught younger children were largely negative. "They develop bad habits"; "They don't have the abstract concepts"; "They can't even follow directions"; "They don't know left from right"; etc. None of it sounded like a good enough excuse to keep my child away from the mobility tool she will use for the rest of her life. And I became angrier with each patronizing, paternalistic, power- tripping statement I heard. By the end of the discussions I was close to cutting a branch off a tree, as I know some people have done, for I felt it may be the only way Cherranne would see a cane before age nine.
My determination to get some kind of cane into Cherranne's hands was impressed upon her 0 & M instructor. Soon after the conference I told her that Cherranne would have a cane either with her support or without it. I tried to be as pleasant about this comment as possible, but I was firm. And she conceded to begin Cherranne on diagonal technique and how to walk sightedguide while carrying her cane for the remainder of that year.
I was not yet a Federationist, but I believed Federation philosophy, and I was determined to go to the Louisville convention in spite of the negative comments from the professionals responsible for my daughter's educational program.
There I learned of the inappropriateness of the training Cherranne was getting. I am still working two years later to continue appropriate orientation and mobility goals in Cherrannes I.E.P.
At Louisville I was fired up by the Parents of Blind Children conference. This was the support of the type I needed. Hearing from blind adults what their own experiences throughout childhood had been was so important. When Federationists met Cherranne and her cane-- "Bumpy"--encouragement to continue training and pleasure at seeing a small child using a cane abounded. Stories of mobility training were shared, teaching me what to teach, what to watch for, and how to counter-argue certain philosophies and practices of the teaching professionals. NFB has helped me know my rights, my child's rights and needs, and how to achieve and fulfill them.
That is not to say the battle is won. Cherranne's 0 & M teacher and I still disagree strongly over what length the cane ought to be. I return from each convention with a LONG white NFB cane which promply gets cut down when school starts. Cherranne has yet to be formally taught touch technique although she has had her cane for three and one-half years. I am learning that I will have to be more assertive in this area, and I intend to be this coming year. Stay tuned to Future Reflections for further developments!