An Open Letter to Parents, Teachers of Blind Students,

And Rehab Professionals

By Jennifer Dunnam, President

I am moved to write the following plea in part by the experiences of my first six months as president of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota—advocating with parents of blind children at education planning meetings, hearing stories of blind “customers” dealing with counselors at State Services for the Blind (SSB), etc. More importantly, this writing comes from the long years and vast collective experience of many thousands of blind people around the country, from all walks of life and with all kinds of individual experiences in the school system and the rehabilitation system, who have organized to improve opportunities for ourselves and for those who come after us. It comes from our concern, and it comes from our hope.

The special education system and/or the rehabilitation system has failed far too many of our thousands. When I say "failed," I don't mean that the system has failed to "find us a job" or "give us an education." Rather, the "system" has in large part failed to maintain a foundation of sound knowledge about blindness and high expectations for blind people. Some problems exist which can only be dealt with collectively, on a large scale. However, individual people who work with the blind have much power to influence for good. The direction of the future is set one decision at a time, and you can make a big difference.

There's no denying that you who are parents, teachers, and counselors have a tough job. Besides the challenges of working within budgets, measurable outcomes, busy schedules, and timelines, you also have to work hard, just as I do, to keep the overwhelming societal misconceptions and even fear about blindness from affecting you too much. How will your blind child live on her own if she can't see things very well, much less one day be able to get around an airport independently or grill steaks for a group of friends as her sighted brothers and sisters will do? Is it really true that blind adults travel independently in a busy city and can be responsible for children of their own?

Obviously, there are some big differences in the needs and the resources for children in school and those for adults in rehabilitation. However, the ultimate, overarching outcome toward which the efforts are directed is the same for both—to help someone be a successful blind adult. As you deal with the challenges of the day-to-day, it is critical that you also keep in mind this ultimate goal. It cannot be placed on a back burner if one is to avoid getting stuck in doing just what is necessary to get them through this school year or to help them get to that first entry-level job.

Following are some important points for supporting a blind person on the road to success. They may seem obvious, and may not always be easily measurable, but if you are keeping them in mind and infusing them into the work you do, it makes a huge difference.

Blindness is not "mastered" quickly, either by a blind person or by someone in training to work with blind people. The process must be started as soon as possible. There is a wide variety of alternative techniques to sight, but they are not mastered overnight. Braille literacy, independent travel, computer use, techniques of managing daily life—they take time to acquire and can best be acquired in an environment where everyone believes in blind people. The process of acquiring them must be interwoven with the process of learning to be confident in oneself as a blind person as well as knowing how to deal with public attitudes about blindness. A person must come to understand, through experience, that when one has ten percent or less of full sight, she will function much better using alternative techniques than using just that little bit of sight alone. A person must learn to advocate for what is needed and, just as important, to decline what is not needed, and how best to go about doing both. Adjusting to blindness is not an easy or quick process, but if done well and with the help of people with plenty of experience in blindness, the person who goes through it is a person ready not just for the first entry-level job that comes along, but ready to be a valued employee in a good job, who may even become the boss.

Blind people need other blind people, and so do parents, teachers, and counselors. Skills and tools are not enough. As much as blind children and blind adults need skills and tools, just as important is exposure to successful, well-adjusted blind role models. Misunderstandings about blindness are well entrenched in society. A blind person may be the only one in his school or town and be viewed as "different” and less capable than others, or even “special” and “amazing,” so often that he loses a sense of how he fits in with other people. A blind person needs a support system and a way to measure him or herself in honesty and accuracy.

You who work with blind people need this exposure too. If we who are blind need from time to time to be among successful, well-adjusted blind people to get our batteries re-charged and get new ideas, then how much more so does a parent, a teacher, or a counselor who may not deal with successful blind adults as a matter of course. I heard recently of a teacher who, when the rest of the class was doing an art project, didn't think the blind child should worry about learning to use scissors, saying, "She'll never need to know that in real life." An extreme example? I hope so, but I fear not. At least this particular incidence did not happen in Minnesota, fortunately, and I hope no such thing ever does. The teacher was someone who did not know much about what life is really like for the blind person. She never considered that this blind child will be packing and unpacking when moving to a new apartment or house, wrapping birthday gifts, cutting tags off their children's clothes, or teaching someone else how to use scissors.

Blind people need not only one path, but a whole landscape. The structured-discovery method of teaching independent travel, when correctly applied, leaves the student able to use his or her travel skills in any situation (familiar or unfamiliar); able to go anywhere at any time, independently and comfortably; able to handle it when things don't go as planned; and never needing re-training. This is a metaphor for a much larger approach to education and training. A successful adult, blind or sighted, knows what the resources are and how to use them, can apply what she has learned in one situation to others. The most successful people know how to learn, to discover, to figure things out, and to solve problems. This is how blind people become decision-makers, plan the agenda, teach the class, run the meeting, serve on the city council, raise a family—in short, shape our own future, with good information, and not from a status of victimhood or a view that the world owes us something. Certainly, these are not necessarily traits that can be taught per se, but they can be fostered by laying a good foundation.

Society needs successful blind people. Businesses, schools, churches, and organizations need top-notch people with good skills to get the work done. Some of those excellent employees (and volunteers) need to be blind people. To get those jobs blind people need not only the skills to get the work done, but also the skills to fit in well with co-workers, to deal with customers, to get from place to place, generally to be a contributing member of the team. Businesses not only need good workers—they need leaders, managers, CEO’s. A blind person without a strong foundation in basic skills can never hope to be among those who shape policies and set directions.

Blind people are a cross-section of society. Some are brilliant, some lazy; some motivated, some street-smart; some dishonest, shy, outgoing, mechanically inclined, politically astute, and on and on—with a huge diversity of strengths and weaknesses and varying characteristics. The one trait we have in common is blindness, and that trait means that we all face a society that, while well-meaning and improving in some respects, is still largely convinced that blindness makes us less capable, more in need of help and protection and pity, and even not responsible for ourselves. These wrong ideas are the most severe problems of blindness, much more than the lack of sight. To be successful, any blind person, regardless of other strengths and weaknesses, needs to know how to fight against these negative attitudes and keep them from taking over. Parents, teachers and counselors need to know how to combat these things too.

If future opportunities for blind people are to improve, there must be strong belief in the capacity of blind people by those working in the blindness field. You have immense opportunity to help shape what the future will look like for blind people. May your every decision be made with the ever-present certainty that this blind child will be a grown-up before we know it, that this newly blinded adult will soon need to resume a normal life and contribute to society, and that this person will need to stand on his or her own two feet without your help (and what’s more, will need to be able to help others stand on their own too, just as sighted people are expected). Visualize the child, or the customer, getting around independently, raising children, cooking a thanksgiving dinner for a family, managing the finances, being on time and meeting deadlines, running errands for herself or for others, supervising employees, taking care of aging parents, and on and on. Many blind adults do these things on a daily basis, just as sighted people do. With high expectations and good resources, so will your child or your customer.

Please take the time to become and remain grounded in real-life blindness experience. If you read this and want to know more about how to help your children or your customers, we in the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota are happy to talk to you and work with you. Additionally, if you read this and say to yourself that in the system you work in there aren't enough resources to consider these things, then ask yourself if that would be a good enough answer for your own child if he or she were blind, for a blind family member, for you if you became blind. If it is not good enough, then it is time to re-think, to re-tool, to demand what is needed. We, the organized blind, will help you.

(Editor’s Note: The NFB philosophy of opportunity and equality is not just a theory or dream. As the following articles by and about blind people show, it is based on our own lives. The people in these articles are real, and two of them have physical challenges besides blindness. From a teenager continuing her education, to people well established in their careers, to a woman running her own business, they all have applied that philosophy to lead full, successful lives.)