Subject: Re: [acb-l] Blind children; are we conditioning them for mediocracy?
Hello Karen,
Like your parents, mine also expected each of their children would share equally all chores. I am the middle child, a sister on either side. I took my turn standing on a chair washing and drying dishes, swinging a broom that towered over my head, and washing woodwork and windows.
A major difference between you and me. I was a low vision kid back in the day when either you were blind or you were sighted. Blind meant no sight. I could see, hence I was sighted. Despite my heavy bifocals I was expected to do everything every other sighted child could do. So I believed that all I had to do was to try a little harder and concentrate a little more and I could learn to hit the baseball, sink the basket ball, catch the foot ball. I'll tell you, I caught many a ball on my nose or my chest or on the tips of my fingers, jamming my knuckles. And I watched many a ball go sailing past me because I saw it too late. It was my lot to be the last boy picked when we chose up sides. In fact, if it were mixed boys and girls, the girls were picked ahead of me.
My parents did not know about my problems on the school playing field, but they didn't help matters at home. If I reached for something and knocked it off, they would snap, "Don't be so clumsy". If they pointed to something and I wasn't able to see what it was, they would say, "It's right over there, stupid".
And so it came to pass that Clumsy Stupid was synonymous with Visually Impaired.
It's funny. Because I am also left handed, I decided that this was at the root of my clumsiness. So I did as much with my right hand in an attempt to overcome my awkwardness.
While on the one hand I was driven to succeed, on the other hand I developed a serious self esteem problem.
It took years and lots of hard work to overcome this inferiority complex. But because I was secretly driven, I poured my heart and soul into the challenge. And now today I am just a normal, well adjusted, kind, intelligent, good looking, average sort of a wonderful fellow.
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