Debunking The Blind Handicap Stereotype

Brie Mays
Mrs. NeSmith
English 101
26 September 2013

Debunking the Blind Handicap Stereotype According to www.eyecareamerica.org “It is estimated that at least 7 million people go blind every year.” Most people consider blind people to be helpless and hopeless. The blind often possess special gifts, powers, talents, and the ability to be very smart. Blind people are often described as mentally challenged, but not all blind people are mentally challenged. The majority of blind people speaks and functions normally. Blind people experience most of the activities that we sighted people experience and blind people have a variety of activities that they can undergo that we may not (www.afb.org). Granted, blind people have a very unique way
According to www.nfb.org, "Expect the blind child to learn the same things as any other child, but realize that he or she may need to be taught differently. Raising a blind child is like raising any other child, they both a frightening challenge and a profound blessing. As the little child they learn many things such as speech, attitudes, body positions, manners, and how to feed themselves. Some teachers consider blind children to have poor manners because he or she cannot see what others do, but some blind children actually learn a lot faster than we sighted people do. Blind children often have great gaps in their understanding, such as being unsure about certain figures. “As the child approaches school age, the matter of social acceptability becomes important in regard of his or her ways of learning” (www.nfb.org). There is a special form of written language termed as “Braille.” This language is characters that are represented by patterns of dots that are felt with the fingertips. Braille is an extremely useful language for the visually impaired and it is used all over the
She knows who is home by the sound of the car and footsteps. By the sound of our keys, Myla knows who is around her if she has heard them jingle one time before. She feels on her mother for her dimples to make sure that it is her. Blind people are known to recognize and differentiate money bills by feeling them, which Myla is very good at this. She retains facts very easily and always has music to her ears to keep her stimulated which is mainly instrumental music. When she first enters an unfamiliar home, she begins stomping on the floors and feels around and that is how she will recognize the house the next time. Myla’s smell is very distinct and she can recognize whose house, car, or store she is in by the smell. Her speech is very immaculate with wide vocabulary and her IQ test level is 2nd grade, but she is only in