Miss-Delectable

Children learn how to live visually impaired | GoUpstate.com | Spartanburg Herald-Journal | Spartanburg SC

Wearing bulky goggles, tampered to simulate the effects of glaucoma, 14-year-old Dominique Dotson struggled as he attempted to pour a pitcher full of beans into a small Styrofoam cup. He learned just how difficult every day tasks can be with limited vision, or none at all.

Dotson, a hearing-impaired student at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind, and the rest of his classmates and teachers participated in the school's fun, yet challenging celebration of National White Cane Safety Day on Thursday. Participants experienced various degrees of visual impairments through a variety of sensory experiences, such as Braille writing, identifying scents without sight, connecting dots with blurred vision or spreading jelly on a cracker while blindfolded.

Kari Arnold, SCSDB coordinator of outreach vision instruction, said students were most hesitant to taste the jelly-topped cracker without seeing it first.

"I think this is an interesting experience, especially for the hearing-impaired children to know what it's like to lose their vision," Arnold said. "They've done well."

Students also created textured screen art, attempted to determine the flavor of Skittles without seeing their colors and identified objects by feel, not sight.

"This is to create an awareness of what it's like to go to school, make a sandwich and live your life without vision," explained Elizabeth McKown, SCSDB director of vision outreach services.

Lee Miller, a 13-year-old student in the School for the Deaf, said the Braille writing was the most difficult challenge.

"I couldn't see it," Miller signed to an interpreter. "It was hard to write. It was all fuzzy and I just couldn't do it."

Miller said he learned more about what it means to be blind, and said it may be more difficult than the challenges he faces as a hearing impaired student.

According to the National Federation of the Blind's Web site, National White Cane Safety Day has been celebrated every Oct. 15 since 1964. The white cane symbolizes the independence and achievements of members of the blind community.

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deafdyke

You know..............I wonder if this sort of thing might be a good idea for students who are at risk for deaf-blindness....Like a deaf-blind training course.

CJB

I definitely think it's a good idea for anyone with a prognosis of vision loss, deaf/hoh or hearing, to have this kind of training beforehand so they can have the living skills needed to live with limited or no vision. I also like the idea of having sighted people try out blindness for a bit. Maybe I can get my family members do this experiment.

souggy

Only reason why I would do this experiment on my friends and family is so they stop leaving stuff on the floor, and keep the counters clear of sharp objects!

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CJB

That's pretty much the reason I would do it too. And so they'd stop pointing at things and expecting me to know what they're talking about.