HEllo Ardith,

On Sat 2011-Oct-15 23:56, Ardith Hinton (1:153/716) wrote to Richard Webb:

RW>  I know blindness, and am familiar with helping adults
RW>  adjust to its onset later on in life.  IT even took me
RW>  awhile to wrap my head around some of that, because I
RW>  was born this way, it's the only world I've known .


AH>           But eventually you *did* manage to get your head around
AH> it... and you realized the learning curve might be steep for them as
AH> well. 

INdeed it is, the physical skills can be taught, in fact
easier than one might think, but it's the mental that takes
them awhile to get.

AH>           Our young friend & her mother were thrilled to have an
AH> opportunity to work on echolocation recently with a blind woman from
AH> out of town.  They'd just attended a workshop where this woman was
AH> one of the presenters... then she took them out to the street for a
AH> private lesson.  When one of Nora's classmates was in a similar
AH> situation I'd often see him on the street with a sighted classroom
AH> aide.  I think our friend & her mother learned more in just one
AH> afternoon.  :-) 

Indeed, that can work, especially when coupled with a good
flexible cane to discern what's in front of one that
echolocation won't pick up, such as that child's tricycle,
or the place where the tree roots have buckled the sidewalk, or other
hazards/obstacles.

sOme such as my first wife can feel the difference in how
air currents move around objects such as trees, etc. as
well.  I think they call it "facial vision" but may be wrong on the term.



AH>           Yes, there are.  As teachers Dallas & I worked with
AH> students who were learning Signed English... going into more detail
AH> here because you seem to have some knowledge of the subject matter. 
AH> Basically, Signed English is a word-for- word translation of
AH> everyday English.  That's the variety of sign language most hearing
AH> people are familiar with.  Kids in school love it because they can
AH> talk to friends on the other side of the room without making a
AH> noise.  Teachers such as Dallas & me turn a blind eye... i.e.
AH> assuming you will pardon the expression ... because they recognize
AH> it's a project the kids are doing in another class & one has to
AH> strike while the iron is hot.  Within a week or so, we'll be back to
AH> confiscating notes & reading them aloud or chuckling over the fact
AH> that we have replied to what somebody in the back row whispered to a
AH> friend across the aisle & carried on without missing a beat.  In the
AH> room down the hall we get paid for knowing who forgot a C#, but very
AH> few kids understand the implications....  ;-) 

YEp, that's always one of the things that excites the
youngsters about learning it, which I never did, for obvious reasons.  MOrse
code sort of holds the same attraction for
youngsters when they figure out that writing out that note
to be passed as dots and "dashes" can be helpful as a crude
form of encryption .

AH>           The three of us also took an evening course in American
AH> Sign Language during Nora's hospital stay after her stroke.  The
AH> instructor was a deaf person ... unlike other instructors we've had.
AH> I noted with interest that the grammar & word order are different,
AH> and that it's not kosher to mirror what you see the instructor
AH> doing.  You're supposed to copy the hand signals in reverse....  :-)

INteresting, never knew that one.  The person with
substantial hearing loss I"ve interacted with the most was
both deaf and blind, so sign didn't help, and I never
learned the finger talk thing.  HOWever, she had a little
machine called a teletouch, a typewriter keyboard coupled to a single braille
cell which was essentially pins that
appeared to represent the appropriate braille symbols, she'd hold a hand over
the single cell and you could type away at
her and she could actually talk back, as she could speak,
thanks to going deaf later on in life.

She used to like me to interpret for her during meetings and convention
sessions as I made a diligent effort to keep her
up on what was going on, who said what, etc.

Once I figured out she knew braille shorthand it got even
easier .


Regards,
           Richard
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 * Origin:  (1:116/901)