[accessibleimage] from the archives of the New York Times

Hi,
Sending some short abstracts from the archives of the New
York Times. Found one reprint of one article about Elizabeth
Castellano, an art teacher who is blind. These articles are
more recent than the ones sent before.
Regards,
Lisa

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30B13F6345D0C728DDDA80894DD404482&incamp=archive:search

THE ARTS/CULTURAL DESK | January 11, 2005, Tuesday 

MoMA Helps Visitors To Use Ears To See; Audio Tours Offer
Guides That Can Plug Viewers Into Detail and History  

By JULIE SALAMON (NYT) 1079 words 
Late Edition - Final , Section E , Page 1 , Column 1 

ABSTRACT - Article on Museum of Modern Art's new electronic
auditory tour guide that not only offers erudite
commentaries from curators, conservators and artists but
descriptions of paintings and sculptures for visitors with
visual impairments; photos (M) 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40F17F83E5C0C718CDDA80894D8404482&incamp=archive:search
NEW JERSEY WEEKLY DESK | January 2, 2000, Sunday 

JERSEY FOOTLIGHTS; Blind Artist, Big Vision  

By MATT MURO (NYT) 254 words 
Late Edition - Final , Section 14NJ , Page 10 , Column 4 

ABSTRACT - Works of 24 visually impaired artists, including
those of Lynette Denney, will be displayed at Blair Academy
in Blairstown, NJ, through February 18; photo (S) 


http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00C17FF35540C748EDDAB0894D8404482&incamp=archive:search

NEW JERSEY WEEKLY DESK | February 27, 2000, Sunday 

ON THE MAP; Helping Those Who Can't See Art to Appreciate It
Anyway  

By MAREK FUCHS (NYT) Interview 674 words 
Late Edition - Final , Section 14NJ , Page 3 , Column 1 

ABSTRACT - Interview with Karen Chasin Spitzberg, art
history teacher who works at Jersey City Museum, New Jersey
Foundation for the Blind, Drew University and in New York
City schools, on teaching art to blind and visually
impaired; photo (On the Map column) (M) 



http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30F11FD39590C7B8EDDAC0894D8404482&incamp=archive:search

NEW JERSEY WEEKLY DESK | May 28, 2000, Sunday 

ART; Without Sight, Works of Vision  

By MARGO NASH (NYT) 832 words 
Late Edition - Final , Section 14NJ , Page 15 , Column 1 

ABSTRACT - Scene at Jersey City Museum described as blind
and visually impaired people take pottery classes in project
sponsored by VSA arts of New Jersey; photo (M) 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F6071EFF3C5F0C758DDDAE0894D8404482&incamp=archive:search
NEW JERSEY WEEKLY DESK | July 16, 2000, Sunday 

JERSEY FOOTLIGHTS; Art Appreciation for the Blind  

By MARGO NASH (NYT) 222 words 
Late Edition - Final , Section 14NJ , Page 12 , Column 4 

ABSTRACT - Drew University is offering summer class on art
of ancient Greece for blind and visually impaired students
at Concordia House, part of St Joseph's School for the Blind
in Jersey City, NJ (S) 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70912FB3C590C7B8DDDAA0894D9404482&incamp=archive:search
NEW JERSEY WEEKLY DESK | March 18, 2001, Sunday 

Losing Her Sight But Not Her Vision  

By CLAUDIA KUEHL (NYT) Question 872 words 
Late Edition - Final , Section 14NJ , Page 10 , Column 1 

ABSTRACT - Interview with Muriel Harris, artist in Edison,
NJ, who, despite being legally blind since 1989 because of
macular degeneration, has adapted so that she can still
paint; photo (M) 

METROPOLITAN DESK | May 9, 2001, Wednesday 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20910FC3E5F0C7A8CDDAC0894D9404482&incamp=archive:search

Legally Blind Art Teacher Opens Students' Minds  

By MERRI ROSENBERG (NYT) 1358 words 
Late Edition - Final , Section B , Page 9 , Column 3 

ABSTRACT - Education column profiles art teacher Elizabeth
Castellano, who is legally blind, as she teaches at Active
Learning Prep School in Queens; photo (M) 

http://www.nfbae.ca/publications/index.php?id=158

Legally Blind Art Teacher Opens Students' Minds 
By: MERRI ROSENBERG

Editor's Note: The following article is re-printed from the
New York Times, May 9, 2001. 

The art teacher, Elizabeth Castellano, moved carefully from
one table to another, appraising one sixth grader's handling
of perspective, assisting another in rendering a charcoal
line more sharply, gently suggesting to a third how to
capture the bend of the model's elbow with a purposeful
smudge. 

"Only draw what you see," Ms. Castellano said as she moved
among the students, reminding them to look at the classmate
who was posing, not at what their neighbors were drawing.
"Draw in pencil first, start with geometric shapes. Be
open-minded." 

What made this ordinary art lesson in a gritty neighborhood
in Rockaway Park, Queens, so extraordinary is that Ms.
Castellano can barely see. Ms. Castellano is legally blind.
If someone is sitting six to seven feet away from her, she
can see the person's basic shape and color of clothing, but
cannot distinguish facial features. To size up a visitor,
she walks right up so that her face is within inches of the
other person's. 

Ms. Castellano examines artwork by taking home student
projects, spreading two or three out on the table, and
bending as close as she can to the work to judge how well
the student handled color, composition and overall design.
Ms. Castellano, who teaches at the Active Learning Prep
School, a small academy within Middle School 180, estimates
that grading the work of a single class of 25 to 30 students
takes her one and a half to two hours. 

But there is more to her career than a desire to teach; she
thinks it is important that she chose to teach in a field
that requires the use of the one sense that is impaired. She
believes that that choice imparts an important lesson. 

"I always tell my kids on the first day of school about my
visual impairment, what it is and what happened to me, and
about the people who didn't think I could achieve my goals
about being an artist and art teacher," Ms. Castellano, 24,
said. "Everyone has his or her own obstacles that may not be
a physical impairment. Some of the kids I teach come from
broken homes; some kids come from poverty. If they see
someone like me get off the bus every day with her cane and
walk into the school to teach, they see that I'm doing
something against the odds. I hope that they'll remember
that when they face a challenge." 

Ms. Castellano was born with a condition known as corneal
opacity, in which her corneas were clouded over with a thick
white film. Her noncorrected vision was 20/2,000. Even after
she received corneal transplants during high school, her
corrected vision never improved beyond the range of 20/200
to 20/400 for her overall vision. New York State defines
legal blindness as having corrected vision of 20/200 or
worse. 

Ms. Castellano tends to use her right eye for distance and
her left eye for reading, but her vision is not fine enough,
for example, to discern the cursive writing of her students.
So when she assigns essays, Ms. Castellano asks her students
to print. At her home in Elmhurst, Queens, Ms. Castellano
has a closed-circuit television that enlarges and projects
texts so that she can read her students' papers. When she
gave her students a short-answer test recently, her
paraprofessional, Carolyn Benjamin, read each student paper
aloud to Ms. Castellano, who indicated whether the answers
were correct. 

"I thought it was unusual to have a visually impaired visual
arts teacher," said Patricia Tubridy, the principal of the
Active Learning Prep School. "Then I met her and became
aware that legally blind doesn't mean totally blind. We're
about diversity here at the school. I was impressed with her
portfolio and happy to have her. We put it up front with the
parents, and they've been fine. Elizabeth is dedicated and a
hard worker. It opens people's minds." 

Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, school districts
may not discriminate against applicants with disabilities
and are required to make necessary accommodations, unless
the district can prove that such adaptations would impose
undue hardships. Larry Becker, chief administrator for the
division of human resources at the Board of Education, said
the board last year approved 129 requests from teachers for
"reasonable accommodations" to perform their jobs. The group
included those with hearing impairments and multiple
sclerosis as well as visual impairments. 

Following Ms. Castellano in her classroom, like a patient
and unobtrusive shadow, is the paraprofessional, Ms.
Benjamin, who takes attendance for her, enters grades in the
grade book, keeps an eye out for any disruptive students
whom Ms. Castellano may not see and sets up the classroom
for a particular project. Still, it is fairly clear to any
visitor that Ms. Castellano is the one in charge of the
class. 

Ms. Castellano has spent most of her life insisting on
getting whatever help she needs to realize her ambitions. As
a public school student, Ms. Castellano was assigned the use
of an aide for one period a day to help her study class
material. She also received additional time to take tests.
She managed to graduate 20th. in her senior class at
Westlake High School in Thornwood, a hamlet in Westchester
County; to earn an undergraduate degree in studio art and
art education from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y.;
and to produce her own artwork for both student and gallery
exhibitions. 

"I've always loved art," Ms. Castellano said. "When I was in
kindergarten, I met a girl who became one of my best friends
all through school. She was a phenomenal artist who could
reproduce anything realistically, her mother and grandmother
were artists, and I would try to copy her drawings. Mine
came out recognizable, but semi-abstract. The teachers saw
the facility I had with drawing, and I guess they got
excited that this little almost-blind child could do this." 

Some advisers at Manhattanville suggested that she consider
teaching art in a special-education school, where the
classes would be smaller. When she was a student teacher,
her first placement in a suburban school district did not
work out. 

"The classroom teacher felt that there were things that were
unsafe, that a child left the room and Liz didn't see that,
or that two kids were fighting in the back of the room that
she didn't catch," said Gail Robinson, director of field
experiences for the Manhattanville School of Education. 

Her next job as a student teacher was at the Pocantico Hills
School in Sleepy Hollow, in Westchester. The district
superintendent there, Peter Lisi, said: "Liz was capable of
the instruction piece, and she got the students
enthusiastic. She worked with an art teacher who is
outstanding, and we were supportive and realistic. We have a
very diverse community, and parents could see the benefits
of having a teacher who sends a clear and empowering message
to children that you can overcome obstacles." 

When it came time to interview for full-time teaching jobs,
Ms. Castellano was discouraged that districts in
Westchester, her home county that might be put off by the
added expense of a paraprofessional , seemed reluctant to
give her a chance. 

"The paradox is that the city is more open-minded than many
of the suburbs," Ms. Castellano said. 

Finally, District 27 in Queens hired her in March 2000, and
she started working last September when she was chosen for
the Active Learning Prep School. 

As far as most of her students are concerned, Ms.
Castellano's disability is barely noticeable. "I wasn't an
artist until I came to this art class," Danielle Gregory,
11, said. "She helped me." 


http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20F1EFE3E550C7A8CDDA80994DA404482&incamp=archive:search

NATIONAL DESK | November 9, 2002, Saturday 

Court Says Broadcasters Don't Have to Offer Technology for
Blind  

( By The New York Times ) 551 words 
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 17 , Column 1 

ABSTRACT - Federal appeals court overturns Federal
Communications Commission rules that would require
broadcasters to adopt technology to let blind people follow
action on television by listening to narrator describe
physical movements; finds Congress did not authorize rules;
Jack Valenti, president of Motion Picture Association of
America, which challenged rules, says group and its member
back video description on voluntary basis (M)

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