[acbny-l] Re: Blind child dies in Minnesota
- From: "Mann, Jean" <Jean.Mann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'" <acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 11:00:32 -0400
Am I correct that the lifeguards themselves were blind? Isn't the purpose
of lifeguards to see when somebody's in trouble and dive in and get them?
How is a blind lifeguard supposed to know that somebody has gone under the
water and not come up? That's pure stupidity. Ray Campbell from Illinois
stated on the leadership list that he hopes the child's family sues the NFB
and Blind, Inc. for a wrongful death suit. My question is is Lake Calhoun
part of the camp, or a public lake? I assume it's part of the camp, which
would explain why there were no sighted people anywhere.
-----Original Message-----
From: Donald Moore [mailto:dmoore01@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2003 6:51 PM
To: acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [acbny-l] Re: Blind child dies in Minnesota
They do seem to have a tradition of believing that their "salvation" of
blind people is more important than the lives of the blind themselves.
----- Original Message -----
From: "K M Lyons" <khaki@xxxxxxxx>
To: <acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2003 6:45 PM
Subject: [acbny-l] Re: Blind child dies in Minnesota
It makes me really sad that a child died due to the stubborn pigheadedness
of NFB ers.
Kathy Lyons
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald Moore" <dmoore01@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2003 5:14 PM
Subject: [acbny-l] Blind child dies in Minnesota
> Blind, Inc., a Vocational Rehabilitation Center and school for the blind
> operated by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota (NFB),
> sponsors a summer camp for blind children and was on a summer outing to
Lake
> Calhoun for an afternoon of swimming, when one of the 3 councilors who
are
> themselves blind) lost track of one of the children and alerted the
> Lifeguards on duty. The Lifeguards immediately conducted a human chain to
> scan the swimming area and pulled a 7 year old blind child up from the
> bottom of the Lake. Life saving efforts were conducted but the blind child
> was dead having been under water for at least ten minutes according to the
> counselors and other witnesses.
>
> The child was attending the summer camp from Michigan and was one of 8
blind
> children who were swimming under the supervision of the 3 counselors.
>
> Local news crews were gathering information for the story which was run
on
> the late night news tonight and I was called as President of ACBM to
answer
> some questions.
>
> All evening long regular programming would be interspersed with fifteen
> second news bites proclaiming, "A blind child dies on Lake Calhoun ...
> Story at Ten" since Minnesota is experiencing turbulent weather, with
many
> tornado warnings in effect, the weather was the lead story. But
immediately
> following as the top news story, was the story of the blind child who
drown
> during a swimming outing as part of a summer camp for blind children
> attending a program at Blind, Inc.
>
> They interviewed Joyce Scanlan, the Executive Director of Blind, Inc. and
> the President of the Minnesota Chapter of NFB who was quoted as saying,
> "What do you say to a parent who has just lost their child ?" She went on
to
> say, "Blind, Inc. and NFB believe this was an unfortunate incident" and
went
> on to say, "swimming at public Lakes will not be dropped from the summer
> camps programming now, or in the future."
>
> The reporter said there were three blind counselors who were there
> supervising eight blind children, ranging in ages from six to fourteen,
> and that none of the counselors had more than three years experience
being
> summer camp counselors.
>
> Ms. Scanlan also went on to say that no changes will be made in the way
> supervision is handled at the summer camp and that blind people are fully
> capable to do everything sighted people do if given the right training,
and
> this was just an unfortunate incident. At the very end of the segment the
> reporter quoted me, as President of the Minnesota affiliate of the
American
> Council of the Blind, as saying there should have been additional sighted
> supervision.
>
> We all know reporters never quite quote exactly what we say and although
I
> did say what I was quoted as saying, I said a great many things including
> "ACBM, along with Blind, Inc. and NFB, deeply mourns the death of that
young
> child."
>
> When I was speaking to the reporter on the phone he told me when he
> questioned the fact about there being three blind counselors who were
> charged with the supervision of eight blind children and if this was
normal
> protocol, he was told very clearly by Ms. Scanlan that she was greatly
> offended by that comment. I responded that this was a typical NFB tactic
and
> response and that one of the differences between NFB and ACB is that we at
> ACB are not offended by those types of questions, in fact, we invite all
> questions! I went on to say that we may not always have the answers
however.
>
> I also told that reporter that another major difference between ACB and
NFB
> is that we in ACB do very much believe that blind and visually impaired
> people have every right and can do just about everything sighted people
can
> do, but we are reasonable in those beliefs, believing as well, there are
> certain things that blind and visually impaired people should *NOT* do,
> like, becoming a surgeon,or be a race car driver, or be an air traffic
> controller!! Even more applicable to right now, I added we believe we are
> reasonable to believe we should not responsibly put three blind
> counselors - young adults, as they were - in sole supervision of eight
> children, some barely school-aged and far away from home, nor should a
> reasonable blind or visually impaired person be a Orientation and Mobility
> Instructor, having the sole responsibility for the safety of teaching a
> newly blind person how to safely travel in his or her new environment! I
> gave him an example from my own life... explaining that I became a
> Registered Nurse as a sighted person, working in a hospital as a cardiac
> nurse on a busy step-down Coronary Care Unit and lost my sight to a rare
> infection of the retina which forced me out of work temporarily. And, even
> though I am still a licensed R.N., I would never put myself in the
position
> of caring for an unstable hospitalized person because I know my
limitations.
> This doesn't mean I could not still work as an R.N., but only working
within
> whatever my scope of abilities would allow...
>
>
>
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