[acbny-l] FW: [leadership] This mornings front page newspaper article in Minneapolis
- From: "Mann, Jean" <Jean.Mann@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: 'ACBNY' <acbny-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 11:20:54 -0400
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Rodgers [mailto:kgr@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2003 9:23 AM
To: leadership@xxxxxxx
Subject: [leadership] This mornings front page newspaper article in
Minneapolis
This article from the Star Tribune has been sent to you by Ken Rodgers.
BYLINE: Tim Harlow and Lucy Y. Her
CREDITLINE: Star Tribune
HEADLINE: Blind children needed sighted supervision at beach, official says
The president of a Minnesota organization for the blind said Sunday that he
believes a sighted person should have been present when three blind
counselors
took eight blind children on a swim outing at Lake Calhoun.
Brianna Joy Nelson, 7, of Grant, Mich., drowned Friday evening. She and the
other students were attending a camp sponsored by Blind Inc., a Minneapolis
company that helps children learn life skills from adult role models who,
like them, are blind.
On Friday, the counselors -- two in their 20s and one in his 30s -- took
the students swimming at the lake's north beach for about four hours. When
they
left the water about 7:15 p.m., they counted the children and discovered
that Brianna was missing.
The counselors said they notified lifeguards, who called 911 and formed a
human chain to look for Brianna. She was found 10 minutes later about 70
feet
from shore. Brianna died about an hour later at Hennepin County Medical
Center.
On Sunday, Ken Rodgers, president of the American Council of the Blind of
Minnesota, said three blind counselors aren't enough supervision for eight
blind
children at a lake.
"Young children dart around so fast that even sighted people have a problem
keeping track of their children," he said. "I just think it's a dangerous
precedent."
Blind Inc. replies
Joyce Scanlan, executive director of Blind Inc., said Sunday that she is
not convinced that having a sighted person or more counselors accompany the
group
would have prevented the drowning.
"It is unfortunate that anybody drowns, but a lot of sighted kids drown
with their parents close by," she said. "This is a very, very sad thing
that has
happened. I feel bad about it, but at this point I am not convinced that we
were negligent or did anything wrong."
Scanlan said that the swimmers were using their white canes while they were
in the water, but that nobody from the group had notified the lifeguards
they
were there. She said the counselors had swimming experience and were using
several techniques to keep tabs on the children, including listening,
staying
close enough to touch them and constantly calling out their names.
When Brianna didn't answer, counselors got worried and summoned help.
"I don't know why nobody noticed that she was missing. There were far more
sighted people out there," Scanlan said. "It was our blind people who were
the
first to call for help and get the attention of the lifeguards."
Minneapolis Park Police have said it was the other way around -- that
lifeguards approached the counselors when they noticed them searching.
Rodgers said his organization, like Blind Inc., believes blind people can
do anything sighted people can, but is "not afraid to use sighted
assistance"
in its programs.
Rodgers said his organization has been criticized for this philosophy, but
"you make sure there's every effort to take care of the children."
A father's view
Brianna's father, Carl Nelson, said he wasn't blaming anybody for the
untimely death of his older daughter.
"There's no blame here -- it was just her time to go," he said. "We knew
going in that the counselors were blind."
Brianna was attending a four-week program in which campers learn life
skills. The swimming outing has been part of the program since it started
11 years
ago.
Scanlan wouldn't say whether the program might be altered, but she said
Blind Inc. "is always looking at changes and always concerned about safety."
Rodgers isn't convinced anything will change. "They will continue to run it
the same way in the future," he said. "I think Blind Incorporated is making
a bad decision by not looking at that and making some changes."
The Associated Press contributed to this article. The writers are
at harlow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and
>lher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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