Caitlyns Story

Before you read any further in this book you need to understand and question yourself on "how do you see". What is sight and how does every other sense merge together to assist with "sight" as we know it.

Ask how do you see an object. Try to describe that same object without using anything that describes what can only been "seen". For example a Red Ball. How can you describe a red ball without using the descriptive "red" or "ball". How do you know that it isnt an orange in your hands or an apple??

This is something that as a parent of a VI child you need to ask yourself. How can you describe to your child the things that you as a sighted person take for granted each and every day. Remember that they will never get to see a fantastic winter morning sunrise or a beautiful orange/red glow of a Sunset. They will never see the beauty of dew on Rose petals first thing in the morning. To them these are just objects that are felt, smelt or heard. They cannot comprehend what red is because they are not able to see red. They only know that red exists as something that people talk about.

We as Human beings live in a very sight dependant world. Every day of our lives we use our sight to help us get around. We rely on being able to see to get information from TV, Internet, Newspaper etc. To get to work we use street signs. To find out the bus times we need to read the timetables. The use of Braille will assist a visually impaired person but the availability of Braille is still in very short supply.

One of the biggest questions i keep getting asked as a parent of a VI child is can she still hear. I find this to be a strange question when my daughter is already responding to their voice. Some people seem to think that Eyes and Ears are attached and depend upon each other to function correctly. They also ask can she smell and taste things. I believe that there is a general lack of knowledge of visual impairment in the general community.

Please keep this in mind as you go further through this book.