Category: Let's talk
We on the zone make up a pretty large quantity of visually impaired people, so I have taken it upon myself to ask, When you were younger did you get away with more trouble than the typical sighted child? The only reason why I say so is because I know when I was younger I had gotten away with things that would have normally gotten other children suspended and/or expelled. So once again my question that remains is that of... When you were younger did you get away with a lot more than the average sighted child.
I will give an example...
When I was younger there was a boy who used to tap me on the shoulder, and I found this alone was extremely annoying. So one day I turned around and punched him in the nose, I made him bleed. But yet for my impairment I was not disciplined. For this I did not understand. I should have been disciplined same and equally to the other children. This in itself was the word in fear of my handicap or in denyal. I was not treated the same as the other children, I had more privlage. I never understood why.
In elementary (primary school), I used to use my blindness to get away with late homework assignments. I'd just say there was something wrong with my technology and they were none the wiser. I also used to play with the calculator in my braillenote and write notes to myself or whatever in college when class was too visual (lab science) or too boring (micro economics) to catch my interest. I also recorded a music performance of my professor in college and a meeting for a short-lived job (both strictly for personal/accademic use) without anyone knowing. The first time it was with a taperecorder in my pocket and the second time it was with my Mac. I also got out of taking the required mathematics in college because my professor was an idiot who didn't modify things for me after being told that 1. I'm not good in maths and 2. I need things, especially in this subject, to be accessible. So I got into macroeconomics, which I loved cause of the professor, and then micro which, as I said, was boring as hell. At home, I never had to do chores and the like, which most sighted children have to do, though now, I'm not sure if that was a blessing or a curse. Still, Mom does fully support my independence and is helping me gain it.
I can understand why you turned and smacked the kid in the nose. Hell, if I could, I would have done the same thing.
No... I was a pretty inocent kid. I didn't know much... I was class clown, though. ahahahahahaha! It was fun and all. I didn't do anything too bad. A lot of people picked on me, though, because I was so innocent and naive.
No, I honestly don't feel that I got away with anything someone else wouldn't have. I suppose that's because, even when I was really young, my mother was always holding high expectations for me. She never saw my handicap as any reason to bend society's rules. Hell, she tells me now that when I was first starting to walk, I would run into walls. She says she would just wait for me to get up and do it again, because I needed to learn.
Sounds rough, but I think a great mother like that, and the feeling of equal treatment, makes me the kid I am today. Perfect in every sense of the word. lol
Well I usually got it worse because they wanted to be sure I didn't think I was getting away with stuff. Problem with that form of injustice is you cease to take them seriously ... including when you should ...
But to be fair I earned my share and there was plenty I took that was straight fair ... but I would warn anyone in authority not to take it to the other extreme: you lose their trust and the chasm that gets created is uncrossable. While I don't hold anyone hostage over anything, said chasm is basically uncrossable; at least I don't know how to cross it ...
Ironically it's probably made me somewhat of a pushover as a dad: well I can't say something else made me that, but ... yunno ...
I wmacked him cuz he always did it and it was a bad day for me plus I was a kid. You gotta give me that?
LOL, I probably would've done it too. I didn't really do much to get myself in trouble when I was younger except once when I got bored I guess I forgot that I was the only person in the school that was blind and colored all over my desk thinking no one would notice that suddenly my desk was colored in purple scribbles. LOL! In junior high and high school I used to play games on my BrailleLite and stuff like that in class and mostly no one noticed until once I was playing that word train thing with my language master and some kid happened to see it on the screen. I remember when I was in elementary school that I used to pretend that I couldn't read something in my books because they were brailled wrong so I could delay doing my homework and I got out of doing homework for a little while when my perkins brailler broke, but that wasn't actually my fault and I was only in like the third grade. LOL! I got in trouble on the playground a few times because I liked to swing and i guess the teachers thought I was swinging too high or I'd climb something and freak them out, but mostly I was pretty much normal. LOL
i went to the school for the blind as a kid and we got away with noth8ing. it was very strict.
at home, i grew up in a military family. my dad and mom were also very strict.
In the middle of grade seven I transferred to public school. I wanted to be bad in the worst kind of way but something always happened to thwart me. when i was in high school, the one time i wanted to skip a class, i ran in to the principal. he was in a wheelchair. anyway, he looked at me and said "missy, I know where you are supposed to be and it isn't where you are. as i would with any other kid in this school you get one chance to prove me wrong. so i'd suggest you get back to class." I appreciated that.
When I was in junior high we had this substitute teacher named Mrs. Condon. being typical middle schoolers behind her back she was mrs. condom. She was a really nasty hiper woman. One day she asked if anyone had trouble seeing the board. I raised my hand. She sent me to the vice principal for being mouthy. Since I raised my hand and didn't say anything i don't get how this was a valid punishment. Anyway, he gave me detension. then he laughed.
I loved the tire swing in elementary school. didn't really like letting the other kids play on it much, until someone told me off for not sharing. lol
I got away with the homework thing, up until high school really. At home, I was an only child, and my mother was partially blind, so I got away with nothing.
As far as getting in trouble at school, when I clawed a boy's face and threw mulch at him for literally kicking me off the monkey bars, I got suspended for two days, same as him. lol
That's insane. She sent you to the principal's office just for raising your hand about seeing the board? What an asshole. I would've laughed. As a matter of fact, I used to do it sometimes in French class in high school. The teacher would ask if someone had a book that she could borrow or she'd ask if we needed pencils. I'd offer her my book or say that I forgot my pencil. We all got a huge kick out of it,, including her, especially when the weather was crummy and we needed a light break from formality.
I would've smacked him too.
I play games on my BrailleNote in class too. I've also said that I couldn't understand something in braille and I wouldn't have to do my homework. And my brailler broke but that was because my brother put stuff in the slot thing lol. Sometimes when kids were being annoying I'd hit them with my cane and I wouldn't get in trouble because everyone else thought it was an accident. I'll record stuff and use my calculator in math. Sometimes when a class is boring I'll read a book but pretend I'm doing schoolwork. LOL I've used the spell checker on my BrailleNote on spelling tests too. I can't think of anything else but if I do I'll post it.
my favourite trick even now, and i'm 31 is to ansewr no, when in a group situation and the question, can everyone see this? comes up. it gets red faces and laughs all round.
Oh and when I forget to do my homework I'll say that the printer wasn't working or that the file got deleted.
Be the trouble you want to see in the world.
I got away with bludgeoning kids with my lunch pail as a kid in elementary school, and generally being a smartass to every teacher I've ever had - including now.
Also, at various camps for the blind I've been to, I've managed to convince other kids to get some things done for me - like sending two kids out with water balloons filled with apple juice, to attack a third kid. (To be fair, the third kid knew he had something coming)
lunch pail? you got lunch in a bucket?
i forgot the one other kind of bad thing i did in high school. i signed up for drivers ed. they took the names in order of submission and i was number one on the list or two i don't remember which. oh the fur the flew and the furor that furied!!!!was this a legal issue? cold i take it? i was just like "this was a joke duh1!!!"