Good Stories

Most sighted people believe that blind people need a lot of help. It's almost always the first reaction people have when they meet a blind child: "How can I help this dear, sweet, helpless child?" But is it true?

What do you believe about blindness? Do you believe that blind people need help? Are blind people limited in certain ways? Can blind people know as much as sighted people? Can they be competitive? Is blindness a tragedy? Do blind people need compassion?

Beliefs are important because what we believe affects the way we behave. Our beliefs about blindness will affect how we act toward the blind children in our care—our expectations for them, the way we teach them, the messages we give them. There may be limits to what any individual can achieve, but those limits do not have to be because of blindness. We hope that the stories in this section will inspire you to raise your expectations and realize that the key to success is not how much eyesight a person has, but whether or not the person has the skills to get the job done.