Jul 07
22
Toys R Us Automatic Door Danger
Just returned from the hospital after a nasty accident with an automatic door at our local Toys R Us store. The door closed on me just as I was trying to enter the store. It knocked me down off my canes, and I fell on my head. I was bleeding a great deal and my head was spinning.
Some very good people came to my aid and called an ambulance. Many of the people who gathered round shook their heads in dismay, once they realized that the doors had just knocked down someone with a disability. They found me lying on the concrete in a bloody mess with my 2 canes astride. Everyone was so very thoughtful and kind, including the store managers and staff. If any of you happen to find this site, I want to say thank you for being so helpful. Marco, you gave us such good advice. Went to l’Hopital Maisonneuve-Rosemount as you suggested, and was given prompt and courteous attention.
Fortunately it wasn’t too serious. Just a nasty bump and cut that didn’t require stitches. Diagnosis was mild cranial trauma. If nothing else happens, I can consider myself fortunate. It could have been far worse. It could have even happened to a grandparent or toddler.
Those of you who know me know I have some mobility problems which I’ll hopefully recover from someday. But I wanted to share with you what I found online about automatic doors and the danger they can pose to vulnerable populations. Those doors should be regularly maintained, checked and adjusted. Please spread the word about the danger of automatic doors.
http://www.securityworld.com/ia-144-the-danger-of-automatic-doors.aspx
The Danger of Automatic Doors
Automatic doors, they can be found everywhere from the shopping mall to the hospital emergency room. We take for granted the convenience that they offer us- opening automatically when our arms are full of packages. What few of us realize, however, is the danger involved in using automatic doors.At least 3,500 people were seriously injured by automatic doors last year. They have the ability to close on us, pinch our fingers, pin us in, hit us in the face, and knock us down. Catching us unaware, automatic doors can be quite brutal.
Automatic doors consist of several “systems” that open door panels by sliding or swinging them upon activation. Every automatic sliding door manufacturer uses the same basic design.
Sensors detect moving people, opening and closing the doors accordingly. The problem develops because many of these sensors have trouble detecting slow-moving people such as the elderly or handicapped. Also, depending on what you are wearing, the sensor might not notice you.
According to the American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers, doors must be maintained, checked and adjusted regularly. If a door is not in peak condition, injury could result. By realizing that a danger does exist, we can be more careful when use automatic doors.
The following photos are all courtesy of my husband.
Above photo is of the Toys R Us store where I was injured, with the automatic doors that I won’t soon be forgetting.
The back of my injured head, not a pretty sight. Bleeding did stop, but I do have a cut and bump. Marco, a very nice man at the scene, told us that since the head is so vascular (lots of arteries), even a small cut can cause a great deal of bleeding. The ambulance technicians said that the hair on our head acts as a bandage when there is an injury.
And finally, where my head struck the pavement. They removed most of the blood, but some still remains.
The doctor who examined me said I seemed fine, but if any of the following problems develops, should return to emergency - vomiting more than twice, confusion, having difficulty awakening, loss of consciousness.
Their insurance company, who should be paying for the cost of the ambulance, requests to see me in three weeks to find out how I’m doing. I’ll take the opportunity to inform him about the potential danger automatic doors can be. I’ll also try to make sure more people know about this.
Update: We just saw the insurance agent, and he was very helpful and understanding. He told us the automatic doors close after just 3 seconds of not noticing any activity. There is a sign about the potential risk of automatic doors, but only on the exit side, not the entrance. And he noticed the incline to the store, which did slow me down when I was trying to enter it, and did throw me off balance when the doors closed on me. The incline also made it more likely that I would fall hard on my head.
I told him if I’d have known, I would have chosen a regular door, but he said it was the only one available. I’ll never go to another Toys R Us store again.
My husband told him he was surprised there were no security monitors outside to record what had happened. It would have been better to capture that on film. Make more of an impression on the people who should be making some necessary changes.
Jul 07
18
The controversial Ashley Treatment
The Ashley Treatment http://ashleytreatment.spaces.live.com/ So very sad and shocking when you first hear about it. But the parents do a good job of describing the numerous health and comfort benefits to the very controversial Ashley Treatment. It seems that there is improvement of quality of life when you first read it. And on their site, you’ll find testimonials from other parents applauding their decision, some even saying they wished they had been able to do the same with their own severely disabled children. http://ashleytreatment.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E25811FD0AF7C45C!1826.entry.
Then again, there are parents of severely disabled children speaking against it as well. http://www.pkblogs.com/dreammom/2007/01/pillow-talk-debate-over-ashley.html
And when it’s justified on the grounds that as a secondary benefit, reduced breasts won’t ‘sexualize’ her towards her caregiver, or how it’s ‘grotesque’ to be full-grown and fertile with the mind of a baby, think it defeats their purpose. Think it might give the impression that they’re more concerned with other people’s attitudes and reactions than what’s best for Ashley.
Cory Silverberg writing on About.com makes such valid points:
http://sexuality.about.com/b/a/257889.htm
Ashley’s parents claim that they wanted to prevent her from developing breasts because breasts might increase the likelihood of her being sexualized and sexually assaulted.
Infants are sexually abused, and children of all ages are sexually abused, and sexualized in the making of child pornography. The idea that her having breasts make her a greater target is ludicrous. Ashley’s parents offer up their real motivation for this themselves when they wrote that the real grotesqueness in the situation is “the prospect of having a full-grown and fertile woman endowed with the mind of a baby.” Reading that sentence out loud makes me physically ill..
.. In the BBC article, one of the doctors on the committee is quoted as saying that the committee agreed “because the parents convinced us it was in fact in this little girl’s best interests”. That ethics committee was not there to protect the parents; they were there to protect the patient. They failed completely in this task and should simply be ashamed of their complicity in this decision.
I do a lot of work around sexuality and disability, including working with people who have developmental disabilities (the kind of people who are often referred to as having the mind of a six year old). I can tell you that consent is never a black and white issue. I can also tell you that cognitive ability is never black and white. Saying that Ashley has the mind of a three month old is, at best, quoting someone’s educated guess. Ashley’s disease is rare, and no doctor or parent can with 100% certainty predict the course of the disease, or what her entire life living with a disability will be like. It also needs to be said that cognitive ability is not the same thing as lived experience. Someone may not be able to read, but it doesn’t mean they can’t feel, communicate, experience pleasure as well as pain, and live. These are all possibilities. But many of these possibilities have been ripped away from Ashley, and regardless of how well meaning her parents no doubt are, we should never pretend that their actions are acceptable.
“Because it’s easier to carry her around” is not a compelling reason to permanently stunt someone’s growth.
“Because I couldn’t stand the thought of her being pregnant” is not a reason to permanently make someone sterile.
And you wonder, was this really the only option they had? http://www.dredf.org/news/ashley.shtml
Modify the System, Not the Person
“Benevolence” and “good intentions” have often had disastrous consequences for the disability community. Throughout history, “for their own good” has motivated and justified discrimination against us. The recent story about nine-year old Ashley, a child with severe disabilities, exemplifies this problem. When she was six, Ashley’s parents requested that their daughter be treated with medications (large doses of estrogen) to halt her physical growth, and with surgeries to remove her breasts and uterus ..
.. Where, we wonder, was the network of programs and services that exist in every state when Ashley’s family decided the best option was to employ medical procedures that violated their daughter’s autonomy and personhood? Were other families whose children have disabilities like Ashley’s asked to talk about their experiences and how they solved problems as their children grew to adulthood? Where were the social workers and advocates who should be providing alternative perspectives? Why did the system fail this family and their daughter? That, it seems to us, is a fundamental question.
Here is what David had to say. David has cerebral palsy.
http://growingupwithadisability.blogspot.com/
I feel weariness and sadness that we live in a society where a parent feels that medically and surgically altering a 6 year-old’s body to deal with growth is their only choice; a society where medical and ethical professionals actively encourage this desperate measure, rather than actively and creatively encouraging modification of our social systems to provide practical, economic, health, emotional and respite support of their clients (both child and parent); a society where many are angry with those who bring such injustice to light. ..
.. For those of you with no personal experience living with or caring for a person with physical disability, there are ways of doing many of the things that are difficult. For example, I, weighing about 140 pounds, have a lift that my parents use to lift me off of the floor. I also have a wheelchair that reclines and lets me change position to minimize the wear and tear of staying in one position for an extended period of time. When I was younger, I had respite workers. These were people that were paid by our community support services, chosen by my parents, who took me out for fun, while giving my parents a break. I enjoyed spending time with them, we developed a good relationship.
This is what a member of the Board of Directors for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies had to say in defense of the Ashley Treatment, quoted by Ashley’s parents:
http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/809/
“A colleague of mine noted that there are some potential abuse issues that need to be addressed. For example, is the resource-crunched medical establishment more inclined to have parents take the burden of care? Is this a way of passing the buck? Is the hysterectomy really necessary?These are valid concerns, but I think they can all be addressed.
First, I believe the wishes of the parents are what is driving this decision and not the demands of the medical institution. In this case, it appears to me that the needs and desires of the parents are being met.
As for the hysterectomy, I have to question the value of keeping this girl fertile. If the concern has something to do with the girl’s dignity being violated, then I have to protest by arguing that the girl lacks the cognitive capacity to experience any sense of indignity. Nor do I believe this is somehow demeaning or undignified to humanity in general; the treatments will endow her with a body that more closely matches her cognitive state – both in terms of her physical size and bodily functioning. The estrogen treatment is not what is grotesque here. Rather, it is the prospect of having a full-grown and fertile woman endowed with the mind of a baby.”
Doctors could not determine a diagnosis or a cause, so they gave her condition that big fancy sounding name that the medical profession uses, to make it seem like they know more about it than they actually do – “static encephalopathy of unknown etiology”, a condition they don’t expect to improve, but don’t expect to worsen either. Ashley is but 9 years old, 6 years old when the decision was made. Things do happen. People do grow, develop and change.
And who’s to say she only has the mind of a baby? Are they in her head and heart? Are they mind-readers too? To be more accurate, she perhaps looks like she only has the mind of a baby. But people are notoriously quick to assume and judge from what is really a position of ignorance. Even the neurologists.
Just ask the mega savant Kim Peek and his father. Or ask Temple Grandin, and I’m certain countless others, whose parents were told that their children should just be institutionalized and forgotten about. That they would never improve and had no potential.
Since when has medicine, even neurology, had the expertise to predict anyone’s potential. They’re not even experts in their own field – disease. Or do you know of any physician who’s come up with a cure for cancer yet? MS? The common cold? Should I go on?
This is the part that scares me, the ‘medicine/science is God’ attitude. The pronouncement of a doctor limiting anyone’s potential from a position of arrogance and otherness. Deciding that anyone – lacks the cognitive capacity to experience any sense of indignity. That attitude not only scares me, it brings me to tears.
Not all physicians and bioethicists share that attitude. A neurologist who examined Kim Peek had this to say -
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm
“Kim Peek – the inspiration for Rain Man- possesses one of the most extraordinary memories ever recorded. Until we can explain his abilities, we cannot pretend to understand human cognition.” – Darold A. Treffert and Daniel D. Christensen
I appreciate their humility so much. Wish more doctors, neurologists and bioethicists would learn to humbly say .. It appears … We don’t know … Seems like, but … and finally … We’re not God. Because they’re not and they have NO RIGHT to act as if they are!!
Found such interesting comments on the following blog about limiting potential and low expectations. You might be surprised to learn about the prognosis given to most children with cerebral palsy in the past.
http://thegimpparade.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-am-tired.html
MrSoul said…
Mental age, my ass. When I hear the words “mental age”–I reach for my revolver.
If my mother (R.I.P.) hadn’t had such a huge show-biz ego, and hadn’t simply dismissed the prognosis given to most children with CP 50 years ago, I’d be as ignorant as anyone else warehoused for a lifetime. As it was, no kid of hers was going to be “retarded”–and that was that. Not an option. As a result, I wasn’t.
I wonder how often it works the other way, with parents simply accepting the conventional wisdom dispensed by the MDs? (Medical Deities)
Blue / Kay Olson said…
Mr. Soul, I recall David Pfeiffer, who ran one of the academic disability studies organizations (SDS) until his death, saying something once about how IQs of the average “mentally retarded” people went up significantly when fewer were being institutionalized. Really not a coincidence, I think.Blue / Kay Olson said…
Some other commenters haven’t been thrilled by what this may say about actually “retarded” folks.Noted.
But part of the stigma of developmental disabilities is also the low expectations, isn’t it? Terminology aside, I wonder what the world would look like if those diagnosed as intellectually inferior were not limited by what people believe they can’t do. There are a lot of people out there who were told they didn’t have the brains to enter a spelling bee or whatever. I think this does more to show we are all of one group, than divided between those who can and can’t.
Jul 07
13
Baby Benadryl Warning
Symptom of our society, really, to deal with our problems with drugs, and usually, labels to justify using those drugs. Who needs wisdom or common sense, patience or tolerance, human understanding or clever problem solving. It’s big daddy pharmaceutical to the rescue, with sometimes tragic consequences.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070712/ap_on_re_us/toddler_booted
ATLANTA – A woman said she and her toddler son were kicked off a plane after she refused a flight attendant’s request to medicate her son to get him to quiet down and stop saying “Bye bye, plane.”
Kate Penland, of suburban Atlanta, said she and her 19-month-old son, Garren, were flying from Atlanta to Oklahoma last month on a Continental Express flight that made a stop in Houston.
As the plane was taxiing in Houston en route to Oklahoma, “he started saying ‘Bye, bye plane,’ Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta. The flight attendant objected, she said.
“At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, ‘It’s not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up,’” Penland told WSB-TV in Atlanta.
When Penland asked the woman if she was joking, she said the stewardess replied, “You know, it’s called baby Benadryl.”
“And I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight,’” Penland told the TV station.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/02/earlyshow/
On Aug. 15, Burcham was sentenced to eight years in prison for giving a 3½-month-old girl a lethal dose of Benadryl. And since Grace Olivia Fields’ death in December 2001, her parents have found they are not alone in their loss.In the last three years, at least 10 other cases of day care workers allegedly sedating children with cold medicines and cough syrups have been investigated nationwide. Four babies died in those cases. At least four people were charged, with one acquittal, and some cases are still pending.
Grace’s mother, Tracy Fields, and other parents are now pushing for new laws that would make it a felony for day care workers to give a child medicine without written permission from a parent or a doctor’s order. One state has already passed such a law.
“I don’t want any other parents to go through this,” Fields said. “It didn’t take a whole lot for this beautiful little baby to die from an over-the-counter medicine.”
There is also a growing movement among medical examiners for greater awareness of the practice, as some pathologists fear babies who died after being drugged were written off as sudden infant death syndrome cases.
Burcham had poured about a tablespoon of children’s Benadryl into a four-ounce bottle of breast milk before feeding it to Grace. The dose was three times more than what would be needed to sedate an adult.
Burcham admitted giving the baby the drug, but denied it was to control behavior. Her critics aren’t swayed.
“She found a way to make those kids sleep half the day,” Fields said, adding her 2½-year-old daughter told her she was given “bubble gum” flavored medicine before nap time at Burcham’s.
Drug makers are adamant that their medicines aren’t intended for infants and put warnings on containers that doctors should be consulted for use in any child younger than age 6.
Dr. William Sears, a pediatrician and author of books on infant sleep, said it is an “old school” practice to use cold and allergy medications to sedate babies, but even using a small amount of drugs is dangerous.
“Categorically, sedative medications have no place in day care,” he said.
Young babies need to awake easily to protect themselves from dangers like choking when they spit up. The sedative interferes with that natural waking mechanism, Sears said.
Sharon Dabrow, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of South Florida, said some pediatricians do advise parents to use appropriate doses of Benadryl to sedate children who are at least 12 months old. Dabrow doesn’t recommend it.
“Our society is so wrapped up around medications being a fix for anything,” she said. “To be using it (Benadryl) on a 3-month-old is just horrible
Jul 07
12
Blue King Brown and Live Earth
First performance we saw, live from Australia. There were so many great performances, but Blue King Brown was such a supremely smooth delight. Was hoping to find other songs as well on YouTube, but at least we have this one, the ‘Water’ video clip, director’s cut. Will definitely buy more of their music. If you missed it, so worth a look. The video includes footage and images of protests for Aboriginal rights during the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia. Enjoy!
BLUE KING BROWN – BIO
http://www.myspace.com/bluekingbrown
Underscored by the fiery vocals and political lyrics of Natalie Paapaa, you can hear the afro-beat, reggae, world and Latin influence, but the band has created a distinctly original sound. A refreshing take on roots music, uniquely Australian yet with an unquestionable international feel.
The band’s beginnings are with Carlo Santone and Natalie Paapaa – the two founding and songwriting members of the band. Their sound, attitude and approach has come from years of playing music on the streets, performing day in day out for years, developing a sound and vibe as percussionists that would inevitably form the foundation for Blue King Brown.
Front woman, Natalie Paapaa, delivers and empowers, stating – “It’s as much about the music as it is about the message.”
Jul 07
2
Desperately seeking CZB
Willy Wonka! What a sexy video and single Fergalicious is! Features Fergie and Will.I.Am from Black Eyed Peas. Of course, most of you probably know that already. But did you know that it holds the record for the most downloaded song in a single week, certified 10x platinum in the U.S. Fergie is a multi-platinum, three-time Grammy award winner. Fergie and Black Eyed Peas will be performing at the Live Earth concert.
[Rap - Fergie]
All the time I turn around brotha’s gather round always looking at me up and down looking at my (uuhh)
I just wanna say it now – I ain’t trying to round up drama, little mama I don’t wanna take your man.
And I know I’m coming off just a little bit conceited and I keep on repeating how the boys wanna eat it.
But I’m tryin’ to tell, that I can’t be treated like clientele
‘Cause they say she…[Hook 3]
Delicious (so delicious)
But I ain’t promiscuous
And if you was suspicious
All that shit is fictitious
I blow kisses (mmmwwahhh)
That puts them boys on rock, rock
And they be lining down the block just to watch what I got (got, got, got)
Laughter isn’t the best medicine. It’s the only medicine.
Invitation from Michael Moore to share your Healthcare Horror Stories, to be screened and shared with Congress.
The Fluoride Deception (Interview With Christopher Bryson)http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7319752042352089988&pl=true
Learn about Edward Bernays, nephew of the very Sigmund Freud, and pioneer of a scientific technique for manipulating public opinion called - “engineering of consent“. Sounds like something me and my family have already encountered from some doctors. And not exactly with our best intentions at heart either. More for their expediency and convenience, but that’s another blog entry.
He was a doctor too, of spin, promoting using propaganda to control and shape our opinions in politics, business, science, ?? art ??, and education. My oh my, education, what a surprise – NOT !! Called the ‘Father of public relations’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
Bernays helped the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) and other special interest groups to convince the American public that water fluoridation was safe and beneficial to human health. This was achieved by using the American Dental Association in a highly successful media campaign.
Beyond his contributions to these famous and powerful clients, Bernays revolutionized public relations by combining traditional press agentry with the techniques of psychology and sociology to create what one writer has called “the science of ballyhoo.”
Don’t you just love these Machiavellian types. This quote from Wikipedia and Edward Bernays ‘Propaganda’ -
- The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. … We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. … In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons … who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.
Turns out Nazi Germany was also interested in his ideas on propaganda. Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed. Bernays was Jewish -
In his autobiography, titled Biography of an Idea, Bernays recalls a dinner at his home in 1933 where
Karl von Weigand, foreign correspondent of the Hearst newspapers, an old hand at interpreting Europe and just returned from Germany, was telling us about Goebbels and his propaganda plans to consolidate Nazi power. Goebbels had shown Weigand his propaganda library, the best Weigand had ever seen. Goebbels, said Weigand, was using my book Crystallizing Public Opinion as a basis for his destructive campaign against the Jews of Germany. This shocked me. … Obviously the attack on the Jews of Germany was no emotional outburst of the Nazis, but a deliberate, planned campaign.
Jack White: “I was thinking about a time in high school when I turned my books in to the math teacher and said, ‘I refuse to learn from you anymore.’ The song is about asking questions. A lot of people are taught just to regurgitate information. People don’t care if you learn anymore. Opinion gets trampled on.”
Black Math – The White Stripes from Yahoo! Music – sample
Don’t you think that I’m bound to react now?
Well, my fingers are definitely turning to black now
Yeah, well maybe I’ll put my love on ice
Teach myself, maybe that’ll be nice
YeahMy books are sitting at the top of the stack now
The longer words are really breaking my back now
Maybe I’ll learn to understand
Drawing a square with a pencil in hand, yeahAh,ah,ah,ah,ah
Ah,ah,ah,ah,ahMathematically turning the page
Unequivocally showing my age
I’m practically center stage
Undeniably earning your wage
Well maybe I’ll put my love on ice
And teach myself, maybe that’ll be nice, yeahListen master, can you answer a question?
Is it the fingers, or the brain
that you’re teaching A lesson?
I can’t tell you how proud I am
I’m writing down things that I don’t understand
Well, maybe I’ll put my love on ice
And teach myself, maybe that’ll be niceYeah,yeah,yeah
Black Math by The White Stripes is one of my favorites – the guitar is amazing. Did you know that Jack White has been ranked #17 on Rolling Stone’s ’The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.’
The great thing about many song lyrics is how open they are to interpretation. Some see in the lyrics a reference to black math and free masonry. Still others see difficulties with learning the guitar. And Jack White did have to develop his own guitar playing style due to some problems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_White
‘White plays his barre and power chords with a different technique than most musicians. Instead of using his ring finger to fret the higher notes, Jack uses his pinky. This is because of a car accident in which his left index finger was injured and also the fact that his brothers (also musicians) would never teach him the proper way to do so.’
Of course, I’d like to see it as a spatially gifted youth having problems with the auditory sequential way of teaching - especially math, which isn’t at all suited to being taught that way. And, well, because I had so many crushes on teachers when I was in school, I’d like to think that’s what he means when he says he needs to put his love on ice. Stop idealizing the teacher and teach himself. But that’s my interpretation.
Just found this amazing essay Spatially gifted, verbally inconvenienced by David F. Lohman, which helps me feel a bit better about my mild cluttering problem. But I was thinking, wouldn’t the visual spatial be sequentially inconvenienced as well … and what a great way to put it.
But maybe the problem is not so much with our learning styles as it is with our educational system. I agree with Jack White, what happens in schools is not learning so much, it’s regurgitation. And even that comes second to what really matters in public schools, teaching the kids to conform and follow the rules.
Things don’t improve much in college and university, except perhaps in liberal arts. And it’s especially in fields like education, science, and medicine that independent thinking seems frowned on and questions discouraged. I’ve had some professors who flatter you into thinking you’re superior to the common man, the everyday Joe, by very virtue of your being in their class. But you had better not challenge their assertions. You’re being indoctrinated. They call it education.
May 07
29
Visual-Spatial Learner
Oh my! Been looking up specifically visual-spatial thinking, and was shocked to find, in the descriptions I was reading, so much of not only my daughter but myself. I got these ‘aha’ moments, these moments of - ‘so that’s what it was all about’, ‘it all comes together now’.
The Visual-Spatial Learner in School, by Betty Maxwell: http://www.deleonpub.com/pdf/AppendixA.pdf
Checklist by Linda Silverman, from her book “Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner”: http://www.deleonpub.com/pdf/VSL-Quiz.pdf
Love the ending, where it says (Hint: Start with the last chapter.) Finally, someone who understands.
I’m thinking of buying a copy not only for myself, but for the staff at my daughter’s school as well. But I’m afraid people at her school are going to take it the wrong way. They’re so quick to judge. Just want the people at her school to better understand different learning styles.
I need to do much more reading from different sources, but I get the impression that there’s at least 2 types of visual learner. In my case, asthma in childhood and frequent ear infections. Not to mention changing my handedness in childhood because I was afraid to be left-handed and stand out. Think in my case, it’s acquired. Had to rely more on visual thinking and learning.
In my daughter’s case, I think it’s inherited. She and her father can both see objects in their mind’s eye in 3D and from different perspectives. When they call visual-spatial learning ’upside-down brilliance’, or dyslexia a ‘gift’, I believe that’s what they’re referring to.
Here is that checklist:
Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner
Please complete the following quiz to find out more about your learning style.
1. Do you think mainly in pictures instead of in words?
2. Do you know things without being able to explain how or why?
3. Do you solve problems in unusual ways?
4. Do you have a vivid imagination?
5. Do you remember what you see and forget what you hear?
6. Are you terrible at spelling?
7. Can you visualize objects from different perspectives?
8. Are you organizationally impaired?
9. Do you often lose track of time?
10. Would you rather read a map than follow verbal directions?
11. Do you remember how to get to places you visited only once?
12. Is your handwriting slow and difficult for others to read?
13. Can you feel what others are feeling?
14. Are you musically, artistically, or mechanically inclined?
15. Do you know more than others think you know?
16. Do you hate speaking in front of a group?
17. Did you feel smarter as you got older?
18. Are you addicted to your computer?
If you answered yes to 10 of the above questions, you are very likely to be a visual-spatial learner.
This book was written for you!
(Hint: Start with the last chapter.)
From Silverman, L. K. (2002).Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner. Denver: DeLeon Publishing.
May 07
27
I worship Kristy Gordon too!
What a talented artist! Award-winning. And based in Ottawa, home of quite a few talented artists. http://www.kristygordon.com/
Graham © 2006 Kristy Gordon, Oil on canvas.
Garibaldi Trail © 2004 Kristy Gordon, Oil on canvas.
She’s with Nick Cross, who’s a friend of a friend of mine, Suzanne Marsden. Troy Little is one of their friends too. They’re all very talented animators, cartoonists and artists.
When I see great art, I get such an urge to draw portraits, pretty intense. Sometimes the urge is to sculpt. My daughter gets these strong urges too. Wait until I show her these paintings. When we have the money to spare, I’d like to buy one of her magnificent paintings.