TEACHING TEACHERS ABOUT CIVIL RIGHTS by Barbara Pierce What does one do when one's child is facing a violation of his civil rights? Most of us in the National Federation of the Blind are used to standing up for our own rights and taking the repercussions of our actions, whatever they may be. It gives a parent pause, however, when the one reaping the consequences is a child, one's own child. This was the dilemma that faced John and Susan Ford, leaders of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri, in January, 1990, when their son Brent's teacher called to say that he would not be allowed to participate in a school field trip the next day because the teachers supervising the expedition did not want the responsibility of having a blind youngster in the group. Considering that Brent is receiving cane travel instruction and has never given any indication of constituting a danger to himself or any other student, this decision struck the Fords as a clear violation of Brent's right to participate in an interesting class activity. He was being punished because the teachers involved had preconceived and misinformed notions of the abilities of this blind student. The irony of the situation (the field trip was to attend a presentation about the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr.) was heightened by the fact that both the teachers were themselves African American. Here is the letter that the Fords wrote to the school's principal: Maplewood, Missouri January 9, 1990 Mark Englehart, Principal Valley School Maplewood, Missouri Dear Mr. Englehart: Today I received a telephone call from Terri Bascom. She explained to me that she was sending permission slips home with the eighth graders in preparation for a field trip on Friday. She further explained that the field trip would be to Keil Auditorium, where the youngsters would see a film and read some materials prepared by a coordinating committee regarding Martin Luther King, Jr., and his contribution to the civil rights of blacks. Ms. Bascom then explained that she was not sending a permission slip home with Brent. She said she and Ms. Stevens were taking about seventy-five young people and they didn't want the responsibility of taking Brent. She said there were lots of stairs and she didn't want the responsibility. I asked her if Brent had fallen down stairs often at school. She replied that she did not know but that she didn't want the responsibility. I said that she would know if he had fallen and that so would I. I then said that I knew she understood about discrimination and that if she could not demonstrate that Brent was unsafe, we would permit him to go. I pointed out that Brent takes mobility twice weekly and that he travels throughout Valley School, but she reiterated that she did not want the responsibility. Now Mr. Englehart, here are two of your teachers--both of whom are black themselves and should, therefore, understand about civil rights and about how demeaning discrimination can be. They propose to take a group of young people and teach them about Martin Luther King, Jr. How on earth can one teach about Martin Luther King without teaching about discrimination? Yet these same teachers propose to deprive a blind child (who participates daily in a public school classroom) of his right to go on this very field trip. How ludicrous! I realize that these teachers are trying to protect Brent from possible injury. However, discrimination is still discrimination, whether it is founded on hate (black civil rights) or upon love (blind civil rights). Brent has indicated that he would like to go on this field trip, so I am sending a note giving him our permission to do so. You will note that we are giving this letter some publicity. If Brent is not permitted to go on this trip and other students do go, then on January 16 we will be contacting the Regional Office of Human Rights Enforcement for the Department of Education in Kansas City to file a 504 complaint against Maplewood-Richmond Heights School district and these teachers in particular. This situation is intolerable to us as blind people; and, frankly, it would have been seen as intolerable by Martin Luther King, Jr., as well. Sincerely Susan I. Ford John D. Ford cc: Terri Bascom, Teacher Anita Stevens, Teacher Dr. Jerry Elliot, Superintendent Jackie Ess, Special School District, Vision Coordinator Susan Knecht, Itinerant Teacher Laura Zabalov, Mobility Specialist Gary Wunder, President, National Federation of the Blind of Missouri Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, Executive Director, National Federation of the Blind Mary Tessereau, School Board Member Ann Clark, School Board Member Patricia Morrow, Editor, Blind Missourian Barbara Cheadle, President, Parents of Blind Children Division, National Federation of the Blind That is what the Fords had to say, and it wasn't long before there were results. Mr. Englehart, the school principal, was predictably displeased to find that copies of the correspondence had been sent to so many of the people to whom he reported. He assured the Fords that if they had come to him with the problem earlier, he could have resolved it amicably. The Fords pointed out that they had not known about the teachers' decision until the last moment and that they had done the only thing they could see to do to protect their son's right to attend the school event. The Superintendent of Schools, who is himself African American, received his copy of the letter on the Thursday before the Friday field trip. He immediately called the Fords to inquire whether or not the problem had been resolved. It had not, and the Fords said so. He assured them that it would be before the day was over. The solution agreed upon by the administrators was, as most such resolutions are, not all the Fords would have liked. The school principal asked that another member of the teaching staff volunteer to accompany Brent on the field trip. The resource teacher did so, and she and Brent both joined the Maplewood students at Keil Auditorium. Most of the eighth grade sat close to the stage, but Brent, who the teachers had feared would fall on the stairs, chose to sit at the top of the auditorium. The resource teacher followed along behind, and, of course, there were no misadventures as he climbed the innumerable steps. Did the classroom teachers learn anything about civil rights from this experience? It is hard to say. They did learn that, like our African American brothers and sisters a generation ago, blind people today will no longer settle for being passed over and dismissed as incompetent and of no account. They probably enjoyed the learning of this fact about as little as white Americans did and still do. But perhaps they will learn to look at Brent as the real human being he is, not as the bundle of myths and misconceptions they have projected onto him. If so, they will have grown, and their future students will all benefit. But the story does not stop here. At fourteen, Brent Ford has until now never experienced discrimination in a form that he could clearly recognize. When his teacher denied him the right to join the field trip, he realized for the first time that all the things for which his parents and their Federation friends have been fighting are of desperate importance to him and his generation, too. The National Federation of the Blind of Missouri had scheduled a legislative day in Jefferson City shortly after Brent's school adventure. He expressed interest in attending the event with his parents, so they took him out of school for the day. One of the bills about which the Federationists were to be talking with legislators was the Missouri Braille Bill, which had been incorporated in a Children At Risk bill, which was before a Senate committee on the day of the trip to the capital. Brent, who has never been very excited about using his slate and stylus, was encouraged to write some remarks during the ride to Jefferson City. He did so, using the slate, and when the group arrived, he began talking with legislators about the issue of the availability of Braille to blind school students. They were impressed--so impressed that Brent was asked to address the committee which was hearing testimony that day. He was the only Federationist allowed to speak, but he did his work well. The bill passed the Senate and is on its way to the House with a good chance of passage. This story is a salutary reminder to us all that we never know what effect our work will have on those around us. Sometimes, when we consider the vastness of the sea of ignorance about blindness that surrounds us, we feel as if we are all alone bailing out that ocean with a teaspoon. But there are well over fifty thousand of us, attacking the problem at every point, and we are making progress.