Questions Kids Ask: Do You Get Sad Sometimes?

This past Friday my friend Jamie drove WhitneyLuna and me to the western suburbs of Chicago to visit six groups of third graders at four different schools. we were in Glen Ellyn and Wheaton as part of Educating Outside The Lines, a disability awareness program that uses a hands-on approach to help kids discover how things like wheelchairs, sign language, service dogs and Braille books are just tools we use to help do the things we do.

During some of our visits I read a bit of my children’s book, Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound in Braille. At others I unfolded my collapsible white cane to show how it works. Some of the third graders were interested in listening to my iPhone read texts out loud. Another class laughed when I mimicked the robotic voice of the talking computer I use at home to compose email messages.

The nine and ten year-old students displayed such a keen interest in retinopathy (the condition that caused my sight loss) and the methods ophthalmologists used years ago to try to save my eyesight that it worried me. Why were they so interested? Was one of the children in their school facing major eye surgery?

Teachers reassured me none of them were. “They’re really an empathetic group,” one said with a shrug. They sure were! Questions asked during the Q&A part of the presentation sparked some very thoughtful conversation:

• Is there a reason you became blind?
• If you had to go to the doctor every Friday for those laser things, did you start not liking Fridays? I’m asking because Fridays are my favorite day.,
• Can you control the muscels in your eyes?
• How did you get that cast on your arm?
• How can you open a door if you can’t see it?
• When your dogs retired, did you ever get to see them again
• Does Luna like to sleep when you’re talking to classes? Because I can see her sleeping now.
• Did surgery on your eyes hurt a lot?
• Was your neck really sore because you had to look down all the time?
• Was it shocking when the doctors told you you’d be blind the rest of your life?
• Does Luna recognize your friends?
• How do you know where your friends live?
• When the surgery didn’t work how did that affect your feelings about your eyesight after that?
• Did any of your dogs have a disability?
• Do you get sad sometimes?
• Was it hard to have surgeries?
• What would your husband do when you were having your surgeries?
• How long did it take for you to have all of the surgeries?
• Was it hard to read Braille when you were first blind?
• Is it sometimes annoying when you’re blind?
• Have you ever not been allowed in somewhere because of your dog?
• Does Luna go in the water with you when you swim?
• What was one of the big things that effected your life when you lost your eyesight?
• When it’s winter and snowy, is it hard to get around?
• How long have you been blind?
• Are you permanently blind, or is it just temporary?
• Do you have any friends who are blind?
• Is it hard to get dressed in the morning if you are blind?
• Can you still do equations, you know, like multiplication, division, addition and subtraction?
• Can you see your dog? If not, do you know what she looks like?

Whew? With kids asking questions like that (and hanging on my every word when I answered), who needs a therapist?! It was hard to leave, but with that last question we got to do so on a high note. I showed the kids how I love to feel Luna’s soft ears, how much she loves to have her chest rubbed, how soft her fur is and how she bounces when she’s guiding me down the sidewalk “She sure feels cute,” I said. They responded with a resounding, Yes!!!!”