[TheForge] blind smithing - was Pennsic survived

[marc3rd at marc3rd.com]

Stop me if I told you all this
I coached gymnastics for years. When I was in the Air Force in NM I got 
involved in a water safety instructor program and the water safety chapter 
chairman
happened to teach at NM school for the visually handicapped. She was also 
their Gymnastics coach. She was getting up there in years and could not 
physically work with the girls so she asked me to come in and help.
I was there for over a year but we had one girl that was totally blind (the 
kids ranged from totally blind to legally blind) that would walk down the 
balance beam everyday when she got there and complain that it was warped and 
ask when we were going to get a new one. I sighted down the beam which was 
like 20 feet  long and maybe 1/4 to 1/2 off of straight. So I figured 
someone told here it was warped and she just kept bringing it up. so one day 
I turned it around to see.
She gets there and walks down the beam and turns towards me and says. "Not 
funny Marc!"
Wow. I never would have believed it

Marc
Marc of the Hammer
WWW.Marc3rd.com

"It's not about the light you reflect it's about the light you radiate" M3





----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Grover.Richardson at gtri.gatech.edu>
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 12:23 PM
Subject: RE: [TheForge] blind smithing - was Pennsic survived


My blind sister used to ride a bicycle through the carport and miss the
cars.  Better than my seeing sister used to do.  Once the blind sister
went through a place she would walk without touching anything.  Until
someone moved the furniture<G>.

Also was dogone hard to sneak up on her.  She could hear my pants
rubbing or hear the difference in the timbre of the sound when I moved
between her and a sound source.  Got good at it after a while<G>.

I try to include the "differently abled" if I can.  You dun good.

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Eric Klaus
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 9:29 AM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [TheForge] blind smithing - was Pennsic survived

Harlan Krueger, a member of the PBA (Prairie Blacksmith Association) is
the
primary blacksmith at Rock Creek Station in Nebraska.  He said one of
his
biggest thrills was when a group of blind children came to visit ...
ages
ranged from 10 to 16.  He talked their leaders into letting them pound
some
steel.  Once he got them positioned, he said they could repeatedly hit
the
same mark that he would first tap with his hammer.  Every one of them
got
the chance, and at the end of the session, they had 2 foot piece of
steel to
take back that they had all pounded on.  He received a thank-you note
from
the leaders that brings tears to your eyes.  The kids pass that piece of
steel around their story circle and tell about the day they all got to
be
blacksmiths.  The leaders of that group now schedule with him yearly to
come
down and spend time at the shop.
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