HELP GENEVA HARRIS GET HER BLIND TECHNOLOGY!
Donation protected
My daughter is Geneva Harris, a 10th grader this year, who is completely blind. We have battled getting her assignments and choral music brailled on time for her to receive these materials at the same time as sighted students for FOUR YEARS!!!! The choral director her school would NEVER hand out her Braille music on time, sometimes none at all until a day or two before their concerts. She auditioned for All State Chorus last year, but the Braille tech gave her a copy of Braille music was brailled incorrectly. Consequently, she sang the wrong notes and was disqualified for All State Chorus
Most of her homework assignments this year were not modified in braille to equal regular students' workloads. (It takes longer for Geneva to complete her homework in Braille than it takes a sighted person to complete their homework.) Additionally, Geneva uses a Braille-Note to read all her assignments, so her hands are constantly either typing or moving back and forth - for twice or 3x the time a sighted student works. This meant that Geneva's homework hours averaged 5 hours a night, sometimes requiring her to work until 2 a.m., only to rise the next day for school at 6 a.m. Weekend projects or homework given during holidays or snow days took her on average 6 hours a day to complete a 3-hour assignment. Consequently, Geneva developed advanced Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in BOTH HANDS by mid-year!!! Her doctor said it was the worst case he'd seen develop to her severity. She was taking 3 Aleve a day for pain!
At school’s end, she was assigned a book to read and complete a report for her 10th grade Lit teacher for a grade; she also had an assignment in Physics class to read before school began. Her Braille-Note always caused problems (it was supposedly new but behaved like it was refurbished). Two days before school was out, it stopped taking a charge; therefore, Geneva couldn't use it to read her assignments, preventing her from doing her book report or studying her Physics assignment. Well, they took it for repairing, but never returned it! When she or I called the teacher to check when she'd get it back, our calls weren't returned. Finally, TWO WEEKS before school began, I called the School Board and demanded another Braille-Note for her. Geneva got a replacement the next day. And it was BROKEN! We waited a week for a replacement. Nothing.
One week before school, Geneva just fell apart. She was diagnosed with a total break down and was hospitalized a week, missing the first day of school. She was in a psychiatric hospital for one week for severe anxiety and severe depression.
This is unacceptable. I had no other recourse than to withdraw her from school – at the very least for her mental health. The school seemed indifferent that she was withdrawing, and since she was no longer attending a public school in her county, she had to hand in all the equipment that she was using to do her work.
Won’t you please help her get the equipment that she needs to learn just as much as any sighted student? We aren’t looking for top of the line equipment, just new equipment that will carry her through her high school career. She will need (1) a laptop geared for the blind, (2) a braille note in order to read books and her assignments, and (3) a Brailler in order to write her homework. And donation will help us reach our goal of $18,000. That will be the very minimum needed to buy her equipment. We would be so grateful for any help you can give.
Sincerely,
Patti Harris,
Mom to Geneva
Most of her homework assignments this year were not modified in braille to equal regular students' workloads. (It takes longer for Geneva to complete her homework in Braille than it takes a sighted person to complete their homework.) Additionally, Geneva uses a Braille-Note to read all her assignments, so her hands are constantly either typing or moving back and forth - for twice or 3x the time a sighted student works. This meant that Geneva's homework hours averaged 5 hours a night, sometimes requiring her to work until 2 a.m., only to rise the next day for school at 6 a.m. Weekend projects or homework given during holidays or snow days took her on average 6 hours a day to complete a 3-hour assignment. Consequently, Geneva developed advanced Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in BOTH HANDS by mid-year!!! Her doctor said it was the worst case he'd seen develop to her severity. She was taking 3 Aleve a day for pain!
At school’s end, she was assigned a book to read and complete a report for her 10th grade Lit teacher for a grade; she also had an assignment in Physics class to read before school began. Her Braille-Note always caused problems (it was supposedly new but behaved like it was refurbished). Two days before school was out, it stopped taking a charge; therefore, Geneva couldn't use it to read her assignments, preventing her from doing her book report or studying her Physics assignment. Well, they took it for repairing, but never returned it! When she or I called the teacher to check when she'd get it back, our calls weren't returned. Finally, TWO WEEKS before school began, I called the School Board and demanded another Braille-Note for her. Geneva got a replacement the next day. And it was BROKEN! We waited a week for a replacement. Nothing.
One week before school, Geneva just fell apart. She was diagnosed with a total break down and was hospitalized a week, missing the first day of school. She was in a psychiatric hospital for one week for severe anxiety and severe depression.
This is unacceptable. I had no other recourse than to withdraw her from school – at the very least for her mental health. The school seemed indifferent that she was withdrawing, and since she was no longer attending a public school in her county, she had to hand in all the equipment that she was using to do her work.
Won’t you please help her get the equipment that she needs to learn just as much as any sighted student? We aren’t looking for top of the line equipment, just new equipment that will carry her through her high school career. She will need (1) a laptop geared for the blind, (2) a braille note in order to read books and her assignments, and (3) a Brailler in order to write her homework. And donation will help us reach our goal of $18,000. That will be the very minimum needed to buy her equipment. We would be so grateful for any help you can give.
Sincerely,
Patti Harris,
Mom to Geneva
Organizer
Patti Eakes-Harris
Organizer
Kennesaw, GA