Monday, April 7, 2008

Shots of Herschel Goal Balling It Up



Here are a few shots of Herschel in the Utah State Goal Ball Tournament playing goal ball with all the other blind/visually impaired kids a couple weeks ago. I found these on the Utah Federation for the Blind website, and I was surprised to learn even little 5 & 6-year-olds play goal ball.

Funny Update: A couple weeks ago he was issued a walking cane from blind school.

This was initiated from an assignment they had to take public transit into downtown Salt Lake City. Apparently the instructor noticed people don't know how to react to Herschel because he's a big kid (6'3") and he bumps into people, and has to ask somewhat obvious directional questions. She said people were looking at him like he was a complete weirdo, because he had to ask what the next train stop was because he can't see well enought to read the sign on the wall. The instructors felt if he just had the walking cane with him in public, even if he doesn't tap around, people would know he's visually impaired and cut him some slack, and be more willing to help him if he needs it.

The first day he had his walking stick he was trying it out at school, and was tapping around with his eyes closed to really test it, and apparently his tapping swath wasn't wide enough because he walked right into the doorway and broke his nose...so maybe the walking cane is more danger than help.

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