Caught My Eye

Here are a few news stories that caught my eye this week - each for a different reason.

INSPIRING

As I have traveled the world of adoption over the years, I have learned of many children who suffer from Shaken Baby Syndrome. The outlook for most is not good. But this story highlights a young woman with drive and determination to rise above her past.

But even more inspiring than this young woman's story is a comment in the article from one of her 13 year old friends - "Don't judge her just because she is blind," Da'Jahnea said. "Don't underestimate people because they have disabilities."

Blind cheerleader teaches team invaluable lessons on perseverance

INVALUABLE

It seems that natural disasters are happening more and more often. This is a website created in Texas to alert people who are deaf, blind, and deafblind about emergency preparedness. It is an extraordinary example that other states and the Federal government should follow:

Accessible Emergency Information

NOT REALLY SURE HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS

Stephyn Duck decided to experience life as both deaf and blind. Duck, 20, a junior psychology major at Wofford College, decided to deprive himself of two of his senses as part of an interim project. He's hoping to gather data on whether his other senses will improve while he's unable to see and hear, but he's most interested in how he's treated.

Setting aside the fact that being deaf, blind or deafblind from birth is completely different than being one of those things after gaining many years of visual and auditory experiences, did this experiment really serve a valuable purpose?

I wrote a post in 2008 about the use of simulations, and something still makes me quite uncomfortable. So for me, the jury is still out on whether or not this was a positive experiment.

For Wofford student, not seeing is believing