Mélange Accessibility for All Magazine April 2022 | Page 29

To Table of Contents
Roger Chard , Parry Peak being part of the gang . Kids themselves are generally good at figuring out what works , how to be inclusive , how to incorporate accommodations for friends who need to be accommodated . It isn ' t all that different than figuring out how somebody ' s little brother or sister can be part of a pick-up sports team , despite being smaller , slower , or not as strong as everybody else . And sometimes parents can suggest solutions when their child is struggling . Withdrawing the child from whatever it is he or she wishes to try is almost always a bad choice .
If a child loses sight later in life , say in middle or high school , it is critical for the parent to provide positive , sometimes tenacious support , to not allow the child to become discouraged or morose . Fitting in is often of critical importance at that stage , and it is easy enough to fall out of favor from one day to the next , regardless of any role a disability might play . That parents cannot fight their child ' s battles is no more or less true because the added element of a disability is involved . Any available professional counseling help should be sought . I have strayed into this territory because I think a child will be most comfortable with him or herself , have highest self-confidence if maximum involvement with classmates and friends is achieved .
Love for travel I do enjoy traveling , and I have done a lot of it since retiring . Before retiring , I traveled to Winter Park , Colorado at least once a year for twenty-five years to ski with the National Sports Center for the Disabled ; and I took a trip to South Africa . Since retiring , I have traveled to Portugal , Antarctica , Sweden , and Australia , and taken a onemonth ship repositioning trip