[wisconsin] FW: Tribune Profile: The Sprecher Family

Fri May 13 12:55:14 GMT 2011

Hello All:

The story pasted below from the Chicago Tribune profiles two of our ACB of
Metro Chicago and ICB members, Paula and Alan Sprecher and their adopted
children.  It's a wonderful and heartwarming story and proves that we who
are blind can live our lives just like others do, working, getting married,
raising children, ETC.  Enjoy.  BTW, for my Wisconsin friends, the Sprechers
are originally from Wisconsin.

Ray Campbell, President, Illinois Council of the Blind

ray1530 at wowway.com

From: Dominic Calabrese 
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2011 9:36 AM
To: LIGHTHOUSE
Subject: Tribune Profile: The Sprecher Family 

Everyone,

The heartwarming story below profiles the Sprecher family.  Alan and Paula
Sprecher are both visually impaired and they adopted two children who are
also visually impaired, one from India, the other from China.
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/>  One of the youngsters, Rupa, was a
participant in the Lighthouse's Braille Challenge earlier this year. 

Also Mrs. Sprecher, who is a teacher at Farnsworth Elementary School, has
been involved in many of our school activities.  Incidentally, Mary Zabelski
was interviewed for this article but her comments were not included in the
final piece.  The focus is on the family.  

However, the reporter, Colleen Mastony, wants to work with us on future
stories. 

Follow the "view article" link below to see the original piece and photos.

 <http://www.chicagotribune.com/> chicagotribune.com

Blind couple step out as parents

Chicagoans adopt 2 sightless orphans: 'We're so lucky to have found these
girls'

<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-blind-adopting-blind-201105
11,0,7509196,email.story> Email

<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-blind-adopting-blind-201105
11,0,7176952,print.story> print

<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-blind-adopting-blind-201105
11,0,5413098.story> increase text size
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-blind-adopting-blind-201105
11,0,5413098.story> decrease text size

By Colleen Mastony, Tribune reporter 

8:25 p.m. CDT, May 11, 2011

Love is blind inside the two-story brick house on Mulligan Avenue. And that
is why the microwave buttons are marked with Braille. The clocks in the home
all announce the time. And at 7:15 a.m., everyone is listening carefully for
the school bus.

Ten-year-old Rupa is the first to hear it. "Oh, the bus is here!" she calls.
Her mother rushes to the front window, listening for confirmation before
calling out: "That's it!"

Rupa grabs her white cane. Six-year-old Aihua reaches down and, guided by
touch alone, pulls on a pair of rubber rain boots. Then Paula Sprecher
hustles them outside. With each step of this hectic school-day morning, the
49-year-old mother of two helps her daughters find their way in a world that
neither she nor they can see.

<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-110511-blind-family-pictures,0
,7301288.photogallery> Family's vision
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-110511-blind-family-pictures,0
,7301288.photogallery> PHOTOS: Life with the Sprechers 

Sprecher and her husband, Alan, have been legally blind since birth. And
though Alan had some doubts about fatherhood - would they have enough to
offer a child? - the couple took a leap of faith in 2008 and adopted Rupa
from  <http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/intl/india-PLGEO00000019.topic>
India. In January, they brought home Aihua from China.

Both girls are blind, too - Rupa can detect some light, while Aihua has no
vision at all. And that is fine with the Sprechers, who describe each of
their daughters as "a gift."

"My husband and I, we grew up without sight," Paula explains. "This is so
normal to us. We knew there were children out there who were probably given
up (because they were blind), and we wanted to provide a home for someone
like us, for someone we thought we could help."

Helping the girls, the Sprechers know, means pushing them into the world.
And so they teach their daughters how to ride the
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/travel/commuting/chicago-transit-author
ity-ORGOV000082.topic> CTA bus (listen carefully for each stop, they say),
how to identify coins by their size and weight ("This is a dime!" says
Aihua, correctly), how to sort the laundry (pin your socks together before
you put them in the wash).

The Sprechers have come to realize that, in the long arc of life, success
rests on a foundation of a thousand little lessons. And so, day by day,
inside the cozy house with the blue shutters, lessons about dimes and socks
become lessons about confidence and independence. Though she is still
learning English, Aihua declares with perfect pronunciation: "I can do it!"
It's a phrase that makes her parents smile.

"They're going to be functioning in the world someday," says Paula. "We try
to teach the kids a routine and let go a little more and more."

Canes, cues

Letting go isn't always so easy.

At Farnsworth Elementary School, both girls are mainstreamed in regular
classes and receive help from a classroom aide and instruction in Braille.
Sprecher is a teacher who works with the blind at the school, and so she is
never far away.

But on a recent morning, when she popped her head into the music room to
check on Aihua, she couldn't see that that her daughter - who has only been
in school for three months and, because of the language barrier, can't
understand much of what's happening around her - was in the back of the
classroom, looking a little scared and hiding her face between her knees.

Paula whispered to another adult: "Where is Aihua sitting?"

She knows she can't swoop in for the rescue. Instead, she puts her trust in
the teachers, who give her daily updates on the children's progress. And she
puts her faith in the daily lessons.

After school, as she leads the girls toward the CTA bus stop, she pauses to
ask Rupa: "What street is this?" When they reach a larger intersection,
Sprecher reminds the girls to listen for the cars. And, after they get off
the bus a few blocks from their house, she tells Rupa to lead the way home.

Dressed in a purple raincoat and sporting a flowered backpack, Rupa trots
ahead, tapping her white cane. When she misses the right turn toward the
house, her mother catches her.

"I didn't know which way to turn!" Rupa cries. But Paula replies with the
confidence of someone who has been there herself. "Don't worry," she says.
"You will. You're still young."

With more vision than anyone else in the family, Paula can make out shadows,
shapes and colors. (She still has had her close calls crossing streets.) The
girls can't see even that much - though Rupa can see some color up close.
They will need to rely on white canes and directional cues, such as smells
from a bakery, the ring of a wind chime, a crack in the sidewalk.

The limitation shouldn't hold them back, the Sprechers say. Rupa has taken
judo, sailing and ceramics. She goes to sleep-away camp every summer and
participates in Girl Scouts. Aihua will have the chance to explore whatever
hobbies she chooses because, as Alan says, "if they're physically able to do
things, why shouldn't they?"

View article...
<http://feeds.chicagotribune.com/~r/chicagotribune/news/~3/Xp_xG7Srkhw/ct-me
t-blind-adopting-blind-20110511,0,3553950.story> 

Dominic Calabrese

Director of Public Relations

Phone: 312.997.3662

Fax: 312.997.3667

dominic.calabrese at chicagolighthouse.org

The Chicago Lighthouse for People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

1850 West Roosevelt Road | Chicago, IL 60608

www.chicagolighthouse.org

because there is still hope_300dpi_try4

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