It's the second time my cousin and my aunt have visited us this week. My blind cousin is currently enrolled in a German course and she's been having some difficulties.
Having browsed her handouts, I found that it's really sad that although language teaching nowadays is predominantly student-centric, it fails to address the needs of those with disabilities.
How would you ask a blind girl to find specific areas on a map which isn't embossed or have Braille markings on them? Let alone ask this girl to answer auf Deutsch? How are you going to explain a visually-oriented text into something kinesthetic or aural?
She definitely wouldn't be able to grasp the "visual" aspect of the map/exercise if it hasn't been transferred onto Braille. I had to be her set of eyes and tell her which city is next to which location or say out loud the different sentence patterns she needs to remember or recognize. I really hope that her Lehrerin would focus more on "Listening Exercises" or "Role-playing Activities" and to be more considerate. Come on, how would my cousin be expected to "write" her homework when her teacher can't even read Braille? This is just taxing on the poor kid, as it is unfair.
Tutoring my cousin has made me more grateful that it was easier for me to learn languages and I feel humbled by the fact that through her I realized that there is more to know and discover than the mere elements of grammar or sentence structures--to be able to leave an indelible imprint on another person's life just because you have shared a part of yourself.
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