I have a workshop with a scout group and one of the kids in the group is blind. I was curious if anyone has any recommendations on how I can cater to teaching the kid. My first thought was to offer a soft yoyo to start but otherwise teach their parent/helper and them like everyone else but wanted to see if anyone in the community has any insights.
Also are there any handicapped/disabled players in the competitive scene or a group past or present as a role model to point out. I think it would be cool to present that others in the community have overcome and excelled but I have no insights in this.
I would think a noisy bearing could be helpful. An audio cue to hone in on while hes trying to learn the feel for it. just what came to mind as i was reading your post.
This is a very good recommendation. I would add that a heavier yo-yo instead of a soft one would be preferred. The weight also giving added feedback thatās beyond visual. Many people in an effort to increase their ability will practice blindfolded in order to remove the visual cues and rely solely on feel. Itās actually a bit of an advantage in the end. I have no idea how to cross the barrier of actually teaching the trick though.
This is what I do a lot. Yoyoing blind is doable, you just need to know what to look out for and to understand the yoyo. I can tell whivh way itās spinning by hopping it up a few times to feel where it is, and the greatest feeling is landing a trick with a nice āthudā, letting you know āheyā¦ you did it!!ā.
While those are good ideas, I imagine a blind person will already be more attuned to sound and touch. I wouldnāt be surprised to see them catch on to responsive yoyoing pretty well.
As somebody whoās visually impaired, I would find something thatās heavier on the string. Even though it probably is a little bit more dangerous, it would be easier for the kid to feel the yo-yo instead of needing to see it, and it would also be more manageable. if you would like to know if a yo-yo is good for this, try using a yo-yo in a pitch black room as this would be the most accurate way to understand the kids perspective.
I would like to add that being in a dark room is a lot more accurate to the experience of somebody who is blind because blindfolding yourself or physically covering your vision can make you feel like thereās always something directly next to your head that youāre about to bump into, which isnāt accurate to a blind personās experience also shorter string. itās easier to feel a yo-yo when the string is taught
I imagine at the age group and such in starting with responsive but Iāll definitely have unresponsive stuff with me for kids to try that want to move on to a bind. Always that one kid thatās advanced or just gets it instantly
Not sure where the dark room theory came from? But a pretty accurate experience of being blind would be to simply close your eyes.
Most blind people ācan/doā experience light level variations wherever they areā¦ They just canāt āseeā.
Soā¦. If you are in a room with a blind person, when you close your eyes, the light level you can sense through your eyelids is pretty much the same as what they sense.
No reason for a dark room or a blindfold.
Wherever you are standingā¦.. close your eyes and you are āBlindā.
just what came to mind as i was reading your post.