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"Teaching people about the world in which we live."

Communication Story

This is a true story, written from my point of view.

Read this to the students.

For a number of years I have been teaching skiing. Linda is one of the skiers that I have been working with for many years. She skis at an intermediate level and we have a lot of fun together.

Not only do I teach Linda more about skiing, but I am also her guide. I have to tell her where to ski and when to turn. Without my help Linda couldn't ski, because she is blind.

The relationship that we have developed is very comfortable. I know exactly how long it will take her to react to anything that I tell her to do. For instance if I tell her to turn right, she can do that 2 -3 seconds quicker then if I tell her to turn left. Linda knows by the tone of my voice if she is near a tree and must turn quickly, or if she is in the middle of a run and can take her time.

Last year Linda's two daughters started skiing with us. This was not much of a problem, except that Linda always liked to know where they were. I tried to keep her informed by saying things like, "I can see Faith and she's waiting on us," or, "Opps, Faith just fell." All in all we were doing very well. I had never let Linda hit anything and she had always immediately done what I asked her to.

One day last year, when Faith was skiing with us, I had a communication problem with Linda. This was our first problem, but it was a big one.

We came over a slight crest in the hill and I saw that Faith had fallen down. I said, "Faith is down." I started telling Linda where and when to turn. Then I said, "Okay, turn right, pull up and stop." She turned right, aimed straight at Faith, but showed no sign of stopping. I yelled, "Stop! Stop!" then screamed, "Sit!" just as Linda hit Faith. Sit is the last desperate command that a guide can give to try to keep an accident from happening. Linda sat, but it was not in time to avoid hitting her daughter. Fortunately, neither one of them was hurt.

What was the communication barrier?

Linda thought that I meant Faith was at the bottom of the slope when I said, "Faith is down." We were near the bottom of the run and she couldn't think of why I wanted her to stop instead of skiing to the bottom of the run first. She did not follow exactly what I said to do and I was not clear in my comments.