[blindkid] Identify yourself please

[Mike Freeman]

Carrie:

I am blind as you know.

I say LET IT GO! C'mon now: do you *really* have to know whom you are 
talking to most of the time? Some may get on me a bit about what I'm 
going to say but honestly, in most instances, the conversations are 
usually quite vacuous and forgetable and it doesn't matter a damn who 
one is talking to. I may be out in left field here but do *you* always 
remember to whom you are talking? I'd bet not. And I'd bet you get along 
quite fine.

In those few instances where it matters (as, for instance, if a gblind 
guy is talking to and interested in a pretty girl), one way or another, 
the blind person will endeavor to find out. In most cases, however, it 
really doesn't matter much.

And I've gone for *years* on the job, knowing who someone is by where 
he/she works and what he/she does but I haven't the faintest idea what 
his/her name is and if I need to know, I can ask someone else or look it 
up in the Bonneville Power Administration (that's where I work) 
phonebook.

So forget it! If it doesn't matter to Jordan, why should it matter to 
you? Might not the *real* problem be that Jordan is pointing out to you 
in glaring but tacit fashion that identities don't matter much under 
most circumstances? (big grin)

Mike Freeman

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carrie Gilmer" <carrie.gilmer at gmail.com>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)'" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 6:45 AM
Subject: [blindkid] Identify yourself please


Hi All, Especially to our blind colleagues and friends.



I have one thing with Jordan that has improved but still is an "issue". 
I
think it bugs me way more than him, and likely that is why it is still 
an
"issue".



Jordan often does not ask people to identify themselves. It is one 
thing,
and understandable to me, when he is in the very crowded school hallways 
and
some voice calls out, "hey Jordan!" in a passing greeting and he simply
calls back hey-but has no idea who that hey came from and to not yell 
out in
a crowd "hey who are you?",



 But there are many times.

At the state fair, in a store, even at a lunch room table!, where he 
THINKS
he is talking to one person and discovers mid-conversation that is not 
who
he is talking with (and never says anything or finds in the end who it 
was),
or we walk away from the teen working the register or who has come up in
Best Buy and said "hello" and I ask "Who was that?" and he says I have 
no
idea.  I know that sometimes because he is one of 3,000 at school-and
because he has the one and only thing, a lot more people know who he is 
than
vice versa and sometimes he really doesn't know who they are, but not
uncommonly it is evident the kid who is greeting him, he should know, 
but he
doesn't ask. I know that sometimes he thinks it is rude, if the other 
kid
thinks Jordan should know who they are.the same way if I forget 
someone's
name and I should definitely know it, and I am thinking how can I ask
without offending?...But many times he is just too "shy" about it. I 
have
seen on the student list before threads where lots of kids are somewhat
uncomfortable with this one. Any strategies that you blind folks have 
come
up with to gain the confidence or decide when to do it? Is it just a
personality thing, because I know many blind folks who are not shy about 
it
and simply say, "Who are you?"



Should I just let this one go now as a mom-especially since he is now a
senior in high school?



Carrie Gilmer, President

National Organization of Parents of Blind Children

A Division of the National Federation of the Blind

NFB National Center: 410-659-9314

Home Phone: 763-784-8590

carrie.gilmer at gmail.com

www.nfb.org/nopbc



_______________________________________________
blindkid mailing list
blindkid at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
blindkid:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40panix.com