[blindlaw] some questions

[Beth]

As far as Christians go, you're right, G.  I've met Christians 
who said, "You need healed and new eyes."  Give me a break!  And 
they believed that blindness was a thing to be pitied.  But 
that's a whole other subject I've spoken about on the faith list 
because most of the peoples on the list are Christians.
Beth

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Gerard Sadlier <gerard.sadlier at gmail.com
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 17:57:39 +0100
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] some questions

David's advice is good. Let's be honest about it, those attitudes 
were
probably pretty widespread in Europe/ the US 50 years ago and 
aren't
entirely gone yet.
Also, think of what life would be like if one were blind in say
Somalia? Do I need to say any more?

I've met a couple of extreme Christian types who'd probably 
derive
similar attitudes about blindness.
Fortunately, I didn't need to interact much.


On 8/5/11, Hyde, David W. (ESC) <david.hyde at wcbvi.k12.wi.us> 
wrote:
 I agree with the others who have responded. On a purely cultural 
level,
 blindness is viewed differently in his culture than it is in 
ours. Further,
 if his family comes from an Islamic background, and still holds 
to some of
 the tenants of the Koran and the Sharia, blindness is a 
condition to be
 pitied, and blind people are those who are specifically 
identified as
 recipients of charity. If these beliefs are deeply ingrained, 
there may be
 no hope of changing them. You might try, if this be the case, 
talking some
 someone at a local mosque. If they have a person whose opinion 
they value,
 and that person agrees with you, get him, or her, to intercede.

 Blindness in their country is almost always, an unmitigated 
tragedy. There
 are very few opportunities. Attitudes change very slowly. You 
may,
 ultimately, have to wed without their buy in. But try everything 
else first.
 If you don't, you will wish you had. If you do everything you 
can, then you
 can believe that you did your best. The parents may, eventually 
come around.

 -----Original Message-----
 From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org 
[mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
 Behalf Of Beth
 Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 8:36 AM
 To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
 Subject: [blindlaw] some questions

 Hi, guys.
 	I have some questions about a cultural conflict going on 
with some people
 who are trying to prevent me and my current boyfriend from 
marrying.  They
 state that because we are both totally blind, we would 1. Not 
make good
 parents or are not fit to be parents.
 2. Would be unable to perform everyday tasks when indeed we've 
both
 graduated from the Colorado Center for the Blind x number of 
months ago.
 3. That my boyfriend would be bored and lonely.  These men are 
Somali, so
 they state he should also marry his own kind, surely a sign of
 discrimination.  They are not willing to change.  How should we 
deal with
 them?  Thanks.
 Beth

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--
Best wishes

Gerard Sadlier

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