[Blindtlk] Questions concerning how people look like

Sat Feb 27 17:32:48 UTC 2010

You ever heard of socialization skills?  This is what is needed in this 
case.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cindy Handel" <cindy425 at verizon.net>
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 8:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Questions concerning how people look like


>I was able to see a very little bit when I was a child.  But, I was never
> able to see enough to identify faces.  So, that really isn't important to
> me.  I agree with Connie and others; you can tell a lot more about a 
> person
> from their voice and the way they treat you than by their appearance.  You
> can ask someone what they look like, and you may learn that she's pretty 
> or
> what color hair and eyes she has.  But, at least for me, the way their 
> face
> looks doesn't matter.
>
> I once had a guy insist that I feel his face.  I didn't want to and
> resisted.  But, he was quite persistent and I did.  It didn't really give 
> me
> any information than I already knew...he had two eyes, a nose, mouth and
> other facial features.  But, I didn't know any more about what he looked
> like after than I did before touching his face.  So, it did nothing for 
> me.
>
> The other day, a friend asked me what I thought someone looked like.  I 
> told
> her that I really didn't know.  I just don't think about people's
> appearance; at least not in detail.
>
> Cindy
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Constance Canode" <satin-bear at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 11:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Questions concerning how people look like
>
>
> I have been blind all of my life and learned at a very early age that
> you should always turn and look at the person you are speaking to.  I
> have gotten to the point that if someone speaks to me and doesn't
> look at me directly, it is hard to tell he/she is speaking to,
> especially in a large group of people.  As for touching faces, I
> scream in horror at the mere thought of it.  As a woman, I would not
> like it done to me because it would mess up my makeup and just think
> of the hygieneic aspects.  I also hate the stereotype attached to the
> face touching from some very stupid movies.  Asforfinding out what a
> person physically looks like, sometimes it can be done if you are
> standing next to them or walking beside them.  You can tell if they
> are tall or short, fat or thin.  Hair is a little difficult, but
> occasionally if a person has very long hair, as I do, occasionally it
> can blow up against you, or if you are in a store and the person
> bends over to reach something on a low shelf, if the hair is long
> enough, it may also brush your hand.  I notice this all the time in
> stores because my husband has long hair also.  You can hear a smile
> in a voice and itis easy to tell when laughter and a smile is
> genuine.  If a person has a nice voice and speaks to you in a
> pleasant manner, there is a good chance they don't look like
> something out of a horror film, although voices can also be
> deceiving.  Good luck.  I doubt if I have been of much help, but I tried.
>
> Connie Canode
> At 07:50 PM 2/25/2010, you wrote:
>>TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
>>
>>     I'm very sure everyone in this mailing list is blind. Maybe
>> some of you are not. And well, I have a curiosity, or a question,
>> that maybe you can answer for me and if it is not that intimidating:
>>     As you know, sighted people tend to look at each other's face,
>> or perhaps most of the body movements and the hands, while they're
>> talking to each other. For example, when somebody is talking and
>> facing another person, that person faces that other person, and he
>> or she can look at the person's face. In addition, this does not
>> happen when they are talking only; the person can just look at that
>> other person, E.G. a boy says "hello" to a girl perhaps, and he
>> looks at her because she is pretty (or she perhaps isn't) and he
>> looks at her smile and he knows what she looks like. He can maybe
>> remember her just through all those details of her. Furthermore,
>> there are more case-scenarios out there that are very similar to this 
>> one.
>>     While sighted people do this, as far as blind people are
>> concerned, is there any way a blind person can do the same things
>> just like the sighted? Can a blind person tell how someone looks
>> like by some technique or some information? If I want to know how
>> someone looks like, what can I do? Sometimes I think that probably
>> by touching faces I can get a general detail of what he/she is
>> like, but some people may see this as an offensive thing. I have
>> just a little bit of vision (mostly out of the corner of my right
>> eye), but I cannot see well enough to see these things. I can only
>> see very close objects or people. But anyways, if, for example, I
>> meet a nice girl and she says hello to me, and she carries out a
>> conversation with me. How can I get the physical description of
>> her? How do I know if she is just smiling without laughing? How do
>> I know what her hair looks like? maybe she has a pointy nose, a
>> big/small mouth, and probably really all straight and white teeth!
>> How can I know these things? I could perhaps ask her, "What do you
>> look like?" but I've had bad experiences asking that question,
>> although some people are kind and they tell me. Again, I don't see
>> any bad thing by touching people's faces, however, I'm not sure if
>> I should totally do it because of an offense or just being disrespectful.
>>     I am asking this question just for curiosity, and I'd like to
>> see what you think about this. Any feedback and comments about this
>> topic are welcome. I'd like to find out what other blind people
>> have done to accomplish well this situation.
>>
>>Thank you and have a very lucky day!
>>
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>
>
>
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