[Blindtlk] Inferiority complex with disabilityvsnondisabledsociety

[Dewey Bradley]

Garry makes some very good points indeed.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Graves, Diane" <dgraves at icrc.IN.gov>
To: "'Gary Wunder'" <gwunder at earthlink.net>; "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" 
<blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Inferiority complex with 
disabilityvsnondisabledsociety


> Peter,
>
> Gary makes some very good points here as well. It would simply be untrue 
> for me to tell you that there are no advantages to being sighted, or 
> disadvantages to being blind. Just as there are advantages to having 
> money, v. not  having as much. If Bill Gates decides that he wants to 
> order a pizza on a Friday night for dinner, he doesn't have to stop and 
> think about whether or not he can afford it the way that I do.
>
> The point is though, that there are ways around most of these things. We 
> find those ways, most of them are not insurmountable,  and we lead 
> productive and full lives.
>
>
> Diane Graves
> Civil Rights Specialist
> Indiana Civil Rights Commission
> Alternative Dispute Resolutions Unit
> 317-232-2647
>
> "It is service that measures success."
> George Washington Carver
>
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf Of Gary Wunder
> Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 12:25 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Inferiority complex with disability vs 
> nondisabledsociety
>
> Peter, you have asked many questions and I am certain in one sitting I 
> can't
> begin to response to them all. Even this assumes I know all the answers,
> which I most certainly do not.
>
> I throw out these ideas and observations with the suggestion that you take
> what you like and leave the rest. It does no good to compare yourself with
> what you might have been. In the first place, you don't know what you 
> might
> have been. I might be angry because my Dad was the owner of a successful
> construction business which I could have run and might be far better off
> financially than I am now. Without sight, I can't run the heavy equipment 
> so
> perhaps I should be angry. Because I am blind, I traveled a different 
> road,
> went to college, got a degree, and work as a computer programmer. That
> college experience introduced me to good books, to different thoughts 
> about
> the world, and to a tolerance of other people I'd never have gotten had I
> stayed at home. Which life is the better? Unfortunately this is a question
> without an answer. I have to make of my life what is possible, without
> spending too much time grieving about some alternative future.
> In your note you acknowledge a lot of problems. Acknowledging one has a
> problem is often the first step on the road to solving it, but sometimes
> that acknowledgement is simply a way of stating the problem and the more 
> we
> state it, the more we come to like the way we say it. We grow accustomed 
> to
> the burden of that problem, and rather than using our admission to solve 
> it,
> we carry it like a badge of honor.
>
> In my own work, I can tell you that blineness makes many things hard which
> others find easy. They see computer screens and what is wanted from them 
> is
> obvious. I hear computer screens and have to often work pretty hard to
> figure out what is wanted and where I am on the screen. I can make a real
> case for how disadvantaged this makes me, but the more important thing is
> that I figure it out and be productive enough I can bring home a pay 
> check.
>
> You talk about the country in which you were born. There may be better
> countries in which to be blind, but I am certain the majority are worse. 
> In
> your country you have the opportunity to make a contract with our people.
> That contract says that we, all of us, will help you with training and
> equipment if, in return, you will try your hardest to take that equipment
> and training and put it to a productive use - preferably a use which will
> pay you. You will then pay taxes, buy a home, support your local 
> businesses,
> not to mention Wal-Mart, and everyone wins. Winning isn't easy, but it is
> far easier than carrying around the anger for what you might have been if
> only you had tried.
>
> Take your anger and, if you can, turn it into resolve. Look at your
> situation, acknowledge there are disadvantages, and at the same time
> determine how you can benefit from where you find yourself. If you
> constantly live with the dream of driving the car you once had, you'll be
> disappointed. If you live with the dream of the dcar which may come to be 
> if
> we who are blind work together, then your sadness may just become a tool 
> for
> hope.
>
> I wish you all the luck in the world, and where luck stops and personal
> responsibility begins, I wish you the courage to take it on.
>
>
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