[Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the Dark"
Gary Wunder
gwunder at earthlink.net
Fri Mar 12 14:45:38 UTC 2010
It may be that Steve shares the concern but his first priority is figuring
out how to make it today and tomorrow. Having a job for 30 years and family
obligations which tend to match or exceed income can make that the priority.
We don't really know how he feels - only that this particular article
doesn't bother him as much as other things.
Warmly,
Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: "Graves, Diane" <dgraves at icrc.IN.gov>
To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 7:22 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the Dark"
> Exactly, and one of the barriers to a blind person's employment and the
> ability to support his/her family is the attitude and expectations of the
> public
>
> I mean no disrespect at all, so please don't take this as bashing, but I
> am simply stumped here. If you truly don't care about these kinds of
> issues and changing the way the public perceives the blind and so forth,
> then why are you a member of this organization. As you put it, don't you
> have "more important things to worry about?"
>
> 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 Steve P. Deeley
> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:28 PM
> To: Marion Gwizdala; Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the
> Dark"
>
> As I said, you need to focus your anger on more important issues.
> That is just my opinion; you have the right to be angry. I choose to
> worry
> about employment and the issues with my family.
> Steve
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 4:09 PM
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the
> Dark"
>
>
>> Steve,
>> As the writer of this letter, I am very angry! What is the problem
>> with
>> expressing one's anger over such sensationalized, inaccurate reporting
>> that
>> promulgates the myths and misconceptions that create the sort of
>> discrimination we experience? Should we, in the interest of not upsetting
>> those who offend us, simply sit back and take it without countering their
>> ignorance with rational expressions of dissatisfaction? Should we say to
>> the
>> public, "It's okay to treat us as second-class citizens and generate
>> revenue
>> by lying to the public about who we are and what we can do, cloaking it
>> in
>> the science of medicine?" Every blind person who has been treated like a
>> child simply because they are blind should be angry! It is this sort of
>> drivvle that has caused our blind children to not get the Braille
>> instruction they need and deserve to be literate, fully functioning
>> adults!
>> It is this sort of mythology that has created the 70% unemployment rate!
>>
>> Marion Gwizdala
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Steve P. Deeley" <stevep.deeley at insightbb.com>
>> To: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>; "Blind Talk Mailing List"
>> <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 3:20 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the
>> Dark"
>>
>>
>>>I believe the writer of that letter sounds very angry. That, also, turns
>>>sighted individuals off. Let's not go down the race road for our
>>>examples.
>>> Steve
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>
>>> To: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>; "Blind Talk Mailing List"
>>> <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 1:57 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the
>>> Dark"
>>>
>>>
>>>> You should be able to get it mailed to your e-mail address on file by
>>>> pressing pound 9.
>>>>
>>>> Gary
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
>>>> To: <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; "NAGDU List" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:54 AM
>>>> Subject: [Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the
>>>> Dark"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Dear All,
>>>>> I tried to get a copy of the original article about which I wrote
>>>>> this
>>>>> letter to the editor; however, it was not available without paying a
>>>>> fee.
>>>>> The article can be accessed by going to NFB-Newsline and selecting the
>>>>> St.Petersburg Times Metro section. If anyone can get access to this
>>>>> article, please send it to the list. Pasted below is my letter to the
>>>>> editor.
>>>>>
>>>>> Fraternally yours,
>>>>> Marion Gwizdala
>>>>>
>>>>> March 11, 2010
>>>>>
>>>>> I am writing to comment on the article "Awareness Was the
>>>>> Main
>>>>> Course" by Laura Reiley that appeared in the March 10 Metro section of
>>>>> the
>>>>> St. Petersburg times. As a blind person, I often meet people who are
>>>>> amazed by the fact that I can perform even the simplest of tasks.
>>>>> Generally this attitude is based on their own experience attempting to
>>>>> perform the same task without eyesight and failing at it miserably. It
>>>>> is
>>>>> for this reason that most blind people are opposed to using the type
>>>>> of
>>>>> simulation exercises featured in this article. Blindfolding a sighted
>>>>> person and asking them to perform even a simple task does not, as the
>>>>> article purports, give a person any awareness of what the life of a
>>>>> blind
>>>>> person is like. In fact, such exercises only serve to reinforce the
>>>>> misconceptions and promulgate the myths about blindness that create
>>>>> the
>>>>> social, legal, and economic barriers that prevent us from achieving
>>>>> true
>>>>> equality with our sighted peers. Those of us who are blind have
>>>>> developed
>>>>> an array of non-visual techniques to perform activities of daily
>>>>> living,
>>>>> such as eating, just as effectively as sighted people do using
>>>>> eyesight.
>>>>> Blindfolding a sighted person and asking them to perform a task is
>>>>> like
>>>>> putting someone in the cockpit of a jetliner and telling them to fly!
>>>>> Lacking the proper skills, the results of both would be disastrous!
>>>>>
>>>>> The real problem of blindness is not the lack of eyesight;
>>>>> rather it is the manner in which we are treated as the result of the
>>>>> misconceptions people have about blindness. If one really wants to
>>>>> find
>>>>> out what life is like for a blind person, there is no need to don a
>>>>> blindfold! All one needs to do is carry a white cane, the
>>>>> international
>>>>> symbol of blindness, and go about their everyday life. Then they
>>>>> would
>>>>> feel the crushing insults of public misperception that blind people,
>>>>> except for those few who are believed to be amazing and extraordinary,
>>>>> are
>>>>> innately ignorant and helpless. They would experience the waitress who
>>>>> asks a five year old what the blind adult wants to drink. They would
>>>>> encounter the librarian who admonishes them for going out alone, thus
>>>>> exposing them to the hazards of opening a door. They would be
>>>>> confronted
>>>>> by the Employer who inquires about who will bring them to work. They
>>>>> would
>>>>> learn that even well educated doctors are so ignorant as to ask them
>>>>> who
>>>>> bathes them! Though you might want to minimize these incidents away,
>>>>> they
>>>>> are examples of the type of ignorance I - and other blind people -
>>>>> encounter on a regular, almost daily, basis!
>>>>>
>>>>> I am not asserting that eyesight is not beneficial nor that
>>>>> the
>>>>> work of the Foundation Fighting Blindness is not valuable. What
>>>>> concerns
>>>>> me is that organizations that assert they want to "serve the blind" do
>>>>> us
>>>>> such a disservice by reinforcing the public misconceptions and fears
>>>>> that
>>>>> create the problems we face. I am all for raising money to cure
>>>>> retinal
>>>>> degenerative diseases, especially since the condition that has caused
>>>>> my
>>>>> blindness, that of my 14-year-old nephew , and several other members
>>>>> of
>>>>> my
>>>>> family is retinitis Pigmentosa. I am, however, opposed to creating the
>>>>> type of fear and pity that results from blindfolding people for the
>>>>> purpose of raising money! Such a practice is as offensive to me as a
>>>>> black-faced minstrel would be to an African American! These
>>>>> misconceptions
>>>>> are the reason fewer than 10% of blind children are learning to read
>>>>> and
>>>>> write Braille, producing functionally illiterate blind adults. These
>>>>> fears
>>>>> and misconceptions are the reason that the unemployment rate among the
>>>>> blind is more than 70%!
>>>>>
>>>>> The veracity of my concerns are supported by the numerous
>>>>> inaccurate statements made by the author who has bought into the false
>>>>> perceptions of the blind. Does she really believe that "other senses
>>>>> are
>>>>> heightened" by taking away one's sight or "; texture became paramount"
>>>>> as
>>>>> the result of simulated blindness? Does she really believe that
>>>>> blindfolding participants "gave all assembled a greater window into
>>>>> the
>>>>> world of the sightless"? Does she really believe that blind people go
>>>>> through life "bumbling" their ways around or did she just
>>>>> irresponsibly
>>>>> promulgate the pitiful stereotype in an effort to sell your newspapers
>>>>> like the Foundation Fighting Blindness did to sell themselves and
>>>>> selfishly generate revenue with no concern about the social
>>>>> consequences
>>>>> of their actions?
>>>>>
>>>>> The belief that blind people are endowed with heightened
>>>>> senses
>>>>> and special powers is a myth. Blind people simply learn to use their
>>>>> other
>>>>> senses and alternative techniques to perform the tasks sighted people
>>>>> do
>>>>> with eyesight. Like any skill, these techniques are generally not
>>>>> acquired
>>>>> in a half-hour nor mysteriously and supernaturally endowed. However,
>>>>> these
>>>>> skills enable blind people to function independently, efficiently, and
>>>>> effectively. In fact, the average blind person can perform the same
>>>>> tasks
>>>>> as their sighted peers as well, if not better, by employing these
>>>>> alternative techniques. Our blindness is not the problem. The real
>>>>> problem
>>>>> of blindness is the misunderstanding and lack of information that
>>>>> exists.
>>>>> If a blind person is given proper training and opportunity, blindness
>>>>> is
>>>>> only a physical nuisance.
>>>>>
>>>>> In the future, when your paper is doing a story about
>>>>> blindness, it would be helpful to get accurate information and the
>>>>> perspective of a blind person who is qualified to speak to these
>>>>> issues
>>>>> by
>>>>> being chosen by the blind to speak on their behalf. The National
>>>>> Federation of the Blind is the oldest and largest organization of the
>>>>> blind in the United States. We are not an organization that speaks on
>>>>> behalf of the blind; we are the blind speaking for ourselves. For
>>>>> accurate
>>>>> information about blindness or the blind, please feel free to get in
>>>>> touch
>>>>> with me or visit one of our websites at
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> HTTP://WWW.NFB.ORG
>>>>>
>>>>> Or
>>>>>
>>>>> HTTP://WWW.NFB-NAGDU.ORG
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Respectfully yours,
>>>>>
>>>>> Marion Gwizdala, President
>>>>>
>>>>> National Association of Guide Dog Users
>>>>>
>>>>> National Federation of the Blind
>>>>>
>>>>> 813-598-7161
>>>>>
>>>>> President at NFB-NAGDU.ORG
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> blindtlk mailing list
>>>>> blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk_nfbnet.org
>>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
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