[Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the Dark"

[Gary Wunder]

Hi Steve and Diane. I think I understand the anger but what moderates it for 
me is my own
ignorance of other people and other conditions. Where I have a hard time
with my own anger is not with what people don't understand but what they
simply won't understand. Quiet Cars is a fine example - some people, when
they hear our explanation of the problem, have a light come on in their head
and they support. Others hear that same argument and say, "I bought this car
to be quiet, and what in the world are you doing out on the street
unaccompanied anyway." I have a hard time when I understand our contract
with society in the form of education and rehabilitation is that we will
work and yet I see industry create and businesses buy technology which isn't
accessible. I'm not talking about cameras or things which seem to me to be
inherently visual, but tools for managing projects, creating documents, and
making settings to regular household appliances. I think I understand 
ignorance, but I don't understand apathy or outright denial.

I think one other thing we have to deal with is the fact that our arguments 
about braille cause people to feel angry and defensive when, either because 
of age, remaining vision, or lack of educational opportunity, they don't 
learn braille. They think, when we talk about the important need it serves 
in our lives, that we are intentionally putting them down. That couldn't be 
further from the truth, but if that is their perception, then some of them 
just get mad, while others start their own crusade to show how they are 
getting along perfectly well in life without using braille. Some don't stop 
there. They have to justify their inability to read braille by denying its 
utility, suggesting it is slow or out of date, and that, indeed, it is being 
replaced by technology and they, as technical users, are on the cutting 
edge. This is very difficult for me to swallow, especially when I see a 
newly graduated student from college who wants my help in finding a job, and 
I realize that his literacy skills are so lacking that I can't, in good 
conscience, even recommend him for the position of office receptionist. The 
suggestion that he needs training is met with anger and hostility because, 
after all, he's a college graduate. His teachers have always been more 
interested in the content of his thoughts than in their presentation, so 
what, he wonders, makes me so rigid and inflexible?

These are tough issues. Thank goodness we have a forum where we can talk 
about them and an organization where we can try to address them.

Warmly,

Gary