[Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course

Sat Mar 13 08:05:29 UTC 2010

Well, my response is, if I ever gained my eyesight I'd kill myself, sounds 
fair to me.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 6:26 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course


>    Most people who experience such a simulation exercise go away feeling 
> sorry for us and stating, "If I ever lost my eyesight, I think I would 
> kill myself!"
>
> Fraternally yours,
> Marion
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cindy Handel" <cindy425 at verizon.net>
> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:24 PM
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course
>
>
>> But, it doesn't really give them an appreciation of what it's like to be
>> blind, at all.  The only thing they know is, they can't see, they're
>> fumbling around with utensils or their food, and they'll be relieved when
>> they can take the sleep shades off.  If they were to have any sort of
>> appreciation of what it's like to be blind, they would have to wear sleep
>> shades for an extended period of time and go through a training center to
>> learn how to function without sight.  Until they do that and actually
>> experience the alternative techniques we use and spend time without being
>> able to remove the sleep shade, they'll never "understand" what it's like 
>> to
>> be blind.
>>
>> Cindy
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Steve P. Deeley" <stevep.deeley at insightbb.com>
>> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 9:09 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course
>>
>>
>> I think it gives sighted folks a greater found appreciation of what it is
>> like to be blind.  They are not looking down their noses at blind folks.
>>
>>
>> Steve
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Cindy Handel" <cindy425 at verizon.net>
>> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 8:08 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course
>>
>>
>>> Wow!  There was nothing positive at that dinner.  Everyone talked about
>>> the
>>> negatives they see in their own experience or that of loved ones.  So, 
>>> it
>>> seems all they were there for was to pretend they understand what it's
>>> like
>>> to be blind and to be thankful they aren't blind.  Not a good thing to
>>> thrust on people.
>>>
>>> Cindy
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Jewel S." <herekittykat2 at gmail.com>
>>> To: <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:48 PM
>>> Subject: [Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course
>>>
>>>
>>> Here is the original St. Petersburg article. I think the Letter to the
>>> Editor was a bit harsh, but does hit on some very good points,
>>> including the fact that Foundation Fighting Blindness uses blind
>>> people to create pity from sighted people to raise funds. It's a sad
>>> state when a blind person has to talk about how depressed and angry at
>>> the world they were when they went blind to raise funds. Of course,
>>> they don't -have- to, as NFB chapters all over the nation raise funds
>>> by showing people what we -can- do. Our local chapter is doing a
>>> Pancake Breakfast with Applebee's, and I am going to suggest that we
>>> not be so wary about being the servers...take the plunge and serve the
>>> breakfast. We -can- do it, and the sighted people who attend will be
>>> impressed and pity us, but maybe it'll teach them that we can do
>>> anything a sighted person can do, sometimes even better, because we
>>> use more than one sense to do the task.
>>>
>>> Without further ado, the original article:
>>>
>>> Awareness was the main course.
>>> By LAURA Reiley Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG  You knew your plate
>>> had been set before you only by sense of smell. It smelled like beef,
>>> something braised and hearty. On your right a voice asked what you do
>>> for a living. You turned and lobbed an answer in that direction.
>>> Tuesday night was the Foundation Fighting Blindness's first Tampa Bay
>>> Dining in the Dark event at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf
>>> Club. More than 200 people, dressed fancy and sipping cocktails, took
>>> seats in the main ballroom and eventually donned something called a
>>> Mindfold face mask, impervious to light and lined with foam. The
>>> lights dimmed and as emcee Dick Crippen of the Tampa Bay Rays goaded
>>> the crowd, the group endeavored to enjoy "the first meal you will
>>> never see. Other senses were heightened, texture became paramount. But
>>> more important, it gave all of the assembled a greater window into the
>>> world of the sightless. Many had come because their lives had already
>>> been touched by degenerative retinal diseases. Briana Pompilus , 24,
>>> was there as a volunteer with her mother Veronica Floyd, 44, who was
>>> diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa  at age 22. Still driving now,
>>> eventually her vision will close up as if looking through two drinking
>>> straws. One of the evening's speakers, April Lufriu, a former Mrs.
>>> Florida America pageant winner and president of the Tampa Bay area
>>> chapter of the foundation, spoke of her sister's retinal disease and,
>>> more haltingly, about her two children's recent diagnosis.
>>> Degenerative retinal diseases affect more than 10 million Americans.
>>> As keynote speaker James Minow described it, the foundation's aim is
>>> to put an end to retinal disease by replacing defective cells in the
>>> retina, replacing defective genes and by developing new treatments to
>>> protect degenerating retinas. The obstacle? As is so often the case,
>>> it's money. According to Kim Marlow, regional director of development
>>> for the foundation, the evening in St. Petersburg will raise $100,000
>>> for the cause. The most successful Dining in the Dark event to date,
>>> in New York, raised $500,000 in a single evening. The evening's
>>> honorees, doctors James Gill and Stephen Klasko, were feverishly
>>> optimistic about conceivable cures for blindness. For those assembled,
>>> a half hour in the dark was a humbling, and bumbling, reminder of the
>>> magnitude of the gift of sight..
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
>>> blindtlk:
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/cindy425%40verizon.net
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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
>>> blindtlk:
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/stevep.deeley%40insightbb.com
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 8.5.436 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2736 - Release Date: 03/11/10
>> 07:33:00
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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
>> blindtlk:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/cindy425%40verizon.net
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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 
>> blindtlk:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/blind411%40verizon.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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 
> blindtlk:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/daydreamingncolor%40gmail.com