[Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course

Sat Mar 13 21:23:42 UTC 2010

Some good points Tony.  They were made in a positive manner.  That's what 
I'm talking about!!\

Steve
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tony C." <tcolon1955 at gmail.com>
To: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>; "Blind Talk Mailing List" 
<blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 2:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course

> Hi all,
> I have been reading the post on this subject, and I decided I need to 
> speak
> my mind on the subject.
>
> I am blind, I lost my eyesight due to RP.  I am 54 years young.  I have
> learned how to deal with my situation by trial and error, followed by
> success.  I am currently unemployed (part of the 70%), but I have worked
> several jobs in the past.
>
> I, as many others do, have more abilities than disabilities.  I would love
> to live in a world where that was considered more important than my being
> blind.  It is however up to us to educate the public on what we can do. 
> You
> noticed I did not say on what we can't do.  Most likely what I can't do,
> doesn't come that easily to them either.
>
> I applaud those who desire to know how it feels to be blind for a day.  I 
> do
> not agree that going blind-folded is the way to go about it.  With few
> exceptions, most of us learned how to live our lives either with rehab or
> for those who were born blind, naturally, or as naturaly as a blind person
> can.  It is not fair either to us or the blind-folded individual to go
> abbout it in the manner which has been discussed in this topic.
>
> If anyone wants to know what it means to be blind and what our day to day
> life is like, all they need to do is to read up on it, and whenever 
> possible
> sit, walk, talk and eat with a blind or visually impaired person for a day
> or two to get a sense of it all.
>
> Thanks for reading.
>
> Have a great weekend,
> Tony C.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
> To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 7:22 AM
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: Awareness was the Main Course
>
>
>> Steve,
>>    I do not agree that such a practice helps others understand what it is
>> like to be blind; rather, it merely shows them what it is like to lose
>> their eyesight! Through proper training and opportunity, blindness is a
>> physical nuisance. these participants did not have the advantage of such
>> training. They were simply made to feel sorry for us! Such feeling of 
>> pity
>> only serves to reinforce the stereotypical attitudes of the helpless 
>> blind
>> person who needs the almighty doctor to cure the blindness. So, give us
>> lots of money so we can help these poor, unfortunate souls get their
>> eyesight back.
>>
>> Marion Gwizdala
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- 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..
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
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