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

[Marion Gwizdala]

Gary,
    Thank you very much for sharing your perspective on these issues! I 
enjoy reading well written, thought-out, arguments on such topics!

Fraternally yours,
Marion gwizdala



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Letter to the Editor Concerning "Dining in the Dark"


> 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
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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