[Blindtlk] If the World Went Sighted..

[Graves, Diane]

Hi Guys,

Well, with regard to the goal of the current day researchers, I guess I would have to muse that Adolph (spelling?) Hitler had some of the same ideas. What happens in cases where technology won't eradicate the blindness. There are exceptions to every rule. So what happens then? Do you eradicate the person?

Blindness isn't the only minority that, in some way or other, taxes society. For instance, would it be more cost effective if there were no diabetics, no dyslexics, no groups in need of language interpretation, retirees unable to make it on their pensions? What do you do with these people? It seems to me that if we got rid of all these costs, we would be left with a strong, athletic young, totally able bodied, English speaking (or whatever the chosen language might be) individual. Just the kind of person Hitler wanted.

Blindness is the sum of our minority status, the one that is relevant to us, and the one that is the most feared. But we are not the only one by any stretch of the imagination. 

Blind people are people period. Although we are often unfairly lumped into one category, that isn't reality at all. We have blind people who are takers their entire lives and are content to be takers, feeling society owes them a free ride. I might point out that there are many sighted people with this mind set as well. If they can receive public assistance for their entire lives, they are happy. Then on the other hand, you have just as many blind individuals who have made a wealth of contributions, giving back far more than they could ever hope to receive. 

If I had a chance to receive my sight today, would I go for it? Well, I don't know. It would depend on the risks, the cost, and a whole host of other things. As things are, short of a divine miracle, that isn't going to happen, and I'm completely okay with that. I  have the potential to be just as productive as any of my sighted counterparts, and carry my weight in society. We all have to work together to form a productive society. Eradicating blindness is not the answer.

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 humberto
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 11:17 PM
To: BlindTlk at nfbNet.org
Subject: [Blindtlk] If the World Went Sighted..



Hi all,

We recently had a discussion about how we would react if some of 
our
blind friends could become sighted, and we asked whether it would 
be
reasonable for a sighted person to want to go blind. This made me
think of an interesting, although a bit painful, question:
Would the world be better off, worse off, or about the same if
blindness were completely eradicated, through genetic engineering
and/or mandatory treatment of all causes of blindness?
The question may sound silly, but for many vision researchers,
eradication of blindness is a real goal. But does the presence of
blind people in our society have any benefit to the society or 
the
world as a whole?

Certainly there are costs of having a small group of people in 
society
who read and travel using different techniques than the rest. 
These
specialized techniques have to be taught, technology has to be 
adapted
to their use and negative public attitudes prevent this minority 
of
people who do things differently from having full access to 
societal
goods and opportunities. So would it be cheaper and less
resource-demanding if everybody could use the same visual 
techniques
to accomplish life tasks?
On the other hand, you could perhaps argue that having people who 
use
different senses to do things in society is advantageous. 
Technology
is forced to innovate to become usable by those who don't have 
vision
as well as those who do. And conceivably, if a darkness plague 
struck
the planet, it would be better for the species if some of its 
members
could fully function without light.

What do you think? Should we as a society make an effort to get 
rid of
blindness? Or does blindness serve any kind of social function?
There obviously isn't a right answer here, but it's something 
that,
for better or for worse, could become relevant to us someday.

Arielle

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