[Blindtlk] If the World Went Sighted..

Thu Apr 28 19:34:30 UTC 2011

Hi, I'm new to the list.
This is an interesting question for sure.

I'm reminded of that movie starring Val Kilmer in which he played a blind
guy who regains his sight and has to learn to adapt to visual images, then
he loses his sight again.

I was born blind and I believe it would be almost impossible for me to cope
if I gained the ability to see with my eyes.

I have never regretted being blind. Oh sure, sometimes blindness is an
inconvenience or annoyance but all obstacles are surmountable I believe.

I am always amazed by church people who think it would be such a great
miracle and testimony if I were suddenly able to see.

I used to get offended at that thinking but the Lutheran sponsored Christian
Blind Institute helped me understand what motivates people to think that way
and how to deal with and cope with those responses and attitudes.

I believe that I see people for who they are. Sure I can be wrong and have
been wrong before but I do not gain impressions of people by how they dress,
what kinds of cars they drive or other material things.

I care very much about the inner being of people. I know there are blind and
sighted people alike who share my sentiments but I think if I could see and
relied on sight, my impressions of people and things would be based on
another set of criteria.

Ancora Imparo
Rex Leslie Howard, Jr.
rex.howard at gmail.com
rex at littlelaw.com

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of nikki Wunderlich
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 1:16 PM
To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] If the World Went Sighted..

Hello, 

You've got an interesting question, I guess my answer would be it would be
up to the individual, because some one who has never seen would have to
learn every thing all over again, from dressing themselves, to cooking, and
they'd have to learn how to read and write print, and they'd have to learn
how to use their new sight. Personally I'm happy the way I am and would not
get any procedure done to give me full vision. That's just my opinion. 

Nikki

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of humberto
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 10:17 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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