[Blindtlk] If the World Went Sighted..

Fri Apr 29 20:50:07 UTC 2011

Amen to that!!!! I completely and totally agree.  Blindness 
should not by any means separate us from the rest of society, and 
eradicating blindness doesn't help the society at large.  It's 
just not reality to have a society where everyone is the same, 
perfect in every way, without disability or non-ideal 
circumstances, or whatever it is.  It's just not real! Totally 
getting rid of blindness in turn also gets rid of all diversity 
in society, which is * not * the answer! It's funny to me that we 
have these sighted people in society who would really rather die 
than go blind.  They rely on their sight so much that they can't 
imagine ever doing anything without it.  Well guess what? I can't 
imagine seeing! As I said yesterday, eradicating blindness would 
also eradicate the whole message of the NFB's educational 
effforts: we're just as capable as sighted people are of living 
and working independently without our sight, we just do it 
differently! Dianne, I wonder of Dr.  Maurer is on this list, 
because I think we've got a future NFB leader (or president at 
that) in you.

Chris Nusbaum

"A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "Graves, Diane" <dgraves at icrc.IN.gov
To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:29:51 -0400
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] If the World Went Sighted..

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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