[Blindtlk] If the World Went Sighted..

Sat Apr 30 01:07:38 UTC 2011

I personally would love to see someday, but I don't believe we should
get rid of/eliminate blind people. As Diane said, that would be on par
with Hitler. I believe it all comes down to personal choice, and then,
if an option ever becomes available to us, then that personal choice
will come into play. Do we want to see or stay blind, and that would
be an answer each of us individually would have to decide for
ourselves.

On 4/29/11, nikki Wunderlich <nikki0222 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I totally agree!!!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Chris Nusbaum
> Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 3:50 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] If the World Went Sighted..
>
> 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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-- 
"Now I'll take the blame,
So forget my name.
Just close the blinds,
So I can come down. . .
I'm naked and shamed,
Moth to the flame.
Just take my hand,
So we can both drown. . ."
SHAUN MORGAN - "FORSAKEN" Copyright 2011