[Blindtlk] Encouraging Medical Students To Be Retina Doctors

Tue Feb 21 21:31:32 UTC 2012

Johanna,

I don't have much perspective on this issue, as I am totally 
blind and have been since birth.  In fact, I have gotten so used 
to life without sight that when people ask me if I would want to 
regain my sight if that was at all possible, I answer "No." Why? 
I have gotten used to living without my vision and have learned 
to adapt; it is the only life I have ever known.  Since I have 
never had my vision, I can't imagine living with it.  Perhaps I 
have the same problem of ignorance that my sighted peers have, 
just in the opposite way; as my sighted peers can't imagine 
living without vision and therefore have no idea how we (blind 
people) do even the most routine tasks without vision, so I, as a 
person who has been totally blind since birth, can't imagine 
living with vision, and therefore don't know how sighted people 
do even the most routine tasks with vision.  So to answer your 
question, I really don't know what the benefits would be of 
gaining my vision back, nor would I even want my vision back if 
it were possible and I was given the choice.

I would advise you on one thing as you are preparing for your 
presentation to the medical students.  I have noticed that a lot 
of presentations given about vision loss itself and by 
organizations which are either * for * the blind (I emphasize the 
word "for" to distinguish organizations which are there to help 
the blind and organizations like the NFB which are the blind 
speaking for ourselves) place an emphasis on the "advantages" of 
having vision and the "disadvantages" of life without vision.  As 
a result, this (most of the time) creates the "imagine being 
blind" mentality, and as a result of that (again, most of the 
time) the people who hear these presentations start feeling sorry 
for the "poor blind people." For example, see any of the 
presentations/fundraisers put on by the Foundation Fighting 
Blindness (FFB.) This creates the very misconceptions about 
blindness and the very discrimination against the blind that 
organizations such as the Federation are trying to fight! So, 
although they're asking you to speak to them about the "reality 
of vision loss" and the benefits of having vision in an effort to 
inspire medical students to become interested in the area of 
retinal medicine, I would be careful not to give them the 
impression of the "helpless" blind, and make sure they're not 
going into that field of study just because they think blindness 
is the end of the world.  Don't get me wrong here; I'm not 
condemning the study of the retinas and vision, in fact I think 
it's a noble cause.  Blindness is, at the end of the day, a 
disability, and a cure for it would be a good thing.  All I'm 
saying (and all I think the NFB is saying too) is that blindness 
isn't the end of the world, and people who are blind can still be 
independent, conpetent, and productive members of our society.  I 
just hope your audience doesn't come away thinking, "I should 
really get into studying retinas so I can help those poor, 
helpless blind people, and prevent that awful, unimaginable 
handicap of blindness for other people." These are just my 
thoughts, and I hope this helps you in some small way.  I'm sorry 
I don't have more perspective on this, and I will leave the rest 
of this thread up to those on the list who may have more 
perspective on this issue.

Chris

Chris Nusbaum
Email and Google Talk/Keychat (on the BrailleNote) ID: 
dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
Skype: christpher.nusbaum3 or search for Chris Nusbaum

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Johanna Baccan <24kjo at optonline.net
To: Blind Talk mailing List <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:43:02 -0500
Subject: [Blindtlk] Encouraging Medical Students To Be Retina 
Doctors

To All:

I was asked by Dr.  Steven  Sang one of the top Retina Doctors at 
Columbia
Presbyterian  Hospital in New York City, new York  to speak to 
Columbia
University Medical Students.  He wants me to encourage them to 
become Retina
Doctors and Retina Researchers.     I am a 54 year old woman and 
have a
unusual form of Stargardt's Disease and have been visually 
impaired for 34
years.  I know that we all have mastered some if not all the 
Techniques of
Blindness.  But my talk is going to be on what it would mean to 
regain my
vision and what I have missed out on for 34 years.  I would like 
to hear
from all of you to let me know what it would mean to you to have 
or regain
your vision.  What struggles have you had.  There has been a 
declined in
Medical Students to become Retina Doctors and Researchers in this 
country.
As a whole the Blind Community seems to function in a way that 
people don't
realize how difficult it really is.  So instead of talking how I 
mastered
the Techniques of Blindness I have to talk about the reality of 
vision loss.
These students are exposed to other patients with diseases that 
are much
more visible and pronounced then our vision loss.  At times my 
particular
eye disease has been called a Hidden handicap.  Because to look 
at me even
though I use a cane I do not look visually impaired at all.  Any 
suggestions
or comments would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Johanna Baccan

_______________________________________________
blindtlk mailing list
blindtlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info 
for blindtlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/dotkid.nusb
aum%40gmail.com