[Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired

Fri Jun 21 21:36:47 UTC 2013

Good afternoon, Sherry,

Simple, I would have just told the guy, I don't feel comfortable with 
such a descriptor, and please don't refer to me as such! I'm blind, 
don't even have eyes to be impaired in the first place.At 02:10 PM 
6/21/2013, Sherry Gomes wrote:
>A number of years ago, I worked briefly for a large telecommunications
>company. The head of the training department had a meeting with me one day
>to get my ideas on how to make the training process better and how to
>attract more blind people to the company. In the middle of the meeting, he
>stopped me and admitted that he was shocked to hear me refer to myself as
>blind. He told me that he could get fired if he called me blind and someone
>from HR heard it. He had to say visually impaired. I thought that was one of
>the most ridiculous pieces of forced PC-ness I'd ever heard.
>
>Sherry
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Desiree
>Oudinot
>Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 3:02 PM
>To: Blind Talk Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired
>
>Person first language has always seemed a bit nitpicky to me. Either
>way, the term is the same. Adjusting the order of words does not
>change the tone in which it's said, for example. If someone is
>stuttering and fumbling in desperation, trying to appear politically
>correct, I really don't care what term they use, or what order they
>say it in, as long as they can find some semblance of comfort so they
>can move past that and get to know me as a person. by the same token,
>anyone with enough spite or hatred in their heart can make any number
>of phrases or statements sound like a curse.
>In other words, far too much emphasis is placed on the ways in which
>words or terms are used. If we would all relax about it, and allow
>people to say what they're comfortable with, rather than trying to
>shove a certain ideal down their throats that blind, or visually
>impaired, or what have you, is the *only* acceptable, politically
>correct thing to say, a lot of awkwardness would be avoided, leading
>to more easily flowing conversations, educational experiences, and so
>on.
>
>On 6/21/13, Christine Szostak <szostak.1 at buckeyemail.osu.edu> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >   I suspect that actually the issue was not really with the term visually
> > impaired, but rather with the order. When you say a "visually impaired
> > person" the disability comes first as  opposed to saying a "person with a
> > visual impairment". Thus, having the disability first is objected to, at
> > least this is what I am assuming the blogger was getting at.
> > Happy Friday!
> > Chris
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Kelby Carlson" <kelbycarlson at gmail.com>
> > To: <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> > Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 4:24 PM
> > Subject: [Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired
> >
> >
> >> Hi everybody!
> >>
> >> So, since I'm not aware of any incendiary debates flaring up around here
> >> recently, I thought I'd bring up something I read recently that I found
> >> utterly baffling.  This was on a blog thread about proper etiquette
>around
> >>
> >> people with disabilities.  Towards the end, a discussion of language
> >> appropriateness came up, and someone said that "visually impaired" was an
> >>
> >> unacceptable term that should not be used.  Instead, one should say "with
> >>
> >> a visual impairment." I have heard similar things regaring the phrasing
>of
> >>
> >> a "blind person" versus "a person with blindness", but this was
>especially
> >>
> >> perplexing because I can't recall ever meeting someone in my entire life
> >> who was opposed to the term "visually impaired", at least when it was
>used
> >>
> >> to describe someone who had some functional vision.  I don't have strong
> >> feelings either way, but I would actually lean more to towards preferring
> >>
> >> visually impaired than "partially sighted", though I think neither one is
> >>
> >> more linguistically accurate than the other.
> >>
> >> I have encountered the issue of language surrounding disability many
> >> times, and it's always been a bit strange-don't we, as blind people
>(among
> >>
> >> other people with various kinds of disabilities) have higher priorities
>on
> >>
> >> our lists of "things to fix in the world"? These are just my thoughts on
> >> the matter.
> >>
> >> Kelby S.  Carlson
> >>
> >> Vanderbilt University
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
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