[Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired

Fri Jun 21 21:54:16 UTC 2013

Hi, Chris,

Ya know, something i have come to surmise, particularly in the course 
of my own journey with brain damage, is that this person first 
construct is little more than a sanitary means of separating effected 
YOU, from whole, uneffected me without coming right out and saying as 
much. Doncha think?
Person might as well come out an call you a nigger, a blind bat, a 
fag or retard. These people don't wanna be faced with such raw shit 
so they'd rather impose this sanitary shit on you. Ts'all hog wash,
'sfar as I'm concerned.
Car

  02:32 PM 6/21/2013, Christine Szostak wrote:
>Your comment reminds me of someone I met several years ago. This 
>person worked with individuals  that  were in rehab for brain 
>trauma. Anyway, I know this person meant well, but she was so 
>extremely person first, without a disability, and she actually got 
>annoyed with me for not even at the time realizing that it was an 
>issue as I typically used the phrase visually impaired people, that 
>personally it was almost offensive to me. I think when someone 
>without a disability  or impairment starts acting so extremely 
>strongly, it almost, at least to me, starts to feel like the person 
>is just really uncomfortable with the disability. In other words, it 
>almost feels like they are over doing the oh you are a person first, 
>because they are really uncomfortable with the disability.
>With warm regards,
>Chris
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Carly Mihalakis" <carlymih at comcast.net>
>To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; "'Blind Talk 
>Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 5:09 PM
>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired
>
>
>>Here in Berkeley, they routinely ram that person first shit down 
>>our throats but I have to say, i am enucleated and therefore am not 
>>"impaired" by any strech of anyone's imagination, but am stone ass 
>>BLIND. When, in public people refer to my blind partner and I as 
>>"visually in paired" or "unsighted" I quickly correct them 
>>by  saying "no, I'm blind." People feel seem to feel so strongly 
>>about such an issue yet, those who conceivers of this so called 
>>People First lingo,to the best of my knowledge, are not themselves 
>>effected by anything separating them from the main stream. Oughtn't 
>>effected people be them deaf, blind  or  crippled, inform society 
>>as to how they would like to be referred?
>>for today, Car
>>>From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Christine
>>>Szostak
>>>Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 4:38 PM
>>>To: Blind Talk Mailing List
>>>Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired
>>>
>>>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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>>
>>
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