[Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired

Sat Jun 22 19:03:35 UTC 2013

I just don't believe that to be true in most cases. I doubt there have
been any statistical studies done on it, but usually the people we
might call "functionally blind"--those who use a cane, braille and
other alternative techniques primarily talk about themselves using the
word blind. Those who don't, but are still legally blind with
correction usually label themselves visually impaired. I've never
fully bought into the NFB's idea that there exists a "hierarchy of
sight" in which people minimize how blind they are with terms like
visually impaired. It wouldn't surprise me if this used to be more
common, but among all the people with various levels of sight that are
around my age (college age or younger) this simply isn't coming up as
an issue. I also don't like the implied disability policing in your
post--I think people, blind, visually impaired or otherwise, have a
right to describe themselves using language that is best suited to
their situation. This is really where I'm coming from in this whole
discussion, and why I object to making "person-first" language morally
obligatory as well.

On 6/22/13, Paul Wick <wickps at gmail.com> wrote:
> I know people get all in a tizzy when you make an analogy to
> race/ethnicity, but here goes:
>
> In the 19th century black people were classified as Octoroon (1/8th
> African-American ancestry) Quadroon (1/4th) etc. as these labels had
> both social and legal significance. It was in a black person's
> interest to minimize just how black they were.
>
> I think there is a tendency among many people with vision loss to
> minimize just how blind they are.
>
> Black people are proud to be black, but I get the impression that many
> people (not all) label themselves as visually impaired because they
> are less than proud to be blind.
>
> Best,
>
> Paul
>
> On 6/21/13, Danielle Antoine <singingmywayin at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Amen Sister Karly!
>>
>> On 6/22/13, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net> wrote:
>>> Hi, Laz,
>>>
>>> Good point. Only way someone embodyies "ugly" is by their actions,
>>> self-serving, erogant, hateful. Those charicturistics are not seen
>>> ocularly.
>>> Carly/21/2013, Laz Mesa wrote:
>>>>I myself am totally blind and resist being labeled visually impaired.
>>>>I do however wish to point out that the term visually impaired has a
>>>>negative connotation that the person is visually unacceptable in some
>>>>way, as in ugly. This was pointed out to me by an Australian friend.
>>>>For that reason, I choose to use the term vision impaired instead. Of
>>>>course if the person is butt-ugly, then I guess the term visually
>>>>impaired might be acceptable. (just kidding) But I'll tell you what,
>>>>since I lost my eyesight, I haven't run into one ugly person. Everyone
>>>>I come across is beautiful to me, unless their behaviour or actions
>>>>make them ugly.
>>>>
>>>>All the best,
>>>>
>>>>Laz
>>>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>From: Kelby Carlson
>>>>Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 3:24 PM
>>>>To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>>>>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
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
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