[Blindtlk] The OA

[Ellana Crew]

Hi there,

Coincidentally, I have actually just recently stumbled across that show last week with my family, and have been interested in it, too. The conflicts have been interesting as has the overall concept. Though, I have to admit I haven't really been the happiest with the portrayal of blindness in it. I really liked that they showed her using good blindness skills--using a cane and doing so using two-point touch, reading braille as a kid and not struggling or reading any slower than any other seven- or eight-year-old child reading a story, using a screen reader on her computer without it being portrayed as something cumbersome or overly complicated--however, the shows actual attitude and stance toward blindness and living with it has bothered me a bit. It's very sad and tragic-sounding the way they have written it, mentioning the "burden" of raising a blind child, choosing to have her touch faces multiple times, especially with regards to recognizing her mother when she could have very easily just spoken to her instead (Face-touching seems to be a big deal to these writers), having the children at the school for the blind not appear to be using canes instead touching walls to get to places... I am also bothered by the fact that it simply seems to exist for the sole purpose of curing it, which is never something I am particularly fond of when it comes to put trails of disability in media and fiction, as it reaffirms the stance that the disability was the "Bad" part of the life and that now it's "Fixed" and she "got it back," putting a very negative spin on things. The show very intentionally portrays the blindness as tragic and significantly more difficult to live with, and not because of reasons such as lack of access to the same information or dealing with ableism and constant stifling and doubting of those around a blind person (though there is at least a very brief mention of low expectations), but because blindness is just "supposed" to be "sad and hard." She is not given much autonomy while blind, with the way the scientist takes her hand without her permission and places it on the fries instead of simply telling her or at least asking first, and the way that her mother makes mention of how she believed Prairie had gotten "too confident" when first learning to use a cane and had run into the wall, rather than understanding that all children will have accidents and will learn to be more careful because of them.

So, personally, I'm a bit conflicted, though I do still enjoy the show. I love that she has proper blindness skills and an element of independence because of them, but the overall attitude and perspective on blindness portrayed by the show is very uncomfortable for me to watch. I feel the series defaults a little too much on stereotypes and clichés, but I really like seeing her use non-visual techniques, and I have really been appreciating the level of diversity that the series tries to include.

I really like that you brought this up, and I look forward to seeing others' thoughts on the subject. :-)

Ellana Crew, Vice President
Maryland Association of Blind Students

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

> On Jan 3, 2017, at 5:37 PM, Julie J. via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Has anyone watched the new Netflix original, “The O A’”?
> 
> It’s a psychological thriller with a touch of science fiction.  The main character was blind for a good portion of her life.  There are a number of scenes with her doing things like reading Braille, using a cane, cooking etc.  It has audio descriptions too. I really enjoyed it and was wondering if others had thoughts on the blindness aspects.
> 
> Julie
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