[Blindtlk] The OA

Wed Jan 4 20:29:04 UTC 2017

Jen,

She is not. The actress is sighted, I think particularly because the character is only blind for a very short portion of the story.

Julie,

I definitely agree with all that you have said here. I still think it is honestly quite the improvement from what we usually see, and while it's definitely not perfect and they seem to still be lacking some and some other education, I do think it's definitely a step forward. I'm hoping that overtime we will get better and better at writing blind characters in the media, as this seems to be proof that it is at least moving forward in noticeable Waze. We are getting there, one step at a time, I think.

I think her complacency with excepting so much help and not standing up for herself more did have more to do with lack of education on the writers part rather than an attempt to show how insidious internalized messages can be to your self-esteem and independence because of the way it was portrayed, but I think they did try and did do pretty well with some pieces. I like that even after her sight had returned, she still used her computer with her screen reader and didn't turn it off right away because it didn't bother her, even if she didn't need it anymore. I also like that while the world seems to be making a huge fuss about her all the time, she seems bothered by that and not really interested in indulging there of session with the story of her eyesight.

So I think I agree--it has its flaws and could always use improvement, but so far, I think it's a good step toward getting to the right place with blind characters written by non-blind writers, and there are lots of pieces that demonstrate and evolving portrayal of blindness. I especially like how they showed her doing lots of cooking and cleaning all on her own without the slightest need for assistance and just getting right into the ingredients and checking everything out and just picking things up and just doing it, and without making a major fuss about it or asking a bunch of questions about how exactly she did it. They showed all they needed to show, without quite making it look like something that was worthy of being called amazing or inspiring, just ordinary. They also never show her having any difficulties with grooming herself, or eating, or tripping over things, which is really nice not to see, so I have enjoyed it more than I have been bothered by it.

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 4, 2017, at 8:41 AM, Jen via blindtlk <blindtlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Is the actress who plays the protagonist blind?
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie J. via blindtlk
> Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2017 6:28 AM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Julie J. <julielj at neb.rr.com>
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] The OA
> 
> I enjoyed the exploration of independence vs. accepting help, although I 
> think they could have done a better job of it.  She is shown having good 
> skills, but then she accepts a great amount of help that is hard to believe 
> she actually needs.  I'm not sure if that is intended to highlight the 
> blindness or if it's more a commentary on the human condition and how we all 
> have the ability to let others influence us and make choices that end up not 
> serving us so well. I don't want to give away too much of the story for 
> people who want to watch it.
> 
> I did appreciate that the concept of low expectations was brought up.  I 
> don't think I've seen that mentioned outright in any other movie.  However 
> it was so brief and then only demonstrated briefly later.  I wish they had 
> explored that more.  It's such a fundamental thing to being blind.
> 
> Overall I think the blindness was portrayed decently.  It's definitely 
> better than most shows I've watched.  I would have liked to see her assert 
> herself more, especially when she was a teen and young adult.  I am also 
> bothered by the whole getting her sight back thing.  That is super 
> stereotypical of the media.  It's interesting that she doesn't make all that 
> big of a deal about her sight returning, but most everyone else does.   They 
> also skimmed over how she learned to read print.  When she lost her sight 
> she was very young and it's doubtful that she knew how to read.
> 
> As for the mother and her confession of wanting a blind child because she 
> could take care of her forever...well it's not pretty, but I think there's 
> honesty there.  The mother has some issues with emotional health, so it 
> fits.
> 
> I'm a bit conflicted about the blindness parts, but honestly I feel it's a 
> huge step forward for blind people in movies/TV.  Blindness set aside, I 
> thought the acting was great, the diversity was good, the story was 
> interesting and if your into  this genre it's definitely worth watching.
> 
> Julie
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Ellana Crew via blindtlk
> Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2017 8:15 PM
> To: Blind Talk Mailing List
> Cc: Ellana Crew
> Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] The OA
> 
> 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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