[Blindtlk] The OA

Fri Jan 6 13:00:21 UTC 2017

There has to be at least two people playing the lead role.  One as a child 
and the other as an adult. I don't know for sure, but I seriously doubt that 
either is blind.  Also, the character is only blind for something like 15 
years of her life.  I thought the acting was very good though.  They did a 
good job of researching blindness and demonstrating actual skills.  Of 
course there are some bits of less than stellar portrayals of blindness. 
Overall I felt like it is one of the better done programs that have blind 
people as a main character.

Julie
-----Original Message----- 
From: Jen via blindtlk
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2017 7:41 AM
To: 'Blind Talk Mailing List'
Cc: Jen
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] The OA

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
> _______________________________________________
> blindtlk mailing list
> blindtlk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindtlk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/eemcrew%40gmail.com

_______________________________________________
blindtlk mailing list
blindtlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blindtlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/julielj%40neb.rr.com

-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2265 / Virus Database: 4365/13196 - Release Date: 01/03/17

_______________________________________________
blindtlk mailing list
blindtlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
blindtlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/spiderweb1%40sbcglobal.net

_______________________________________________
blindtlk mailing list
blindtlk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindtlk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
blindtlk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/julielj%40neb.rr.com

-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2265 / Virus Database: 4365/13209 - Release Date: 01/05/17 