[BlindTlk] Question about societal attitudes toward blindness

[David Andrews]

Mike:

This is all true, and there isn't a magical 
answer.  Each of us just has to keep chipping 
away at it. When people come to see us as 
individuals, it tends to overcome stuff to a certain extent.

Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, in the 1970's gave a series 
of speeches, with titles like:  Blindness: why is 
History Against Us, Blindness:  Why Literature is 
Against Us, and more.  These speeches help 
explore the origins of some of what we are up 
against, and may help you understand 
better.  They are all on the nfb.org web site, 
and in various books published by the NFB over the years.

Dave

At 05:13 AM 4/23/2019, you wrote:
>Good morning,
>
>Something I have been troubled by for a long 
>time is why society sees blind people 
>differently from people who can see. For 
>example, I often find that when the topic of 
>friendship or dating comes up, I still get asked 
>questions like whether or not I have considered 
>dating a blind person. It tells me that society 
>still has a ways to go in learning that 
>blindness is an inconvenience rather than 
>something that defines us. We like to 
>participate in the same venues as everyone else, 
>without being seen differently. How do we 
>overcome these challenges? The only thing I know 
>to do is to keep doing what I’m doing: putting 
>myself out there and meeting people. What do you 
>guys do to overcome these challenges? How do you 
>feel about being seen differently because you’re blind?
>
>Thank you,
>Mike


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