[Cabs] Walmart issue

Thu Oct 8 23:15:04 UTC 2009

Good points chris.
Monica thank you for bringing this up to the list.
I don't believe many people would be outraged about this costume.
Good discussion.

Melissa Green
Without Christ I am nothing,  Without me Christ is still God.  It's because 
of Christ I am able to stand!!!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Foster" <cjfoster2000 at gmail.com>
To: "'Colorado Association of Blind Students List'" <cabs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 4:50 PM
Subject: Re: [Cabs] Walmart issue

> Dear Nimer, Monica and others on the list,
> What a great topic for discussion.  Monica, I am very glad you brought 
> this
> to our attention.  It is at least worth knowing that someone has decided 
> to
> produce a costume of a blind referee .  On the surface (especially for
> sports fans) it could seem actually a little funny.  Looking in to it a
> little deeper, it is every bit as disturbing as Monica thought it was.
> Blind people don't need any more fun poked at us (however indirectly it 
> may
> be) than we are already dealing with.
> Nimer, I'd like to address several of your points in the message below and
> I'll take them in the order they appeared.
> 1. You said, "No doubt NFB will find a reason to file a lawsuit about this
> issue, but I personally think you're making a bigger issue about this."
> NFB does not purposefully look for reasons to file law suits about 
> anything.
> NFB only takes legal action when discussion, negotiation, and all other
> paths to a reasonable resolution have been exhausted.  You may well know 
> and
> certainly other members on the list can tell you that entering into any 
> kind
> of legal dispute, whether it is as miner as small claims court or as major
> as a class action suit is tiring, draining, complicated, and always
> expensive.
> I believe that it is good that Monica took the time to throw her concern 
> out
> here on the list for others to read.  It is good for all of us to at least
> be aware of how society is choosing to portray us, whether it be 
> negatively
> or positively.  We can then choose how we want to handle these type of
> instances.
> 2. You said "I mean, we should be proud of two things. First that blind
> people have gained enough attention to be on packages at the super market,
> and second that blind people can ref basketball games. "
> Regarding blind people on packages in stores, blind people have been
> portrayed in newspapers, magazines, movies, and TV very positively in the
> past.  Many talented blind musicians have had their faces appear on albums
> in record stores etc for years.  Regarding blind people refereeing
> basketball games or any other sport, so far as I know, there are no blind
> referees in professional sports.  The sole intent of this costume is to 
> make
> fun of referees.  At nearly every professional, minor, and local sports
> game, people will invariably yell "come on referee !  What are you? 
> Blind?"
> whenever they perceive that a bad call is made.  In general, many people
> will perceive this as a sports fan blowing off steam and venting their
> frustrations at the ref, because as always, the ref is the best target of
> opportunity.  So, without looking below the surface of the seemingly 
> comical
> idea of a blind referee, I could see how the costume designer would think
> this would be funny.   However, there is the possibility of a child or an
> adult walking around and seeing someone dressed up as a blind referee for
> Halloween and for the briefest moment they might think, "the referee is
> blind and because he can't see, he can't do his job correctly.  Maybe that
> means that other blind people can't work either."   maybe this might be
> stretching the point just a little, but again, we as blind people don't 
> need
> any more misconceptions or stereotypes flung at us than already have been.
> These are my thoughts.  Monica, thanks again for putting this out there.
> Nimer, thanks very much for voicing your views.  Maybe we need to do
> something about this.  What do others think.  Regards, Chris Foster
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cabs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:cabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf 
> Of
> Nimer
> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 10:47 PM
> To: Colorado Association of Blind Students List
> Subject: Re: [Cabs] Walmart issue
>
> Monika,
>
> No doubt NFB will find a reason to file a lawsuit about this issue, but I
> personally think you're making a bigger issue about this. I mean, we 
> should
> be proud of two things. First that blind people have gained enough 
> attention
> to be on packages at the super market, and second that blind people can 
> ref
> basketball games. the fact that it's on a halloween costume just makes it
> funnier. I mean, how many blind people have you seen reffing basketball
> games? I think it shows that blind people are getting out there and doing
> things that were never thought of before, and also that kids get exposure 
> to
> blind people. No doubt some kids will say oh, blind people only belong in
> costumes, but I bet some kids will ask questions about what the cane
> actually does for a blind people.
> Maybe those kids will grow up to be smarter than their dumb parents who 
> know
> nothing about blind people.
>
> thanks
> Nimer J
>
> Monika Reinholz wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I normally do not write on the lists but I thought I should bring
> something up that I recently discovered. I was at my local Walmart the 
> other
> day and went down the Halloween aisle as I was needing to pick-up some 
> face
> makeup for this weekend. As I was heading to that section of the aisle, I
> happened to notice the costumes that were out and about. And lo and behold 
> I
> saw something that really ticked me off....they have a "Blind Referee"
> costume on the racks. It comes with the shades, a cane, and a basketball
> referee uniform. Now, I am not blind myself...but I thought that was just
> messed up and wrong, to say it nicely. So, I picked it up to look on the
> back to find out the "maker"....its a Walmart brand costume.
>>
>> We of the NFB have worked so hard to bring blindness to a positive light.
> I see this "costume" as a way to ridicule and bring negativity to what it
> means to be blind, and they pisture on the front of this costume package
> doesn't help either in my view. Now, Im not sure if anything or what can 
> be
> done about it or not but I wanted to bring this to your attention. I do 
> hope
> something can be done about this though.
>>
>> Thanks all,
>> Monika Reinholz
>> NFB-CO member, CS affiliate
>>
>> CABS member
>>
>>
>
>
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