[Colorado-Talk] 'I am not my blindness': What the blind community wishes you knew - from USA TODAY

Fri Dec 3 17:48:01 UTC 2021

Dan: 

While I’m thinking of it I’m so glad you shared this wonderful article.  i shared it with my  family and  it gave them a better sense of what I’m going thru with being totally blind as a Senior ,the youth  and all in between.

Thanks again!

Susan 

> On Nov 18, 2021, at 2:19 PM, Dan Burke via Colorado-Talk <colorado-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> This features our very own Erin Daley. She’s on her way to visit the
> Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
> 
> 'I am not my blindness': What the blind community wishes you knew
> If you're a sighted person, you likely have misconceptions about blind
> people. Time to educate yourselves.
> If you're a sighted person, you likely have misconceptions about blind
> people. That you can close your eyes and suddenly understand what it's
> like to be blind. That a blind person you see about to cross the
> street needs your help doing so. That a blind person knows nothing but
> darkness.
> Spoiler alert: None of the above are true for all people with blindness.
> "Rather than making assumptions, engage with blind people like you
> would anybody else," says Mark Riccobono, president of the National
> Federation of the Blind. "Show curiosity about them. And if you want
> to know if there's something they need, ask them and don't assume."
> More than 3.4 million Americans 40 years and older are blind or
> visually impaired, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
> Prevention. As many as 21 million people have other vision problems
> and 80 million have diseases that could blind them, such as cataracts
> and glaucoma.
> Here's a look at what members of the blind community wish you knew.
> 'I wish I could live a normal life':What your friend with an anxiety
> disorder wishes you knew
> Mark Riccobono
> Age: 45
> Occupation: President of the National Federation of the Blind
> "A lot of people think 'well, if I close my eyes, there's a whole
> bunch of things I don't know how to do, that must be really hard for
> blind people.' But that's not how blind people live," says Mark
> Riccobono, pictured. Courtesy Of Mark Riccobono
> Is saying 'blind people' OK? Or is 'visually impaired' better? "A lot
> of blind people say, 'Well, I'm not impaired; I don't see myself as
> impaired' even though the term visually impaired may be in a technical
> sense, correct. Part of using the word blind is really owning what
> blind means, and that blind doesn't have to have the negative
> connotations that it does in society. Obviously, some people who do
> have some remaining vision, prefer to use other terms to help express
> that. But what I've found is that a lot of blind people – most – have
> some remaining vision, even if it's just light perception. By using
> the word blind, it's their way of owning that. The amount of vision
> they do or don't have is not what defines them. It's just another
> characteristic." What's a big misconception? "A lot of people think
> 'well, if I close my eyes, there's a whole bunch of things I don't
> know how to do, that must be really hard for blind people.' But that's
> not how blind people live. We've learned to live without vision, we've
> learned the techniques that blind people use to be successful. The
> things that people perceive as being really hard, aren't hard, because
> we're doing them on a daily basis. We're not newly blind people
> traveling around the world."
> 
> On accessibility efforts: "There's really not many adaptations that we
> need in the world to be successful and to fully participate. People
> have tried to invent special textured floors for blind people and
> textured walls. If the medical websites were just accessible or the
> businesses we want to attend, that would be a huge leap forward. We
> don't need textured walls, we use a long white cane, which is a very
> simple piece of technology, but it does what we need it to do. People
> try to make the world more complicated than it needs to be."
> Keep this in mind: "Blindness can impact anyone of any gender or
> nationality. Anybody can go blind. We often say if you live long
> enough, you will be a blind person."
> Don't assume anything: "I encounter people in society all the time,
> who just because I'm a blind person, they assume I need help. If I'm
> standing at a street corner, trying to answer a call on my phone,
> invariably, someone's gonna come up and try to drag me across the
> street. Even though I'm not trying to cross the street. I'm trying to
> answer the phone. So I would say, be naturally curious about blind
> people and feel comfortable talking to them about their blindness, the
> things they may or may not need, but recognize that blind people are
> interesting for many other reasons."
> 
> Jocelyn Hunter
> Age: 42
> Occupation: Senior Director of Communications at Columbia Lighthouse
> for the Blind
> Location: Washington, DC
> "(Blindness is) very diverse, it's very varied per individual," says
> Jocelyn Hunter, pictured.
> "(Blindness is) very diverse, it's very varied per individual," says
> Jocelyn Hunter, pictured. Courtesy Of Jocelyn Hunter
> Familiarize yourself with the terminology: "Low vision is a term that
> means even with conventional methods, like contact lenses, or
> eyeglasses, LASIK surgery, your eyesight's not corrected to 20/20. So
> for me, and for other people who have low vision, we might choose to
> use different devices that enhance the remaining sight, such as a
> desktop magnifier or magnification software that will magnify
> information on the computer monitor, or perhaps using bold line paper
> or a permanent marker to bring us a greater color contrast so that
> information is shared efficiently and correctly."
> 
> What's a big misconception? "Not everybody who's blind or visually
> impaired will use a long cane for mobility. Some people might use (a)
> dog guide, or they might choose not to use a long cane or a dog guide,
> maybe they're using the support of a human guide, or maybe they have
> enough usable vision where they are not using a mobility device to
> travel."
> Not all blindness is the same: "It's very diverse. It's very varied
> per individual. It depends on their genetics and the eye disease or
> the eye condition that they have, it might allow for them to see
> things differently, it might require that their accommodations be
> different than their next door neighbor who is also visually
> impaired."
> You don't have to watch all your words carefully: "Someone who's
> blind, you can still refer to, 'Hey, did you watch that football game
> last night?' or, 'Hey, you're going to watch the Washington Wizards
> game tomorrow night or Thursday night?' Again, even if that person has
> limited to no sight remaining, it's still socially acceptable and
> encouraged that vision-oriented words are part of that communication."
> 'I could feel she looked beautiful':Bride wears tactile wedding dress
> for blind husband
> Erin Daley
> Age: 34
> Location: Denver
> "I wish people knew that being blind is not your whole life," says
> Erin Daley, pictured. Courtesy Of Erin Daley
> Blind people don't always need to be take care of: "I worked at a
> program at the Colorado Center for the Blind as a counselor for blind
> teens and I met a 16-year-old who had never been allowed to even touch
> the oven or stove. Once I found this out, we spent the next 10 minutes
> touching the entire appliance and, even though she was a long ways
> away from cooking a gourmet meal, it took away so much of the fear
> that had been built into her and didn’t have to be."
> Blindness does not define you: "I wish people knew that being blind is
> not your whole life. Regardless of who I meet, it always seems to be
> the topic of conversation. I am not my blindness. I work, get
> aggravated at the rising cost of housing, travel to foreign countries,
> exercise, try recipes I found on Pinterest, and so much more that has
> nothing to do with the fact that I am blind."
> What brings you joy? "My favorite thing in the world is to travel, and
> I have a goal to visit every country. What holds me back is what holds
> most people back – my wallet. I have traveled solo to England, China
> and Turkey, and my next trip is to the Baltics. It’s definitely
> interesting to go to different countries and experience their views on
> blindness.
> I also love running, and ran the NYC Marathon in 2014. Other than
> that, my everyday joy comes from finding new shows to stream and
> working on writing my novel – which I’ve been working on for a decade.
> Proof that I can procrastinate with the best of them."
> 
> Check out this story on usatoday.com:
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2021/11/17/what-blind-visually-impaired-people-wish-you-knew/8637271002/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Dan Burke
> 
> National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Legislative Co-chair
> 
> President, NFB of Denver
> 
> "Blindness is not what holds you back.  You can live the life you want!"
> 
> My Cell:  406.546.8546
> Twitter:  @DallDonal
> 
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