[Ct-nfb] Question on Hierarchy of Sight

Edward personal.edward at gmail.com
Wed Sep 24 17:45:01 UTC 2014


Hello,
I think that there is a misconception in the sighted community that if a
blind person is involved in a pedestrian car accident, than they must of
done something wrong, since they are blind.  For example, they couldn't see
the car coming towards them.  Also, the other side of the coin that I've
noticed is blame is automatically shifted to the driver, since people are
sometimes reluctant to blame a blind person. In both scenarios, emphasis is
placed on blindness, and not on the accident itself.  .  It's either one
extreme, or the other.  Please don't take my comments as stating that this
individual was, or was not at fault, I am only saying that people get stuck
on the blind aspect, and forget accidents take all forms, blind or
otherwise.
Thanks,
Edward
-----Original Message-----
From: Ct-nfb [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Justin
Salisbury via Ct-nfb
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 1:20 PM
To: 'ct-nfb at nfbnet.org'
Cc: Pam Allen (pallen at lcb-ruston.com)
Subject: [Ct-nfb] Question on Hierarchy of Sight

Hi everyone,

 

I just read a message on another affiliate's email list about a member who
was hit by a car yesterday. He's a really nice guy, but the post introducing
the issue to everyone seemed to focus not on how great a guy he was but on
the fact that he and his wife are both totally blind. It gave me the
impression that it was worse for him to be hit by a car because of his total
blindness than it would be for a high partial or sighted person to be hit.
The reason I think it's terrible is because he's that kind of guy that you'd
expect to play Santa Claus for the children at a pancake breakfast, not
because of his total blindness.

 

Please excuse me if the subject line is ineffective, but I cannot help but
wonder if this has something to do with the hierarchy of sight, or maybe
some other social ideas about blindness. Why do you think someone would
focus on his total blindness in a message like that?

 

I'm choosing to have the discussion here instead of there because I want the
discussion to be separated from personal feelings about this guy, who,
again, is a great guy.

 

Looking forward to responses,

 

Justin

 






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