[Faith-talk] Can the blind see?

[Mostafa]

Hello. I hope you all are keeping really well. I received so many positive comments on this particular post. Therefore, I decided to rewrite it, to post it it again, with some editing, further thoughts, and some additions. I also have corrected some minor mistakes. I rewrite it over and over, to mainly practice my English writing. I intransigently believe, that the constant practice attains proficiency and adequacy. 



I hope you enjoy reading it,  some of you may possibly read it for the first time, and I look forward to hearing your fruitful feedback.



Can the blind see?



Introduction.



This essay contains general information, some good pieces of advice for the blind as a member of the society, some jokes, and some pieces of advice for the sighted counterpart as well. Please note, these pieces of advice are not an assumption that someone isn’t aware of the fundamentals and the basic information it contains. It’s just a general reminder, and for those who may need some refreshment, or even refutation to some misconceptions. You can share that piece of essay, with anyone who is interested, it is simultaneously applicable for blind and sighted people. Now,  you may read the quick joke in the section below. 





             

A blind man walks into a restaurant and sits down. The waiter, who is also the owner, walks up to the blind man and hands him a menu.



"I'm sorry, sir, but I am blind and can't read the menu. Just bring me a dirty fork from a previous customer. I'll smell it and order from there."



A little confused, the owner walks over to the dirty dish pile and picks up a greasy fork. He returns to the blind man's table and hands it to him. The blind man puts the fork to his nose and takes in a deep breath.



"Ah, yes, that's what I'll have, meatloaf, and mashed potatoes."



Unbelievable, the owner thinks as he walks towards the kitchen. The cook happens to be the owner's wife. He tells her what had just happened.



The blind man eats his meal and leaves.



Several days later, the blind man returns and the owner mistakenly brings him a menu again.



"Sir, remember me? I'm the blind man."



"I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you. I'll go get you a dirty fork."



The owner retrieves a dirty fork and brings it to the blind man. After another deep breath, the blind man says, "That smells great. I'll take the macaroni and cheese with broccoli."



Walking away in disbelief, the owner thinks the blind man is screwing around with him and tells his wife that the next time the blind man comes in he's going to test him.



The blind man eats and leaves.



He returns the following week, but this time the owner sees him coming and runs to the kitchen.



He tells his wife, "Mary, rub this fork on yourself before I take it to the blind man."



Mary complies and hands her husband the fork. As the blind man walks in and sits down, the owner is ready and waiting.



"Good evening, sir, this time I remembered you and I already have the fork ready for you."



The blind man puts the fork to his nose, takes a deep whiff, and says, "Hey I didn't know that Mary worked here.





I hope that was fun.



Well, I hope this joke wasn’t too much heavy, to commence my post with. I just thought of kicking off, with something different, reflective, and relatively intriguing.

Can the blind see?



A reflection on  human perceptions. 



It is typically traditional, that a sighted individual would assume, that a blind person has a different way of viewing things. Well, the problem probably would be, that he has no clue of how could the blind interact independently with virtual environments. 



Sometimes, my friends may ask me, if I ever imagined how the moon looks like. How the sun looks like. How the stars are like. How they look like? How a gorgeous girl looks like? 

I usually take a deep breath, I snicker briefly, and I ask them: 

Have you ever watched a high definition movie? 

Ah yes of course, he answers. 

If I asked you to describe for me a particular sene, will you be able to? 

Um, I guess so, he says. 

What would you probably will do to remember the senes of the movie? 

Well, um, I guess I will attempt to refresh my memory. 

Are you looking at the actual senes as you describe them to me? 

Oh, no, I don’t think so. 

Will you be able to describe the senes as precisely, as you have saw them? 

Well um, that would be a difficult task to handel. I will probably miss some parts. 

But that is irrelevant to our discussion Mostafa. Oh no, you probably have missed my golden point. You are able to describe the movie, because you saw it in the past. But, you can’t really create a sene in mind, can you. You can’t form a situation, in a descriptive manner. 

Can you define what imagination means?

I can possibly think of a brief definition. 

The competency to mentally formulate a portrayal that is not visually recognized. 

That portrayal could possibly be based on previously significant experience, such as the movie. The sun, the moon, the stars, the good looking girl, and so forth. These objects are either visually recognized, Or they were somehow described to you. 

The imagination of a sighted person is constantly restricted within his visually perceptive world, which is a limited zone. It would be probably odd for a sighted person, to describe something he never previously had a visual access to. He may form an imaginary sene, but, within much struggle and difficulty. 

The blind person, however, is incredibly skillful, to form an extraordinarily distinctive imagination. He is firmly adequate to nor elongate, neither to shorten, whatever he imagines. He just shapes it the way he likes. One of the most common misconceptions that many sighted people have about us, is the way we derive a conclusion of a particular situation. Let me give you a practical instance of that. When I was enrolled at the British Council conversation class, we had to regularly present a brief talk at the beginning of each lesson. I remember that one of my classmates was giving a presentation. She was very attentive, concentrative, and thoroughly communicative with us. And suddenly, the door was opened. That was enough to distract her attention for a moment, and she anticipatively looked at the direction of the door. After she finished, the teacher opened the question and answer session. I remember I asked her'; “Why your focus was distracted, when the door was opened, you even stared at the direction of the door for a second”. 

She was taken aback of my unexpected question, she smiled and said: 

“Can I ask you, how did you know”? 

This incident proves to me, that the sighted person usually misapprehends the way our mind is centered around the visual world. 

Our signature is vitally creative and descriptive. I can easily shape how someone looks like in mind, by just talking to him for five minutes. 

The sighted individual finds it difficult to get this one. 

The blind person uses all of his active perceptions, to determine what’s going on. 

It’s a tremendous myth to believe, that 90% of our information are essentially transmitted with visual means. 

It’s a myth, that I barely can buy. 

When someone writes a book, he primarily relys on his intellectuality, rather than his visual means. 

Furthermore, when an artist decides to draw a particular portrayal, he chiefly reutilizes his critical imagination to do so. 

He beautifys the portrayal, using imaginative roles, not  visual ones. But, he cannot draw a beautiful picture, without recalling a previously caught piece of visualized object, he flashes it back, unlike of what a blind would do.



My intended audience within this cunningly drafted piece of composition, are those who deal on a regular basis with blind challenging individuals. Some people may deal with the blind on a daily basis. That may possibly vary, from dealing with a one single individual, such as you’re a friend with a blind person, you have a blind classmate, whether you’re teacher, or, you’re a sighted schoolfellow. Or, you have a blind colleague at work, a blind member of your family, or a blind spouse. Some times, you may deal with the blind as a group of people. If you work at a school for the blind, if you work for an organization that serves blind people, or, if you have more than a one family member, who is blind. In any case, if you deal with the blind in one of the categories I just listed above, you may clearly understand, that the blind person has his own standards and sense of recognition. Don’t ever assume, that he can’t see, because he is blind. He is mentally capable of identifying any objects quite intelligently. Ideally, he uses his own ability that God granted him, to determine where he is, where is the wall, how far he is from a standing object, how to get around. He usually uses a guide dog, or a white cane to easily get around independently. That doesn’t mean, that he doesn’t need any sighted assistance. For sure, I appreciate the sighted help. But it’s just too much, when someone tediously offers his help. Please, don’t offer your help more than once, if you saw a blind passing by in the street. And, it is much preferably, that you don’t offer any help, if the blind gets around in a safe environment, unless he asks for your help. Also, to the blind himself, don’t be rude or tuff to the one who offers some help. It doesn’t hurt if you thank him nicely, apologized decently, and clarify politely, that you can get through independently.                    Some sighted individuals, however, are often prejudiced with incorrect assumptions, about the blind adequacy to cope with various demands. It’s not that they are in opposition with the blind people. It’s just they haven’t been properly educated about the blind people. they were rather disinformed. 

Some of them, they never met with a certified blind applicant.

Some of them, they never  heard of adaptive technology, and how it is being implemented to fascilitate the workplace for the blind employee accommodation. The problem is, they presuppose our incompetency, without assessing our qualifications, which is quite frustrating.

That is quite unprofessional though.

We must insistently persist, to be genuinely recognized in the public employment sector, as just any regular job seekers.

It takes much time and more efforts but, it is worthy of striving in the cause of our independence.

There are many stereotypical thoughts, which are constantly associated with what the blind can or can’t do. 

Therefore, don’t ever hesitate to enquire about                         something, if you’re uncertain or unaware of what to do. I personally enjoy such conversations, and I always appreciate a sighted person asking about what to do, or how to treat  a blind person, in a particular situation.



I would like my sighted audience to properly comprehend, that blind people are greatly different from one another.



You can’t put them all in a one basket.



Some of them are utterly relying on themselves to get around, because they live in their comfort zone, or they received a sufficient mobility training.



Well in addition to you my dearest blind recipient, please understand that many sighted people may act prejudicially towards you.



Please, be kind to them, refute their misconceptions decently, with some friendly sarcasm if appropriate, avoid harshness and confrontational engagements, because that reflects a mass negative impression about blind people.

  

I constantly criticize any misconceptions sarcastically, and without verbally profaning someone.

I always appreciate sighted people asking questions.

It means they want to learn, they avoid presupposing my qualities, they care. And, to be utterly fair, some blind people are a bit exaggerating and oversensitive  to some extent. In my humble opinion, that reflects negatively, and it gives the sighted counterpart the quite wrong impression. Some blind people are repeatedly excusable, showing no substantial tendency to make a difference. That would not help the blind successfully accomplishing a task. To the contrary, that would harm the blind, on both the private, and the public level.

We should be more open to the visual world, and let us express it on our terms. The importance is, we must intensely decline to be isolated. In conclusion then, I would like to concisely  make  closing statements.

 I would like to say, that the blind has the fully mental and the physical competency, to basicly cope with everyday tasks. Such as, seeking education, hanging out, exercizing, cooking, and helping on the domestic chores. He could impressively represent your company, if he received the necessary training of that particular job. Some times, we make fun of ourselves, to sarcastically criticize a repetitive misconception. Most blind people that I know, including myself, would probably do that. But, when we pose a sarcastic criticism repeatedly, we really look forward to a critical reaction to resolve the situation. Some people would just dismiss our concerns, and that really hurts to the core.



It is quite important to constantly bear in mind, that blind people are not in need for a watcher over them.



    We just need someone to comprehend who we are, and what we can do.





Thank you all for reading my post.

It is my pleasure to write more if requested.



Please, feel free to print and distribute this essay.



I give a public consent, to share and distribute this essay in either print, Braille or audio.



Thank you for  reading my essay, and I am inclined to hear back from you.



Your fruitful feedback is much appreciated.

Mostafa Almahdy, residents in Cairo, Egypt.