[humanser] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind

Mon May 4 18:55:46 UTC 2009

hmm very interesting.

When I was in college, sitting on a chair in my apartment's kitchen-living
room listening to a baseball game, my  roommate had a friend who never met
me beforelooked at me, or spacificly, my eyes, and said to my roomate
"wholey shit man, look at his eyes.  what is wrong with him? what type of
drugs is he on?"

I was never addressed like that before and wasnt quite sure how to take it
or how to react.
My roommate said, "Joe, this is my roomate Jonathan, he's blind."

However, I had the opposit happen in a college class where on the first day
of classes a professor asked if there was anyone who had a disability or who
would needing assistances.  I raised my hand. He asked me what my disability
was and what type of assistanc I would need. I was thinking "ummm isnt it
obvious?" I told him that I am blind but I would talk to him about it after
class. He turned out to be one of my favorite professors but it was an
uncomfortable first moment.

 I am always amazed that of all the mentally ill clients I have had in front
of me,  less than a handful mentioned my disability. When I do meet a client
for the first time, I always mention that I am blind and that I do have a
hearing problem  "but as you will find, it wont be that big of a deal." and
it never was with the clients.

Thank you for letting me put my two cents on the topic.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
Behalf Of Robert Newman
Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2009 10:14 PM
To: human services list
Subject: [humanser] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind

Human Service Workers
RE: Looking Blind

Is there a "blind Look?" And if so, is that a good or not so good thing? If
you have not read the PROVOKER, it follows.  Recall that I collect responses
and post them upon my web site for all the WWW to read and learn from and
that URL is- Http://thoughtprovoker.info <http://thoughtprovoker.info/>   If
you wish to receive THOUGHT PROVOKERS sent directly to you, just write me
and ask, at-  newmanrl at cox.net

THOUGHT PROVOKER 145
Looking Blind
 "Do I look BLIND," the young man wearing dark glasses exploded.

"sorry.ah, you.you all looked blind," the pedestrian said, releasing Bob's
arm. Without an invitation, she had grabbed Bob as she offered to assist the
three friends to cross a busy downtown street. Apology said, she sped off.

"Guys, what is this 'you look blind,' thing?" Bob addressed his two friends,
Jose (partially blind, a dog guide user) and Jamal (totally blind, a long
white cane user). "And I'm sorry guys. I was.ah, shocked. That's never
happened to me before. I mean --- I know it is respectable to be blind. And
hey, where was this sweeping generalization coming from --- all blind people
will need help to cross a simple not too busy street? But for real, when
this woman came up to us, put the vice-grip on my arm, thinking we all
'looked blind,' I was just.flabbergasted. Guess I flipped-out, felt I had to
prove to her I wasn't blind. I lifted my shades, looked her in the eye, even
dangled my car keys in front of her nose and.said what I said. I've just
never had that happen before and now I know what you guys mean about how
sometimes you are treated."

"Bobby boy, my fully sighted friend," answered Jose, his teasing tone
stressing the Hispanic accent in his voice. "And ah." pointing first to
himself and his dog, then over to Jamal and his cane, "you with your dark
sunglasses and no travel tool, I'd say the lady saw three blind men and you
were the dude who really needed the help."

"Huh," responded the now self-conscious Bob?

"Yeah man, that was priceless!" Jamal chimed in. "Didn't your mama ever warn
you that you become who you hang with?" Chuckling, his tone slipping deeper
into the accented tones of the African American vernacular of the
neighborhood of his birth. "With them shades, if we rub a little color onto
your lily white skin, next time, she'd be see'n you as a Brother."

"Come on you guys, I'm serious," irritation was again showing in Bob's
voice. "You can't always tell by just looking!"

For a couple of beats the two blind guys said nothing, just staring at their
sighted friend. Then Jose spoke first. "Well.you are right and wrong. For
example, take Jamal and me. You strip us of our obvious blindness related
stuff," jiggling the handle of his dogs harness, "and look at us just
standing here, then no. Like even if they come up and look us in the eye,
then maybe. Hear what I'm saying? But sometimes, it pays off to be
recognized as blind. Before I started using a dog guide, back when I was
young and full of foolish pride, I wouldn't be caught dead with a cane. So
man, I'd play it cool and fake it. Guess we might as well call a stereo type
a stereo type, I tried to look sighted. Then one day I finally had too much.
I was out here trying to cross a busy street with my little amount of
screwed up sight, couldn't do it and couldn't get anyone to help me. I mean
get real, a good Samaritan like that woman would have looked at me and seen
this young Hispanic dude with the spiked up do, and she'd be think'n of
newscasts about Mex gang-bangers."

"Yeah," Jamal added, "Some times it pays to be looking blind. Remember that
Mac Donald's commercial I was in? They wanted a blind guy with a cane. I
wasn't about to allow them to dress up a sighted guy."

 "Ya, Ya, YA," jumped back in Jose. "Like let's get real, dude! It's okay or
should be to look like what you are. It's not your look that is the problem,
it is how the guy doing the looking is thinking that is the problem." An
expression which could only be labeled as "inner-examination" came over his
face, then he finished with an earlier impulse, "And get'in personal and
real. The problem with this cause and reaction thing, also lies within the
blind guy, too. So ah, Bobby Boy, we got to work with you on your response
to the judgmental public."

Robert Leslie Newman
Email- newmanrl at cox.net
THOUGHT PROVOKER Website-
Http://www.thoughtprovoker.info

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