[humanser] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind

[Judith Bron]

Carmella, I agree with you.  I come from Buffalo, NY.  It's far from the 
South, but we were raised with manners.  Perhaps I've been desensitized to 
the ignorance and rudeness because through my whole life I've been around 
people who are different than me.  The one time I lost my cool I could have 
been arrested.  I went into a health care facility and the woman at the 
desk, ignoring my white cane, asked me to fill out forms.  I said to her, "I 
can't fill out the forms, I'm legally blind."
She replied, "I'll just put down that you are hostile and refuse to fill out 
the forms."
Then I did get hostile.  "I'm not hostile, but blind people don't fill out 
forms.  I can't see what I'm doing."
She persisted and handed me the clipboard.  I threw it back at her.  Before 
I knew it I was surrounded by a lot of self righteous people.  One guy 
started talking to me.  By now I was really mad.  I asked him, "Who are 
you?"
He answered, "I'm a ssocial worker."  I told him, "So am I."  He asked me 
what the problem was and I told him.  I also said, "In a health care 
facility your employees should at least know that someone walking around 
with a white cane is blind and can't fill out forms."  Eventually a woman 
said, "You assaulted that woman."  I replied, "I didn't assault her, I just 
threw the clipboard back at her.  It is worthless to me."  Another lady came 
and helped me fill out the forms.  Eventually the lady behind the desk came 
over to me and said, "My mother is legally blind and she can fill out 
forms."  I said to her, "Honey, let me just remind you that I'm not your 
mother."  I never walked  back into that place again.  Ignorance gets me, 
rudeness I just chalk up to the world we live in.  It seems that no one 
teaches their kids to be polite.  Except for me.  I'm grateful that my kids 
are polite and teaching their kids to be the same.  Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carmella D Broome" <cdbroome at worldnet.att.net>
To: "Human Services Mailing List" <humanser at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 1:30 PM
Subject: Re: [humanser] NEW THOUGHT PROVOKER #145- Looking Blind


> Judith, I agree with you.  Its not people's not knowing that offends me. 
> Plenty of people have never been around a blind person before.  My issue 
> is with the outright rudeness.  I will  let someone know if I think 
> they're being inappropriate or  rude, when I feel the need, because that 
> is what I object to. Jonathan's roommate's supposed friend  said something 
> very rude as if Jonathan couldn't hear him and  I have little patience for 
> the rudeness.  Ignorance I can handle.  Maybe its being from the south, 
> but I expect  a minimal level of politeness no matter how  taken aback  or 
> uncomfortable someone is. If that doesn't happen, I will, in some but not 
> all circumstances, address the lack of tact and basic manners as what 
> bothers me, not the   lack of knowledge. If someone doesn't have social 
> skills, that is not my  problem, but I can let them know how they're come 
> across is being taken, in case they care to try and do anything about it. 
> And because, I have the right to  say how I feel about what they said or 
> did just as much as they have the right to be rude and obnoxious.
>
> Carmella
>
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