[il-talk] Proving your blindness

Sat Feb 27 23:37:32 UTC 2016

Hi Patti, and all.
That brings up an interesting thought. I think a lot of sighted bias
against blindness is based on the idea that blindness is merely an absence
of sight, and thus people who think this way assume the blind are
inexperienced with vision (which is what those sighted people rely on and
assume is needed to be experienced--this reminds me of When Parnell Diggs
was at our convention and talked about a law professor who said he could
imagine what it was like to be blind just by closing his eyes. The truth is
that while sighted people are plenty experienced at being sighted,
blindness is not an absence of experience, it's a parallel experience of
its own. If I speak French in a country of many English speakers, sure, at
times, I'd like to have something explained that I missed, but it would
feel insulting to be treated like I had no language of my own, let alone
the ability to comprehend the concepts that can be explained and
experienced in either language. Blindness has a language of life and
functionality as well as sight does, in the same way Braille is not an
absence of writing, it's a system that is not visual.

-Glenn Moore III
State Secretary,
National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
(find our calendar at nfbofillinois.org/?page_id=158)
nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org>   "Live the Life You Want"

On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 8:09 AM, pattischang--- via il-talk <
il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> I honestly wish that people would simply ask me what I need instead of
> making assumptions. I do not feel that it is a good conversation starter to
> begin with what I do and don't need on a regular basis. I am not offended
> until people believe that they know better than I how to deal with my
> disability. We respect many people based on their experience. There really
> isn't much difference between respecting me for my experience with
> blindness and respected me for my experience as an attorney.
>
>
> Live the life you want.  Every day we raise the expectations of blind
> people in the National Federation of the Blind.
>
> Patti S. Gregory-Chang
> NFBI Treasurer
> NFB Scholarship Comm. Chair
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Feb 16, 2016, at 10:22 PM, Harris Singer via il-talk <
> il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> All minority or disadvantaged groups always have to prove themselves.
> The feeling of proving ourselves is by no means unique to the blind.
> Our particular challenge is there are so few of us so we are by
> default unicorns walking amongst the masses. We blind often expect the
> sighted to somehow intuitively know what help or non-help to provide
> and we get upset when we feel aggrieved by the ignorant sighted. In
> the absence of actual knowledge people invent knowledge in its place.
> When coming upon sighted people where I can expect someone to want to
> help I will proactively tell the person what I need or don’t need
> before they will even have the chance to speak. This usually throws
> them off, but they at least know what my expectations are and they are
> deprived of the chance to invent a thought about what I need. There
> are many cultural misunderstandings between the blind and sighted. The
> work we do in the NFB and in living our lives publicly helps bridge
> this divide every day.
>
> Harris
>
>
> > On 2/16/16, Leslie Hamric via il-talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > Very interesting perspective as well.
> > Lh
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> >> On Feb 16, 2016, at 9:15 PM, Jemal Powell via il-talk <
> il-talk at nfbnet.org>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> Interesting topic in my opinion whatever we do in our lives. We are
> >> proving ourselves. Whether it's walking through our neighborhood. Using
> >> mass transit going to visit friends family church or a doctors
> employment
> >> or education. Whatever we do we are always proving ourselves in some
> form
> >> or fashion. As Brian people. That's just life. A Brian person. So I'm
> >> sorry people maybe cut that some thought if you may be uncomfortable
> with
> >> that but so be it. If we spend time worrying about others perception of
> us
> >> and try to please others and what their police are we would never be
> able
> >> to leave the lies we want. Life is too short.
> >>
> >> Jemal Powell sent you this voice-to-text generated email using Voice on
> >> the Go.
> >> To listen, click on the voice message link or open the attachment.
> >>
> https://vemail.whitelabelapp.net:443/enterprise/Recordings/KVOXMoT1-20160216-2153.wav
> >>
> >>
> >>> Original Message:
> >>> ---------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> From: Leslie Hamric via il-talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
> >>> Sent: February 16, 2016 9:01:33 AM
> >>> To: NFB of Illinois Mailing List <il-talk at nfbnet.org>
> >>> Subject: Re: [il-talk] Proving your blindness
> >>>
> >>> Let me say it a different way. I'm sure along the line, you've all been
> >>> told by someone that you spend a lot of time trying to prove yourself
> >>> because of your blindness. I tend to react negatively when I hear this
> >>> statement. And I'm wondering how others may react, positively or
> >>> negatively? Do you ever feel like proving yourself or that you can do
> >>> things gets in the way of living your life for being yourself?
> Thoughts?
> >>> This could start a good discussion.
> >>> Leslie
> >>> Sent from my iPhone
> >>>
> >>>> On Feb 16, 2016, at 7:34 AM, Leslie Hamric via il-talk
> >>>> <il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Hey guys. I have a question. I'm sure you've all been told somewhere
> >>>> along the way that you spent a lot of time proving that you can do
> >>>> things in spite of your blindness. How do you  react to this
> statement?
> >>>> I think this topic could start a good discussion.
> >>>> Leslie
> >>>>
> >>>> Sent from my iPhone
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> il-talk mailing list
> >>>> il-talk at nfbnet.org
> >>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/il-talk_nfbnet.org
> >>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> >>>> il-talk:
> >>>>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/il-talk_nfbnet.org/lhamric930%40comcast.net
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> il-talk mailing list
> >>> il-talk at nfbnet.org
> >>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/il-talk_nfbnet.org
> >>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> >>> il-talk:
> >>>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/il-talk_nfbnet.org/derek2872%40yahoo.com
> >>
> >> <VoiceMessage-20160216-2155.wav>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> il-talk mailing list
> >> il-talk at nfbnet.org
> >> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/il-talk_nfbnet.org
> >> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> >> il-talk:
> >>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/il-talk_nfbnet.org/lhamric930%40comcast.net
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > il-talk mailing list
> > il-talk at nfbnet.org
> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/il-talk_nfbnet.org
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> > il-talk:
> >
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/il-talk_nfbnet.org/harris.singer%40gmail.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> il-talk mailing list
> il-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/il-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> il-talk:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/il-talk_nfbnet.org/pattischang%40gmail.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> il-talk mailing list
> il-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/il-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> il-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/il-talk_nfbnet.org/gmoore3rd%40gmail.com
>