[nabs-l] "Blindness" vs. "Disability" a philosophical question?

[Jedi]

Well, admittedly, good blindness sills training certainly helps to 
minimize the socalled setbacks of blindness. Just a thought.
Original message:
> Hello,
> I really doubt that I can fully buy into this. While social context is
> certainly important and a definite determining factor in how blindness is
> perceived, it isn't the only barrier we face and certainly doesn't encompass
> blindness in its entirety. For example, I can't even begin to ponder the
> idea that the difficulty I face with navigating the construction sites that
> are so ubiquitous in New York city is a result of social arrangements. I
> feel like such heavy emphasis on social factors often distorts our view of
> blindness. In all blindness circles, I've observed discussion about how
> ignorant sighted people are, or the stupid things sighted people do in
> regards to our blindness. A lot of us shrug blindness off as being the norm,
> but I suppose it's only that in our own heads. How many sighted people can
> adequately use their cellphones while driving and dial by touch? How many
> sighted people will turn on a light to look for an item in a cabinet right
> in front of them? Blind people have no choice but to dial by touch, and the
> light will be of little to no use.
> Being blind is certainly no picnic but at the same time, it isn't something
> that will stop our lives from progressing. The little bit of frustrationI
> periodically experience as a result of being blind doesn't come from all the
> things I wish I could see or everything I'm missing out on. The frustration
> comes from things like searching an entire room for a piece of paper smaller
> than a credit card that fell on the floor. While empowerment is certainly
> important among the blind community, we can't afford not to be realistic and
> dismiss the practical setbacks imposed by blindness. We as blind people are
> most certainly not self made.
> Therefore, I cannot simply shrug blindness off as a neutral or meaningless
> characteristic, not in good conscience anyway. There are numerous people,
> both blind and sighted that have worked to increase our ability to integrate
> and adapt in the sighted world. These people helped to enable us.
> Personally, I believe that viewing blindness as a characteristic is more
> relevant to our identity; it does not magically make us inside the norm in a
> sighted society.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of mworkman at ualberta.ca
> Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 2:50 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] "Blindness" vs. "Disability" a philosophical question?

> An interesting question, and I'm going to throw out an opinion with which, I
> suspect, quite a few will disagree at first, but maybe I can persuade some
> of you.

> Blindness is not a disability.  It is an impairment.  The distinction
> between impairments and disabilities goes back nearly 40 years and is
> well-entrenched in the field of disability studies.  It was even codified in
> the World Health Organizations International Classification of Impairments,
> Disabilities, and Handicaps.

> In short, an impairment is a physical descriptor of the body.  Any trait or
> characteristic that lands near the outer edges of the bell curve could be
> construed as an impairment.  But impairments are essentially meaningless
> until you situate them in a social context, and in certain social contexts,
> impairments can become disabling.  In other words, disabilities are imposed
> on impairments by certain social arrangements.

> Let me give you an example.  I live on the fifteenth floor of my building.
> The building of course has an elevator, but when it stops working, many
> people who are not normally defined as disabled become more disabled than me
> with respect to my building.  I often voluntarily walk up the fifteen
> flights, but many who are use to taking the elevator would find this
> difficult or impossible, and would become disabled at least with respect to
> my building.  This is rarely a problem though because we put elevators in
> tall buildings, but what if we also put ramps, automatic door openers,
> accessible washrooms, etc in all our buildings too? Then many people in
> wheelchairs would no longer be disabled, as their impairments would not
> significantly impact on their lives.

> I am certainly disabled, but not by my blindness, by social arrangements,
> lack of adequate blindness training in Canada, quiet automobiles that make
> travel dangerous, discrimination, and the list goes on and on.  All of these
> things, however, are social factors that are imposed on my blindness.  My
> blindness is essentially neutral, and I think this is what Jernigan had in
> mind when calling blindness a characteristic, though it's been a while since
> I read his work.

> I realize that this is not how disability is defined in the ADA, but that's
> because the people who defined disability in the ADA screwed up.  They
> didn't go far enough in recognizing the social construction of disability.
> But that's not surprising when you consider the one's who wrote the law were
> a bunch of lawyers and bureaucrats.  So if I have to identify as disabled in
> order to receive the supports, legal and otherwise, that are available, then
> I will, but not because I am, just because I have to, and this is yet
> another example of how social arrangements are disabling.

> I think there are some problems with what I've said above.  I only put it
> out there as a way of thinking about blindness and disability I find
> persuasive and interesting.  And in closeing, I'm going to paste a quotation
> taken from the homepage of the NFB site.  I think it tends to support the
> position I've outlined.

> The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real problem
> is the misunderstanding and lack of information that exist. If a blind
> person
> has proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a physical
> nuisance.

> In other words, the disabling aspect of blindness is not the lack of eye
> sight (i.e., not the impairment).  It is the misunderstanding and lack of
> information (i.e., the social forces) that exist.  If we get rid of the
> disabling social forces, blindness is no more than a physical nuisance
> (i.e., a neutral characteristic).

> Best,

> Marc

> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
> Behalf Of Antonio Guimaraes
> Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 9:57 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] "Blindness" vs. "Disability" a philosophical
> question?


> Hello, Just wanted to quickly throw in my two scents.

> Blindness is a disability. We who are blind are not able to do certain
> things. We benefit From or fight against services for disabled students, we
> receive disability checks from the government, and we have loss of a major
> life function, sight.

> Jernigan never argued that the blind are not disabled, he argued for blind
> people not to see themselves as handicapped. There is a difference.

> I am disabled by definition, and clearly make an attempt to minimize my
> disability with the use of adapted technologies, and a positive attitude,
> but I am unequivocally disabled.

> Antonio M. Guimaraes Jr.



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-- 
REspectfully,
Jedi

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