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

[Jedi]

Well, sight can be distorted since sight is basically what happens when 
light bounces off of objects into the human eye. Anything that 
interferes with that process will certainly distort what one sees.


Original message:
> I think part of the picture that is missing is that the situations you guys
> keep coming up with where blindness is annoying are all constructs of our
> society.  Take for example the piece of paper, if paper were not the form of
> keeping information, but someother form of data retainment and transmission
> that did not involve physical objects to be viewed using photons, then it
> would not be a problem.  I agree with the original argument that blindness
> is a social construct.  As argued, if the society was designed not around
> seeing things but say, around hearing things, then blindness would be less
> important to the blind and then the deaf would more in our position.  what
> about if all was constructed around feeling things.  then far fewer of us
> would be 'disabled.'  This argument is very abstract and somewhat difficult
> to understand fully, and i am not sure if i understand it either.  things
> that are unusual become disabling because our society builds its structure
> around the majority, sight, white skin, hearing, walking.  The antynim of
> all these things are the things that have been disabling to people and we
> have constructed laws to reduce this disablement.  I would postulate that
> sight is the main thing we rely on in our society because it is the furthest
> reaching in distance, and can transmit data without distortion or
> environmental variables effecting or degrading it.
> Bill VP
> Oregon Association of Blind Students
> 503-768-8982
> cassonw at gmail.com

> On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 12:10 AM, Christopher Kchao <thisischris89 at gmail.com
>> wrote:

>> 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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