[nabs-l] prejudice vs ignorance

[Jim Reed]

Arielle, 
It seems to me that ignorance is the willingness or desire to be uninformed, and prejudice is a fearful reaction to the unknown, thus ignorance and prejudice are related and somewhat self-perpetuating. The reason I consider ignorance to be a condition of the willing is because the Internet makes it so that anyone can learn anything about any topic they choose to learn about. But at the same time, why should someone learn about something that is irrelevant to them? For example, in my case, prior to affiliating myself with the NFB and MAB,  I have never in my life known or interacted with a blind person, therefore I had no reason to learn about them.  Additionally, sometimes ignorance is fueled by the fact that people simply don't know what they don't know. For example, before I went blind, I did not know that there were different types and degrees of blindness.  I did not know that not all blind people are totally blind. 

 I know for me, my ignorance of blindness was definitely a conscious choice that was based on fear. I knew I was going blind, but I felt that somehow denial and ignorance were better than truth and knowledge. If a blind individual is afraid and unwilling to learn about a condition that affects his daily life, how can we expect sighted individuals to care about, or to understand blindness? 

Perhaps another relevant question here would be, "If blindness is irrelevant to an individual, should we care if that individual is ignorant about blindness?" Personally, I see no reason why every person in the U.S. needs to know about blindness. Before you all get pissed at me (again), let me explain. If a sighted person lives in a community where there are no blind people, who cares what that sighted person or the community as a whole thinks or knows? If there are no blind people in the community, it doesn't matter what the community knows, or thinks about blindness. Once a blind person moves into the community, then there is a reason for the community to learn about blindness, and it is the job of the blind individual to actively educate people, but it is also the job of the blind person to act in a way that demonstrates confidence and ability. 

While I would not consider myself prejudice against blind people or any other group, I have held anti-blind positions in the past (related to hybrid cars and Kindle DX lawsuits). Those anti-blind positions stemmed from my ignorance of,  and apathy towards blindness issues that were not related to, or applicable to me. The problem was, I considered myself a sighted person, and as such,  I had no reason to care about or to consider the needs of blind individuals or the blind community.  For me, at that point, I did not view NFB actions as serving my needs or the interests of the blind community, instead, I saw NFB actions as a  threat to the interest of the sighted community, thus, by extension, NFB actions were a threat to my interest. 

 How do issues that pit the needs and interests of the blind community against the needs and interest of the sighted community lead to prejudice against blind people? Things that threaten the status quo create fear, both fear of change, and fear of the unknown. Naturally, that fear extends not only to the issue that threatens the status quo, but that fear also extends to the individuals who are, or are perceived to be causing the change.  In this case prejudice and fear are not aimed at the person as an individual, but rather that prejudice stems from what that person represents. 

I got to go, my O/M instructor should be here any minute.

Jim

"From compromise and things half done, 
Keep me with stern and stubborn pride,
And when at last the fight is won, 
... Keep me still unsatisfied." --Louis Untermeyer