[nabs-l] Ignorance vs. Prejudice

Wed Jun 17 19:31:02 UTC 2009

I see your point, Arielle. I agree with you.
Sarah

Quoting Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com>:

> Hi all,
>
> According to social psychologists, prejudice is defined as an
> emotional reaction (usually negative, but can be positive) to members
> of a particular group. In common usage prejudice is often confused
> with stereotyping and discrimination. The three are related, but
> prejudice is the emotional component, while stereotyping is the
> attitude/cognition component and discrimination  is the behavioral
> component. In the case of blindness, prejudice might be someone's
> reluctance to talk to us (fear or disgust), fear of  becoming blind or
> anxiety about our safety. Stereotypes might include "blind people are
> slow/incompetent/dirty/can't do X job" or "blind people are all good
> at music". Discrimination would be actions like not teaching us to
> read, not letting us sit where we  want on an airplane or giving us
> preferential treatment like less homework or discounted bus fare. What
> the three all have  in common  is  that, even though technically they
> can all be either positive or negative, they arise from our group
> membership and lead to us all being treated or thought of as the same
> because of what group we belong to (i.e. blind  people) rather than
> our individual strengths and weaknesses.
>
> My argument before was that the emotional component (prejudice) is
> what underlies a lot of the persistent and hostile discrimination we
> get (no matter how many times you show someone how you do a job, they
> still don't think you can do it safely/won't let you try)  as well  as
> a lot of deficiencies in the services and education we  get (people
> feel an emotional aversion twoard blindness, and so are less willing
> to give us Braille/canes/let us have independent life experiences).
>
> Arielle
>
> On 6/17/09, sarah.jevnikar at utoronto.ca <sarah.jevnikar at utoronto.ca> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Can we define prejudice? I know the meaning of the word but perhaps a
>> clearer definition or an example as it relates to blindness would
>> help. I'm just afraid this will turn into a sighted people bashing
>> event; I've seen it before (not on this list) but it's a slippery slope.
>> Sarah
>>
>> Quoting Antonio Guimaraes <aguimaraes at nbp.org>:
>>
>>> Hi all,,
>>>
>>> We sometimes seam to do things to prove a point. I would rather take
>>> part in some activity because I enjoy it, and want to get something out
>>> of it than I have to prove to sighted people that I can dance, walk,
>>> swim, speak, read, sing, breathe.
>>>
>>> Some days we tolerate ignorance better than others, but we should not
>>> tolerate discrimination at any time.
>>>
>>> When have you been discriminated against, and what steps did you take
>>> to resolve the situation? What steps should you have taken instead, or
>>> do you think your actions were appropriate?
>>>
>>> Antonio M. Guimaraes Jr.
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Alawami" <marrie12 at gmail.com>
>>> To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 3:21 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Ignorance vs. Prejudice
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hmm this sounds like a seminar topic we once might have had at the LCB.
>>>> I've
>>>> ben lucky so far. My dance teacher is making me, for the first fiew times
>>>> so
>>>> I can get my barengs use my cane while doing the steps, and mainly so I
>>>> can
>>>> get my ballence issues sorted out, but there will come a time, and there
>>>> already has where I am out there on my own with theother students and  we
>>>> have to perform this stuff in less then a month. Will I have my cane to
>>>> dance with, no, but I feel confident enough  to know the ruteen and bee
>>>> in
>>>> the exact pisition I'm supposed to be in. Now the person who is helping
>>>> me
>>>> just needs to tell me the steps and when to move and whair but like I
>>>> said
>>>> bnefore there will come a time when even that will probably not happen in
>>>> performance day. Am I afraid, Yes. However, I know that if I know the
>>>> steps
>>>> and get my barengs, I will be able ot show the sighted audience that I
>>>> can
>>>> dance even though I have no site. There is a lot of truth in what you say
>>>> and I believe that by showing the sighted people, in my case that I can
>>>> dance, maybe not well, but I can dance, sing, and act, this will open
>>>> there
>>>> eyes, and many doors for me, and other blind people in the future. I hope
>>>> what I said makes sence. Sorry I rambled it is way too early in the
>>>> morning.
>>>> Hehaha!
>>>>
>>>> Oh just in case anyone is interested in the dance class and what we do
>>>> google "life long dreams" in Nevada.
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>>> Behalf
>>>> Of Arielle Silverman
>>>> Sent: Monday, June 15, 2009 10:01 PM
>>>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Ignorance vs. Prejudice
>>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> Recently we've been talking about airline discrimination, which has
>>>> historically served as a good representation of the kind of second-class
>>>> treatment that we often get in everyday interactions with members of the
>>>> public. I think Jedi made some good points in describing the tendency of
>>>> some sighted people to judge us as incompetent based on the role of sight
>>>> in
>>>> their own lives and their assumption that losing their sight would leave
>>>> them incapacitated. It is true that we are a tiny minority (even within
>>>> the
>>>> disabled
>>>> community) and that a lot of sighted people simply don't know how we
>>>> perform
>>>> everyday tasks. In some cases this ignorance leads to discriminatory
>>>> treatment ("The blind person can't sit in the exit
>>>> row") or stereotypes ("Blind people are slow").
>>>>
>>>> What I've always found fascinating, though, is that lack of
>>>> knowledge-ignorance-doesn't always translate into discrimination. In fact
>>>> many sighted people are simply curious, and if we tell or show them how
>>>> we
>>>> use the computer, read or travel, they quickly accept our alternative
>>>> techniques and treat us just the same as everyone else.
>>>> But this doesn't happen all  the time. And then, on the flip side, there
>>>> are
>>>> those who know all the facts about blindness and still "don't get it".
>>>> This
>>>> includes, for  instance, the mobility instructor who's taught O&M for
>>>> thirty
>>>> years but who still insists that you should walk three blocks out of your
>>>> way rather than cross a busy intersection. Many of us find that our own
>>>> parents make more of a big deal out of our blindness than do people we've
>>>> just met, even if our parents have met competent blind people or been to
>>>> blindness workshops, know Braille, etc. So there definitely is a
>>>> difference
>>>> between ignorance and prejudice. The combination of both is bad, but you
>>>> can
>>>> easily have one without the other. And it's prejudice, not ignorance,
>>>> that
>>>> actually causes us trouble.
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately, while we can easily remedy ignorance with simple
>>>> education,
>>>> alleviating prejudice isn't that simple. It seems like much of the
>>>> persistence of people's prejudices comes from their emotional or "gut"
>>>> reactions to blindness. The experienced teacher of blind students may
>>>> know
>>>> all the facts about Braille, including the fact that children who learn
>>>> Braille while young can read just as fast as sighted children. And yet,
>>>> on
>>>> some gut level the teacher feels an aversion to Braille, seeing it as a
>>>> stigma or a symbol of weakness. So no matter how well this teacher is
>>>> trained, if she gets a kid in her caseload who has partial sight, it's
>>>> going
>>>> to be  a struggle for the teacher to actively teach the child Braille.
>>>> The
>>>> parent who finds his child's blindness frightening, likewise, is going to
>>>> have a hard time letting the child play outside or do chores, no matter
>>>> how
>>>> much he reads about what is best for blind children, unless he figures
>>>> out
>>>> how to let go of  his fear. I think so much of the success of our
>>>> training
>>>> centers comes from their ability to not only teach us practical skills,
>>>> but
>>>> also help us  overcome our own fears and negative feelings about
>>>> blindness.
>>>>
>>>> And yet, as Monica has demonstrated, there  are those sighted people who
>>>> display a lack of prejudice and who automatically include us and treat us
>>>> normally without any prior knowledge about blindness or education on our
>>>> parts. We all know sighted people like this, even though we often tend to
>>>> spend most of our mental energy grumbling about the sighted people who
>>>> treat
>>>> us strangely. My boyfriend never met a single blind person before me, and
>>>> yet in some ways seems to instinctively "get it" more than my mother, for
>>>> example, who besides raising me for twenty-four years, also read many of
>>>> the
>>>> leading  books about raising a blind child. (Never mind that many of the
>>>> messages espoused in those books are rooted in prejudices of their own).
>>>>
>>>> So  what do you guys think makes the difference between those
>>>> members of the sighted public who show prejudice and those who don't? Is
>>>> it
>>>> something about their personalities or experiences? And if simple
>>>> educating
>>>> isn't enough to address people's deep-seated emotional reactions, what
>>>> can
>>>> we do about it? Do we have any control over whether the sighted guy on
>>>> the
>>>> street grabs us or treats us with respect? It's easy enough for us to
>>>> tell
>>>> who will be responsive to education about blindness and who won't. But
>>>> for
>>>> those who aren't responsive, how do we deal with them civilly while still
>>>> protecting our rights and our freedom? And how do we deal with educators
>>>> like O&M instructors, who have power over what we learn or what
>>>> accommodations we get but whose judgments are affected by their
>>>> misconceptions about blindness?
>>>>
>>>> I look forward to a lively discussion on this topic, as it's central to
>>>> how
>>>> we act as an organization and how we can really change what it means to
>>>> be
>>>> blind for ourselves and for others.
>>>>
>>>> Arielle
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>>> nabs-l:
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/marrie12%40gmail.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>>>> for nabs-l:
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/aguimaraes%40nbp.org
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>> nabs-l:
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/sarah.jevnikar%40utoronto.ca
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nabs-l:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/arielle71%40gmail.com
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nabs-l:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/sarah.jevnikar%40utoronto.ca
>