[nabs-l] Humor and Blindness Revelations

[Arielle Silverman]

Hello all,

The discussion we had a couple days ago about a blindness joke got me
thinking about how we can use humor as a tool for easing discomfort in
situations relating to our blindness. There are times when we've all
had to reveal our blindness to others--in applying for jobs,
participating in extracurricular activities, with randomly assigned
roommates, online dating etc. Or we've had to initiate a blindness
discussion with someone in order to talk about accommodations--an
employer or professor for instance. In these kinds of situations, when
we don't know how our blindness will be received, has anyone been
successful in using humor to ease the tension that might arise from a
revelation of blindness? What kinds of jokes have been effective in
this regard? Or, does humor just make things more awkward?

Curiously,
Arielle