[nabs-l] Racism in Blind History

[Jedi]

Wow. I'm glad you asked.

You're absolutely right in believing that the blind are no less likely 
to be racist than the sighted. I've been wondering the same thing you 
have been. I've been curious to know our organization's history in 
terms of race as well as sex. I also think that it would be prudent to 
think about LGBT issues, too. All of these are important since no blind 
people ever came in one shape, size, color, sexual orientation, sex, 
etc. We're just as diverse as the next group, and we'll need to foster 
appreciation for those differences if everyone is to be heard and 
counted. I won't lie here. You could be treading on some thin ice here, 
but I'm glad for it since this conversation, in my opinion, is very 
needed. After all, we can't know where we're going in this regard until 
we know our past, just like any other society here on Earth.

Original message:

> I've been doing research on the dynamics of guide dog partnerships for
> an anthropology class, and came across a really interesting passage. In
> Peter Putnam's book, Love in the Lead: The Miracle of The Seeing Eye
> Dog, I came across this fascinating statement: "As late as the 1950's,
> an association for the blind in a Southern city was posting sighted
> monitors at the doors to its Christmas party in order to segregate the
> blind guests who could not see each other's color" (Putnam 106).

> Race is in some ways a very visual thing. There's a myth out there that
> blind people will not judge other's by their appearance. Through Putnam
> I've learned that some gatherings of blind people in the South have had
> sighted monitors to ensure the segregation of the colorblind
> participants. In such racist environments, it occurs to me that some of
> those blind people probably requrested the assistance of sighted people
> to uphold segregation... Gosh, here's a whole dimension of racism my
> high school teachers never dwelt on! What did racism mean to a blind
> person in, say, 1940s Burmingham? In that setting and time, were the
> dialects of the blacks and whites so similar that a blind person needed
> a sighted person to monitor segregation?

> After reading that one statement in Putnam's book, I realized I know
> very little about racism in the history of blind organizations. If any
> of you have more information on this topic, please let me know.

> Best,
> Haben

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-- 
REspectfully,
Jedi

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