[nabs-l] The blind educating the blind

[Antonio M. Guimaraes]

Hello all,

I will take an umpopular view in agreeing with Jim here. I understand and 
see the logic about blind people being the best to teach other blind people, 
and having been through the challenges, and overcoming the obsticles of 
blindness, but here are my thoughts.

1. Blind people should not limit themselves to work with the blind.

If a blind person decides she wants to study engineering, or that he wants 
to me a music therapist, or that she wants to be a massage therapist or 
psychologist, these people should be encouraged to do what it is they would 
like to do in their hearts, not just what some counselor, or a group thinks 
they'd be good at.

2. If a blind person has in in her to teach the blind, there should be an 
equal amount of enthusiasm to encourage and support her career choice.

3. Neither group, the blind blindness professional, or the mainstream 
professional should tolerate discrimination. This will happen to most blind 
people, and they need to be prepared to fight it back effectively, mostly by 
showing how other blind people have been successful, or demonstrating they 
have what it takes to be so.

4. We need not assume that the sighted are so stupid and misguided as to be 
innefective o & m instructors, braille teachers, and so on. They are mostly 
our allies, or potential allies. Let's not hold so much hostility towards 
the sighted people in our lives.

Antonio Guimaraes

If an infinite number of rednecks riding in an infinite number of pickup 
trucks fire an infinite number of shotgun rounds at an infinite number of 
highway signs, they will eventually produce all the world's great literary 
works in Braille.

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Reed" <jim275_2 at yahoo.com>
To: "NABS mail list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 6:55 PM
Subject: [nabs-l] The blind educating the blind


> Hello all,
> Let me preface this post by saying I am in support of blind proffessionals 
> serving the blind community, but:
>
> Hypothetically, let's assume that 95% of the professionals in the fields 
> of blind education, rehabilitation, and OM were blind. Would this be a 
> good thing? I propose that this would not be a good thing. It seems to me 
> that such an arrangement would further serve to isolate and segregate the 
> blind community from society as a whole.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Jim
>
> Homer Simpson's brain: "Use reverse psychology."
> Homer: "Oh, that sounds too complicated."
> Homer's brain: "Okay, don't use reverse psychology."
> Homer: "Okay, I will!"
>
>
>
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