[nabs-l] Interactions....

[Alexander Castillo]

Hi Arielle, distinguishing the obnoxious from the helpful is something
I do on a daily basis, as I live in NYC and New Yorkers tend to be one
or the other, and rarely in the middle.

A simple statement that might help is that the obnoxious person
believes you need their help, and will directly or indirectly inform
you of this belief; as where the helpful person will offer when
appropriate.

Someone obnoxious will stand and expect me to sit when I enter a
subway car. Someone helpful will ask me if I would like a seat.

You mentioned having participants undergo blindness simulations, and
blindness simulations and then interaction with someone who is blind,
and how those people involved in the simulation might react in the
interaction. One of the reasons why blindness is viewed as so
stigmatizing is that the average person has no skills with which to
feel comfortable in a non-sighted oriented environment. In other
words, it might be interesting not only to see how people react to
someone who is blind after undergoing a blindness simulation, but it
would also be interesting to know how those people interact with
someone blind after undergoing a blindness simulation and possibly
learning of a skill which would facilitate their comfort ability level
while they participate in that simulation. I would think that
acquiring this skill might lead participants to healthier beliefs
concerning blind people, as now they are able to achieve something
while blind, and not just see themselves as stumbling around.

Perhaps these attitudes can be measured by also having participants
view vignettes of blind individuals performing an activity, and
assessing on a scale, how competent they view the blind person as
being while doing so. For example: A blind woman walking up to the
curve who is clearly going to cross the street: a blind man who is
about to fire up a BBQ grill…

Alex